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SWEET 16 NOTES & QUOTES

1 – STADIUM ANNOUNCEMENT:  It’s a big day in Regina!  It’s a big day in Saskatchewan.  It’s a big day for Rider Nation.  This afternoon we are going to learn who the City of Regina is going to work with to build the new stadium.  We’re not going to see drawings – that’s coming soon – but it’s going to be good to learn who the company is and what other stadiums they’ve built in the past.  Check back here at noon for the details.

2 – THE TALK ON COFFEE ROW: As usual, coffee shops and the Gold’s Gym locker room are my best barometer for what people are talking about in the Queen City.  A gentleman sitting across from me at Starbucks this week waited for me to stop surfing Twitter before piping up with, “Well I’m excited!  I’ve got a brand new team to cheer for this year!”.  I didn’t even need to ask for an explanation.  He was referring to the 18 players from the 2013 Grey Cup champions who’ve moved on this off-season.

It’s still a hot topic, but you should know this; SportsCage producer Sam Foster did some research this week and discovered the 2007 Grey Cup champion Roughriders lost 16 players the following off-season.  The 2012 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts lost 25 players over the winter.  TWENTY-FIVE!  Sam’s research showed the average amount of players teams lost after winning the Grey Cup since 2007 is 15.  So, the Riders are right on track.  It happens.  No one around here seemed to pay attention until it affected the Roughriders.

3 – THERE’S NO LOYALTY ANYMORE: NFL free agency opened this week and some of the big names switching teams included receivers Golden Tate and Eric Decker.  The Dallas Cowboys cut loose franchise sack-leader DeMarcus Ware and he promptly signed a big ticket deal with the Denver Broncos.  It never used to be this way, but money has ruined sports.  I’m just glad that I got to watch sports back in the day when the teams you loved featured the players you loved year after year.  It will never be the same.

4 – ACTUALLY, THERE IS:  Roughrider head coach Corey Chamblin showed loyalty and commitment to the the team and the province by signing a four year contract extension this week.  The extension isn’t a surprise, but the length of it is whopping.  That’s not to say it isn’t deserved.  But with the Grey Cup tucked under one arm and the Annis Stukus Trophy under the other, Chamblin had plenty of leverage for these negotiations.  So he got a raise and he got an almost unheard of (these days) length of deal.  Good for him.  I said in November “give him what he wants”.  Hopefully they did.  The team’s in good hands with Taman and Chamblin.

5 – LISTEN UP: Former Bills and Colts executive Bill Polian is now an analyst for ESPN.  He had a great quote this week about free agency in the NFL and how teams elect to build their clubs.  “Keep this in mind; free agency is not free,” Polian said.  “It costs two things that you never get back: time and money.  So when you have a good team … and when you have a good personnel department that drafts well, then it behooves you to be restrained in free agency because you need the money to A) sign your own, and B) be in a position where you make very, very good judgments on a few players in free agency.”

6 – CFL LABOUR TALKS – Sportsnet’s Arash Madani reported on Thursday’s SportsCage that CFL-types are non-too-pleased about the labour talk information which was reported this week.  It seems you won’t be hearing much from here on out.  Interestingly, BC Lions GM Wally Buono told Vancouver radio station News 1130 this week that he still doesn’t know what the salary cap will be this year and it’s causing problems with re-signing tailback Andrew Harris.  How can the CFL and CFLPA fight over money when no one knows by how much the cap is going up?  It all seems very confusing and unorganized.

7 – GOD IS GREAT, KROPF IS GOOD:  Congratulations to former Roughrider chaplin Barret Kropf for being named Coach of the Year with the Trinity Western Spartans hockey club in BC.  Here’s the news release:

Trinity Western’s JP Villeneuve (Georgetown, Ont.) made program history Tuesday as he became the first Spartan to be named BCIHL MVP as well as being named Rookie of the Year while Barret Kropf also joined in on the groundbreaking front as he became the first TWU coach to win BCIHL Coach of the Year honours.

Kropf is the first coach to earn Coach of the Year honours in both the BCIHL and ACAC. He won the ACAC award in 2005-06 while coaching at Briercrest College.

8 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK #1: It came from former Rider Mike Abou-Mechrek on 620 CKRM on Monday when discussing the CBA talks.  “They should hold their next bargaining session in Disneyworld,” Abou quipped.  “Because this whole situation is M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!”

