THURSDAY RODSERVATIONS
QUICK NOTES FROM FT. LAUDERDALE:
1. After some furious activity early in the week across the CFL, things seem to have calmed down somewhat since the GM/President meetings got underway in Las Vegas. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are represented by Craig Reynolds, Chris Jones and Jeremy O’Day.
2. Have you realized how insane the events of the past week are yet? Consider this: I was chatting with a shuttle bus driver Wednesday night (who bore a remarkable resemblance to former NHLer and Regina Pat Jamie Heward) and tried to explain what had just gone on with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.
“We finished 3-15 and pretty much blew out all of the management and coaching staff,” I recapped. “Then, from the team that won the championship, we stole their entire coaching staff and plan to raid half of their players.”
His jaw hit the floor. In fact, it’s kind of Mickey Mouse when you think about it because it’s so unprecedented and hard to believe it’s legal.
The Riders are the winners of the off-season hands down. The big, swinging hammers. People are going nuts. Get your tickets and merchandise!
Who knew Craig Reynolds had this kind of cojones?!
4. A TSN reporter said to me on Wednesday, “What does it say about Ed Hervey that nobody was willing to stick around and work with him?” I countered with, “I think it says more about Chris Jones that all his staff wanted to stay with him, and John Murphy from Calgary jumped too.” Included in the wave of coaches migrating to Saskatchewan is defensive line coach Ed Philion who’s looking for a place to rent from June to November.
Saskatchewan is the place to be again folks. How nice!
5. Things are in a state of flux for several Roughriders staff. The therapy staff was due to meet with Jones earlier this week but time evaporated and the new boss had to get on a plane to Nevada. No meeting. However therapy, equipment and video staff general survive regime changes and that’s how Ivan Gutfriend and Norm Fong stayed with the franchise for so long. It’s believed this will be Ivan’s 40th year with the Green & White.
6. That’s not to say there isn’t movement across the CFL this week however. Curious news out of Hamilton where it’s been reported that Ticats Coach/GM Kent Austin denied the Edmonton Eskimos permission to speak with Defensive Coordinator Orlando Steinhauer about their Head Coach position. How sad and unfortunate if that story is true, considering the Roughriders allowed Kent Austin out of his contract in 2008 to join Ole Miss.
7. TSN’s Farhan Lalji reports Khari Jones is the leading candidate to replace George Cortez as Offensive Coordinator of the B.C. Lions. One wonders where Rider O.C. Jacques Chapdelaine will end up, however my guess is he has one year left on his deal and will be looked after in that regard.
8. Before joining the Roughriders as QB/Passing Game Coordinator, Jarious Jackson was offered the Offensive Coordinator position with the Calgary Stampeders, according to Farhan. Perhaps the job will fall to Marc Mueller soon, although head coach Dave Dickenson is expected to call plays. Perfect situation for Marc.
9. How was the Pats game last night? Can’t wait to get back and watch them. Well, I can, but you know what I mean. Unfortunately NO ONE on this trip has asked me about the Pats, and they’re all hockey fans. Something needs to be done to get the Pats back into the public conscience in Regina and area. These SportsCagers went nuts over Tuesday’s NHL game in Sunrise, FL. They didn’t care if there were 200 people there or 20,000. They loved the calibre of hockey and noticed it!
10. On our SportsCage/Marlin Travel Ultimate Sports Trip, today is Day 7 and for most of us, we’ll be spending it on the beach enjoying the sun before heading to the Florida Panthers-Washington Capitals game tonight at BT&T Center. There was an announced attendance of 11,000 for Tuesday’s 4-2 Ottawa win over the Panthers but there will be many more tonight with the Great 8 in town. Hockey fans were celebrating Tuesday night as Broward County Council voted 5-3 in favour of making financial concessions to keep the Panthers here. One has to wonder now if that will accelerate the expansion process of Quebec City and Las Vegas as they were considered to be “landing spots” for the Panthers and Coyotes however those teams aren’t going anywhere.
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THAT’S ALL! SEE YOU SOON …
RP
@sportscage
Kent Austin is a jerk…. we allowed him to persue his "dream" job after winning a Grey Cup here and now he denies his own staff to better themselves? This will come back to bite him!
