So things didn’t go as we would have liked Thursday night in Edmonton. Looking to get back on track from our 1^st loss of the season before the bye week, the team headed west after a great week of practice to get us back in the win column. Once again credit goes to Edmonton for playing well and just like any other game, win or lose, we must go back and look at what we can improve. Watching the game at home with some friends, some pizza (and a few drinks), I couldn’t help but feel frustrated and helpless that I couldn’t contribute in any way possible to help my team out this week. But the good news is that this game is over and we get to play again on Sunday when Winnipeg rolls in town for the Labour Day classic. Something you learn very early in football is that a game is never as good as it appears and never as bad as it seems. The eye in the sky never lies so when we check out the game film as a group we’ll know what we have to work on this week to bring us back to our winning ways. I also learned quickly last year that fans here are the most passionate football fans not only in the CFL but perhaps in all of North America. You guys are simply awesome. But sometimes, some of you great fans say things that just don’t make any sense. Just like I heard from many of you in the first month and a half of the season that we were bound to go undefeated for the season, now I hear that we’ll be lucky to make the playoffs. Someone even told one of my teammate last week that he thought we might not win another game this season!!! In case you’re wondering, no the sky is not falling so no need to panic because we’re not forfeiting the rest of the season. The season is not a sprint, it’s a marathon and you want to finish the season strong heading into the playoffs where it becomes a free-for-all in a fight for the Grey Cup. Let’s ride these highs and lows together and see what happens in Montreal in late November.

 

 I get asked a lot from people back home and friends from other teams what it’s like to play in Saskatchewan, if the team takes good care of us. I’ve been on 3 teams in my short CFL career and I have friends on every team in the CFL and after talking to them I can say with confidence that the Riders, in my opinion, treat their players the best of any other team in the league. My first team (Ottawa) was in financial ruin when I showed up my first year (their last) so even though their intentions may have been there, they didn’t go out of their way to help. We weren’t given mesh practice shorts until the 2^nd week of the season so we had to wear old high schools game pants to practice in, which meant that during camp when we had 2 practices a day (and nowhere to wash the pants) we’d have to wear the soaked wet pants from the 1^st practice for the 2^nd one. My 2^nd team (Winnipeg) was better but very business like. They’d give you what you needed (or league required) but besides one office assistant and one payroll employee, no one was willing to help out when you had questions, or needed something very simple. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, football is a business but great businesses are the ones that are willing to go the extra step for you. I remember my first few days when I showed up in Regina last year at the facilities: everyone was willing to help you in anyway possible. The head coach would joke with you when he saw you in the hallway…the president took time to see if you needed any help getting setup in the city…support staff like Sheri, Bobbie and Gordie would go out of their way to get me apartment info, find a dry cleaner, etc…the best example is when I needed to go see an apartment during camp, Tony Playter, who I had meet only 2 times at that point, threw me his car keys and told me to go check it out.  He didn’t have to do that but that little difference is what sets this team apart from the rest league, it’s what makes it the place to be playing in the CFL. When we went to the Grey Cup last season, the team took unbelievable care not only of us but of our families, helping set up flights, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc…that’s why it doesn’t feel like a business around here, it just feels like a family and you can’t ask for more than that…and I tell you my friends, I’m not making this stuff up…