The Top 10 Thoughts On My Mind This Tuesday

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Well here we go with another attempt to make sense of 10 of my thoughts from the week that was in the world of sports. In addition to the Riders and CFL an update on the possible sale of the Saskatoon Blades and what in the world the Toronto Blue Jays should do… So here we go!

10 – How about those Saskatchewan Roughriders??? The Green and White improved to 4-and-oh on the season and for just the third time in their history with their convincing 37-0 win over Hamilton on Sunday. The question needs to be asked though, “Are the Riders that good or is Hamilton that bad?” The answer I think is a little bit of both. AND it’s going to be tough for the Riders to beat the Ti-Cats in back-to-back weeks despite the one-sided score on Sunday. Next week’s contest in Hamilton is the ultimate trap game. The team is coming off of a big win, playing a team that they are supposed to beat, going into a bye week. There are a lot of distractions that could come into play. We shall see.

9 – The forgotten story from last week? George Cortez! The Rider offensive co-ordinator was facing the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the first time since they dumped him as their Head Coach after just one season. Cortez was smiling ear to ear after a couple of big plays by the Rider ‘O’ and why not? You know that his dismissal came after the team had already secured Kent Austin as their GM/Head Coach. Dirty pool? Perhaps, but it is a business and Cortez knows that but the big must have been especially sweet for the offensive genius.

8 – Speaking of the Ti-Cats, you have to think that Kent Austin has been given a year’s grace. Yes injuries are a problem but he is shuttling guys in and out at liberty trying to find the right mix. The Tabbies are going to lose money hand over fist this season not playing in Hamilton and all of the challenges in which it presents. I think under the blessing of ownership Austin has been given the Green light to do whatever he needs to do this season. However, losing won’t be tolerated next year in their new digs.

7 – Other CFL news, Rene Parades field goal streak is alive and well after his record tying 30th attempt was blocked. The CFL was quick to point out that a blocked kick is actually ruled a fumble and not a miss. I loved the fact that they cited that the rule is the same in the NFL! (too funny) However, for those that say should he tie or break the record there should be an asterisk beside the accomplishment need to give it a rest. The rule is the rule move on an recognize the achievement that has vaulted him into the category of the league’s most dependable kicker if not the best!

6 – More CFL and did Winnipeg have a massive power outage two Thursday’s ago when the Riders played Toronto??? The Bombers appeared to have no idea how to conquer the defending Grey Cup champs as the Riders had done in week three. The Riders used a lot of running plays through the box and had Darian Durant remain in the pocket and look to exploit the Boatmen’s secondary which worked well for the Green and White. The Bombers, meantime, decided to abandon the running game and attempt to move injury prone quarterback Buck Pierce out of the pocket. Buck got hurt and the Bombers were shelled at Investor’s Group Field for the second time in as tries at home.

5 – One last CFL note. I loved the Mosaic Leap that Rob Bagg did following his touchdown reception at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday. I also was giggling at BC’s  touchdown Boat in Vancouver Saturday night not to mention the jumping-jacks the Riders secondary did following Craig Butler’s interception. My point, I miss the celebrations! They were uniquely Canadian and pretty creative to boot. I’d love to see the officials keep their flags in their pockets and allow the fun to continue!

4 – To hockey and while I may not have believed it last month when a sale of the Saskatoon Blades came to the forefront, it is becoming more and more apparent. I haven’t been able to round up the particulars on the deal yet. Although, it appears as though a prominent member of the alumni is leading a group to buy the team as soon as the end of August. The latest piece of evidence came yesterday when the club began looking for staff for the new season. It hadn’t occurred to me that the team didn’t have that in place. However, being the quality person that Jack Brodsky is I’m sure that he would take care of all of his employees and not want to put people in place until the future of the franchise was decided.

3 – More hockey and Hockey Canada announced the Saskatoon’s Mike Babcock will once again coach our Olympic contingent in Sochi next year. In addition, 47 players were named to the team’s orientation camp. That to me is fun as you can always argue who should and shouldn’t be there as it is like a giant real life fantasy team that you assemble. The only thing I know for sure is that I’m thrilled for former Blades Mike Green and Braden Holtby getting invited to the camp.

2 – One last hockey and the NHL came out with their new schedule and alignment last week. Could they really not have come up with anything better than the “Metropolitan” Division???? I know that Gary Bettman knows nothing about hockey or the history of the game but you would think that someone in the Operations department could have advised him a little better than that. (BTW one of the main forces behind the realignment was cutting down on travel for the Winnipeg Jets who for the last two seasons played in the Southeast Division. The funniest thing about the schedule and he realignment is that the Jets will actually travel more next year… oops.)

1 – AND one thought on the Toronto Blue Jays! I understand that the team that GM Alex Anthopolis has assembled has a small window to succeed. However, the core that he built around may be flawed. J.P. Arencibia is a below average major league catcher, Jose Bautista is too hot and cold at the plate and that goes for Edwin Encarnacaion and Adam Lind as well, AND when it comes to Brett Lawrie I hate to say this but it may be time to cut bait and see if you can’t land another arm or a more productive/consistent bat. It will be interesting to see what the Jays do as the MLB trade deadline approaches us next Tuesday.

 

That’s it for this week… Talk to you soon.

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