DAYTONA HOMES MONDAY MORNING GOALIE
That weekend was a blur. It began with Friday’s Plaza of Honor induction dinner and ceremony at the Credit Union Eventplex and ended with the Roughriders beating Ottawa 35-32 in double overtime on Sunday. Here are some photos from the weekend, starting off with Rider coach Corey Chamblin addressing the crowd Friday evening…
It’s impossible to get all the tables in one shot. There were 1400 patrons at Friday’s event..
The honoured guests … Rider greats Chris Szarka and Reggie Hunt. And they were great!
CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon appears at Plaza for the final time. His contract runs out in the spring…
Let’s back up … in the link on the way into Plaza we did the SportsCage’s Four Seasons Football Friday on 620 CKRM. From left: me, Scott Schultz and Dan Plaster…
CFL Officiating Supervisor Ken Picot and his lovely wife..
Former Rider chairman Roger Brandvold (left) looking fresh as always…
Rider equipment manager Gordon Gilroy…
Being treated first class by the Riders as always…
Corey Chamblin poses with fans…
The great #44 Roger Aldag..
Rider owner Tom Shepherd and his daughter…
The Reaper takes a selfie of the two of us. There’s a story behind that…
The Commissioner poses with the McCulloughs…
My boss Paul Hill chats with Rider Ass’t GM Jeremy O’Day…
The Hunt family poses after the induction. Reggie’s brother Aaron, the former B.C. Lion, is in the back row…
Taking a selfie of the Commissioner and me. That’s what prompted Reggie to do the same…
Here are some photos from Jeff Armstead from halftime of Sunday’s game as the Hall of Famers were saluted by the crowd..
Then on Saturday night it was over to the Brandt Centre to catch the Regina Pats in their 2014-15 home-opener against Brandon. The Wheat Kings whalloped the Pats 6-1 but it was great to see ALL the alumni back at the rink. We haven’t seen them in years. Above are Brett Leffler and Drew Callander…
And here are former Pats Mike Sillinger and Jordy McGillvary.
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5 MONDAY MORNING NOTES
1 – RIDERS 35 REDBLACKS 32 (2 OT): I was on Global TV’s morning news Monday morning and host Taylor Shire asked if I was nervous at halftime of Sunday’s game when the RedBlacks were up 22-10. Of course I was nervous! Who wasn’t? Corey Chamblin probably was too because he tore into his charges at the break that they were playing well below their capability. Plus, the Riders had six 2-and-outs in their first seven possessions. However you could see Tino Sunseri getting better as the game went along, he had great protection, and his receivers finally quit dropping balls in the second half and helped him out. Well, for the most part anyway.
Only once since the game have I heard that “against any other team but Ottawa the Riders would have lost”. Maybe that’s true, maybe it isn’t. It also doesn’t matter. The Riders are 9-3 and doing what they need to do to win games and remarkably, first-place is now in sight with Calgary’s loss in Montreal. First however, the Riders need to beat Edmonton this Friday at Commonwealth Stadium.
2 – SPORTSCENTER TOP 10: Weston Dressler’s 60-yard touchdown was the #1 play on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top 10 Sunday evening. Our friend John Meissner in Tampa Bay informed me of that this morning. That means of all the plays in the NFL Sunday, not to mention all the other sports, Weston was #1 all across America. Kansas City’s loss is our gain. He’s worth every penny and he killed the RedBlacks, who incidentally tried to sign him just a few weeks ago. As far as my call of the TD went, I popped my voice on it, like a hamstring, and it was shot for the rest of the game. Painful.
3 – ANYONE? ANYONE?: Reggie Hunt, like Eddie Davis last year, tried to give Roy Shivers credit during his induction speech Friday evening. Roy recruited them both to the Roughriders but may never get inducted himself. Reggie said something along the lines of “Roy may not be popular but he did a great job and I wouldn’t be here without him.” And then … crickets. Not a peep. That’s likely where Reggie figured the crowd would erupt into applause. They did not. Not a one.
AWKWARD!
I wonder if Shivers will ever get in.
4 – GO PATS GO: They announced 4783 for Saturday’s Regina Pats home-opener but my guess is 4000 might have been in the building. It was a disappointing crowd for the first game under new ownership but as QCSEG President Anthony Marquart said, they’re in it for the long haul and their focus is long-term, not short-term. The game itself started out with some intensity, with a handful of fights in the first period, but as the Wheat Kings exerted their dominance as the game went along, the Pats wilted. Regina will benefit from the additions of Morgan Klimchuk (Calgary) and Kyle Burroughs (N.Y. Islanders) when/if they are returned, but the outlook is no better than middle-of-the-pack for the Queen City Kids in 2014-15. We’ll see.
