Monday Morning Sentimonies: Fine Time

This past week the CFL announced the teams that exceeded the Salary Management System (SMS) limits in 2024. Four teams made that list, including the Riders. It marks the 5^th time since the SMS was introduced in 2007 that the Riders have been fined.

But here’s the deal with SMS violations, there are two tiers. The first is equivalent to a parking ticket. Yeah you’d prefer to avoid them but you begrudgingly part with a small amount of money and move on. That’s the tier the Riders have always fallen into. Exceed the cap by less than $100k and it’s a dollar for dollar fine. This year it’s $40,000.

The reaction has been a solid “meh” as it should be. The Riders were over mostly due to injuries but even if there wasn’t an excuse I’m pro “spend the money and incur the fine if gives you a better chance to win”.  Craig Reynolds will happily pay that fine… likely by increasing the prices for food and beverage.

Now there is of course a second tier of SMS violations that the Riders have thus far avoided. The BC Lions opted to dive head first into it in 2024. While the speeding ticket tier is easy to explain. Explaining this second tier honestly feels a lot like the Nate Bargatze George Washington skit.

Washington – There will be two ways to address those who significantly exceed the cap. One will make sense, one will be super random. Our great league will use the random one.

Washington – We will punish big time offenders by taking away their draft picks.

Soldier – They will forfeit them?

Washington – If only it were that simple. We will take it away from the offender, move the pick to end of the round and give it to another team.

Soldier – But why sir?

Washington – Nobody knows. It will be allocated based on waiver priority.

Soldier – So if 2 picks are forfeited the second one would go to the team with second waiver priority?

Washington – No, it goes only to the first team of course. But the teams that lose its picks will still be eligible to be gifted picks back for following other rules. Even if they only managed to earn such picks by violating the salary rules.

Soldier – And picks forfeited due to the supplemental draft, they will be reallocated using this process to?

Washington – No, we will be ok with just regular forfeiture in that case.

Soldier – But why all this complexity sir?

Washington – Liberty, son.

If you continued reading through my mediocre attempts to satire popular culture congratulations. All that is to say, BC got fined many butt loads of money (like more than the Riders have been fined in their 5 violations combined) and lose their 1^st and 2^nd round pick. But they get a bonus 2^nd rounder for having the most snaps played by Canadians (snaps they only got because they said FU to the salary cap and paid Rourke and Betts a ton of money). BC bet big in 2025 and lost. 

As for Calgary, in the whacky world that is the CFL they gave up the 9^th overall pick to BC as part of the Vernon Adams trade but now get that pick and one more back from BC (8^th and 17^th) due to SMS violations. The good news is that based on their trajectory over the past few seasons, the Stampeders are very likely to find a way to continue sucking despite this unearned gift of draft picks. 

Its not like its even that hard to inject to logic back into this process. Take away the picks from BC. Add them to the end of the 8^th round and award them by waiver priority, 1 to Calgary, 1 to Hamilton. But, much like Bartgaze does to Kenan Thompson, when the fans ask for logic the CFL just gives us a dismissive pat on the shoulder.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Villains

Ed Hervey set off shock waves this past week by saying there are no superstars in the CFL It vaulted him to the top of the hatred list across the league almost immediately. Hervey, who is no stranger to not being liked, couldn’t care less. He is perfectly fine playing the villain. It got me thinking about the great villains in my time following the CFL. So this morning we will take look back at some of the top CFL villains.

Simoni Lawrence – Probably the most universally disliked person across the league over the last few years. He has amassed a list of cheap shots across the CFL. Rider fans will remember when he singled handedly ended the Collaros era in Riderville.

Wally Buono – Buono is a CFL legend and actually a decent guy but there are few things on the prairies that unite people like yelling “Get off the field Wally!”

Henry Burris – Burris will always be public enemy #1 in Saskatchewan. His time in Calgary led to a heated rivalry, full of HHHEENNNRRRYY chants and Burris often choking in playoff games against the Riders. 

One of my favourite memories of the rivalry was the infamous bra picture from the birthday, bachelor party for cancer research.

 

Jon Cornish – Another villain from the height of the Stamps/Riders rivalry. He actually went so far as to moon the fans at Mosaic.

Khalif Mitchell – He delivered a UFC calibre armbar during a game trying to rip off an o-lineman’s arm. He also had some not so appropriate views on other cultures

Garrett Marino – He was approaching Simoni level hatred before he was essentially blackballed from the league. People certainly did not care for his comments about people’s heritage… but its ok because his girlfriend is black.

Rob Murphy – Murphy was very hated. I distinctly remember him choking out John Chick during a game (and not getting penalized)… though in retrospect people may be far more ok with it.

