Oh Yes They Call Him The Streak...

"We've got some things to do. One of the problems is our field is poorly set up. At B.C. they have a 10-foot wall. At Edmonton they have a wall and a track that serves as a moat. We have a fan-friendly stadium, so we were looking at we could do, maybe with more permanent fencing and more fan control." (from the Leader-Post)

- Jim Hopson, Saskatchewan Roughrider President and CEO

Well, you know what that means:








Looks like a pretty good time, doesn't it? Much more fan-friendly.






Fencing around a field has never caused any problems, has it?

"May 29, 1985 - Brussels, Belgium; 39 people are killed at the European Champions Cup Final at Heysel Stadium when riots beak out and a wall separating rival fans of England's Liverpool and Italy's Juventus of Turin collapses.

April 15, 1989 - Sheffield, England; 95 people are crushed to death at an English FA Cup semifinal game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, when police open gates to alleviate crowding outside Hillsborough Stadium. The resulting rush of people onto the already filled terrace sections traps fans against riot control fences ringing the field.

Jan. 13, 1991 - Orkney, South Africa; at least 40 people are killed, most of them trampled or crushed along riot-control fences that surround the field, when fans panic and try to escape brawls that break out in the grandstand." (from CNNSI.com)


Now obviously CFL football and soccer in... well, everywhere else in the world, create different types of fan response. However, putting fencing around a playing field to keep fans off is a bad idea no matter where it happens. It is a tragedy waiting to happen... or at the very least, it increases the chances of something bad happening.

But surely there are some alternatives?

How about what Hopson mentioned himself - a moat. And not some sissy running track like in Edmonton. I'm talking about a Leeds Castle-style moat. Take a look at that thing - no drunken hillbillies are getting past that. Or maybe they will. Just to make sure, the moat shouldn't be filled with water - but something more along the lines of boiling, molten lead. Oh sure they'll be some health risks to fans, player, coaches, geese flying overhead, and people living as far away as Pilot Butte. But at least it'll keep people off the field. And that's really what it's all about isn't it?

Or...how about this? How about actual security guards who know how to do their jobs? How about security guards who's day jobs aren't standing at the front of a Zellers store? How about a security guard who isn't a 60 year old man who is 45 pounds overweight, or a 38 years old mother of 3, or a guy who looks like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite (without the sai's)? How about more than 2 RCMP officers who walk around the stadium once a half?

The security currently in place at Taylor Field is an absolute joke. And people wonder why there are incidents in the stands and on the playing field itself. I have seen with my own eyes security guards standing idly by while situations arise in the stands.

"We need our fans, the vast majority who are there having a good time, to help us by calling the security people. If there is an issue, call the number that appears on our video screen. We've got two teams of five security people ready to move around the stadium to deal with things proactively." (from the Leader-Post)

- Hopson

Obviously security guards are human and cannot be everywhere and see everything that is going on in the stands, which is why I think it's a good idea to have a number people can call. However, I don't think that two teams of five people is adequate to deal with a stadium that can hold close to 30,000 people - especially with the caliber of guard currently in place at Taylor Field.

Instead of doughy, elderly gentlemen - how about a security force of off-duty police officers or firefighters? Are RCMP cadets allowed to have another job 10 days a summer? Because if they are Regina sure has a lot of those kicking around. Or what about Pre-Police Studies or Human Justice students from the University of Regina. It seems to me that improving the quality of security guard at Taylor Field is the key to improving the level of safety in the stadium. And it would seem like there are a variety of ways to improve the security personnel.

Are you more likely to run onto the field if there is an off-duty Regina City Police officer standing in front of you - or someone who looks like they could have been an extra in Good Burger?

Thought so.

Monday Headlines

ROD BLACK KILLS PUPPIES

Now, I have no actual proof that Rod Black kills puppies - the only thing I'm going on is a comment he made near the end of Friday's Roughrider game, Black said something to the effect of, "This puppy is over," or, "This puppy has had it." We were all so sick of hearing Black drone on about who-knows-what for 3 hours that this comment immediately led to speculation of Black's puppy killing habits. I believe the story went that Black was holding a puppy hostage in the broadcast booth and if the Roughriders did not win he was going to kill it on national television. And when Marcus Crandall threw the 4th quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown, that puppy was over alright.

