DAYTONA HOMES FRIDAY RODSERVATIONS
WHAT I’M THINKING TODAY…
1 – The 8-2 Saskatchewan Roughriders will hold an open practice on Friday before heading to Hamilton this evening for Sunday’s Week 12 game against the 2-7 Tiger-Cats. The forecast for Tim Hortons Field on Sunday calls for a mix of sun and cloud and a high of 16 degrees Celsius. That’s decent for the fall. Kickoff is at 11:00 am on the CKRM Rider Radio Network with our pregame coverage beginning at 8:30 am.
2 – You might be shocked to know the oddsmakers have installed the Ticats as 1-point favourites for the game and the over/under has been set at 46 points. That’s an odd line given the two teams’ records however they must be taking into account the first pro start for Rider QB Tino Sunseri.
3 – It’s amazing how quickly the Rider Nation has rushed to judge Sunseri given his minimal body of work. The 25-year old from the University of Pittsburgh has handled the dozens – if not hundreds – of questions from the media with ease this week and his eyes seemed to glaze over during Thursday’s question period due to the of the monotony of it all. It seems he just can’t wait to play the game! Tino told the CBC’s Glenn Reid that he doesn’t have time to be nervous although he admitted some butterflies may set in closer to game time. The young man exudes confidence and I expect that to transfer over to the playing field. Rider running back Anthony Allen said Sunseri handles himself with a swagger in the huddle like a veteran of 12 or 14 years!
Come Sunday we’ll find out how much of a drop-off there is from Darian Durant and you’d think Tino would be tired of hearing all about that this week. However he said he hasn’t read or listened to any of the media reports.
4 – We still don’t know if the Riders will have veteran receiver Chris Getzlaf at their disposal against the Ticats. He practiced during Thursday’s closed workout however coach Corey Chamblin said he wants to see how Getzlaf handles two straight days of practice before making the call for Sunday’s game.
5 – I was initially very excited to see the brand new Tim Hortons Field this weekend. That is until we got a note from the local broadcast crew that we’ll be calling the game from a tent and were advised to “dress warm”.
6 – Last year the Riders played the Ticats in Guelph in Week 5 and scored a 32-20 victory. Drew Willy started at quarterback for Saskatchewan against Hamilton’s Henry Burris. Looking back at the photo gallery of that game displays how much different this year’s Rider team is from that one. Geroy Simon, Kory Sheets, Rey Williams, Dwight Anderson and Diamond Ferri all played pivotal roles in that victory. Now they’re all gone.
7 – Burris is gone too, and this week’s rumour that he’s Saskatchewan-bound from Ottawa was laughable from the jump. When asked about it, RedBlacks President Jeff Hunt gave a flat, “No Way”.
8 – The Riders attempted only 14 passes in Sunday’s 30-24 Banjo Bowl victory which were the lowest in a CFL game since 1980.
9 – The Riders rush the ball more than any other CFL team at 47.1%. Calgary is next (42.8%) followed by B.C. (38.4%).
10 – The CFL’s West Division is 24-3 versus the East in 2014.
11 – Edmonton’s Adarius Bowman is one of only two CFL receivers on pace for a 1,000-yard season this year. Last season the Riders had three themselves (Chris Getzlaf, Taj Smith and Weston Dressler).
12 – The Edmonton Eskimos lead the CFL in average attendance in 2014 (35,384) followed by Saskatchewan (30,325). The Eskimos led the CFL in attendance each season between 1993 and 2012.
13 – The BC Lions haven’t scored an offensive touchdown in their past two games. That’s the biggest reason why I’ve picked Winnipeg to win at B.C. Place Saturday night.
14 – Winnipeg QB Drew Willy has five 300-yard passing games this year which is tops in the CFL.
15 – Lions kicker Paul McCallum has connected on 21 straight field goals, the third-longest streak of his Hall of Fame career.
16 – It was a thrill to interview Richard Peddie on stage at the 2014 U of R President’s Breakfast on Tuesday before 900 patrons at Queensbury. Peddie spent 15 years as President and CEO of MLSE (Maple Leafs, Raptors, Marlies, Toronto FC and Air Canada Centre) and in that span increased the Leafs’ value six-fold. Regarding the plight of the Toronto Argonauts, Peddie mentioned they are in “big trouble”. Richard also said he has no interest in becoming the next Commissioner of the CFL.
