17th Annual Rider Prophet Awards

As we do every season, we end the year by presenting the infamous Rider Prophet Awards. Recognizing all that is hilarious, awful and otherwise noteworthy in the CFL. Longtime readers will note some changes to the awards. I have sun-setted a few of the old awards and brought in some new ones. It’s an overt attempt to try and freshen things up akin to a sitcom adding a new character. 

This year’s award winners will receive a congratulatory pat on the back... I blew all the prize budget in Vegas. 

Let’s get to the awards. 

Defensive Player of the Year

This new award will actually jointly honour a pair of players. Collectively these 2 did more to boost defensive statistics and big plays in the CFL than all defensive coordinators combined. I am talking of course about Zach Collaros and Chris Streveler.

These two threw a combined 27 interceptions and at one point during the season, somehow managed to rank #1 and #2 in the league in interceptions. For their perseverance and hard work, Collaros and Streveler as your inaugural Rider Prophet Defensive Players of the Year. 

Offensive Player of the Year

In a year where pretty much every story coming out of Riderville was positive, one player stood alone. Kosi Oneyka. 

Details have been hard to come by but somehow he did something so offensive to the team that he was released outright. Do you know how bad it has to be for a Canadian player to be released from a team that at the time was dealing with a rash of injuries to Canadians and desperate for anyone with the right passport? Whatever Kosi did… I hope it was worth it, because he picked a bad year to get kicked off the Riders. 

Quote of the Year

Following a loss in June Argo Coach Ryan Dinwiddie gave a press conference for the ages. You can rewatch it in all its glory below. The best part of it was when a reporter served up a softball question about the Argo defense making an interception to put them on the one yard line. Dinwiddie instead chose violence and responded “I thought new got beat up front. We got one of our guards at 280 pounds, I don’t know what he did all offseason”

Previous Winners: Ben Major, Craig Dickenson x2, Tom Velessi, Cody Fajardo, Dave Dickenson, Kavis Reed/Jacques Chapdelaine, Greg Quick, Solomon Elimimian, Ed Hervey, Joe Mack, Henry Burris, Eddie Johnson, Jason Clermont, Mike Abou-Mechrek x2

Play of the Year

I watch a lot of football so its rare when I see something that completely surprises me, or I haven’t seen before. In week 17 Trevor Harris accomplished such a feat. While Harris has received awards for his great play, I will be awarding him for a for more dubious reason. He gets my play of the year for managing to throw 2 interceptions in the same drive. That is not a typo. On his third pass of the game he threw a pick. The defender ended up fumbling to ball back to us. Two plays later Harris gave it right back. 

Never seen that before.

 Most Insulted Sports Figure

Nelson Lokomobo was trending to win this award for a second year in a row until he got hurt. For the first time in ages, my most insulted sports figure was not a Rider... just a former Rider.

I dolled out a lot of insults at the expense of Zach Collaros, almost as many insults as he dolled out INTs (but try as I may, I could not keep pace). I actually like Collaros and respect his accomplishments but the super petty part of me is happy to see Winnipeg finally get a dose of the Collaros that the Riders had.

 

Previous Winners: Nelson Lokombo, Craig Dickenson, Riders O-line, Riders Offensive Tackles, John Ryan, Brandon Bridge, Steve McAdoo, The Riders Secondary, Any Rider QB not named Durant, Pat Neufeld, Chris Getzlaf, Ryan Dinwiddie, Jim Daley, Michael Bishop x 2, Marcel Bellefeuille

Botched Call of the Year

I can’t even narrow this down to one play so I will just give this to everything related to the Command Centre (making them back to back award winners in this category). This is by far the worst aspect of CFL football today. There is no rhyme or reason for when they do or do not intervene. There is less than a 50% chance that if they do intervene they will get it right. It’s a sham and a mockery… a shamockery if you will.

Fans’ Choice Douchebag of the Year

This seems like the perfect segue from the previous award. You the fans have spoken once again and with once of the narrowest margins we have had in a while, the CFL Command Centre is your Fans’ Choice Douchebag of the Year. They received 37% of the votes. A clear sign that you hate them as a much as me. A rare case of democracy actually working.

