Banjo Bowl: Riders vs. Bombers Round 2

The hotels have cleared out, the rusty '73 Chev Impalas full of dejected bomber fans have returned to Manitoba (coincidentally the city of Regina seems to finally not stink anymore), and most Rider fans are finally recovering from the inevitable Labour Day hangover. The excitement and celebration of the last long weekend of summer is now behind us but fear not - it all starts again in only 3 days.

The Rider/Bomber rivalry now shifts to Winnipeg where the CFL's division leaders will do battle once again, this time in the infamous Banjo Bowl. By the way I'm glad Troy Westwood chose the Banjo when he insulted Saskatchewan a couple years back. Can you imagine getting hyped up for the Wash-Tub Bass Bowl or the Didgeridoo Bowl?

The game should be another great contest. The Bombers will be looking to avenge a loss and will have the hometown crowd to give them a boost. The Riders managed to win last week despite a mediocre performance on pass defense. I fully expect Austin and Hall to make adjustments and tighten up our D. The return of DE Terrell Jurineack should also give a boost to our defense. On the flip side, Winnipeg's defense should get a boost from the re-acquisition of veterans Juran Bolden and Ike Charlton. Personally I was hoping that Juran would retire from football and pursue a modeling career... then he could be Bolden the Beautiful.

Although I may not be the biggest fan of Winnipeg or the province of Manitoba in general, I do have to admit that, more than any province in Canada, they do have an ability to pick team names that capture the true essence of the province. Take for example the now defunct Winnipeg Jets. Now jets are known for taking in and expelling large amounts of air. How appropriate since Winnipeg is known for sucking and blowing simultaneously. Or take the Blue Bombers - aptly named since Winnipeg sports teams have a long history of bombing. Finally, there's the Manitoba Bison, the most aptly named of them all since most Manitobans are big headed hunchbacks with more body hair than the average grizzly bear.

Seriously though, I would actually like to take a minute to thank the Bomber fans who made the trip the Regina for the weekend. Not only did you boost our economy and make for some good partying... after a weekend of having to look at a bunch of Manitobans, decent looking guys like me will now seem like Brad Pitt by comparison to the women around town.

For the second time this year, Kerry Joseph was named Offensive Player of the Week. In addition to his last second rush for the winning TD, Joseph also threw for close to 350 yards. He made the Bomber DBs look pretty bad all game. Former Rider Davin Bush was repeatedly picked on by Joseph. But you know what they say "A ball in Joseph's hand is worth 6 against Bush"

Looks like Casey Printers will make his return to the CFL as a Tiger Cat. For Hamilton this is obviously a good move since they are in dire need of a QB that doesn't suck. I'm not quite sure why Printers would want to play for a team that is in last place and seems to be getting worse by the week. He must have his reasons though... about 500,000 reasons.

While we have to wait and see if Printers can replicate his 2004 MVP performance, I still question the logic of making a guy who hasn't played CFL football (or even started at QB) for 2 years, the highest paid player in the CFL. Then again given the logic Hamilton has shown over the past couple years the move seems to fit perfectly with their business plan.

Finally, the Rider Prophet would like to congratulate Kenton Keith on being named the #2 RB for the Indianapolis Colts. This just goes to show you that, if given the opportunity, Keith will always prove that he's better than Dorsey. All the best in your first NFL season KK.

Well that's it for now. Enjoy what should be another great game against our arch rivals to the East.