17 – It took 20 minutes for Sportsnet’s Connected program to get to the CFL highlights on their Sunday evening edition. Meanwhile it took TSN six minutes to get to the Darian Durant-injury story Tuesday evening. Granted, TSN is the league rightsholder.
18 – TSN’s new CFL 30 program isn’t one to be missed. It’s a 30-minute recap of the previous week’s action. If you missed any of the games, they wrap it all up neatly in one convenient show.
19 – I love Yahoo.ca CFL writer Chris Zelkovich as much as the next guy but thought his article this week regarding CFL vs NFL ratings was a miss. He stated the CFL’s in good shape considering the Saskatchewan-Winnipeg match drew 1.1-million viewers on Sunday while the San Francisco-Dallas NFL game drew 683,000 at the same time.
However Chris goes on to point out Sunday’s Hamilton-Montreal game was watched by 413,000 football fans. The three NFL games which were on at the same time drew an average of 601,000. Zelkovich writes that the CFL is “holding its own” against the NFL, based on these ratings. I beg to differ, thinking the numbers show the Roughriders are carrying the CFL on Sundays in the fall and that Fridays and Saturdays are a much better time to play games for our nine teams.
20 – Great to see the NHL has banned the “spin-o-rama” move in shootouts for the 2014-15 season. It’s a move we were championing as far back as two seasons ago on this blog. It’s illegal, given the fact the forward progression of the puck is halted in the spin. It was far too unfair to goaltenders and needlessly made them look foolish.
21 – The WHL’s four Washington State-based teams are being investigated for unfair working conditions for their teenaged players. Based on the players’ work weeks – and assuming they’re due minimum wage of $11/hour – the state government thinks the players should be paid $11,000 for the season. It’s an age-old debate and it’s also hogwash. Should the players’ stipend be upped a bit since it hasn’t changed since the 1980’s? Perhaps. However for those who don’t like the working conditions of the WHL, I’ll quote former Raptors coach Sam Mitchell and say, “Do us all a favour and quit.”
There’s a lineup of players behind you who would gladly accept the opportunity. Things don’t always have to change just because they’ve been done this way for a long time. It’s called “life”.
22 – Regarding the CHL going to a March Madness-style playoff format and ditching the Memorial Cup to suit rightsholder Sportsnet, that’s a bunch of baloney too. You want to improve the M.C. format? Play two games per day and cut the 10-day duration in half. The host arena sits empty all day long and an RBC-style format would ramp up excitement and ratings even if it’s not entirely in prime time. Not as many Canadian junior hockey fans are travelling to the Memorial Cup anymore because it’s too expensive and too long. The hotels in Saskatoon were empty in 2013. The fans that do go sit in their hotel all day long waiting for the game when they should be in the rink all day.
Regarding the current format, we’re a fickle bunch in the hockey world. We want the host Memorial Cup team to be good enough to not embarrass itself, but not good enough to win the whole thing because that’s a sham. Right? Wrong.
Furthermore the March Madness-style format of the NCAA could conceivably pit Seattle against Halifax early in the tournament. Dumb. We don’t have the budgets of the NCAA.
23 – I detest that old guy Leslie on Masterchef. I hope he doesn’t win. I was pulling for Cutter and Christian.
24 – Pumpkin Pie Blizzards are back at Dairy Queen and with that, all is right in the world.
25 – Having said that, I’ll be glad when 2014 is over.
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On The Local Sports Scene: The Regina Pats conclude the 2014 WHL preseason Friday night in Prince Albert (no CKRM broadcast) … The U of R Rams (1-0) visit the U of M Bisons (0-1) Friday evening at 6:00 on 620 CKRM … The Regina Thunder (2-1) visit the Edmonton Wildcats Sunday afternoon … The Regina Red Sox announced this week they’re bringing back popular manager Scottie Douglas for the 2015 WMBL season. #finishwhatyoustarted
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THAT’S ALL! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND
RP
@sportscage
Hogwash? Roddy your better than that! My junior ticket has almost tripled since 1980. Play by play wages have not stayed the same. Owners are making a lot of money. Players deserve a bit too. Change is inevitable and usually a good thing
TK
Love the fact that Tino has tons of confidence. Let's face it, if you're a quarterback and you don't have confidence in your abilities, you will fail miserably. It'll be fun to see how he does as he knows that this is his chance to prove himself as a star QB. Notwithstanding Vanstone's lack of faith of course. It's not the first time the LP writer has said something that weird. After we won the Cup in '07 he put out an article saying that a small part of him wished we hadn't won it because it somehow diminished the… Read more »
Until you get an STD…
The Rock
The surveys say there is more people in Saskatchewan interested in the CFL than the NFL. That's your audience yet you and Scruffy seem to be constantly tooting the NFL horn. Why?
