The New Look Sports As Life

Only some quick administrative things for you this morning. We've been busy trying to get this blog out to the people over the last couple days, so unfortunately there is not really any new material right now. But that doesn't mean that nothing is new here.

First of all, we are now part of the Sask Blog network, so thanks to them for having us. If you want to check them out and take a look at other blogs in Saskatchewan, just follow the link over the left.

There are also some functional and cosmetic changes. There is now a subject archive on left-hand side. All old posts are arranged by subject. So if there's an old article you want to read again you can now search by subject, rather than trying to remember the date when it was posted. Also after each post there is a now a subject label and if you click on it, it will take you to other articles on that subject.

Finally, there is now an option to email posts. If you find one so good you just have to share it with somebody, you can click on the little envelope icon after the post and you can email to everyone you know.

That's all that's new here right now. But expect more changes soon. We're hoping to get a logo designed for Sports As Life - so if you have any ideas be sure to pass them along. Perhaps we can even have a contest or something like that.

Also we are in early-stage development of a Podcast idea. Hopefully within the next month or so we can get something off the ground in that area. I think the plan is to do a weekly Podcast, probably centering around the Roughriders, at least for the CFL season. So that's something else exciting to look forward to.

And one more thing, the 117 Reasons... column from Monday, which was very well received - so thank you for that, will be entered into a contest that is going to determine the official Roughrider blogger for this year. I just happened to stumble across this contest yesterday on mysask.com. To meet the word requirements for the contest I had to cut the article down by more than a third, so it doesn't quite have the same 'pop' that it does in its full form, but we'll see what happens. You can check out the contest here, or just go to www.mysask.com ; I encourage anybody who has ever had anything to say about the Riders to enter, it's about time we had some fresh voices in the sports media in this province.

117 Predictions, Observations, Questions and Reasons to Watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders This Year

I had every intention of attending the opening day of Rider training camp yesterday. However, life, as it is wont to do, decided to intervene. Until I actually get paid to do this, that may happen from time to time. But fear not, I am not without Roughrider-related material. I'm just going to make it up.

Blast off...

1. I don't think I'm the only one who's looking forward to the first ever 8 wide receiver formation. With approximately 27 wide receivers on the roster, I don't see what else they could be shooting for. If you're scoring at home, 8 receivers leaves 3 offensive linemen.

2. Will the new Code of Conduct result in a reduction in aggravated assault charges? Are we the only team that has/needs a Code of Conduct?

3. The Colorado School of Mines has to be greatest school name in U.S college football. Former Oredigger's quarterback Chad Friehauf is at Rider camp this year. (Actually I found out this morning that Friehauf was cut yesterday - words will never be able to express how upset I am about this.)

4. Two words - Jason French.

5. Late at night, when it's quiet and you're all by yourself, don't you sometimes miss the hitch-screen?

6. Seriously, Jason French is still on the roster? It's been my goal for over two years to have this guy run out of town on a rail. I thought after last season the Jason French era/nightmare was over. Here we go again.

7. Everybody Loves Kent - right now the honeymoon is still on and everyone is in the throws of passion. But will reality set in once that first, inevitable 3-game losing streak hits? Will everyone remember that they used to loathe Austin when things aren't going well? That's some tough history for him to overcome.

8. Do you think the Rider's will in fact try not to run the ball at all this year?

9. Is 9-9 more acceptable to the people of Saskatchewan from a General Manager/Head Coach combo that is both white and media friendly? I'm serious. Do you think that two black men with a predominantly black team could possibly get a fair shake in this province? I am not saying that race was responsible for Shivers and Barrett getting blamed for their mediocrity. I'm just saying it'll be very interesting to see what kind of treatment this new regime gets if their plans don't quite pan out like they thought.

10. Hey, Paul McCallum basically won the Grey Cup for the B.C Lions last year, remember that? I have the sudden urge to go dump manure on someone's driveway.

