Are You Smarter Than A Baby - Week 6

Here are the Prophet Family picks for the second week of the bye week.

Prophet - Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Prophet Jr. - Calgary, Edmonton
Step-Prophet - Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Mrs. Prophet - Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Momma Prophet - Hamilton, Saskatchewan

Be sure to get your picks in before kickoff on Thursday

Tuesday Afternoon Sentimonies: Because I Don’t Work Stats

Hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend. When it comes to made up holidays, Saskatchewan Day ranks right up there with Family in terms of my favourites. Not that I have anything against made up holidays, in fact we could do with a few more. If I were running this province (and I assume it’s only a matter of time), I would be selling off naming rights to our next stat holiday. Then everybody wins. People are happy because they get another day off and the provincial coffers get a boost without raising taxes. We could end up with Conexus Day or we could end up with Source Adult Video Day… that’s just the chances you take on the open market.

But enough about that, let’s get down to some football talk:

The Riders resumed practice this week and the biggest news by far was the presence of one Sandro DeAngelis among the participants.  Now I will admit that I am extremely conflicted on how to react to this news. From a pure football standpoint this is of course the right move. Currently the only people kicking worse than Milo are the fans they get for that chip shot contest at Rider home games and when part of your team is struggling the proper thing to do is to bring in competition to either push your starter to improve or take their place if they are an upgrade. And Canadian kicker is just not one of those positions where there is a long line of capable guys just waiting for a phone call. If you are a kicker with a Canadian passport and not currently employed odds are you aren’t very good. Had we not gone with DeAngelis the next best options would have included Warren Keane, Rob Pikula or seeing what that kid from Biggar is up to.  

Also just to be clear, Milo is punting extremely well and is in no danger of losing that role or his spot on the roster. Its just his placekicking duties that are in question.

So as I said, from a purely football standpoint, this is a good move. But this blog just wouldn’t be any fun if I stuck to the purely football stuff. As much as I get the logic of this move, I can’t get over the fact that I can’t stand Sandro DeAngelis. If all he did was kick then he would probably be fine I mean the guy is an amazing 82.8% in terms of his career kicking accuracy. Problem is along with his kicking we have to endure his stupid celebration dances, his ridiculous excuses for sucking (remember the infamous house renovations that were to blame for his struggles in Hamilton?) and his tendency to run his mouth so much that his own teammates feel the need to beat the crap out of him. I’d like to hope that losing the starters spot (and eventually his job) in Montreal would humble the guy a bit but I’m not holding my breath. He spent most of his time in Montreal spouting off about how he was the most accurate kicker in league history and how it was travesty the coaches were not playing him.

I’ve resigned myself to having to accept DeAngelis given this team’s need for someone who can kick on FG on a reasonably consistent basis but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. The good news is our next game is against Edmonton and I’m sure if we all chip in a few bucks we can convince Sandro’s old teammate Burke Dales to knock him around once more for old time sake. 

Are You Smarter Than A Baby - Week 6 Results

For the most everyone had a successful start to the bye week. Prophet Jr. and the rest of the Prophet family all went 2 for 2... as did the majority of the rest of you.

Checking the overall standings though, a very different picture emerges. The baby has 13 points overall meaning that only 2 people are currently smarter than the baby through 6 weeks (and one of those 2 is Mrs. Prophet). 3 others can claim to be as smart as the baby.

Still a long way to go but a lot of people (myself included) have a lot of work to do if we don't want to end up being shown up by a baby.

Bye Week Blues

While I have no doubt that the bye week will benefit the Riders by allowing key players to get healthy (i.e. DB’s not named Graham), selfishly I hate the bye week. We get half as much football and the one game isn’t even until Monday leaving me to be subjected to the Olympics as the best form of “sports” available… though I use the term extremely loosely since what the Olympics consider a sport and what I consider a sport evidently differ greatly. The IOC says trampoline is a sport – I contend that the only acceptable uses for trampolines are Slamball and girls jumping on them. The IOC says sailing is a sport – I say then where is the Olympic medal for NASCAR and monster trucks? The IOC says equestrian is a sport – I say it’s not a sport if an animal does all the work!! (Though we are the defending Olympic champions at that event, I guess no one sits on talented horses like Canadians).

Anywho… since there is nothing Rider related to discuss I will use this opportunity to opine and pontificate on random non-Rider matters from the first part of the CFL season.