I would like to acknowledge that we had a record high number of write in votes this year with the likes of: Stewart Johnson, Shawn Lemon, the Blue Bombers (for signing Demario Houston), Bob Dyce, and “the guy four rows down from us that was inebriated and shoving nearby fans, then refused to leave when security was called and had to be frogmarched out of the stadium by the police”

Previous Winners: Chad Kelly, Craig Reynolds/Jeremy O’Day/Craig Dickenson Garett Marino, Andrew Harris, Simoni Lawrence, Jason Maas x2, Cory Chamblin, Chris Jones, Jon Cornish x2, Henry Burris, Dwight Anderson, Mike Kelly, Jason Jimenez, Rob Murphy

Fans’ Choice Douchebag of the Year 2025

Next week we will award the 17^th Annual Rider Prophet Awards. The cornerstone of those awards is the Fans’ Choice Douchebag of the Year. The annual opportunity for you the fans to cast your vote and recognize outstanding achievements in the field of Douchebaggery.

Cast your vote on Twitter @RiderProphet. I also accept write in votes in the Comments below:

Here are this year’s nominees:

Chad Kelly – I feel the defending champion should have the chance to repeat… and its not like missing the entire season due to injury stopped Kelly from being a douche. There was his claim that he is a top 32 QB in the NFL and his social media post gloriously foreshadowing his triumphant return… that ever happened.

CFL Command Centre – Another repeat nominee from last year. From there insistence on inserting themselves in calls that no one wanted them to, to their complete lack of anything resembling a coherent logic for when to intervene and whether or not to get the call right. Not much unites Canadians these days but our universal hatred of the Command Centre certainly does.

Micah Awe – The dirtiest player in the CFL and its not even close. I can only assume he has embarrassing photos of top league execs because he continues to deliver illegal hits with impunity knowing the worst we will get is his 20^th consecutive fine. I think we owes the league some money for his hit in the WSF that was once again glossed over.

Shawn Oakman – When the words “threated”, “sexually explicit material” and “child” all make it into the one sentence outlining the wrongdoings that more than enough to warrant a nomination. 

Other – Leave your comments below or on Twitter

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Elation in Rider Nation

It has now been over a week since the Riders won the Grey Cup and this province (myself included) still remain firmly entranced in the championship glow.

Look, Grey Cups in Saskatchewan are a big freakin’ deal! The only other award we tend to get is for being the murder capital of Canada. So you’ll have to forgive us if the party drags on for a while. We have gone decades between them so we got a lot of celebrating to get in in case it needs to tide us over.

One group who is not taking this particularly well is Bomber fans. I get it. Watching your most hated rival win a Cup on your home turf while your team has been out of it for 2 weeks is painful. Had the Bombers won here in 2022 no amount of whiskey would have drown my sorrows (though I damn sure would have tried). But just shut up and take your lumps rather than drawing further attention to how butt hurt you are by trying to hurl terrible unsolicited insults. Topping the list is “You only have 5 championships ever”. This is true but we have the same number of Cups as you since 1990 and more since 2000. No one really cares that you were good in the 40s and 50s. Another popular retort is that “there is no shame in getting to a lot of Cups and losing”. There most certainly is. No one looks on the Buffalo Bills of the 90s as anything but an abject failure. Second place is just the first loser and boy do you know how to lose Cups (more than anyone in history). But if you really want to see a Bomber fan’s logic fail apart and start frantically trying to move the goal posts on the argument tell them “Ok if losing a Grey Cup isn’t a big deal then really the Bomber should be mocked more for 2009 than the Riders because we at least made the finals right?”  

I know there were many idiot Rider fans in the 2 years that Winnipeg won the cup who could not take their butt-hurtedness with any form of dignity but we won this year so we get to celebrate and make fun of you. If you would just quietly skulk in the corner, we’d leave you alone and thank you for hosting a great Grey Cup. But when you attempt to wade into things are start trying to bring us down you just come across as desperate.

We get a few more weeks to enjoy this before reality hits us… everyone but like 5 people on this team are pending free agents. O’Day has a ton of work to do if we are to have even a chance at the first ever repeat in franchise history. But now is not the time to panic. The fact that no one is signed also means that we have a ton of money to sign people with. There is going to be some really tough negotiations and decisions coming up. Myers, KeeSean, Baldonado and Colonel Sanders are coming off rookie deals and have definitely established themselves of players worth more than league minimums. Emilus and AJ Allen deserve to be paid like the top end Canadians they are. Championships, a great coach and a winning culture help attract people here but players aren’t charities.

Expect a few small time Canadians to sign in the coming days. Also Expect Harris to re-sign before Christmas (its so a done deal). Everything else will need to wait until the Salary Cap year resets Jan 1.

