Everyone Is Stupid But Me

I’ve come to terms with the fact that a side effect of living on this earth is constant exposure to the stupidity of others. At this point in my life, I’ve been exposed to so much stupidity that small amounts of it no longer bother me… it’s just a fact of life. But every now and then the stupidity levels go beyond what I can reasonably tolerate and I have to speak up.

Fortunately we live in the technology age and any opinionated yahoo (that’s me!) has access to a public forum to post his scathing commentary. So allow me to address 3 cases of stupidity I’ve come across this week.

Case #1: Rule Changes
The League is currently reviewing 3 proposed rule changes submitted by fans at their annual conference, one of which is related to altering the rouge. This suggestion is based on the idea that a team should not be rewarded with a single point just because when their kicker is faced with a 23-yard field goal he happens to shank it wide of the uprights and clear through the back of the endzone. According to them, it's a reward for failure. Incorrect.

Here's a fact: there is a limit to how far someone can kick a football. For some, the maximum range is longer than it is for others, but one constant fact is that there is a huge span of territory on any CFL football field from which even the strongest kicking leg can't pound a ball from a point seven yards behind the line of scrimmage to a point somewhere past the opposing team's end line. So here's a message to the defense: if you don't want the other team to be guaranteed a point whether they make the field goal or not, maybe you should think about stopping them sometime before they drive to your 5 yard line! Reward for failure? Hardly. How about a reward for getting so close to the other team's endzone that they can't do a damn thing to stop you from kicking it clear through the back? This is no different than when someone complains that a team ran up the score. You don't want to have the other team hang 60 on you? Well then do something about it!

If the logic is that a rouge rewards failure, why not do away with field goals as well since that is really just rewarding teams for failing to score a TD. And while were at it let’s abolish 3rd down since that is really just a reward for failing on 2nd down.

I'll believe that the rouge on a missed field goal is a bad idea right around the same time someone can make a convincing argument to me that it's a good idea for a team to get 1 point in a hockey game just because it took them a little longer than 60 minutes to lose. What is that, overtime pay? Now there's a stupid rule.

There's nothing more Canadian than a rouge. So let's keep it a part of the game.

Case #2: CFL Team in Saskatoon
Billionaire Bret Wilson has publicly stated that he wants to bring a CFL team to Saskatoon. My problem is not with Wilson. Exorbitantly rich people regularly come up with odd ideas on how to spend their pocket change, so that’s nothing new. He’s clearly just drunk with power… or possibly just drunk. My problem is with the people who actually think this is a good idea. Are you people retarded? (well obviously, not sure why I even bothered asking). Not only would a Saskatoon team not benefit the province, it would do damage to it. First of all there are not enough football fans in Saskatoon to support a team of their own so that one would fail. Second, many Rider fans come from Saskatoon and the surrounding area so it would hurt the Rider’s fan base. Face facts people we are a province of 1 million and have only recently learned how to sell out one football stadium on a regular basis. Do you really think that we can magically drum up another 30,000 die hard fans without affecting our current fan base? Are you going to teleport them in from some hidden island where a fan base has been stockpiled for just such an occasion? Well I’d like to see your teleportation device.

If Saskatoon wants football they’ll just have to settle for the AF2.

Case #3: Leader Post
By now you’ve probably heard that Jason Armstead was arrested this week for alleged domestic violence. Police arrested him after he was found chasing his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle while waving his gun in an attempt to get her to pull over. While I’m sure there are a number of very legitimate reasons why someone would be waving a gun at their ex, all I’ll say on the matter is I can only assume the police chase involved Armstead running backwards and ultimately losing possession of the gun.

Anyway, yesterday I’m checking out the Leader Post’s website and come across the headline “Former Roughrider Armstead charged after Mississippi police chase”. What?! Former Rider? Thank you Leader Post for somehow spinning this into the over arching theme that all Riders are criminals. May I remind you that Armstead is a current Bomber who was cut by Montreal, after being cut by Hamilton after being traded there by the Riders… that’s 4 degrees of separation. We washed our hands of him 2 years ago so don’t go inferring that this is somehow a Rider problem. What’s next “Man who once watched half a Rider game on TV charged with theft”? “Woman who is aware of the Riders' existence is actually a suicide bomber for the Taliban”?

How come when John Hufnagel was named Coach of the Year the press release didn’t read “Former Rider QB named top coach”?