Monday, February 16, 2015

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Family Day Edition

Regular blog readers will know that I sternly observe stat holidays by not doing any work whatsoever. So it may come as some surprise to see me posting on a holiday. Please take it as a sign of my unwavering devotion to my readers... its only coincidence that my damn wiener kids woke up early and I have nothing better to do.

A few free agency updates to get to:
- The Riders re-signed Tino Sunseri. Sunseri is a rarity here on the prairies in that he is a back-up QB who is not universally beloved and thought to walk on water by the fans. Assuming we got him relatively cheap (as I assume we weren't in a bidding) war, I don't have a problem with him coming back. He showed some things (mostly indecision and ability to take a sack) but maybe Chapdelaine can draw more out of him than Cortez (who clearly did not like him). This will be his last shot though.

- In other back-up QB news, we are apparently still in discussion with both Kevin Glenn and Dan LeFevour. I am glad we are making an effort to improve our QB depth. The fact that Glenn is still a free agent tells me that his salary demands and the offers from us and Montreal still differ greatly. If you can get him for back-up QB money, how do you not want that insurance policy on your team? I don't think he's worth breaking the bank for. LeFevour is intriguing. He does have that play-maker ability, however its mostly with his legs. From what I remember of last season his arm and reads are mediocre but his running ability gave him an advantage. Therein lies my concern a) he is coming off major knee injury b) history has shown that mediocre passing usually catches up with even the best runners eventually. I would be ok with us signing him but I will temper my expectation of him.

- There is also word we are pursuing LB Rennie Curran (the biggest name FA still on the market).  Not sure where we are finding the money but that is Taman's issue. Curran is just 26 and a damn good LB. His natural position is MLB but he could also be moved outside and paired with Emry (just like Bighill was, they are about the same size). Our LBs were a weakness last year so to add 2 solid ones would be huge. I still think this is a bidding war we lose out on but I at least like that we are trying. All is quiet on the Brian Peters front... which doesn't bode well for his future with the team.

- In a move that likely relates to clearing cap space for pursuits such as Curran, the Riders released DL David Lee. I assume Lee was making decent coin that could be used elsewhere but we aren't exactly overflowing with Cdn depth so to release him seems like an odd move. Side note: Ever since that whole campaign to get his ball back from Winnipeg I always want to call him David Ball (I'm sure you cared greatly about that nugget of info).

- In happier DL news it seems John Chick has agreed to a 2 year extension... which I believe means his wife must give him 2 more children (its a rule). Great news. Honestly the only way this could be better is if Chick announced he had legally changed his last name to Oates. Then our Ends would be the fearsome tandem of Hall and Oates. It would make my dreams come true and they would be maneaters.

- Lastly today, shout out to the CFL for miserably failing at the release of the CFL schedule. All they had to do to make people happy was just release it but instead they insisted on some poorly thought out social media campaign where they would delay releasing it until 10,000 people tweeted thew. People hated it and spent more time criticizing the idea then actually tweeting as intended. They ended up releasing the schedule 2 hours later (after the media had already leaked the bulk of the schedule) when allegedly the 10,000 mark was reached. It was later determined that just over 6000 people actually tweeted. Maybe next year the CFL can take pissing off its fans one step further and just make people pay them to release the schedule (I actually think we'd take that better)

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