Darcy
The Regina Pats sadly, still have some of the worst marketing out of any of the privately owned clubs in the WHL. I truly believed with the new owners taking Marty Klyne on board things would change, but as a season ticket holder, club sponsor I'm yet to hear any new ideas from the Pats, let alone be approached for any new ideas or promotions. Furthermore, the lackluster front office performance is resulting in fewer fans watching some of the best on ice entertainment we've seen in years. I truly hope the Pats can improve their marketing and reach out… Read more »
It is hilarious how these American towns have a bottomless pit of money for NHL teams that nobody down there gives a crap about.
I love the fact QCSE bought the Pats, but it would be nice if they would do something with the Pats. The marketing is non-existent. Very disappointing!
The Pats had the opportunity to take advantage of a crappy Rider season and try and rebuild the fan base and get some fans back that may have not been spending their money with the Riders. Too bad, missed opportunity on QCSE's part.
Why can't people just come out and watch some damn good hockey.
Should not need any gimmicks. Good game last night but a very poor crowd. Support these boys
We didn't deny Kent Austin anything – he moved to Ole Miss which was 4 hours away from Brentwood Tennessee. The thought was he'd get established at Ole Miss and then Eric Tillman would follow. End of the day that didn't happen.
I'll tell you this. There is no way Hugh Campbell would have let that happen to his staff.
The Roughriders were, have been, and always will be pure trash. Looking forward to watching Chris Jones work his magic with Brett Smith as his QB.
Steinauer and the Cats came to an agreement that he would stay in Hamilton, that's why they 'denied permission.'
You need to tell people how good your product is and promote your star players.
Maybe Regina just isn't a hockey town.
We had a night off, looked at the website and got tickets to the game. I don't get the marketing thing either you want to watch a hockey game at a good level or you don't.
I'm in the rink every night and I like hockey.
Pats game a good one last night so whomever chooses not to go is missing out for sure. "Marketing"? …does no one know where the Brandt Center is located?…come on!! If you're any kind of hockey fan you don't need a whole lot of marketing… but teaming with WestJet for Friday's game; the Leap Year Feb 29th afternoon game promo for school kids…etc. is that not Marketing?? 3300 for a game is not a bad crowd for this busy time of year, regardless of who the Pats are playing. It's a great fan experience …right from the on ice performance… Read more »
Teaming with WestJet…I work for WestJet and have no idea what your talking about. Maybe marketing does need some work.
Anon. Riders trash team? What are you smoking or shooting up? Even we were having a terrible year we were almost selling out. What were teams like Toronto doing? Even when home games were in Hamilton they could only get aprox 3000 fans and they were only a few miles away. Our franchise is the best in the CFL bar none!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 2015 Sense of Humour of the year award goes to………
William Weppler!
Congrats William for your fantastic sense of humour and providing such great insight to the blog, you can collect your prize at your nearest yuk yuks where' I'm sure you frequent on a regular basis.
From your friends,
Obama
Gundersons
Trump
Senator Biden
Paco
Al
Darcy
and ever other "name" used on here.
For all of you who don't think marketing plays a role, really shows how small town/minded you are. Like Rod says, you market your stars, market your product and hopefully extend your reach to new audiences or spark intrests of those who may have never taken in a game. Marketing plays a role in everything today and sucessful teams do it well and strive to get better. The Pats need to improve their marketing, game day experience to attract/maintain a solid fan base…yes, for the average true hockey fans no gimmicks matter, but for some it means they will spend… Read more »
Justin's approval ratings four years from now will be 15% and to counteract that the Liberal party will ask Sophie to pose for Playboy. No stone unturned to keep the flashy image up to cover up the crappy government he runs.
Speaker Ryan
Agreed. Maybe Regina is not a hockey town. Perhaps Jr. Hockey is on its way out as family entertainment especially when the kids can play other sports. Maybe the same old crowd at the game are no longer interesting you know the hockey mom and dad dump and chase mentality, there is nothing wrong with a fight types. They do get tiring. Maybe the nhl package on the plasma is better atmosphere and game. Maybe the casino is better bang for the buck. There was no casino back in the day. Interestingly the world juniors is entertaining and excellent hockey.… Read more »
Maybe marketing dosen't work…. Yup cause the nfl all hype league would agree! Lol
Hockey is on its way out. People can no longer afford for their kids to play or for a family to attend a game.
Excuses. I don't recall hockey ever being affordable. Every year it was selling chocolates, oranges, meat, bottle drives, working bingo's etc. That was all 25+ years ago. Laziness is the key word. I find it quite funny how everyone clamours to watch a 3-15 team in a "B" rate league but to attend one hockey game people come up with a million… what's the word? Excuses!