As always, the Rider Prophet is here to help get you through the long offseason. We are starting our offseason coverage with the notorious Rider Prophet Awards headlined by the Fans’ Choice Douchebag of the Year Award. Voting starts tomorrow. So be sure to let you voice be heard.

Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: Grey Cup Champion Edition

You’ll have to forgive me not posting on Monday morning. While I certainly didn’t go as hard as the players, I did have a bottle of 2013 Grey Cup Whiskey and a visit to the green mile to keep me from getting to bed at a reasonable hour. 

We did it!!! 12 longs year we waited for this moment and man oh man was it sweet. When the clock hit zero (with a brief pause to make sure Bradbury didn’t rain on our parade from the command centre) me and the whole province erupted. 

As expected it was the defense that lead the way. Four turnovers, none bigger than the goal line forced fumble by Campbell that Sayles recovered. They held Montreal under 20 points. Other than a bust in coverage in the secondary (cough, Fields, cough) they really did not allow much. Marcus Sayles had a monster game. It’s amazing how good he his when his lower body is not held together by duct tape and horse tranquilizers. Remember that he is a Rider because BC didn’t think he was talented enough and cut him in training camp. Thank you BC. Baldonado is growing into an impact pass rusher in front of our eyes. A fitting way to end the season for a defense that has been so good all year. 

The big difference is that offense didn’t leave them high and dry. They scored early and kept scoring and against a stingy D. O-line kept Harris so clean he didn’t even need to wash his jersey. No turnovers. They made mistakes, we didn’t. I was fully expecting a struggling Harris game. And yes he certainly tried to throw a pick 6. But he didn’t. And other than that he was really dialed in. Nice to see us Myers involved (good things happens when he touches the ball) and Emilus is just a flat out stud. 

Also credit to the coaching staff. Called a great game, particularly on O. Made great in-game decisions like that challenge of pass interference. Last year we saw a lot of potential but a lot of mistakes from Mace and his crew. This year, they looked like seasoned vets. They also drink beer like seasoned vets, another plus in my books. 

This was a really weird year. All season you had the feeling that they were building something special. All season they remained atop the league. But at no point were they dominant or did they feel like they were certifiably the best. 

Standing amid hundreds of fellow Rider fans at Albert and Vic singing song after song in unison is when it really hit me. We won! Nothing brings this province together more than the Riders winning and Grey Cup wins here are so special because they are so rare. It’s refreshing to end a season just feeling content. Not angry. Not disappointed. Not hopeless. But happy. Drink it in Rider Nation. The Cup came home and we could not be prouder of the team that put in the work to make it happen.

I would like to point out that in the 96 years this team existed before the Rider Prophet came onto the scene we had just 2 total cups. Since my arrival we have won 3, more than the entirety of before. I know correlation is not causality… but times are certainly better during the age of the Prophet. 

Grey Cup 112: Riders vs. Alouettes

It has been 11 long seasons since I have been able to write a post this important. I don’t know if you’ve heard but if you have a been a Rider fan long enough you will know that 11 years, that’s enough. If you do not understand this reference then it is your duty as Rider fan to pause now and go watch this video… I’ll wait.  

2013 was the last time the Riders appeared in the Grey Cup. For context back then there was no Tik Tok, the Ottawa RedBlacks had yet to play a single game, Winnipeg was in the East division and Micah Johnson was a spry young rookie just starting his CFL career. 

On Sunday the Riders have a chance to raise the Grey Cup for just the fifth time in their 100+ year history. To say it’s kinda a big deal would be like saying air is kinda important to sustain life. 

These two teams played twice in the regular season but the results of those games are as meaningful as my season pass to Maxwell’s Amusement (kids ask your parents). In the first one the Rider pummeled a depleted Alouettes team and the in the second one the Als pummeled a depleted Rider secondary… mostly Exume. This will be the first time this season these teams face each other at full strength. 

The story of the Als is they go as Alexander goes. They are 10-0 (including playoffs) this season when he starts and 3-8 and he doesn’t. So the key to victory is clearly murdering Alexander. I’m kidding I do not promote violent crime. That said if he were to be kidnapped for the day and safely released Monday it would not be the worst thing. 

While many are focusing on the QB story, for me the bigger factor in this game is defense. This game features the best two defensive units in the CFL. Both loaded with playmakers at all positions. Both stingy in given up points. 