11. Odds on what will be the first offense a Rider is charged with this year:
Dogfighting - 75:1
Transporting a Woman Across State Lines (Mann Act violation) - 50:1
Criminal Harassment - 45:1
Possession with Intent to Distribute - 30:1
Possession with Intent to Ingest - 25:1
Speeding - 15:1
Driving While Under the Influence - 10:1
Aggravated Assault - 6:1
Generally Just Not Giving An Expletive Deleted - 3:1
Mediocrity - even
Being Too Inaccurate and a Terrible Passer - taken off the board

12. Remember last year's league-leading defense? Now remember that about 85% of it has been dismantled.

13. Can Kerry Joseph prove the people wrong who say he is just too inaccurate and a wildly overrated QB? Will he be able to master such complex throws as the 5-yard out and the button hook. Keep in mind this is the guy who last year would make spectacular overthrows relatively simple.

14. In all seriousness, it's great that there is finally new turf on Taylor Field. Playing in the parking lot would probably have been easier on the players than playing on that old turf.

15. Oh, and it will always be Taylor Field to the people who care about things like honour and tradition. Between Mosaic Stadium, the Brandt Centre and the Conexus Arts Centre it's enough to make you sick. We're not as far off as you might think from "Regina - brought to you by SaskTel." When it happens just don't say I didn't warn you.

16. I think the new salary cap rules will be enforced with WWE-like rigidity.

17. Would you rather find $10 in the street or have the Riders win the Grey Cup? I'm just asking. (This test was a creation of ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, in his tireless and relentless crusade against the WNBA.)

18. Drew Tate will not be the Rider's franchise quarterback of the future.

19. You thought we were laughed at before...the Riders now have male cheerleaders.

20. Willy Cole's hairpiece will become self-aware and will start controlling Willy's thoughts and actions.

21. Is Fred Perry going to be as effective this year when he is getting double-teamed on every play? Without Nate Davis on the line to command a double-team, I'd say Fred is going to be getting a lot more attention this year.

22. Kent Austin was fired from his last two jobs in football - bears keeping in mind.

23. It's time to have a men's washroom back on the 2nd level of the East Side of Taylor Field. We shouldn't have to walk down to the main level.

24. Gainer's car needs to be brought back immediately. Seeing him ride around Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field in the 'Gainer Mobile' brought to you by Capital Pontiac is a disgrace.

25. The Flame got a raw deal.

26. I wonder if they'll give Chris Szarka a jersey this year.

27. Everybody always rags on the dog show at halftime but I swear I was at a game when I was younger that featured Lawnchair Dancing at halftime.

28. It's been almost 20 years since this team has had a home playoff game. 20 years! Can you comprehend that? There are usually only 8 or 9 teams in the league and the Riders have not been able to host a playoff game for almost 2 decades. Is that even mathematically possible?

29. I almost feel sad that Charles Thomas and his turnstile blocking technique are no longer with the club. It was one thing that you could always count on - and there are not too many definite things in the world. Has anyone ever been more overmatched by the position of offensive tackle?

30. What's the chance Kerry Joseph finishes the season as Saskatchewan's starting QB? Less than 50%? It's a lot easier to have a back-up making $200,000 rather than $350,000. (Joseph took a salary reduction for team salary-cap reasons)

31. Would an Andy Fantuz sophomore slump affect Cooper's man-crush on him?

32. The Riders are going to either be really good or really bad this year. I don't know if there's going to be a middle-ground. Let's just hope for a little consistency this year. I can handle terrible play as long as it's consistently terrible - just don't get my hopes up one week and then crush them the next.

33. I will probably swear off the Riders and CFL football somewhere around Week 12 - as usual.

34. Hopefully Luca Congi makes the team in some capacity, at least as the placekicker, so that I can continue my crusade to use "Congi" as a verb. As in, "He really Congi'd that one!" And the great thing is that "Congi" is totally ambiguous and situationally-determined. It can be used to mean either terrible or great.

35. As always, rouges will probably tell the story.

36. If Jason French is heavily involved in the offence I could be on suicide watch by Game 3.

37. Complaining. Lots and lots of complaining. Right across the board, wherever you go. I think that's the safest prediction I've ever made.

Well 37 numbered points isn't quite 117 but many of those 37 contained more than 1 observation, prediction or question - so let's just say it all adds up to 117 and call it even.

