Here’s a sure-fire way to tell that someone has too much time on their hands: they watch pre-season sports on television.
Frankly, the only time anything in the pre-season is worth watching is the exhibition season for baseball, and that’s only because the games are played in Florida (Grapefruit League) and Arizona (Cactus League).
A couple of big league pre-season games in Florida in March, when snow is still covering the ground and temperatures are below normal in Canada? That sounds pretty good.
If the Toronto Blue Jays played their preseason games at Rogers Centre in Toronto instead of Dunedin, Fla., then going to Jays pre-season games would be a waste of money.
Watching pre-season baseball on television? A waste of time, just like other pre-season sports.
If you’re working your schedule around a preseason game on TV, then that’s not a good sign.
I always get a kick out of those who fret about pre-season results. You’re concerned because your team’s third-stringers lost to the opposing team’s backups?
That’s not healthy.
At the same time, it’s not a cause for celebration when your team’s backups defeat an opponent with a bunch of players who won’t be there when the season starts.
You don’t want to be the fans suffering from premature evaluation.
Which brings me to the start of the CFL season.
The season began on June 14 when the regular season opened, not in late May when the Saskatchewan Roughriders dropped an exhibition game to the Edmonton Eskimos. Up until June 14, the results were pretty much inconsequential; the performances by the veterans weren’t worth worrying about.
Sure, it’s nice to see how the rookies look, and it’s interesting to find out which unheralded players will have a strong showing. Rider fans remember how Korey Sheets burst onto the scene during the 2012 preseason, and went on to have two magnificent seasons with the Green and White.
But anything you see has to be tempered with the realization that the opponents had lots of players on the field who won’t be on the team when Week 1 arrives.
Nobody’s going to remember the two preseason losses for the Riders this year should they fulfill expectations and contend for the Grey Cup.
Fans of the 1994 B.C. Lions remember Lui Passaglia’s game-winning field goal on the final play of the game to defeat the Baltimore CFLers in the 1994 Grey Cup. But a little research will show you that the Lions lost their preseason opener 47-12 to the Las Vegas Posse at B.C. Place Stadium. (Thanks for that one, Wikipedia).
B.C. went on to win the most emotional Grey Cup ever played. Las Vegas went on to play their final home game of the season in Edmonton because nobody in Vegas was turning out to watch the games.
As for the upcoming season, Rider fans should be optimistic. They have a lot of players back from last year’s team that went 10-8, knocked off the defending Grey Cup champions, the Ottawa RedBlacks, in the first round of the playoffs, and nearly toppled the eventual Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts in the semifinal round.
Yes, it’s disappointing they cut veteran Canadian receiver Rob Bagg last week, but Rider head coach and GM Chris Jones has usually had good timing when it comes to releasing veteran players.
This should be the strongest team the Riders have had since the squad that won the Grey Cup in 2013.
That doesn’t mean they’ll win the Grey Cup this year, but the Riders have a team capable of winning a championship.
Many also thought last year’s B.C. Lions had a team that could win it all, and we know how that season panned out. The Lions now find themselves in a situation where people would be surprised if they make the playoffs this season.
One storyline to watch for in the CFL this season is the development of Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Johnny Manziel. Don’t expect big things. Even Doug Flutie needed a year of adjustment to the Canadian game before he became the most dynamic quarterback the league has ever seen.
Manziel has the ability to be a great quarterback in Canada. The question is whether he has the work ethic, the patience and the savviness to adjust to the Canadian game.
The start of the season is always an exciting time for fans. It’s filled with hope and anticipation of what could happen.
Finally, the games worth watching have arrived.