- So far the 2 worst rushing attacks in the CFL belong to Montreal and Calgary. Given who their respective RBs are that just boggles my mind. I mean they are behind the like of such highly touted backs as Hugh Charles and whoever the hell Winnipeg can find each week who is healthy enough to suit up.

- According to Jon Cornish though, Calgary’s problem can be entirely blamed on his O-line. Publicly calling out the behemoths whose job it is to block for you has to be one of the more idiotic strategies I’ve seen. Not saying he’s wrong, just that he probably shouldn’t be saying it.

- I love how Montreal is 2-3 and there is near hysteria about who this team is falling apart and is in shambles. Meanwhile Hamilton has one solitary win more than the Als and people are pretty much penciling them in as the East representatives in the Grey Cup. Evidently the “No Lead Is Safe” mantra in the CFL does not apply to the Ti-Cats commanding one game lead over the Als.

- I can’t believe people are surprised at how bad the Winnipeg offense is. They are dead last in scoring and have turned the ball over 19 times in 5 games. This is what happens when you put all your eggs in the Buck Pierce basket (which displays all the durability of a wet Kleenex). They further compounded things for themselves by fielding an absolutely terrible O-line. You would think that you would want to invest an O-line that could actually protect whichever sacrificial QB you decide to serve up.

- I am so sick of the constant talk about players who are on pace to break records (i.e. Andrew Harris, Henry Burrs). Its game freakin’ 5 and it started weeks ago already! This is just ridiculous!! Remember back a few years when all we heard for weeks on end was how Cobourne was on pace for 1000 receiving and 1000 rushing? And remember how in the end he didn’t come anywhere close to the feat? All this record talk is more premature than Man in the Bush on… in the interest of taste I’ll just end that line there. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with that. Maybe I should just join in the fray by proclaiming that given Kory Sheets’ current pace he will break Milt Stegall’s record for most career TDs within 7 seasons.

Enjoy the long weekend/bye week everyone… we will be back with Rider related rantings next week. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to watching the Olympics, I think synchronized canoeing is up next.

Are You Smarter Than A Baby - Week 6

Here are the Prophet family picks for the first of 2 bye weeks. For the first time we have remarkeable consistency in the picks. Me, Mrs. Prophet, Prophet Jr. and Step-Prophet are all going with Montreal and BC. Based on how my picks have been going lately that is probably a bad sign for the rest of the family.

Momma Prophet is the lone dissenter opting for Montreal and Toronto.

Please have your picks in by kickoff on Friday.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Not Again!

Riders 34 – Ti-Cats 35

Now do you people see the dangers of the wave on offense?!? People started it on Saturday and looked what happened: Durant fumbles. I keep telling you people but only the few people sitting directly around me seem to heed my words (mainly because I think they are scared of me). Since verbal beration doesn’t seem to be working, I think I will have to ramp up my efforts. Next time the wave starts on offense, someone is getting shanked to make an example of them and every time it goes around, one more person will get shanked. This will continue until you people learn your lesson… or there is no one left to participate in the wave. Consider yourselves warned!

Looking to avenge a late collapse in Calgary and prove that they had learned their lesson, the Riders went out and … managed an even bigger 4^th quarter collapse and proved only that they are getting better at these late game collapses.

This team could be 5 and 0. Notice how I saw could instead of should… because the Riders damn sure don’t deserve to be undefeated based on their performance over the past 2 weeks. In the wake of this most recent collapse, blame was being hurled fast and furiously. Thing is, this was yet again a total team effort in the collapse. Everyone played a role so to single any person out would be useless. This is by no means an exhaustive list but here’s a few of the reasons we get to spend the bye week in bitterness.

- The offense did a lot of stuff I didn’t like but fact is they put up 34 points. That should be more than enough to win. They put up 38 the week before which should have been more than enough. In the first 3 wins the defense only allowed 37 points total. They have allowed 41 and 35 in the past 2 games. You don’t win when your defense can’t hold the opponent under 30 (unless you are playing the Riders of course and give them a cushy lead in the 4^th quarter). Chamblin Hall better get this figured out fast!

- The Crossing Route: The natural enemy of the Richie Hall defense. Over a decade in this damn league and every time a crossing route is run against us Richie Hall is up in the booth going “Well, what the heck is that new fangled play?”