But seriously, the Rod Black/Danny McManus booth combo has to be the worst in sports history doesn't it? I don't mind Black's voice but I don't think he can think/react quickly enough to do play-by-play for fast moving sports like basketball, hockey and football - and football doesn't even move that quickly. The only thing I don't mind Black doing is baseball and I think that's because it moves at a pace he can handle and he'll have stats and a script that he can work with.

My favorite Black-ism from Friday night: He was commenting on how Saskatchewan would have to bring its A game to beat a team that was an A+ (B.C). Now I'm not sure how scientific Rod's alphabet ranking system is but wouldn't an A+ still beat an A? Maybe it's just me.

And Danny McManus, wow - were to begin? I think the idea behind former football players in the broadcast booth is so they can provide inside information and insight that the viewing public might otherwise not be aware of. I can't be certain but I don't think Danny provided either one of those things on Friday. TSN needs to put Matt Dunigan in the broadcast booth and move Danny to the studio show, where there is a script and he doesn't have react and think on his feet so much. I'm not saying that McManus is not able to think on his feet but the guy has never been a broadcaster before, he's one year removed from playing in the league - that's a big jump. He was sideline reporter during the first week of the season and now by Week 3 he's a colour commentator - that's an even bigger jump. How about letting him do the studio show for awhile so he can get some experience in broadcasting instead of just unleashing him on the viewers.

Wow, that was quite the headline story.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDER QUARTERBACK HEADLINE

This is not about a quarterback controversy. If I hear that phrase I'm going to puke in my own mouth. No, this is about an interesting discrepancy we noticed while watching the game on Friday. In his one half of work, Kerry Joseph threw the football almost exclusively to D.J Flick and Andy Fantuz. But as soon as Marcus Crandall came into the game, he immediately began throwing the ball to Matt Dominguez - and Crandall threw it to him often as well. This produced the only touchdown the Roughriders scored. I'm not sure if Dominguez's involvement in the second half was because of Crandall or possibly something that B.C was doing defensively but it was still interesting to note anyway.

COOPER'S VICIOUS REVERSE-JINX

To my great surprise, Cooper actually picked the Roughrider's to beat B.C 27-24 on Friday. I was so surprised in fact that I accused him of trying to reverse-jinx the Roughriders by picking them to win. He claimed that wasn't his intent, but it looks like I was right. So to combat the bad luck that he brings upon the Roughriders, Cooper is now going to be picking against them for the rest of the season.

GARY BETTMAN EVEN FAILS AT FAILING

The commissioner of the NHL is clearly trying to get himself fired. But he is going about it in such an overt way that nobody believes he is trying to sabotage himself - it's just too obvious. If you hadn't heard the NHL released it's schedule last week and once again they are going to play an outdoor game during the season - which was a success despite bone-snapping cold 2 years ago. This year the game is going to be played in Buffalo, between Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

HOWEVER, this game is going to take place on January 1st, 2008. And that may not seem like a bad thing at first glance. But Mr. Bettman has long made it clear that his only mission in life is to grow hockey in the United States. And what are the majority of the people in the U.S doing on January 1st? They are watching college football. January 1st is probably the single biggest day in U.S college football and hockey has no chance at competing against it, none - even if it is a special game involving hockey's biggest star (Sidney Crosby). I have no idea why Mr. Bettman continually sets this league up to fail. Why on earth would the NHL want to compete with college football bowl games - or even think it could compete? This almost makes less sense than the glowing puck.

See... Now That's More Like It

7 turnovers.

41 points given up.

Starting quarterback going 4-14 for 35 yards in the first half and getting the big ugly axe.

A 42-12 loss.

These are things with which I can relate. And in a way it's almost welcome to see, not because I am actively rooting against the Roughriders but because this is a reality I am familiar with. After 15 years of high expectations coupled with staggering defeats, this is sort of what you'd expect from the team. At least I do. Shouldn't the burden of proof be on the team, to prove to me that they've changed. Rather than me once again blindly believing that things are going to be different this year, without any real proof.

That's why I've been preaching common sense all week. Starting the season 2-0 doesn't guarantee a Grey Cup, home playoff game, or anything for that matter. But you know what, starting the season 2-1 doesn't guarantee ignominious defeat either. The reality of the situation is that the Roughriders are 2-1 and in second place in the Western Division. Nothing more, nothing less. So can we make an agreement to wait until at least the halfway point of the season before we start looking for fires to put out or start. There are still 15 games to play, so ease up eh.

That being said, there are some things I'm interested in seeing now:

...how will the Roughriders respond after facing some adversity for the first time?

