DAYTONA HOMES FRIDAY RODSERVATIONS
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND DIV FINAL GAME NOTES
1 – THE YEAR OF THE INJURY: Slowly but surely people are coming to grips with the Roughriders’ first round playoff exit in 2014 and are becoming optimistic about next year. Not too many fans seem to think this team is in rough shape with a healthy Darian Durant. 2014 will always be remembered as the season that went down the tubes when Durant got hurt, much like 1991 with Kent Austin which ultimately cost John Gregory his job. The unfortunate part is that it came in a season when the Riders had the chance to repeat as Grey Cup champions. Will that ever happen? It’s tough to say since Salary Management Systems were put in place to prevent dynasties.
2 – UNACCEPTABLE!: A commenter into this blog this week mentioned that, at 10-8, the Roughriders had the third-best record in the CFL this season. I thought the guy was going to congratulate them for that, however he went on to write “THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE!” What’s wrong with some of these people? I’d take being in the top three every year which normally should get you a home playoff game and a shot at the Grey Cup.
3 – THE FIRST FIRING: Four days after the B.C. Lions were destroyed 50-17 in Montreal in the Eastern Semifinal, they fired coach Mike Benevides. It seemed like a decision GM Wally Buono agonized over and he said as much in a letter to the fans. The question I have for Wally is: what did you do to help Mike? The Roughriders assembled an All-Star team for 2013 to host the Grey Cup and we all know how that turned out. However the 2014 Lions were anything but. Oh well, I suppose Buono wasn’t going to fire himself.
4 – AND ANOTHER THING: It was great to spend a weekend in Oil Country last weekend, and investigate the struggles of the last-place Oilers. The thing I came away with is that there is no reason to expect anything to change with that franchise any time soon. They’re the highest-profile NHL team in Western Canada and although they play horribly, they’re the most-watched team. Everybody knows every move they make and it’s because they’re still riding that “it” factor the Flames and Jets never had but desperately want. Want proof? Name five Calgary Flames. Ready? GO!!!
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
Didn’t think so. Same goes for the Jets. Oilers coach Dallas Eakins will eventually be fired and that revolving door of coaches willl continue to swing but there will be no change at the top. And Eakins isn’t exactly helping himself, by blaming his players every night.
“The guys who have to be critical for us right through our lineup, the forwards and some of our D, they weren’t there,” Eakins said after Wednesday’s 5-4 home loss to Vancouver. “They showed sparks of coming, but for whatever reason the couldn’t get it done. The guys we rely on less played well. Your key guys have to be your drivers every night, and it wasn’t just two or three. We had a number of guys struggle through different portions of the game.
When has Eakins ever said he and the coaching staff need to be better? He might get a lot more mileage with the players by doing that than he is now. However most Oiler fans and media think this team is a lost cause already.
5 – CFL EASTERN FINAL: The game kicks off at noon our time with Montreal at Hamilton on Sunday. The last I looked, the Ticats are favoured by 3.5-points. Who honestly thought when Hamilton hired Kent Austint that they wouldn’t find themselves in this position in short order? Owner Bob Young stands to earn $1-million by hosting the Eastern Final on Sunday at splashy new Tim Hortons Field where the Ticats are 6-0. Incidentally over that period they’ve only allowed five offensive touchdowns.
6 – MORE ON THE ALS-TICATS: Montreal has historically had trouble with Hamilton in the playoffs, going 9-16 all-time and have lost the last five straight. However the Alouettes are hot going 7-2 in the second half of the season after starting 2-7.
7 – YOUNG GUNS: Sunday’s quarterback match-up of Jonathan Crompton (Montreal) and Zach Collaros (Hamilton) is a battle of the two pivots with the least amount of experience in 20 years. Crompton’s making his second career playoff start while Collaros is making his first. Incidentally that stat will be bettered later in the afternoon when Calgary’s Bo-Levi Mitchell faces Edmonton’s Mike Reilly in the West Final. It will be the first career playoff start for both.
The last time that happened? It was 1995 and it happened twice. BC’s Danny McManus went up against Edmonton’s Kerwin Bell while Sacramento’s David Archer faced Birmingham’s Kelvin Simmons. Simmons got the start in the place of the ailing Matt Dunigan.
CFL Game Notes say in 1989 Kent Austin and Danny Barrett made their first career playoff starts when Saskatchewan met Calgary in the Western Semifinal but I’m not sure that’s correct. Didn’t Kent start the WSF in 1988 against BC? I was at the game but I was a kid and I don’t recall. I know Dunigan lit it up that day.
8 – BATTLE OF ALBERTA: Much like their hockey cousins, the CFL’s Battle of Alberta has been dead for awhile as the Stampeders and Eskimos haven’t met in the West Final since 2001. All tolled it’s their 11th meeting in the conference championship with the first being in 1978 after the CFL went to the one game format. Calgary was won 11 straight regular season meetings over Edmonton. Kickoff on Sunday is 3:30 pm our time.
The Stampeders are looking to get over the playoff hump. Since winning the Grey Cup in 2008 in John Hufnagel’s first season, Calgary is 3-4 in the playoffs. Hufnagel has a career playoff winning percentage of .500 while his regular season mark is .702.
No CFL team has won more Grey Cups IN Vancouver that Edmonton. There have been eight Grey Cups played in BC and the Eskimos have won the most with four.
9 – GO PATS GO: The Queen City Kids kickoff the five game west coast trip Friday night when they visit the Vancouver Giants at 9:00 on 620 CKRM (Press Box Sports Bar Pregame Show at 8:35 pm). The Pats have won four in a row and sit fifth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, just two points behind Edmonton.