3 Songs For Walking in the Rain

Since I happened to find myself walking home from work in the rain on Thursday whilst listening to my iPod (as usual), I kept a keen ear out for good rain songs. Here were the best three songs that I heard for walking in the rain:

Song 6 - Ane Brun
Gagging Order - Radiohead
Grey Room - Damien Rice

So check them out. You won't be sorry you did, regardless of what the weather is like outside.

Monday Headlines

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Since I was enjoying the nice weather for the majority of the weekend, I missed almost all of what happened in the World of Sport. So in case you missed it too, here's what I missed - Chris Pronger showed his true colours and delivered a forearm-shiver to Dean McAmmond's head...Lebron James finally stepped up and became a superstar...and honestly, I think that's about it. So due to the almost complete lack of worthwhile sports news this has got to happen...

MONDAY HEADLINES CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

You'd be surprised at how difficult it is to come up fake news headlines when there is a serious lack of real sports news. So unfortunately until further notice (which could be as early as next week) the Monday Headlines segment is going to be discontinued I think.

BAND OF THE WEEK

This week's band is Wil (actually not a band at all, just an artist - so maybe this will have to be called Artist of the Week from now on). You can check out his music at www.ibreakstrings.com and at www.myspace.com/wilibreakstrings. I found myself in HMV a couple weeks ago and one of his songs happened to come on the CD player as I was paying for my purchases. The random and coincidental nature of music is something I really enjoy - you never know what you're going to hear and when you're going to hear it.

The Links

Well because I'm not working tomorrow, I thought I should do some posting today (because it seems I only have time to post at work, how sad is that. so I guess it works out that I am almost getting paid to write this page). So here are your links for this week:

...I'm going to tell you straight away that some of this video is extremely disturbing. If you have a weak stomach or delicate sensibilities, you probably shouldn't watch it. But if you really enjoy people that aren't you or your friends getting hurt, then this video is for you. Curious?

...if anyone asks you to define the Canadian sense of humour, show them this video.

...reports of this man's size vary wildly, from 6'6" 320 to 6'0" 270 (which is what he's listed at on the Miami Dolphins official website, so that's what we'll go with). However, stupidity is pretty funny regardless of a man's size.

...I would watch what you say about this clip. If you are in the company of horse people do not, under any circumstances, laugh or even comment on the potential ridiculousness of this sport. I was almost punched in the mouth at work for making that mistake. It's called Dressage and apparently it's been an Olympic sport since the 30's. (I have about 75 jokes I could be making right now but for my workplace safety I'm keeping my mouth shut.)

...Want to cool way to cheat in baseball? Slip the ball into an outfielder's glove when he's unconscious. Check this out.

Riderville...and so it begins...

It's often said (actually it's not) that the CFL season doesn't officially begin until the Saskatchewan Roughrider front office makes a baffling personnel decision. I say that the season doesn't start until the Riders make TWO baffling personnel decisions...

So let the season begin!!

It was reported just an hour or so ago that the Riders traded their all-purpose yardage leader from last season, Dominique Dorsey (1,649 yards in 14 games), along with defensive lineman Dwan Epps to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for offensive tackle Eric Wilson (News of this trade isn't even up on the Riders official website yet, so I have no information for you on Eric Wilson - as TSN.ca and the Blue Bombers website apparently had nothing to say about him - probably not a good sign). Dorsey was the player we all thought would be the starting tail-back for the team this year. However, management obviously had other ideas.

(By the by, in case you were wondering, the first baffling personnel decision was months ago when management traded the best QB on our roster, Rockey Butler, to Hamilton for an offensive guard and yet another wide receiver.)

So with no Dorsey on the roster, that leaves the team with 3, that's right 3, running backs heading in to training camp on Sunday. The apparently traded for another RB last week from Montreal, Henri Childs, but he is not listed on the roster on Riderville.com. So as far as I'm concerned there are only 3 running backs on the roster right now, and here they are:

Shermar Bracey: I'm not even going to pretend that I don't like this guy. He was one of my favorite Riders last year when he provided a great change of pace to the water bug-like running of Kenton Keith. At 6'2" 235 lbs. he was a guy that could go out and smash some people right in the mouth. However, he's simply too big to be the feature back in the CFL - I think that Ricky Williams proved last year that big backs don't work real well in the CFL. Bracey is still going to be a great change of pace for the Riders, but he can't be the every down back.