Let’s start with our defense. They are the reason we are here and if we win it will be because of them. Its no secret what Mace’s defensive strategy is. Stop the run, force long drives and get sacks and turnovers. I think that plays well into this match-up. Als had the second worst running attack this season (I know we are all shocked that Maas would ignore the run). That said, Stevie Scott has had an impressive playoffs so far and can’t be taken lightly. The big story is of course the health of Alexander’s hamstring. They say he’ll be fine. I say let’s make him prove it. If he’s allowed to stay in the pocket he can hide the injury. But if he’s forced to run odds of him tweaking it are so high Shawn Lemon is tempted to bet on it. He’s already tweaked it twice this season running. So get pressure and get him moving. He is not afraid to chuck it deep. 7 of his 10 TDs this season came on passes over 20 yards. We need to limit those big plays. Last week this unit shut down BC who presented similar challenges as Montreal but is arguable better at every position other than OL. I have faith in the Defense… maybe not Mace level, punt with no time on the clock faith, but pretty strong faith.

Offensively this is going to be a grind. The Als are very good on defense. #4 in points allowed. Least total yards allowed. Least pass yards allowed. Tied for most sacks. If you thought Harris struggled against BC last week, well buckle up. The Als have one primary weakness… their run defense. They were 6^th against the run in the regular season and the loss of Oakman only further weakens them. Now you could take the Winnipeg approach and only run your star RB 8 times against that weakness or you could play competent football and hammer them with Ouelette. In a grind out game he’s who I am leaning on heavy. Passing plays will be there but Harris needs to be careful with the ball. He can’t lock onto receivers or be indecisive or Montreal will eat him up. I would look to get him in a rhythm early with some short easy passes. We cannot afford to wait until after MGK plays for Harris to decide to play football. We won 75% of games this season when scoring 6 or more in the first quarter (its actually 100% if you exclude the final 2 meaningless games). The winning % drops to 60% when scoring 5 or less. We know the defense will start strong. Any kind of early offensive support is massive. Good things happen when Myers gets the ball so lets do that early. He can turn a short crosser into 6. Based on last game I would say lean on Emilus when we need a first down (assuming Keesean does not play). 

I unfortunately expect a script similar to the West Final. I do believe Harris can win a ring but he’s not going to look like a conquering hero doing it. He’s going to throw a pick early. He’s not going to score until the second quarter. The defense will once again need to keep us in this. This will be a low scoring defensive struggle. 

But we are built for this. We are healthier. Better rested. Deeper. I expect a strong second half where we out-grind the Als. Brett Lauther is going to have to make a kick that either absolves him of every miss ever or places him on a Paul McCallum story arc. I’m believe it will be the former. Harris may not be good as he once was but he's as good once as he ever was. He showed he can deliver when the stakes are at the highest (even if the stakes are only high because he could not deliver before then). 

In true Rider fashion we are going to find the ugliest way possible to do this. But as has been the case with this team all season, they are going to find a way to it. 

Riders 24 – Als 20.. with Ouelette as your MVP and Allen as top Canadian.  

I’ll see you at Albert and Victoria after the game.

Rider Prophet Grey Cup Prop Bets

What’s the point of sports if not to enable degenerate gambling? This quote is endorsed by Shawn Lemon, Shohei Ohtani (or at least his translator, wink, wink) and pretty much anyone involved in basketball apparently.  

With the Grey Cup coming up there will be many an opportunity to place bets. But we do things a little different around here. So here are my top 10 unofficial Grey Cup Prop Bets. Let me know in the comments what you are betting on:

 

1.     The amount of times the 2009 Grey Cup is mentioned during the broadcast – Over/Under 6.5

2.     The amount of times the more recent 2010 Grey Cup is mentioned during the broadcast – Over/Under 0.5

3.     The amount of times Glen Suitor finds a ridiculous segue to talk about Nathan Rourke even though he is not in the game – Over/Under 2.5

4.     Will there be a dribble punt? – Yes/No

5.     The amount of times either boner pills or adult underwear commercials air during the game – Over/Under 8.5

6.     In what quarter will Jason Maas waste his challenge on a 4 yard play that causes him a full-on emotional meltdown? – 1,2,3 or 4

7.     How long will the stupid in-game interview with MGK go? Over/Under 4.5 mins

a.     Bonus Question 1 – Will a significant scoring play be missed by the announcers because of said stupid interview? Yes/No

b.     Bonus Question 2 – Will Glen Suitor make a lame joke about being more of a country guy during said stupid interview? Yes/No

