THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. DAN CLARK’S INJURY: His ankle is a mess and everyone’s worried the Rider offensive line will be too for as long as Clark’s gone. Nobody yet knows how long that will be (probably not even Dan, himself) but remember this: rookie O-linemen have come in and saved the day before. Rookie Chad Folk started many games at centre for the 1997 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts and they didn’t miss a beat. In fact it was another rookie teammate who helped anchor that O-line blocking for Doug Flutie, Pinball Clemons and Robert Drummond and later became a centre, himself. His name was Jeremy O’Day. And now you know the rest of the story. I’m not saying Logan Bandy will save the day for sure here and they will have their work cut out for them in working out the snap exchanges on the short week for the Montreal game. It’s a big loss for sure and nobody is more important to that Rider front line than Dan Clark. But it’s far too early to think the sky is falling over this.

2. DERRICK MONCRIEF’S PENALTIES: Very bizarre to see a veteran well-spoken leader like Moncrief taking those silly penalties Saturday night. We’re not down at field level and so it’s tough for us to really gauge what the heck went on. But the Riders cannot afford to lose games to the lowly Elks if they plan to hang with the rest of the west and ever climb mount Winnipeg to finally Slay the dragonous Blue Bombers. Even an early season loss to Edmonton could have been disastrous for the Riders Grey Cup chances and Moncrief’s fun and games after the whistles very nearly made that happen. It was very selfish on his part and not at all what the Riders signed up for when they brought him back as their prized free agent signing.

3. PENALTIES BECOMING A STAPLE OF DICKENSON ERA: Some coaches are famous for cracking down (John Hufnagel comes to mind) and others have built a reputation of letting their guys run wild (Dave Ritchie everywhere he went, especially in BC and Winnipeg). The Riders had penalty problems last year and head coach Craig Dickenson has been reluctant to crack down on his men and their need to play with an edge. If the trend continues throughout this season, one has to wonder if that’ll catch up with the Green & White when it matters most in November. You would hate to see something like this define the coaching era of some-one like the folksy Dickenson who has done a plethora of good things here and had his share of successes.

4. THE JASON MAAS STOCK MARKET: Picked up again this week. Still not riding anywhere near as high as the Jason Shivers stock market but the action with Shaq Evans including a failed flea flicker attempt were exciting plays tailored around the athletes’ abilities instead of some mundane game plan commanding the athletes to conform to it. The Rider offence didn’t quite break out in Edmonton but we had to know the Elks would put up a much better fight than week one and it’s only a matter of time before Chris Jones gets that defence right. But the integration of Shaq Evans in tandem with Kian Schaffer-Baker has set them up very nicely for the return of Duke Williams. So long as this Dan Clark injury thing doesn’t destroy their pass protection completely, the Riders should be on the verge of a major breakout. You read it here first.

5. WINNING IN MONTREAL: The Alouettes are a good football team but they seem to be in disarray for whatever reason. In each of their first two games it seemed like they played well enough to tease you into thinking they’re good enough until they do something completely out of left-field to betray that newfound trust. The Riders are undermanned along the offensive line but the Als have injuries too, including their stud running back William Stanback. I’m not sure the Alouettes are good enough to overcome that. Especially since there’s some lingering doubt as to whether Vernon Adams Jr or Trevor Harris really has this team under their wing. It’s been said that to have two quarterbacks is to have no quarterback. Some in Regina will argue that JJ Barnagel (Joe Barnes and John Hufnagel) from 1981 proved that theory wrong by going 9 and 7. However it’s a short list and let’s not forget that team did miss the playoffs. Look for the Riders to win by a field goal but they’ll have to really grind this one out.

6. REGINA RED SOX WIN STREAK: One week ago, I was fielding many questions asking “What is wrong with the Regina Red Sox?”  What a difference a week makes. The Sox rattled off 4 straight wins including their first 2-game home sweep of the Okotoks Dawgs since the 2011 finals in which the Sox captured their first ever championship in the Western Major Baseball League. It did sour a bit with 3 losses in their last 4 including a pair to Sylvan Lake and Weyburn on Father’s Day but they are playing some entertaining ball these days. Road games against the pesky Moose Jaw Miller Express Tuesday and Sunday should tell us enough about whether or not the Sox have truly turned a corner.  The Sox enter Tuesday a game under .500 in third place by virtue of losing both of their head-to-head meetings with the Millers while the Jaw sits comfortably 3 games ahead for 2^ndplace. That means if the playoffs started today, Regina would play Moose Jaw in the first round. Fitting that this is the first year they are giving out a trophy (I’m calling it the Clark Gillies Cup) to whoever wins that series, the Trans-Canada clash. I hope it really becomes a thing. That rivalry has been fun even in baseball.

7. NEW EXTRA INNING RULE: Putting runners on base to start extra innings in the majors hasn’t sped the games up and putting runners on 1st and 2^nd in the WCBL hasn’t helped either. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. It shortens the amount of innings played which would be great if it didn’t cause that inning to last 45 minutes to an hour. The players don’t like it and neither do I. Maybe I’m just a dinosaur and I’m okay with that, too. Did I mention I hate it?

8. BEING AN AGENT: I’ve had the fortunate privilege of acting as the unpaid volunteer agent for a junior hockey prospect for a family friend these last few weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the changes that have happened to the business of the sport since I was around it some 15 years ago. One General Manager tells me “Most of the agents at this level are bloodsuckers and do nothing for the kids.” Sadly, I suspect he’s right.  

9. RANDOM EX-RIDER: Having Dan Rashovich on In The Huddle last week reminded me of another Canadian linebacker who could start in the middle and was a torpedo on special teams; Ray Bernard. That guy hit like a truck. Remember the days when we used to get excited about that kind of thing? Who are some of your favorite random Roughrider alumni who nobody ever talks about anymore?

10.IN THE HUDDLE THIS WEEK: Rider Roundtable postgame show host Daniella Ponticelli joins us, Olivia Lawrence has all the latest news on the Dan Clark injury and you won’t want to miss finding out who’s in Marshall Hamilton’s dog house this week. Watch us Tuesday night at 7 and select replays later in the week on Access Now TV or the Access Now App.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)