Scott Schultz – Beloved on the prairies I’m sure that comments like “Fat and sassy pigs” and “I’d make the hit on Jesus Christ himself” probably did not endear himself to other fans.

Angelo Mosca/Joe Kapp – The most famous old man fight in sporting history.

Chris Jones – I probably don’t need to expand on this. Jones is not on many Christmas card list.

 

 

Monday Morning Sentimonies: All-Hatred Team

Its becoming commonplace for people to do all-time teams, all-decade teams etc… While I am certainly not above stealing other people’s ideas in a effort to be lazier, I have decided to do a very different slant on this one. 

Over the years there have been many Riders that I have hated. And I am not talking about hated because they were a horrible human beings. I am talking hated because of what they did on the field. Sometimes they were what you might call unjustified hatreds. But hatreds nonetheless. 

So with that I present to you the all-hatred Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Let’s start on defense. I honestly could not think of D-lineman that was ever on my hatred list (I’m sure there are some, I just can’t think of any). So let’s skip that position. 

LB:

-        Shae Emry – this one was more about the fact that we traded Ricky Foley to get him and then he decided to abruptly stop being a useful starting Canadian.

-        Mo Lloyd – Lloyd is on the list not because I hate him (loved Mo) but in honour of a buddy of mine who hated him because he refused to wrap up when he tackled.

DB:

-        Junion Mertile – I have not forgotten his “attempt” at a tackle.

-        Amari Henderson – Frustrating player to watch on any play that wasn’t breaking up a screen.

-        Nelson Lokmobo – This will surprise no one who read this blog this season.

-        Blace Brown – Like Henderson, a very frustrating player.

-        James Johnson – Many people will point to his status as Grey Cup MVP to try and argue my hatred but in every other game when he had to play a pro-caliber QB he was an absolute liability. 

Special Team:

-        Kicker – Chris Milo – Didn’t so much hate him as hate the fact that his kicks were magnetically attracted to doinking the goal posts at an unprecedented rate.

-        Punter – Jon Ryan – I know it always risks revoking my Saskatchewan citizenship when I say this but I hated Jon Ryan when we was a Rider. Probably more specifically I hated how everyone in the province adored him and lauded his abilities when all visual evidence disagreed. He may have world class kicking strength and he may have been an elite NFL punter but when he was in Regina he was just a guy who had no clue how to directional kick and either outkicked his coverage to the dead centre of the field or sacrificed field position to pad his stats with useless singles.

Turning to the offense:

OL:

-        Dan Goodspeed – Great CFL tackle, who was a shadow of his former self by the time he came to Saskatchewan. I said his last name was false advertising and dubbed him Dan Badslow.

-        Evan Johnson – James Johnson would have been a more useful guard.

-        Pat Neufeld – He left Saskatchewan and went on a have a great career but in his time in Regina he was a liability on the OL.

-        Dan Clark (as guard) – Dan Clark is an amazing story. Great guy. Great leader. Great 6^th OL who caught TDs. Went on to become a solid centre. But when he first became a starter as a guard he was awful. Worse than Evan Johnson. Still partially blame him for Durant’s elbow injury in 2014.

-        Charles Thomas – Going back a bit further in time on this one but there was a reason people called him turnstile. And he’s awfulness really stood out because he played on a line with 3 CFL linemen of year and perennial all-star centre O’Day. 

RB

-        Henri Childs – Childs gets a bad rep mostly because we essentially gave up a first round pick to get him. There was more to the deal but Tillman really touted Childs and paid handsomely to get him from Montreal. Problem was as an RB he ran with the aggressiveness of a baby deer/ballerina combo.

WR

-        Prechae Rodriguez – He was a one trick pony (jump ball deep) who was not big on things like effort, improving and even being that good at his one trick.

-        Jason French -  He was as the actual French might say “Le Terrible”

-        Ryan Grice-Mullen – Single handedly (greased handedly) tried to lose us the 2010 Weft Final.

-        Chris Getzlaf – Look I respect Getzlaf, he put up a ton of yards, scored a bunch of big TDs, had a great career. But he could have easily doubled his already impressive career stats had he actually been able to catch with some degree of consistency and not play half the time like he coated his hands in Crisco.

And lasty but not least everyone’s most hated position…QB:

Starter: Michael Bishop

My all time most hated player. How anyone ever let this guy onto the field for any play but a hail mary after watching any film is beyond me. He had a complete inability to throw to the right coloured jersey, maintain possession or put together a drive. I still get mad when I think about how good the defense was in 2008 and how even a mildly competent QB could have won us that playoff game in ’08. Bishop has never even come close to hitting the “mildly competent” marker. 