8.     Length of time of the longest video review? Over/Under 5.5 mins

a.     Bonus Question – Do they still get it wrong? Yes/No

9.     Number of babies born nine months from now named after the Grey Cup MVP if the Riders win? Over/Under 250.5

10.  Wild ass guess for the most obscure player who could win Grey Cup MVP (no QBs or star players. Think like ’07 James Johnson)

Monday Morning Sentimonies: All’s Well That Ends Well

Riders 24 – Lions 21

As Saturday’s game wore on, the list of grievances I had against the Riders just kept mounting. Receivers couldn’t catch. Harris slept through the first half. And the coaching decisions… I was about as big a fan of them as I was of Michael Bishop. But here’s the thing, all is forgiven because despite all that we found a way to win. Style points are as useful as a 2025 Winnipeg Blue Bombers home playoff ticket. I am so freakin’ happy! I can honestly think of no more fitting way for this team to punch their ticket to the Grey Cup than that monstrosity of a game. The 2025 Riders win ugly... but dammit, they win.

As we got closer and closer to kickoff, I was growing more and more concerned that the “Sellout” crowd was going to look like a preseason game. But the seats filled in way more than I ever expected and those that showed up brought the energy. For about 59 minutes of that game the team seemed to do its best to suck that energy out of the stadium but Mosaic was rocking and there’s no better place to be when it is. 

This win goes to the defense. They are the only reason we are where we are. They were the only ones to show up in the first half. They took the highest powered offense in the CFL and held them to 7 points through 45 minutes and 21 points overall (BC’s lowest point total since July). This was despite zero offensive support and having to overcome a turnover in our own end. And when the game was on the line and Corey Mace put his trust in the defense, they rewarded his faith by not allowing a solitary first down on the final 2 BC drives. That entire unit played their assess off and deserve a ton of credit. 

While it was mostly praise I heaped on the defense, it was mostly profanity I heaped on the O. I will say that the O-line did a great job of protecting Harris and winning the battle in the trenches. And early on when nothing was working AJ Ouelette was the work horse we needed him to be churning out big run after big run. The rest of the O… well they came through when it mattered most. Harris was utterly useless until after halftime. He was making bad reads, forcing throws and missing receivers. Now the receivers were doing him no favours by refusing to make catches for him. But when it seemed like our window of opportunity was closing they all stepped up. Harris delivered drives. Emilus was a flat out beast (likely was “randomly” selected for a pee test after the game). Myers came through big. And on a roster stacked with big name receivers it was Tommy Nield (an afterthought to most at the start of this season among the receivers) who stepped up when we absolutely needed a catch. The offensive performance was so ugly that all the rye in Saskatchewan could not have made it pretty but when Nield scored that TD all was forgiven. Coming through when it matters most is what counts. 

How ironic is it that our ticket to the Grey Cup was secured by the command centre making a ruling in our favour? 

I don’t want to dwell on it because clearly Corey Mace was right in the end. But I hated a lot of his decisions. Hated the decision not to go for it on 3^rd and short from midfield (it’s the entire reason you employ Tommy Stevens). Hated the decision to not run once from the 5 yard line. Hated the FG. Really hated punting it. There was a lot of really questionable decision making going on. But to his credit, Mace believed in his defense and the rest of team and in the end he was right. After a 12 year absence from the Grey Cup I am not about to get nit picky about how the coach managed to get us back there. 

As the fireworks went up into the sky and my heart rate started easing back down it set in for real… this team is going to the Grey Cup! Being a Rider fan is mostly about preparing yourself to be hurt or disappointed. So when a true happy moment comes along and the team delivers its almost too good to believe.  But believe it. 

Other random thoughts:

-        When the coin toss was done by Georgette Reed and she nailed it you knew it was going to be our night.

-        That poor guy who had to try and kick a frozen football 50 yards in front of thousands of people for the contest. I don’t think the real kickers would have made it. The guy’s kick got about as far off the turf as an O-lineman’s vertical.

-        Here’s my theory after rewatching the Hatcher TD. There was an obvious massive bust in coverage. To my untrained eyes it looked like Reavis didn’t trust Fields (he did spend a lot of the game yelling a him) and left his zone to try and compensate for Fields. The others assumed he was providing support over the top but he cheated too far to the other side of the field.

-        If it were a regular season game, Trevor Harris would totally have been pulled for concussion protocol after that big hit. I know it makes me petty but the fact that Betts’ injured knee kept him from playing every down after that seems like karma for hitting Harris’ head with it.

-        I have a bottle of 2013 Grey Cup whiskey just waiting to be cracked on Sunday to celebrate.