5 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK SO FAR: From Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle regarding Phil Kessel, “Talented people have to be given more rope. Talented people need to be given the freedom to use their artistic license to paint the picture, so to speak.”
Amen.
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The CFL Alumni Association is pleased to announce that Lui Passaglia, former BC Lion kicker/punter, is the winner of the 2014 CFL Alumni Man of the Year Award.
Passaglia has made his mark not only on the playing field but off the field as well.
Born June 7, 1954 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Passaglia played in the CFL for a record-breaking 25 years (1976–2000) and scored more points in that time than any professional football player in history (3991). Passaglia also holds the CFL record for most regular season games played with 408. He was a member of three Grey Cup winning teams (1985, 1994 and 2000) and spent his entire 25-year career with the Lions.
Passaglia is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, and the BC Lions Wall of Fame. His #5 jersey one of nine numbers retired by the Lions.
This year Passaglia revealed that he was receiving chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer that was first diagnosed in 2013. By going public, he hopes to raise funds for research and treatment.
“Lui is a tremendous individual who has given back to his community in many ways, both during his playing days and since his retirement,” said Hector Pothier, President, CFLAA and fellow cancer survivor. “By going public in his personal battle with this terrible disease he will bring much-needed awareness to this and other forms of cancer.”
For the past 5 years, the CFLAA has presented the CFL Alumni Man of the Year Award. For the past 4 years, this award has been presented at the CFL Alumni Legends Luncheon at Grey Cup. Past winners include: Sam Etcheverry, Bayne Norrie, Norm Fieldgate, Don Durno, George Reed and Carm Carteri. All recipients, with the exception of Etcheverry, have been local Alumni members, selected by the host chapter of the CFLAA.
The CFLAA Man of the Year Award will be given out at this year’s CFL Alumni Legend Luncheon, during Grey Cup week on Friday, November 28 in Vancouver.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT – NFL WEEK 3
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ENJOY UP WEEK!
RP
@sportscage
(With files from the Associated Press)
I encourage everyone to go read the comments section of the Mosaic Place Recap.
THIS IS RIDER NATION!
Passion, yes. Intelligence, no chance.
Saskatchewan is the most negative place I have ever lived or been to in my life. The team has won 8 of their last nine – and the 'fans' are ready to lynch a 25 year old quarterback that has just started his second career pro game after having he has played a vital role in three of the last four wins!
Good point above.
I loved when Corey commented a few weeks ago about the bandwagon jumpers after Darian got hurt … If your only halfway in then just jump off because then the wagon is lighter and easier to pull for us that are going in the direction we want.
It's not about drinking the Kool-Aid its about supporting something bigger than yourself. Buts it incredibly hard to support something that isn't perfect – much easier to identify the negative.
The Rider receiving core should be thankful Tino is playing. Definitely Getzlaf, Taj, and even Dressler to an extant have had all their drops forgotten about and chalked up to QB struggles.
Most people only look at the stats page and judge from there.
Like anyone else Shivers deserves credit where it's due. I always enjoy those who are honest even to the point of brutal. His successor was the opposite. Roy and Danny did some damn good things in getting us going and I think we are pretty shallow people that we refuse to ever acknowledge that.
About the comments.
Keep in mind, for all we know it is one person saying it all, someone without a life. Almost guarantee that it's a fan of another team. Has Waaampeder fan written all over it…
You know it was an exciting play and an exciting game when Rod's voice is shot haha. It sounded awesome from the combine and I'm so glad they got their heads out of their butts after the first half. Hopefully this inspires the team the rest of the way.
Sad that Roy is not going to get the recognition he deserves for turning this team around. Everyone in that crowd probably knows how much Hopson and Shepard dislike the guy so they withheld their applause. Sad that those two can't put bitter feelings aside and move on.
Gunderson's Yorkton
There is a must see video and story on today's National Post website of a high school football player in Texas after a come-from-behind win. His name is Apollos Hester and you will not hear a better interview with a player. Hope he comes to the CFL some day.