I’m envious of Pats voice Phil Andrews as the west coast trip is always the highlight of the year. You get to enjoy some mild weather, see some nice arenas and visit with friends and family across BC. But we’ll be listening! Hopefully the Pats win at least three.
10 – SO LONG BLACKBERRY: In order to better facilitate some of CKRM’s new mobile apps, I was urged to switch over from my Blackberry Torch to an Iphone on Thursday. It was painful! Driving to Prairie Mobile to make the switch on Thursday felt like taking the family dog to the vet to be put down. The old boy’s been so good to me! And this Iphone isn’t exactly rocking my world just yet. We’ll see. It definitely is faster.
—
THAT’S ALL – HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
RP
@sportscage
In 1988 Tom Burgess started for the Riders as it was very cold that sunday and apparently Austin couldnt play in the cold.
Roddy, too bad you didn't switch to the new blackberry 10's. Good phones, better than the old torch. You can get all the apps you want on it and it still has the physical keyboard. Anyways, good post today and have a good day
Mike
The Oilers are easy to play against. They have been coached to the point that they're like robots. You know what they're going to try to do before they try it. There's a lot of talent on that team but they've coached the creativity right out of them. It's been that way for a lot of years other than the shortened season under Ralph Krueger and he got the ax. I suppose Lowe and MacT didn't like him for changing things up.
It seems to me that Kent felt he couldn't do any better than Tom was doing. It was a blow-out anyway.
C'mon Rod, outside of Eberle, who can name 4 other Oilers. Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Fuhr, don't count. Nobody cares about the Oilers.
I am not a Mike Benevides fan but was he the cause of the Lions main problem, and one they have had for years, of not protecting the qb and keeping him healthy. Same here. DD has been knocked around plenty for years and he stayed on the filed because he is one tough dude. This year it caught up to us and he got injured on a play that should have been whistled dead or at least had an o-lineman (Clark) protecting him. How was AC able to play for years (and pad his stats) – the Als protected… Read more »
I find most of the know it alls and complainers on here have an IQ less than their shoe size. I often wonder if they are so smart why they are not coaching somewhere.
G.
The Oilers are a good AHL team. From the top down, they seem 2nd rate.
You should have switched to a blackberry Z30.
I typically will watch the Grey Cup every year as I am not only a Rider fan but a CFL fan; but this year I just can't bring myself to care about the last 2 rounds this year. Weird.
Stranger
A few games ago they showed Mike Benevides on TSN doing a double fist pump after a BC touchdown, which was a hoot. At that point I thought, boy, this guy is the second coming of Danny Maciocia, and darn it he didn't get fired too.
Riders actually led 18-17 at the half in the '88 WSF…then got blown out in the 2nd half.
Yesterday, I listened to the uncensored version of the profanity laced rant left on the CBC Sask website by a caller for Sheila Coles about her suggestion that the weather would be nice this weekend.
Afterwards I wondered if such a call would have happened had the Riders still been in he play-offs. The caller does not mention the Riders, but if you listen carefully to the comments it is the only conclusion you can reach. Its all about the emotion.
Cheering for Montreal to win the Grey Cup now.
Hope they go into Hamilton and wipe whatever look Austin has on his face that daywith a good thrashing. After Calgary destroys Edmonton in the western final, I’d like to see Calgary choke to them in the final.
Oskee Wee Wee ?
Someone mentioned online that Oilers fans are going to start cheering for the Flames soon. Because if Calgary makes the playoffs this year and Edmonton continues to suck, it will be impossible for Katz to ignore and he will have to get rid of the old boys club that runs the team. It's simple, they have no character. It's not that the individual players don't have character, they don't have character as a team. The only way to get that is through leadership and right now the Oilers have none. The Flames do, from Brian Burke through Bob Hartley and… Read more »
1.Mark Giordano
2.Johnny Gaudreau
3.Sean Monahan
4.Curtis Glencross
5.TJ Brodie
DONE!!
Katz doesn't care. The building sells out despite several years of being one of the worst and most embarrassing teams in the league. People need to stop buying tickets to watch that absolute joke of a team.
Had to do the same Roddy. Sure miss the BB. Had the Q10, but BB does not support a lot of apps that are needed for work. Still don't like the Iphone and it has been a month.
PB
A few things: I'm very busy so I don't have time for this stuff. 1) The Edmonton Oilers are not relevant. They drafted the same player 5 times and the franchise stinks from top to bottom. It's soul purpose is to generate revenue to support U.S teams that struggle at the gate, but are integral to a strong TV contract. For that I applaud the Oilers as I do enjoy watching Arizona, Tampa, and Nashville playing. 2) Calgary is a flat out garbage franchise and I say that from their CEO down to their Stick Boy. I listened to SportsCage… Read more »
Dude… just leave already. You're nothing but a headache. Didn't you say yesterday that you have "no time" for this stuff? And yet here you are posting your same old crap. You're a wannabee and clearly a loner.
If people would read between the lines of the a**clown signature sign off Obama. You clearly see a group under one name assigned to this bog site to ensure page hits. Look at the inconsistent posted grammar (spelling mistakes), ideology, mixed perspectives, on/over the line inappropriate comments etc. Blog posting one day of not firing the Riders gm, the next day post relieving him of his duties as gm. what ? If it so happens to be one person, that would make one f*cked up human being in dire need of immediate medical/psychiatric help. From the engine that drives In… Read more »
Obama should take his own advice and go off and deal with his physical, mental, social and spiritual needs and thereby liberate us from his whacka doodle comments.
Old Hank