9 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK #2: Media watchdog Bruce Dowbiggin was on the SportsCage this week discussing George Stromouloupolos taking over from Ron McLean as host of Hockey Night In Canada.  “Strombo is the most popular Canadian TV star whose show no one watches!” Dowbiggin smirked.

10 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK #3: This one came from University of Regina Athletics Director Dick White referring to CFL free agency.  “The CFL is the only league in professional sport where players want to sign somewhere closer to Mom and Dad!” White observed.  “What’s up with that?  You don’t hear that in any other league.”

11 – THE BACHELOR: If I was a fan of the Edmonton Eskimos or Hamilton Tiger-Cats, I’d be concerned that quarterback Mike Reilly and receiver Cary Koch were passionately analysing the season finale episode of The Bachelor on Twitter earlier this week.  Really guys?  Maybe I’m just critical because I loathe that program, and what it stands for.

12 – WHAT GIVES?: I’ve long said I’ll never understand Rider fans, and that’s okay.  But I’ve heard from a lot of people – many of whom are close friends – that they won’t be buying tickets to the Ottawa-Saskatchewan preseason game at Mosaic Stadium this summer.  It seems they don’t want to shell out the additonal $50.  Forgive me for saying, but it’s basically a HOME Rider game, in the summer, on a Saturday, with Henry Burris coming into Mosaic Stadium and they’ve lowered ticket prices.  What’s not to like?

13 – COMBINING: The University of Regina Rams will have six players in the CFL’s regional combine in Edmonton beginning Monday.  They are SB Landon Buch, DL Micheal Dadzie, SB Jared Janotta, OL Kyle Paterson, QB Cayman Shutter and WR Kolten Solomon.  They’ll be among the 37 participants at the event.

14 – THEY’RE ALSO TALKING ABOUT….: The Regina Pats.  When I walked into the gym locker room Thursday morning the first thing the boys said was, “How did the Pats make out last night?”  The Pats had smacked around the P.A. Raiders 7-1 the night before and barely broke a sweat.  It shows me there’s a buzz about the Pats in the Queen City which is tremendous news.  Friday night the Pats can clinch the East Division pennant with a home win over the Brandon Wheat Kings (7:00 pm on 620 CKRM).  The NHL scouts in attendance Wednesday evening agreed that if the Pats get goaltender Daniel Wapple back for the players (he’s currently out with injury) they could go a few rounds in the playoffs.  However it appears he won’t go again this weekend after suffering his injury 10 days ago.

15 – GOTTA GET THIS OFF MY CHEST: Long-time Brandon Wheat Kings play-by-play man Bruce Luebke (from Ogema, SK) used to do a “Best of the East Conference” poll in which he’d send ballots to all teams to be filled out by the players, coaches and GMs.  It included fun polls on Best Player, Most Underrated Player, Most Overrated Player, Toughest Player, Most-Feared Player, Best Fans, Worst Fans, Best Ice, Worst Ice, etc.  This thing got rolling at least 20 years ago by the Leader Post and we spent hours debating the answers in the back of the bus on road trips.  It was the greatest thing ever.  We’d have to mail the ballots back to the L-P (as opposed to email now) and then anxiously awaited the results from the rest of the conference once they were published.

Writer Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald did the same for the West Conference.  Sadly Bruce informed me that his poll died a couple of seasons ago because three teams were uncooperative.  One was large market, two were small market.

With WHL attendance declining and the league needing a boost, I have to ask the member teams; what are you doing to help raise the league’s profile in your cities?  Young broadcasters and reporters in this city don’t believe me when I say Regina used to be known as the “Toronto of junior hockey”.  Red Deer Rebels play-by-play man Cam Moon gave us that handle and it’s because every home game was an event in the Agridome.  It really had a Maple Leaf Gardens-feel and Regina was the media capital of the league.  There was a permanent buzz.

What happened?

16 – LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR: Oilers star Jordan Eberle experienced my greatest fear Thursday in St. Louis.  He was trapped in an elevator.  I’m not sure for how long, but he tweeted a photo of it on game day.  The same thing happened to Tyreke Evans of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago.  It literally is the thing I’m afraid of the most.  Elevator-a-phobia?

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The plaudits continue to roll in for retired super star Rider broadcaster John Lynch.  On Thursday at Regina restaurant “The Chimney”, Rider President Jim Hopson presented Lynch with his own personalized jersey.  Classy move.

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THAT’S ALL!  See you in the Cage Friday at 4:00 pm live from the Brandt Centre for Four Seasons Football Friday on 620 CKRM.

RP
@sportscage