Courtney is the one I dislike. So fake. Leslie has come off like a jerk at times but he's matured as the show has continued. I'd be okay if he won although I don't expect it to happen. Elizabeth's got it in the bag.
the mem cup is boring because the round robin is next to meaningless. playing 2 games a day wouldnt change that knockout style tournament would be great.
Yeh the CHL clubs pay their players $50.00 per week. Yet they have the dough to bring over a couple of Euros per team. That's the hogwash. They plead austerity when it comes to North Americans but want to be big wheels and import a couple of guys from Russia or Sweden. I'd have a lot more sympathy for the club owners if they weren't breaking Canadian hearts and spending big bucks to bring in Euros.
Grapes
Tino is going to be fine and after the game everyone will say they knew he is the next great CFL QB. He has shown he has a better and more accurate arm than DD and all he needs is more experience which he will now get."GO RIDERS"
Rod,
I have a great Rider fan photo to send you. What is your e-mail address?
Thanks,
Kevin
Ridervoice@yahoo.ca
its sensational sunseri time till we get our "fearless" leader doubles back for playoffs!
Yes, there are many players would jump up at the chance to play at the WHL level. On one hand there is the debate if they should be paid at all? HOWEVER, the WHL is a business and if one looks at what the Pats and Blades were sold for, there are many dollars involved. To enhance the financial flow of the teams are the players themselves, they are the product that paying customers come watch. With that, they SHOULD receive some sort of financial compensation. Their WHL Education program is for after they leave the game and some never… Read more »
Hahaha Cutter is lucky he drifted along this far in Masterchef, Leslie all the way!
Please clarify Rod it sounds like in your paragraph talking about the WHL players and Washington State investigating labour issues it sounds like your trashing the players 16-17 year old players, saying quit if you don't like it, You read the article right and know the players aren't the ones complaining. This is coming from State officials.
It's a bigger story than that. Why do you think they're investigating now all of a sudden.
The WHL has been in that state for 30 years.
Here's my two cents on the WHL issue: Sure players aren't given much (hardly anything) when it comes to playing in the league. That being said, the offer of Universtiy education following their playing days can equate to more than $20K for a four year degree. Those that choose not to utilize this opportunity do so in large part because they are off playing pro hockey somewhere and earning a pay cheque. If you want to play junior hockey, you aren't doing it for the money; you are doing it for a love of the game coupled with potentially great… Read more »
RE the CHL going to March Madness style playoffs. There is no way teams could afford the travel from coast to coast to play one game. Stupid idea.
A few things: 1) Football is a great game, but there are so many hours a guy has that he can devote to it. I can recall a very long time ago (Aikman era Cowboys) I had all the time in the world to watch NFL on Sunday, all the CFL games, and NCAA on Saturday. That is impossible now if you are an adult with responsibilities. Sadly we have many adult children in this world that still carry this out. The NFL has moved games around, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I really with concerted effort tried… Read more »
mark my word there will be changes to the CHL in terms of how the players are handled. Maybe its new type of standard agreements they sign where they forfeit all labour standards (meaning the $50/week)these players get a chance to attend university after their junior career's are over and that alone is not cheap.
Could you imagine what us fans would be paying to attend games if the owners had to pay each player $11,000 my god it would no longer be a family outing even though the family outing is slowly disappearing anyways
Vanstone is weird. I read a lot of articles from newspapers around the country and the football writers are all business for the most part. With Rob, you never know if the article will be about his family, sports, his flag football team, jazz, how great Ian Hamilton is or something else I'm not very interested in.
Give them 1500 a month, but all food, lodging, and other expenses come out of their pocket