THURSDAY RODSERVATIONS

As one CFL executive told TSN’s Gary Lawless on Wednesday, “This whole thing is insanity”.

2.  Obviously the coaching carousel in the CFL this off-season – or as I like to call it, “Musical Chairs” – has been ridiculous.  As I wrote about last week, it’s almost too much to take or to believe.  And that led to CFL Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge sending down an edict to all teams yesterday that no more coaching movement will be tolerated without his written consent.

The memo from Orridge drew plenty of snickers across the land, but he has the best of intentions.

3.  Why?  Well the Riders started this to be sure but things hit a crescendo Tuesday night when Montreal Alouettes defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe handed in his resignation (with two years left on his deal) and it was learned he’s bound for Edmonton to fill the same role on Jason Maas’ staff.  That drove the Alouettes wild and, apparently, led to Orridge putting his foot down.  As Lawless has reported, the whole Thorpe issue is now under investigation.

The inmates have begun running the asylum and that cannot be tolerated.

4.  The very latest on this is a statement from Noel Thorpe to TSN on Wednesday stating, as far as he’s concerned, he tendered his resignation before Orridge’s moratorium and he’s going to be an Eskimo.  Plus, after discussions with Alouettes President Mark Weightman, Thorpe feels it’s clear he can no longer work for Montreal.

5.  I think we foreshadowed this in the Monday Morning Goalie saying things were about to get crazy, and we were going to hear the “compensation” word a lot over the next little while.  However as of today, no team is worried about compensation.  They’re just trying to hold onto their staff!  Well, Ottawa’s still trying to get compensation from Edmonton for “stealing” Jason Maas and the situation is going to a mediator but it’s not expected they’ll get anything.

6.  And this whole incredible situation was triggered by Saskatchewan Roughriders President Craig Reynolds who turns the ripe age of 40 TODAY.  He’s been ever-present at his team’s news conferences this week but hasn’t talked to the media since last week’s hiring of Chris Jones.  Frankly, having known Craig for six years and studied him closely for the last year in particular, he seems very happy, calm and rested.  If he’s not proud of himself, he should be!

He has launched a 3-2 fastball into the upper deck with two out in the bottom of the ninth.  Is it a walk-off homer?  It’s too early to tell since the team has yet to take the field under Chris Jones but rest assured the rest of the teams in the CFL are nervous.

7.  And this just feels right.  The Saskatchewan Roughriders are back to being the most-hated franchise in the CFL and that feels much more normal to me.  What we experienced this 3-15 season of 2015 – being scoffed and laughed at – wasn’t sitting too well with anyone.  The Green & White has decimated their top two rivals in Edmonton and Calgary by stealing one’s coaching staff and the scouting department of the other (John Murphy).  What do they say?  If you want to kill a snake, cut off its head?

That’s what Craig Reynolds has done and football fans in Alberta are livid.

8.  We won’t say anything about Calgary but Edmonton’s had it coming for a long, long time.  This is the way they used to do business.  Back in the Hugh Campbell era, many players told me the Eskimos GM would tell them during free agency, “Let me know what Saskatchewan’s offer is and we’ll beat it by $15,000”.  They had the money and could do it.  And they did.  That’s led to 14 Grey Cups.

However I’m betting the Saskatchewan Roughriders capture their next Grey Cup title before Edmonton does.

And Campbell’s influence wasn’t limited to just the football field.  I’ll never forget being in the lobby of the Hotel Saskatchewan over a decade ago when Campbell raised his hands and said, “Rod, come to Edmonton and we’ll double your salary!”   I said, “But Hugh, you don’t know what my salary is.”  His response was, “It doesn’t matter.”  I wasn’t interested in leaving Regina at the time but I got a glimpse into how Edmonton did business.

9.  So here we sit.  Many feel the CFL should simply start engraving Saskatchewan Roughriders on the Grey Cup trophy for 2016 but we have miles and miles and miles to go before that.  As an update on where the Riders are, Head Coach & GM Chris Jones told reporters yesterday that now that his management and coaching staffs are in place, they’re going to take a breather before tackling the roster.  The team will hold a series of free agent minicamps in January and then they’ll start signing American rookies after “having seen them”.  Free agency in the CFL begins in early February and that’s when things are really going to get wild.

It should be noted too, that the Jones takeover in Saskatchewan hasn’t come without some hard feelings.  Some in the office won’t be part of the days ahead and that’s a shame.  It’s making the rounds on social media that long time travel assistant Cheryl McLean-Kiel and strength coach Dan Farthing won’t be a part of this regime moving forward.  We wish them well.

10.  So many in the Rider Nation are worried about Chris Jones pulling a “Don Mathews” and splitting here after a couple of years.  Let me ask you this:  if he leaves after earning one or two Grey Cups for the Roughriders, won’t you be happy?  Because if the vision this group has cast comes to fruition (and there’s no reason to think it won’t), we’ll be celebrating a 5th and 6th Grey Cup while Jones heads to his next stop and either John Murphy or Jeremy O’Day will be ready to take over and keep the winning train rolling.

Sounds great to me!

11.  A note on Murphy:  The first time I’ve ever met the man was on Tuesday when he came to the Brandt Centre for our live remote broadcast of the SportsCage.  Although we’d never met, we were very familiar with each other’s work and covered a lot of ground very quickly both on, and off, the air.  He’s a guy I’m very interested to learn more about and as I told him, “I’m sure glad you’re on our side”.  The Long Island, NY product seems equally happy to be here, as do all of the new faces in Riderville.  It’s going to take awhile for some of them to get used to, as new defensive line coach Ed Philion said on Wednesday, “Some of these fans look at me like a zoo animal?  I’m going to have to get a pair of eyeglasses with a fake nose and moustache”.

Welcome to the fishbowl.

12.  And lastly, a note on the Regina Pats.  They weren’t very good in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the visiting Kamloops Blazers but as we near the midway point of the 2015-16 WHL season, the Pats are in a playoff spot and that’s a little more than coach John Paddock predicted this summer.  They’re maddeningly inconsistent and were generally legarthic against the Blazers, failing to register a shot on goal until the 9:58 mark of the first period.  Regardless, it was a fun night to be at the rink and Sam Steel continues to dazzle, scoring his 10th of the season on a goalmouth feed in the dying seconds of the first period.

We have an NHL first round pick in our midst folks, but do you care?

There was plenty of talk amongst the NHL scouts before Tuesday’s game about poor attendance across the WHL (Saskatoon and Moose Jaw were mentioned) but I’m not going to go down that road.  I’ve been harping on it for years and the league continues to survive.  Their revenues are high and their expenses are low.  If they’re having problems managing their books, that’s their problem but no team seems to be complaining.

It is what it is.  The product’s great and if many people don’t know about it, that’s their problem.  You say the tickets are too expensive?  You can get them for $12 each at any Regina Safeway.

Buy them, or don’t.  I’ll be at all the games regardless.

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THAT’S ALL! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
RP
@sportscage