Josh Martyr: A rookie out of York University, where last year he rushed for 97 yards on 21 carries (4.62 yards per carry). He's a decent size at 6'0" 210 lbs but excuse me if I'm not rushing down to the Store to get Martyr put on the back of a jersey. Can you say special teams???

Fred Russell: Another CFL rookie, although Russell has played professional football before, but at 5'8" 190 lbs I can see why nobody really noticed. Apparently he led the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe in rushing last year with 522 yards on 150 carries (3.48 yards per carry). Obviously as Kenton Keith proved a small guy can flourish in the CFL and I think the Riders better be hoping Russell follows suit. By the looks of the guys on the roster I think Russell might be the best chance for the team to have a dynamic running back this year. But did I mention he's 5'8"?
* all stats from TSN.ca

So how does that look to you? Feeling optimistic? Apathetic? Terrified? Hopefully the team knows something that the public doesn't about Kenton Keith returning to the team. I mean he's going to have to come back up here anyway for his trial, so why not put a uniform on him and get some use out of him?

From all the noise coming from the organization, new head coach Kent Austin wants to install a pass-happy offense, with 5 and 6 receiver sets. Besides the fact that this won't work due to the team having the least accurate QB in the league (do we think Akili Smith would be an upgrade in this department? how terrifying is that thought), a running game, like it or not, is still an essential part of football, be it 3 or 4 down. A passing attack is only effective because of a running game. Without a running game that demands respect the passing game cannot succeed.

I really hope this turns out better than I think it's going to.

Look on the bright side, the team is mathematically still in contention for the playoffs as well as a home playoff game.

Are we having fun yet?

Monday Headlines

MEMORIAL DAY CAN GET BENT

For a guy who doesn't have much to do at work, I basically live on ESPN.com and czabe.com - especially on Monday mornings when I want to catch up on the weekend. However, because today is a holiday in the U.S of A these two websites have not been updated and won't be for the rest of the day. Yikes, I think I'm in withdrawl. It could prove to be a long, long day.

NO SPORTS EQUALS POOR SPORTS HEADLINES

Seriously, there was not much happening this weekend - so don't hold that against me.

There hasn't been a hockey game since last Tuesday. Just a stroke of brilliance by the NHL, I'd say that many Americans who were watching hockey last week have forgotten about it now - or at least that's a possibility.

Although the Memorial Cup did wrap up this weekend, with the Vancouver Giants beating the Medicine Hat Tigers. You know as hard as I try I just can't get into junior hockey.

The Blue Jays lost 2 of 3 in their weekend series and are now 12 games behind Boston in the A.L East - and I'd say being down a dozen games at the end of May means your season is over. This season could potentially become a fire sale, as the Jays might try to sell high on some of their assets.

The NBA playoffs continue their plodding pace, with Game 3 in both series being played on the weekend. Utah and Cleveland both won and are both now down 2 games to 1. Could you imagine anyone being interested in a Utah/Cleveland final, even if Lebron James was involved?

Only a week until Rider training camp opens (actually rookies report this week), can't you just feel the excitement?

BAND OF THE WEEK

This is something new that I'm going to try - passing along the name of a new/unknown band that deserves some exposure. And I thought this was the perfect day to try it on, as there is not much else going on.

This week's band is Lotus Child from Vancouver, B.C. They recently put out the freshest sounding album I've heard in a long, long time called Gossip Diet. I'm trying to get them to Regina sometime this summer, but they tell me it's apparently difficult to book a club here - go figure. But check them out at: www.myspace.com/lotuschildband

MANY, MANY THANKS

It looks like sometime today or possibly tomorrow we will have our 500th visitor to Sports As Life. I almost can't believe that, when I started I thought I'd be lucky to get 100 people to read this. So I think I speak for everybody here at Sports As Life when I say thank you to everyone who has supported us. As I've said all along, if you keep reading we'll keep writing. Here's to another 500.