...how will Kerry Joseph respond to getting the hook after the first half?

...will I get any credit for saying months ago that the Roughriders would not be able or have any interest in running the ball? I sometimes find it hard to be really interested in football that allows you to totally discount the running game. In the NFL the extra down demands that running the football be part of a team's offensive strategy.

In related news, apparently the blackout was lifted for the game? What time did that happen at? I had TSN on until about 8:30 and had nothing but black screen. So myself and those who I watched the game with proceeded to watch everything on my 15" laptop screen. Which was not as bad as it may sound. The worst part of the experience was have to suffer through Rod Black and Danny McManus. I don't think I can even get into how bad they are without having chest pains, so I'll just leave it as is. But is there really no way we can do better than this?

And one other note for today. I need your help with something. Because I am inherently biased I need some outside opinion. On Friday, the Official Roughrider Blogger wrote,

"Fire-up the Riderville express, and get on now, because after tonight, it may be standing room only!"

Now fine, that's all well and good. However, on June 18th I had a headline that read:

"THE ROUGHRIDER BANDWAGON - GOOD SEATS STILL AVAILABLE"

And on July 4th I wrote:

"The Roughrider Bandwagon: Sold Out
Seriously people, I told you to get on months ago when there were still lots of good seats available. Now, after one mediocre win the Bandwagon is dangerously close to being over-capacity. This might be a fire marshall situation soon."

Now I have no delusions about how far reaching this blog is and I doubt that this person actually read what I wrote. That being said however, this seemed just a little too close for comfort for me - but it's actually not as close as I first thought it to be. Still I need to go to the judge's scorecards on this one - I'm turning this over to the public to decided.

The Links

Based on the fact that the ESPY Awards are going to be airing this Sunday I wanted to throw up a bunch of the parodies they've done over the years. I seem to recall a really funny one with Vince Vaughn as a sports agent for children. However, exhaustive YouTube and internet searches didn't really provide much material...

...except this one and I can't even take credit for it. JK (not Rowling) sent it to me this week and I had never seen it before. This was what gave me the idea for the ESPY-themed links. So thanks to him.

...Cooper just sent this to me. Is this what passes for high-level science in Japan?

...and continuing with today's Flight of the Conchords theme I thought I would throw a few songs of theirs up here. There is some debate as to whether this is called Sally or Part-time Model but it's good nonetheless. I rather enjoy the line about the flautist in this song. And I suggest you do this next time you are about to get mugged - and if you live in Regina it's probably not far off.

Artist of the Week

It appears as though Artist of the Week has made a permanent move to Friday's. It seems to fit better with what we do on Friday. So be sure to mark your calendars.

This weeks artist is Flight of the Conchords. They are described on their website as "New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists." They also have a new show on HBO called, not surprisingly, Flight of the Conchords. The official site for the HBO show can be found here. You can also watch clips of them on Myspace here and here.

If you currently subscribe to Movie Central, or may sometime in the not too distant future, you can watch new episodes of their show on Sundays. You can also watch old episodes on demand from Movie Central. I must warn you that the show is very, very dry. So if you're a big fan of According to Jim this might not be the show for you.

You Wanna Get Nuts... Let's Get Nuts!

July is widely regarded as the worst sports month of the year - and yikes, for good reason, there is just nothing happening right now. This week has been especially bad because baseball has even been off - and when you're upset because baseball is taking a break, you know you've officially hit rock bottom. If it wasn't for the CFL, Sports As Life might be on a month-long hiatus.

But since everyone in the newsroom (me) is a little punchy today after staying out too late last night at the new Harry Potter movie (he stole my shoes), I've decided to take some shots at other people in the world of sport. Not cheap shots mind you, I'd just like to talk a little common sense today.

If you've been paying attention to the local sports media (you know who I'm talking about) this week, and come'on how could you not, you'd know that there has been much hand-wringing about last Sunday's game not being a sell out. The accusation seems to be that the people of Saskatchewan are too lazy/cheap/dumb (ok, that last one might be a bit of a stretch) to get out to a football game and support the Roughriders. Ok, now let me break this down for you in simple chapter and verse - instead of blaming the fans (25,000 of whom still showed up, by the way) why don't we shift it to who should be taking the blame, the TV broadcasters and the team itself. Games on Sunday's now start at 5pm local time, instead of 1pm or 3pm, which used to be the standards. You can thank TSN and the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club for that decision.

