THE MONDAY MORNING GOALIE
10 LATE HITS
1 – Sleeping on it didn’t change a thing. The end of the 2016 Labour Day Classic is still just as sickening Monday morning as it was Sunday night. The Blue Bombers beat the Roughriders 28-25 in a game referee Andre Proulx’s staff awarded to Winnipeg, with the assistance of the CFL’s Command Centre in Toronto.
Hey – don’t take my word for it. Roughriders Head Coach & GM Chris Jones said exactly that after the game. “To have it pulled away, that’s tough,” Jones told a packed postgame news conference at Mosaic Stadium.
That was as much as he was willing to say publicly. What do you think he was saying privately?
I am the voice of the team and this is how the team feels today. No one else is standing up for them right now.
2 – I wasn’t even going to write a column today but when I awoke, my inbox was jammed with people asking where the column was. It would’ve been nice to take a day off.
However ’tis the season, you need to strike when the iron’s hot, and you can’t let your customers down. So here goes…
3 – Roughrider fans are livid their team is being victimized by the CFL.
A conspiracy? I floated that notion a month ago and people laughed but now everyone has woken up and smelled the coffee.
“Cheated out of a better finish,” Tweeted Montreal receiver Nik Lewis after Sunday’s game. “Sask vs Peg booth should have stepped in and corrected the call.”
Unfortunately one of the many new mechanisms of video review in the CFL doesn’t include fixing officiating errors. That’s … if they thought the phantom Pass Interference penalty on Rider DB Justin Cox with the game on the line was an error at all.
And now players from other teams are stepping in and decrying the current state of the Canadian Football League.
I told the powers-that-be my thoughts on the CFL braintrust way back at the start of training camp and now you’re all seeing why.
How does this get fixed? That’ll be a discussion for the off-season however with this season now over for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, I suppose we could convene a few meetings now since there’s no playoff planning to do.
Perhaps Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge can explain it when he comes to Saskatchewan for Plaza of Honor in two weeks.
Honestly I feel sorry for Orridge. A lot of people want his job. That’s got to be an uneasy feeling.
4 – Rioting Rider fans are trying to find all different ways of getting back at the CFL. However boycotting Rider road games is not the way to go. You’re only punishing yourselves.
Watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders play live – no matter their record – is a sacred experience and not one to be missed. Some fans aren’t even able to do it just once in a lifetime. If you have a chance to buy a ticket to watch the Riders, take it.
This season is in the toilet but teams have survived situations like this before.
5 – Would Chris Jones have had a challenge left under the old rules – before they were changed two weeks ago – and had the opportunity to throw the yellow flag on the Justin Cox penalty?
I don’t know anymore. But how do you change the rules in the middle of a season?
That one wasn’t changed to bite the Riders in the butt but they were the ones haunted by it on Sunday.
This league.
CFL V.P. of Football Glen Johnson is on record as saying, “We just want to get the call right”.
They are not doing that.
6 – The naysayers who are scoffing at all of this are right about one – and only one – thing. The Riders made enough miscues against Winnipeg on Sunday that it shouldn’t have had to come down to a referee’s call.
Kicker Tyler Crapigna’s day was forgettable. He’ll survive and get stronger because of this.
Darian Durant threw two fatal interceptions and was inaccurate in the redzone which directly led to field goal attempts. Those suggesting his skills are on the decline are out to lunch. He’s always been somewhat erratic and his career completion percentage is proof of that.
The league-worst run defense was only slightly better in this game and they were still victimized by an 80-plus yard aerial touchdown on their secondary.
However as we’ve said all summer, the Riders are good enough at blowing games themselves. They don’t need the officials’ assistance.
In how many games now have questionable Pass Interference challenges gone against Roughrider defensive backs and for opposition defensive backs?
This sequence of events has happened against the Roughriders in games against Calgary, Hamilton and now Winnipeg.
And now, the Rider season is over with eight games to go.
Bravo.
7 – I was told TSN’s Sportscentre ran my call of the 85-yard punt return touchdown by Kendial Lawrence Sunday evening. I flipped on the Sportscentre replay on Monday morning and sure enough, they led off the show with it. It actually sounded and looked pretty good. Thank you very much TSN. They don’t do that very often.
They know that the Riders drive this league. Hopefully they can inform Mayberry.
8 – That Lawrence touchdown was the first return touchdown by the Roughriders since last year’s Labour Day Classic where Nic Demski returned one 50-some yards for a score.
9 – Hopefully Labour Day Weekend was a safe one around here and everybody had a good time despite the outcome of the game. The hotels, restaurants and bars appeared to all be full and that certainly illustrates why the Roughriders are such a big deal to this city and province.
Hopefully fans continue to sellout games the rest of the way even though the playoffs are out of sight. There are still tickets left for the final game at Old Mosaic Stadium on October 29 and that will be one of Saskatchewan’s all-time greatest moments.
10 – Sensing his Roughriders could use some goodwill and positive P.R., team President Craig Reynolds made the executive decision on Saturday to extend the Rider Fan Day autograph session by an extra 20 minutes. This ensured that each and every fan got an autograph from their Roughrider heroes.
Rider Fan Day is always a thrill and an emotional treat for me because I remember my Mom taking me to it many, many years ago. My autograph sheet from that day featured the names of Mike Strickland and Billy McBride which – after checking the Rider rosters many years later online – must’ve meant the year was 1980.
I would’ve been 7.
Very special.
