Prophecies coming true...

Rider Prophet here with all the news that is news across the Rider Nation.

I would like to start off this week by pointing out that I am not just a Prophet in name alone. Those who have been following me since day one will remember my preseason poem where I predicted a shaky 5-5 start that would make the fans mad as well as Austin benching some big names. Well here we are about to enter week 5 and low and behold we are on pace for 5-5, the fans are mad and Austin has benched Fantuz.

To make a comparison, the rest of the media is like Environment Canada. They have all these weather predictions based on hours of in-depth analysis but are usually wrong. I on the other hand am like Gus Wickstrom, the pig spleen guy (God rest his soul), my methods are obscure and non scientific but end up being more accurate than the so called experts.

We are currently on a 2 game losing streak and that means its time for Rider fans far and wide to start talking likes it’s the end of the world and calling for heads to roll. This hysteria is so predictable even Environment couldn’t get it wrong. Every year at the first sign of difficulty, the fanatics start calling for everything from changing the QB to firing the coach to changing the flavour of Gatorade we use during the game. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Riders need to make some adjustments too but I’m not about to get in a panic just yet.

These same fanatics were yelling and screaming when we showed the door to the likes of Nate Davis and that sure ended up coming back to haunt us. Davis had 4 sacks last season; his replacement Marcus Adams has 4 sacks in his first 2 games this season! So let’s have some faith in Tillman and Austin.

I suppose you could side with the fanatics but then we’d have a team where Rocky Butler was our starting QB, Szarka accounted for 90% of our offensive play book and Nate Davis was still be getting tossed around like a rag doll in the trenches.

There has been lots of talk this week about Andy Fantuz. Going in to the season everyone was predicting an all-star year from him. However, watching him these last couple weeks you’d swear he eats extra buttery popcorn on the sidelines between plays.

Although many say this is nothing more than a mental problem, I have a different explanation. Fantuz is suffering from a virus called the French Flu. It’s similar to the Spanish Flu only instead of causing coughing and fever it causes non-import receivers to be unable to catch even the simplest of passes. Our previous non-import receiver suffered from the flu as well. His case was actually so severe they renamed the virus after him.

Eddie Davis has been placed on the 9 game injured reserve list. This injury has dealt a hooker sized blow to our defense. This is like the X-men loosing Professor X (well except Davis is black, has hair and can walk). Lance Frazier will get the nod this Saturday which certainly makes things interesting given that Eddie Davis has more experience than our current starting 5 combined.

But I guess the key to playing DB is being able to get to the ball and knock it down, which made the competition to fill Davis' spot a dead heat between Frazier and Fantuz.

Almost all other CFL teams are feeling the effect of the injury bug as well. With big names like Dickenson, Marsh, Bishop, Levingston, Bush, Cody all nursing injuries.

I will personally miss Davis Sanchez most of all. I consider him one of the dirtiest players in the league which always makes him interesting to watch. Receivers across the CFL however will not miss him one bit. In fact many commented that it will be a relief not having that dirty Sanchez in their face for a few weeks.

Well that about does it for now. Hope to see you in the stands on Saturday.

Until next time, I’m the Rider Prophet.