Back-Up: Nealon Greene

Greene was the prototypical QB who rose to prominence because he could do amazing things with his legs only to fall to pieces when defenses figured out that all they had to do was force him to pass and he would have all the usefulness an air conditioner in the arctic. Always wonder how different things could have been had Shivers/Barrett not inexplicably chosen Greene over Burris after 2004. 

3^rd String: Brandon Bridge

Look, he was a good guy and its always nice to root for a Canadian but he sucked. Like if he was not Canadian he would not have even been invited to a CFL camp. People always called him athletic… he was not. He was not a great runner and usually ended up fumbling when he did and his “strong arm” was only good missing the intended target by a wide margin, those rare times he made the right read and did not panic himself into failure.

Who is on your hatred list?

Monday Morning Semtimoines: Theme Nights

Before long the Riders will be unveiling their “new” and “innovative” theme nights for the 2025 home schedule. I’m sure we can all predict with some level of certainty that it will be same recycled list as every year: Home Opener, Country Night, Retro Night, Labour Day, Legends Night, Fan Appreciation Day, etc… For the Simpsons fans among you “but she has a new hat” pretty much summarizes it. They may change the name (clearly there are stark differences between country night and prairie pride night) but its always the same, year after year.

So for today’s post we are going to look at some ideas for theme nights that don’t just involve phototyping last year’s list and calling it marketing.

Actual Retro Night – Alright I realize it’s a bold choice to make fun of the Riders’ lack of creativity and then start my list by just recycling a night that’s been done ad nauseum… but hear me out. I don’t want the Riders’ half assed versions of retro night. I want all in. I want old school Gainer (pre-creepy eyes) AND cousin Leonard. I want the entirely black faceless Worksafe Bob. I want drink tokens and bars that offers me only my choice of rye, rum or Pink Drink. Retro night needs pink drink. I want paper 50/50 tickets that are drawn from a raffle drum from a 1950s bingo hall. Retro prices on food on food and drinks. Rename Pil Place Hemorrhoid Hill. Re-create a one night only university section that offers cheap tickets. Put a hot tub beside and assume nothing bad will come of that.  Riders in 90s style jerseys. I want the full Taylor Field experience. Lean into it fully and it could be awesome.

Wrestling Night – With WWE now on Netflix, popularity of wrestling is at levels not seen in a long, long time. Get in on that. Encourage fans to come dressed as their favourite wrestler. Have Bret Hart do the coin toss. Better yet have someone dressed in a Bomber jersey about to do the coin toss then have them get hit with a chair and then have Bret step in. Have players cut promos leading up to the game. Partner with the local wrestling promotion to put on a match at half time. Make it a couple celebrities teaming with wrestlers and build hype leading up to the contest. Hell if you promoted that there was a chance Ballsy gets put through a table it would make it the must see event of the year. Sell Rider branded championship belts and luchador masks. Bring back Kulkamania (does anyone but me remember that?). Have a ref get “knocked out” inadvertently at some point (say when a measurement is required) and have another ref come sprinting from the tunnel. Invite the Road Dogg to do intros in the traditional New Age Outlaws way “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the Saskatchewan Roughriders proudly bring to you…”. Last but not least, gratuitous crotch chops.

Social Media Night – Admittedly I’m too old to care about this one but I think it would be a hit with young fans. Now understand I know very little about all of this so someone younger and more with it would need to fully flesh this out. Have alternate streams of the game on YouTube or Twitch. Have local influencers take part. Encourage fans to post on IG Live have hashtag contests. Basically turn the game into something that everyone over the age of 40 would hate/not understand. Focus one game exclusively on young fans. 

Sci Fi Night – This is basically Star Wars night but you are trying to avoid copyright infringement. Have people dress up as their favourite Sci Fi character. Sell green lightsabers and phasers. Have Gainer show up in a Green tardis. Just find the biggest nerd you can and let them plan it.

Simpsons Night - Ok, this one might be a bit self-serving but I think it could be fun.  Have the Riders wear Atoms jerseys in warm-ups. Sell nacho sombreros, squishies, pink donuts, Duff beer, Krusty burgers. There are so many classic football scenes from the show you could spoof: I liked your hustle that's why it was so hard to cut you; I crippled him myself to inspire you; the Denver Broncos!; Flanders! Games out there!; football in the groin.

Chippendale/Thunder From Down Under Night - Logic here is simple. Ripped dudes with their shirt off will attract women. Where large groups of women congregate, men will invariably follow.