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SEE YOU ON THE RADIO TODAY AT 4:00 PM
RP
@sportscage
Thanks for the column Rod. You are correct, seeing the games is an experience not to be missed. We come home to Regina (from Winnipeg no less) for every home game as we have had the same pair of season tickets in our family for 50+ years. This year has been tough some games to make that trek and this week was the toughest, not because of some of our own team's blown plays but because regardless of the team making enough mistakes to lose on their own – every team does that – the fact is it DID come… Read more »
Orridge was the worst hire ever for the CFL. The league will be so much better when he's gone. He's a chicken sh#t commish who can't show his face in public
You are dillusional go back to bed. Conspiracy? Nope just bad football team
Get over yourself Peterson
Sorry I cant agree with you. This is a horrible team not a bad one.
I will pay to send Regina's media types to interview school so we're not subjected to stupid interview questions every week.
Rod, I Thankyou for your column today. Like you I had a sick feeling after yesterday's game because I believe we were robbed of a win by the pass interference call. Penalty calling has become a guessing game at best this year. I do however feel pretty good about our team after watching the last few games. I see growth and unity and I see a team that is trying hard to do all the right things on the field. It is a process and a long one at that but I feel we are advancing quickly now. There were… Read more »
I'm not confident that the league would've picked up the flag had Chris Jones threw a challenge flag anyways. What are the chances the eye in the sky would over turn an officials call and damage the integrity of the on field offcials? That is the exact reason why I have hated the PI challenge from the start. The ability to challenge penalties is dumb. If it's called, no officiating colleague will throw their own team under the bus. It's one thing to say "Yeah you missed that one" to a call. It's a different thing to say "You were… Read more »
Thanks for giving us the mmg today rod. Another excellent read. I was at the game and the riders still have some improving to do. But once they find the keys the engine will run, it's too bad that the cfl is being run to the ground by orange. Do I want all the calls go our way. No. But have some consistency. I sure wish you would us the fans what you know of the going ons of the head office. Anyway again great read.
Guy in emerald park
We have to stop whining as an organization. This isnt the way to go about business, just play better! Quit making mistakes and the results will turn around. All this pouting, conspiracy stuff makes us look awful as a province. This football team and staff need to remember they are speaking for a province as well.
Agreed!
You are right in that the Riders made a lot of mistakes without the bad calls. But why didn't the coaches tell the defense to try to run out the clock by holding the rusher up instead of tackling him to the ground? There was only 2 seconds left. Now that is easier said than done but they could have played overtime.
Thank you Rod. I was disappointed with all the mistakes the Riders made. I left the game angry over the officiating. I have no idea how a DB is to defend anymore. When they changed the rule last year and there was to be no touching either way i was for it. This year it appears the reciever can run into, thru, and over the DB and it is the DBs fault. I have no idea what is going on with PI or CTR. Can we please have Higgins back?
Thanks for the column Rod.
Have a good monday!
Russ from Saskatoon
Fan Day could be so much better! I've gone most years for 25 years. And it is a gong show. No one runs the thing. No one makes any announcements. At least there was free food when SGI sponsored it. I stood in line at 8:40 to get a good seat beside the stairs to the field. (9:00 was way too early. Fat lot of good it did because everyone who had just showed up clogged all the aisles to the steps.) Mannerless clots. No coordination, nothing but a lot of lousy rap music with too much bass. Lots of… Read more »
I love this. Only in Saskatchewan would they think the league should give them preferential treatment because Saskatchewan supports their team.
It's to bad the refs of the Cfl are not better then they are but this is the scenario we have every year so let's move on because I expect a lot of calls not right or screwed up…maybe if they made more money then I believe the 16 or 18 thousand they get then they could be disciplined or fined for bad games and things would hopefully get naturally better but this isn't the case so all teams realize that they have to deal with the stripes.
Chris Jones should stop crying about a supposed conspiracy and shoulder some blame, he threw away his last challenge flag needlessly. Stop blaming officials and maybe critique himself and maybe he'd gain a bit more credibility
Valid points, rules change because the league realized they made an earlier mistake, which coaches took stupid advantage of. The so called phantom pass interference – could be right, but Jock Climie – who has zero affiliation to either team said that the rider defender hooked Dressler's hand making sure he could not reach of the ball. The fact that the official saw it blows my mind, but he was closest to the play and saw something to throw his flag.On the Winnipeg web sites, people call you a homer, and you probably are – I see no big deal… Read more »
How the hell do you HOOK A HAND?
How the hell do you HOOK A HAND?
I believe it's called a handshake. Lol!
This is the defining moment of Orridge's tenure as commissioner. He has the opportunity now to put the foot down and show everyone who is the boss. The crappy PI rule and challenging PI was implemented before he became commish. But he allowed Johnson and his flunkies to expand the gongshow replay and challenge system this past offseason which is now clearly a colossal failure. What he needs to do now is accept responsibility for that and start to make things right by skidding Johnson and all those Mayberry stooges who think they can reinvent the wheel. Obviously a lot… Read more »
Riders shot themselves in the foot but no matter what way you look at it, officiating is wrecking the CFL
Hey Rod, how about the offside call in the first half against the Riders that the command center confirmed as annouced on field. The play wasn't challenged yet they made sure to tell us it was the right call! I guess they didn't say anything about the PI becauase they knew otherwise. Great call on the punt return btw.
Thanks for taking the time to write this Rod. Very interesting and Oh So True. We are getting Tarred And Feathered by the CFL and some of these so called Officials should be receiving the same. How in Hell can they make mistakes like they are making when we have a chance to win and they screw the entire game up with such sickening calls. Riders played their hearts out yesterday and sure there were a few mistakes but they did not deserve the outcome of this game. Something has to be done, the CFL is going down the drain… Read more »