The real problem with this is that much of the ticket buying public that attend Roughrider games comes from outside the Regina area, this much has long been known and is not disputed - it's Saskatchewan Roughriders. By no longer starting games in the early afternoons people who live in, oh I don't know, say Saskatoon, are less likely to drive down to Regina for a football game. And here's why - with a 5pm kickoff that means the game won't be over until 8 or 8:30, which means you aren't in your car and on the way out of town until 9 at the absolute earliest. Then, if you're going to Saskatoon, you're not home until between 11 and 11:30pm at the absolute earliest. Those are tough hours to deal with on a Sunday night with a work week looming, especially if you're taking the family to the game. And let's be honest there are people that drive from a lot farther away than Saskatoon to come to a Rider game - and if you're not going to get home until midnight or later, I'm pretty sure you'd think twice about driving down to Regina for a game.

So before we're so quick to jump all over the people who didn't attend the game, perhaps a look at why they didn't attend the game was in order - the late start time is a huge reason.... ticket prices have gone up again this year and some people who have attended in the past might now have been priced out.... if you look out your window you'll see that gas prices are around $1.20 a litre - for someone that has to drive a couple hours (or even less) to get to Regina, this could potentially be a huge factor in whether they go to the game or not.

Wow, my sociology minor is finally paying off.

And since we're on the subject of attendance, there is already hand-wringing and complaint about this Friday's game against the B.C Lions possibly not being a sell-out, both from your official Roughrider Blogger (seriously go read him - buy the ticket, take the ride) and your local sports media. First of all, have I been asleep for a thousand years? When did sold out football games become the norm in this province? For as long as I can remember, one or two sold-out games a year is pretty much standard, Labour Day being the one guarantee. Why is a game with 90 or 95% capacity suddenly unacceptable? I think because of the sold-out preseason game - where there were literally thousands of free tickets given away - expectations have been set just a little high, don't you think? Perhaps nearly 2 decades of mediocrity have turned people off from the team as well- although Robin Williams still has a film career, so maybe that logic doesn't hold.

Anyway, back to the subject of Friday's game. Obviously I'm no expert, as I don't get paid to do this, but I would suggest to you that Friday's game might not sell-out because of the INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL that's taking place just out side of the city. If you're a country music fan or a fan of alcohol - and remember what province we're in - do you attend the once a year, colossal country music party, or do you go to the Roughrider home game, of which there are 9 per year, albeit this is a first-place showdown against B.C. I will leave you to come up with your own answer to that question - but just think logically about it for a second.

I would love to see some common sense, some rational thought and logic employed by the sports media in this province - instead of knee-jerk reactions and heavy-handed opinions given down from on high. I suppose that is the nature of sports reporting in general (I can be as guilty of that as anyone) and isn't necessarily specific to Saskatchewan. But just because that's how it is everywhere else doesn't mean we can't strive to be a little bit better than that sometimes.

We're better than that aren't we.

Thanks for 1000

Well as many of you have noticed Sports As Life has hit 1000 views. The number might actually be slightly higher, as my counter seems to be about as accurate as Kerry Joseph in a wind storm (sorry, old habits you know) - I think the actual number is closer to 20,000...well maybe not. There also seem to be multiple people claiming the title of '1000th Viewer' - again, blame the counter and you can also fight it out amongst yourselves.

But I do want to say thanks to everyone who has stopped by over the last 6 months. I doubt I would still be doing this if it wasn't for you. I know 1000 hits doesn't sound like much in the grand scheme of things but if far surpasses any expectations I had for this site. And I know I said that about 500 hits as well, so I'm even more blown away by 1000.

Things are also starting to pick up around here. It took 117 days for Sports As Life to go from 0 to 500 hits and 43 days for it to go from 500 to 1000 hits. I'm not sure if we can keep that pace up but it's something anyways. The exposure from Sask Blogs has help, although that site has been down for the past few days - not sure what is up with that. Also hopefully the Mysask.com thing will get rocking and we can be a part of that. We're also still thinking about getting some podcasting off the ground, so hopefully that'll come together too.


Wow, it feels like there should be something else I write about today but there is literally nothing going on in the sports world. There is nothing happening today except the new Harry Potter movie coming out. And the last two days have featured and unwatchable All-Star game (MLB) and home run hitting contest.

Thankfully its only two weeks until NFL training camps open and then the real football season starts.