Fowl Supper Night – Few things are more Saskatchewan than a fowl supper. Have your concessions be like a small town Fowl Supper. I’m talking turkey, stuffing, pie, etc…

F Trudeau Night – Look I have no particular political leanings but all I’m saying is based purely on sales of vehicle decals on the prairies, labelling a game F Trudeau night may lead to record ticket sales. Whether it’s a good thing to have a large gathering of that demographic is a debate for another day… this is purely about filling the stadium.

What theme nights would you like to see?

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Another Prophet Clip show

We’ve reached the quietest point of the offseason. Free agency has died down and the draft talk has not yet fired up. That leaves bloggers who comment on the latest Rider news like myself in quite a conundrum as there is no news to comment on. 

Now I could put in some effort and come up with something very creative content of my own. But I doubt even you made it through that sentence with a straight face. Instead I am going to use a patented sitcom move when they run out of new material… a clip show! 

So I went back through the Prophet Archives to see what was going on in February in past years.

 

·        2009 was a fun February in Riderville. Anyone remember why? A certain GM of a certain local franchise was charged with some certain inappropriate conduct with a certain minor. That was not a boring February. It should be an everlasting lesson than painkillers and babysitters don't mix.

·        In 2010 we traded Adam Nicholson, a 3rd round draft pick and the neg rights to kick returner named Chris Williams to Hamilton for Prechae Rodriguez. Not gonna say that did not turn out well but by the end of tenure in Saskatchewan Prechae was playing recreational touch football and being effectively blanketed by the physical specimen know as the Rider Prophet (true story). Chris Williams had some moderate success in his career as Chris Jones might say. 

·        In 2013 we signed Dwight Anderson. Prior to Andrew Harris becoming a coach, this was likely the most divisive move the Riders had made. The move did amazingly end up working out… minus a small incident on Dewdney Ave.

·        In 2014 I was also clearly lacking news because I made a CFL Mad Libs. For the record its awesome and you should try it out

o   https://www.wordblanks.com/mad-libs/sports/mad-libs-cfl-style/

·        In 2016, Chris Jones made a trade with Toronto to acquire OL Bruce Campbell. The trade is not super notable but what we traded is super interesting to look back on. We traded a 4^th round pick and the negotiation rights to… Baker Mayfield.

·        In 2019 we signed Cody Fajardo. If you are wondering what prophetic insight and analysis I had at the time, my comments were as follows: “So do we pronounce the J like in fajita or it a silent J like in jogging? By virtue of not being Brandon Bridge I like this already.” I stand by that analysis for the record. 

I hope you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Free Agent Assessment

The year is 2025. American is better at hockey than Canada and some white dude is the best slam dunker in the world. It is a confusing and unsettling reality. At least Saskatchewan is beacon of consistency amidst this turmoil. It’s cold as hell and people are irrationally irritated by what the Riders are/are not doing. It’s a tale as old as time.

Look, there is no denying that Jeremy O’Day’s cell phone likely did not dip below 95% charge over free agency. He was like the anti-Hervey, trying to set records for least contracts signed. But we should be taking that as a good thing not a negative.

First of all, our roster was solid enough that it did not require a major overhaul. You may pine for the headline grabbing signings of Edmonton but remember that’s because their roster was utter garbage. I prefer our situation. Second, we were extremely successful at retain our core players. We extended the contracts of the following people: Harris, Dabire, Zerr, Dalke, the Herdmans, Allen, Carney, Thurman, Lokombo (sigh), Tate, Milligan, Oneyka, Sayles, Alford, Picton and Micah. When you are a team that just made the West Final in the first year of a rookie head coach, consistency is a good thing. O’Day didn’t do a lot in free agency… because he didn’t have to.

That said, while O’Day wasn’t big on quantity of moves. He was big on quality. You need two things above all else to succeed in the football. Quarterback depth and strength in the trenches. We had a winning percentage of 33% in games that Harris didn’t start last year. So O’Day went out a secured a quality back-up QB (some may debate the word “quality” in that statement but in terms of a back-up Maier is an upgrade). Our O-line was surprisingly awesome last year despite a rotation of players that would rival year 1 of Chris Jones as your GM. O’Day went out and added on of the best centres in the CFL in Sean McEwen and also added a solid starting guard in Phillipe Gagnon. With Fry and Zerr for depth our OL looks solid. On the defensive side, he added another perennial all-star in Mike Rose. Shane Ray is a bit more of a question mark but the interior of that line with Rose, Micah, Sanders and Dabire should be dominant.

My point is O’Day may not have made many moves, but the ones he made addressed the most important needs. I am really happy with how our roster looks as of today. We are solid across the board.

Now, I am under no illusion that things are perfect. There are 3 question marks on this roster than remain for me. Receiver, D End and Secondary.