- Nick Graham. The guy is junk. We already established that he was completely incapable of covering Chris Williams in Game 1 yet we went right back to it in game 2 stupidly thinking the results would be different. Why did we refuse to make adjustments to counter it rather than just let them keep doing it? If James Patrick is really our best cover man then why not try bumping him to corner to eliminate Williams and move Butler to safety? You are allowed to make adjustments.

- Chris Milo. The guy is money from 50 but pretty much anywhere else it’s a crapshoot. 2 misses on the day (and 6 misses on the year). This simply won’t cut it. He either needs to improve or we need to find a more reliable placekicker. The positive here is that it is developing a market the “Another Miss For Milo!” T-Shirts I planned on making a year ago.

- Durant. He’s so frustrating to watch because he will make great reads and plays and then follow up a boneheaded one that makes you think Michael Bishop has briefly tapped his earpiece. If he could eliminate those boneheaded plays, the sky is the limit for the guy but he just keeps shooting himself in the foot. Hard to fault a guy who puts up 30 points in back to back weeks but its just frustrating because he could be even better.

- Coaches get in on the blame here too. Their play calling and refusal to make adjustments played as big a part in the collapse as the onfield mistakes.

- Offensive play calling. Remember how I said Hamilton had the WORST run D in the league and that Sheets was in for a big day? Well evidently the Riders thought that trying to take advantage of that would be too obvious and completely shied away from it. Especially in the second half when we had a lead to protect. Guess how many carries Sheets had in the 3^rd quarter? 2. Guess how many carries Sheets had in the 4^th quarter? One! One F*$%& carry! And it went for 8 yards! That is beyond stupid! Run the damn ball!!!!!!!! We refused to run the ball on first down so we were continually in 2^nd and long with the backfield empty allowing Hamilton’s pass rush to pin their ears back and let loose (the same thing happened in Calgary).

The TSN turning point was the injury to Tristan Jackson. He was killing Hamilton on the returns and playing well at corner. When he went down our return game suffered a bit (Sanders did ok but he’s no T-Jax) but our secondary went to hell. I already told you how awful Graham is, well after that we had to pair him with Woldu and about the nicest thing I can say about Woldu is that he wasn’t our worst CB. He rarely missed a tackle but he was always playing 15 yards off so he also rarely disrupted a completion. The Woldu/Graham pairing was one of the worst combinations at CB I’ve seen in a long time. I mean seriously they were garbage. James Johnson would be an update at this point (you have no idea how much I died inside upon writing that). Jackson, Russ and Turenne need to get healthy over the bye so we can get back to fielding a secondary with a hope in hell of stopping somebody.

We still have a winning record and still have a share of first so overall the season is still exceeding my expectations but you can’t help but be frustrated at a team that pissed away wins in 2 consecutive weeks. Hopefully the bye week will allow the team to get healthy and mentally focused for the rest of the season. If we can just play like we did in the first 3 quarters all the time we will be a formidable opponent.

Other random observations (including some of the positives from the game):

-       Saw some good things out of the offense early. The retarded rabbit was getting involved. Sanders was being mixed in and that TD pass to Taj Smith was just a beauty read.

-       Brackenridge once again did a great job keeping Fantuz in check.

-       Jeffers-Harris has some worked to do. Noticed that Durant was continually giving him onfield directions. Also, I’m still not sure how he lost him helmet on his first catch. Must be getting equipment pointers from Jon Cornish.

-       Evidently I should not have made fun of B Boudreaux in my pre-game post. He responded with 2 sacks.

-       I thought once again our kick cover teams did a great job. Williams was held in check.

-       Getzlaf is picking a hell of a time to break out his inconsistent hands again.

-       On that last missed FG, what the hell were our players thinking just letting the returner stand there and let the clock wind down?!? Get your heads in the game!

Are You Smarter Than A Baby - Week 5 Results

Tough week in the pool overall... especially for me. While the rest of the Prophet household put up 2 point weeks, I put up a nice big goose egg. It's sad when a contest you devised ends up causing you public humiliation. Oh well.

Only 2 people managed better than Prophet Jr's 2 point week (i really should have listened when he went with Winnipeg).

Overall 4 people (inlcuing Mrs Prophet) are doing better than the Baby on the season and in contention for the grand prize. 6 people are doing better than Step-Prophet and the in contention for second prize.