So, remain cool I told ownself, there is no reason to get upset, it's only a game played by man/boys.
And really, when the believably lovable Saskatchewan Roughriders lost again on Sunday, I sort of went ho-hum. It wasn't as if they were supposed to beat the Stampeders anyway. Naturally I watched the game in befuddled bemusement as once again "our boys put in a good effort."
This is our "not quite there yet," gang of footballers and coaches.
We have the team that's pretty damn good, but "lacks that killer instinct."
This is a group that got too sloppy too often and forgetful when they were supposed to remember. It was sort of a "flesh was willing, but the mind was weak," type of situation.
This was the season where the beloved 'Riders, the team that sells all the merchandise, got a little bit better. We all thought they were a whole lot better. They weren't. Five of the seven other teams in the tiny CFL family got a whole lot better as the season wore on. That was the difference. Our provincial team was just one notch above marginally better.
This was the "we can get close, but no cigar," squad. This was the family that fell apart when they needed to pull together. They faced adversity and said, "naw, maybe next week." Well, on Sunday, the last next week arrived and they weren't quite ready for primetime, or at least the CFL's version of primetime.
This team brought the lunch pails to work every day and put in the hours, expended the energy, and never really gave up, except for that one game we'll all remember but try to forget in mid-season.
This may have been a team lacking in imagination, a little short on straight bull strength and a little lessened in the deployment skill sets, but darn it, they sure tried hard.
So we close another season on the 'Roughies and we'll be obsessed with them over a long winter and deconstruct the key plays and do player analysis as if we knew what we were talking about, but we won't. We'll forgive because we do that well in Saskatchewan and we'll finally retire that Fantuz jersey for a new Kory Sheets jersey only to learn that he's accepted another offer to sit on a bench in the NFL for 83 times more money than he'd earn by getting beaten on in the CFL. That's what happens to the players who are just too darn good! Hello Jerrell Freeman!
The 'Riders should bring back about eight players from this year's squad. We can quibble about which eight, but that's about the core group. The rest can fill in the blanks.
OK, now on to more important things ... the NHL lockout and recent developments.
My sources tell me that the latest offer put on the table by the owners is $50 per game, per player and a box of beer to share in the dressing room after each home game.
I understand the players are holding out for some travel money.
We'll have to see where this goes.
In the meantime, we have our surging Estevan Bruins to observe from the cheap seats and we remind ourselves they're mainly playing for the love of the game and to make our winter a whole lot more bearable.
Get it? Bruins ... bearable?
OK, forget I wrote that, it was just an end of column space filler anyway.
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