While we have numerous quality WRs, we lack a go-to game breaker. Emilus and Baker can be that guy. Johnson and Myers could develop into that guy. Bane (when healthy) has shown flashes of being that guy. But most teams can easily point to their go-to guy when you absolutely need a play. We can’t.

D-End is similar to WR. I don’t worry about our overall talent level. But we do lack “the guy”. Carney is OK. Shane Ray has a ton of potential but hasn’t played in the CFL since 2022. Baldonado and Korte-Moore are good rotation guys. I do think the strength of the interior will compensate and make the ends looks better than they probably are.

Secondary remains the biggest question mark on this team. 40% of it (Milligan, Sayles) will be outstanding. 20% of it should be solid (Fields was a starting HB as a rookie. Give him a year of experience and he should improve). 20% of it is a crapshoot (Lokombo and Campbell). There are many people (our coaches leading the way) who believe in these 2. I have the same level of optimism on these as I do for a lottery ticket. Yes, there is the potential of things turning out awesome but I pretty just assume it will not and then anything above that is a bonus.  

So boring as free agency may have been, I am very happy  with the roster O’Day is building.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Free Agency

It has been a busy week across the CFL as the negotiation window opened and teams could speak to pending free agents. Ed Hervey seemed intent on setting an all-time (and unbreakable) record for most deals negotiated. 90% of the deals this past week were Hervey. His aggressiveness extended beyond players. Per my sources (aka me), Hervey also made offers to me to join the Elks in addition to offering deals to try and sign Winnipeg’s mascots, the guys that cut logs in Ottawa and BC Place. 

As expected, the Riders were not super active. There was still a number of moves so let’s get you caught up. 

Re-signed: Marcus Sayles, Micah Johnson, Mitch Picton and Mario Alford.

I was most happy to see Sayles and Johnson retained. If we want our secondary not to suck for a second year in a row, keeping Sayles was important. I just flat out love Micah Johnson. He’s a leader on and off the field and guys 6 years younger than him would be ecstatic if they could play at the level he is. With Ajou’s departure keeping a guy like Picton for depth is important. Crazy to think we drafted him back in 2017.  Alford was honestly a surprise. But I assume it means he came relatively cheap. Not a bad thing to retain him just assumed we’d go younger at returner. 

Added: Tevaughn Campbell, Tommy Nield

I knew the secondary would be a priority in free agency but would not have guessed in a million years that Campbell would be the target. I am very conflicted on this move. I have watched Campbell play with my own eyes. What I saw was a guy with elite speed and no clue what to do with it. I was shocked when he stuck for one year in the NFL… and floored that he lasted multiple years down there. Obviously for him to stick that long down there he’s got top end talent. Hell, he scored TDs down there. Though in fairness if you assume the NFL knows how to properly evaluate talent remember that multiple teams let Chris Streveler play QB and wanted him to pass more than he ran. So on paper a NFL caliber Canadian player is a great add… but until I see it with me own eyes, I remain skeptical that he is the answer to our secondary woes.

Tommy Nield a big bodied Canadian that will add depth at receiver.

Agreed To Terms: Philip Gagnon, Tommy Stevens

Philip Gagnon was the 2^nd overall pick in 2016 (after we famously and tragically took Josiah St John at #1). We needed more OL depth and Gagnon can slide in a start at guard immediately. I assume the plan is Ferland at centre with Fry and Gagnon at guard. Stevens was another surprise but for a team that has struggled in short yardage he does offer an upgrade there. I do hope that Coan beats him out in camp for the #3 though, since Stevens is essentially a poor man’s Streveler. 

On the way out: Deontai Williams, Amari Henderson, Adam Auclair, Peter Godber, Jerreth Sterns, Godfrey Oneyka, Shae Patterson

Other than Godber and Auclair, I am not sure fans will bat an eye at those departures. Williams and Henderson showed flashes of talent but were wildly inconsistent. Sterns and Oneyka are nothing more than depth. Godber and Auclair were impact players and are loses but with Gagnon and Campbell we have in theory replaced them.

So what’s left? 

Free agency officially opens tomorrow and it will primarily be a day of paperwork as all the deals agreed to in principle this past week get formally signed. Ed Hervey better have a stamp to approve those otherwise his wrist will be cramping something fierce.

I still think the Riders need at least one more Canadian OL. Be nice to keep Sceviour or Knevel might be an option. Evan Johnson is also available… just saying. In theory we could also address this need by luring Kyle Hergel north or drafting an OL. But adding at least one more OL is needed. 

Beyond that I don’t see a ton of needs and could see us focusing on depth/role players that won’t capture many headlines.