Perhaps the real reason why Roy isn't getting inducted is because Shepard made a similar threat to the BOD that he did in the 90s. Rumour has it that the board wanted to get rid of Al Ford as GM. Shepard went to them and said if you do that, I'm shutting down the lottery. Can't have that so they kept him. I'll bet he told them the same thing if they put Roy in.
lets recap the "best" game in the CFL this weekend. poor qb's, poor RB;s, poor defence. and the greatest touchdown maybe ever by Dressler? that looked like peewee football where there is always one kid that is good and the rest all suck. at the end of the run there are 2 defenders between him and the endzone…one dives at him and misses by 2 yards and the other one simply runs by him out of bounds? even a die hard CFL fan has to see how f'n pathetic this league is. not to mention the illegal hit on the… Read more »
Hello there there were things Ottawa did too in that game that were not penalized riders just don't complain because they are told by their coach's not too. Other fans jealousy of riders is almost laughable
You want some cheese with your "whine"??
The Rock
Tino Sunseri looked awesome in the 2nd half after being nervous in the first half in front of the home crowd. That second half outburst will give him much confidence in Edmonton on Friday and I will pick the Riders to win this one 25-18 over the Esks. That 25-23 setback from Hamilton over the Esks brought them back down to Earth and took the wind out of their sails. Go Riders !
There is usually only about 2% of the posts whining about the team.
There is only one type of person worse than the whiners.
The person whining about all the whiners.
I encourage no-one to go read the comments section of the Mosaic Place Recap. Its a waste of time. Kind of like its a waste if you just read my comment. lol
Excellent comment…I agree 100%
Rod, I enjoy all the information I get from your blog, sportscage and play by play. I even had the pleasure to enjoy past Plaza dinners with you and Craig Adam as MC. I was there once again on Friday night and was wondering where all the humour went? Not a single joke, anecdote, barb, etc. What happened?
Bored of Directors muzzle all involved?
Fan base here is no different than any other city with a pro team. Listen to any sports talk show from any city in North America, and you have the same kind of "passion" for their team….save for Vancouver where they just want to burn everything in sight and steal Grey Cup rings, but that's a topic for another day…
Hey Rod, You may be able to find the right person that will know the answer to this. How come at the end of the first OT, the Riders weren't rewarded a first down for recovering the punt out of the endzone (and I am sure a No Yards penalty would of been there as well). If we would of ran the punt back into the endzone, would the play of already been dead? Or does an OT end instantly on change of possession. If so, when we got the interception in the first OT, if we would of fumbled… Read more »
At the end of the first OT when Ott kicked out of the end zone we could have fielded it and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown, or as we tried to do we could have kicked it back through the end zone for a single.
If we would have caught the interception on Henry's pass in the first OT and then fumbled it, they could have run it into the end zone for a TD. The play doesn't end on change of possession, it ends when the play is over and blown dead.
Henry looked real good yesterday and I agree with the comment that he was the best player on the field, but did he seriously have that much time for some of those plays with no holding? Maybe it happened when Tino was on the field too and that would mean the refs were letting them play. It just reminded me of watching Doug Flutie play. You could count to ten and he would still be dancing around and in the end still able to complete his passes.gonna watch the game again tonight and pay attention to the penalties or lack… Read more »
Henry is 1-10 for a reason. He came up small when it counts and should have lost in the first OT if not for a botched snap.
They have a lot of problems on the Redblacks and Henry isn't one of them. They have virtually no receivers. Over the first 7 regular season games the receivers dropped 28 catchable balls. Several yesterday as well. Four drops per game is a horrendous stat.
It would be good to hear from Frenzy on the Sports Cage this week. See how his old ticker is doing after yesterday's exciting over-time.
A few things: 1) Plaza of Honor. Means nothing to me. Roy Shivers and Eric Tillman, say what you will about them. The name of the game is win, and these guys turned this franchise around and history is showing it. If these two are not on the Plaza then leave the Plaza for the guys that kissed the asses of Tom Shepherd, Bob Hughes and John Lipp. For the record Jimmy Johnson isn't in the Dallas Cowboys ring of honour either, so it's a badge worth wearing to be honest. 2)Nothing is safe it the CFL, and that was… Read more »
"Saskatchewan is the most negative place I have ever lived or been to in my life."
If you're basing your experience here on a comment section of a (very good) sports blog, you need to get outside more.
Saskatchewan is awesome.
Obama you sound like the kinda guy who never played high level sports. The kinda guy that has all the angles but doesnt have the stones to play them. Captin of the knitting club.