Monday Morning Sentimonies: Semi-Final Thoughts

Since the Riders were on I bye, I was hoping to sit back and relax and just enjoy watching some good football without any stress… unfortunately, save for a few moments, it was hardly what I would call good football.

It started out East where Casey Printers finally turned a good performance in Hamilton… unfortunately for Ti-Cat fans it came over a year too late to earn a return on the ridiculous $500K investment they made in him. Simply put the Ti-Cats D had no answer for Printers. Admittedly they did not have an easy task as it seemed someone coated Printers in Crisco before the game but still across the board the defense was no match for the Lions. On the other side of the ball, it took Kevin Glenn over half the game to figure out the Lions’ D. He made it an exciting finish when he did, forcing OT with a 2 point conversion (at that point I was hoping that Printers would throw a game losing INT in overtime again... but alas it never happened). I guess this will teach me for thinking that Bellefeuille could beat Buono… in retrospect, I of all people should have known better.

In the end, this game didn’t really matter as the East-Semi is a lot like the March Madness play-in game between the 64th and 65th seeds. Really they are just playing for the privilege of getting eviscerated by the top team in the nation and being nothing more than a footnote on the annals of history.

Then it was on to the west, which is traditionally considered the stronger division but you wouldn’t have guessed it by watching that game. I am by no means cocky about our chances this coming Sunday but the way both the Esks and Stamps were playing it had me convinced that even if the Riders showed up with a half assed effort, they would still be able to compete no problem with their opponent. The Esks offense struggled and Burris had trouble despite facing the atrocious Edmonton secondary. As per usual, Joffrey Reynolds was the quiet workhorse that made the difference. The rest was pretty boring unfortunately. I still get a kick out of the Scott Gordon blitz that Richie insists on running… it hasn’t worked since well before we traded Gordon to Hamilton in ‘06 but Richie the faithful person that he is, has stuck with it and one of these days it just might work (though I’m pretty sure for that to happen, all 5 O-linemen would have to simultaneously suffer blown knees and fall to the ground… and even then there’s a good chance Gordon would just disappear into that pile too).

So now that that disappointing display is out of the way we can move on to what really matters… a Sunday showdown with the arch-rival Stamps with a spot in the Grey Cup on the line. The excitement and the tension are starting to grow and by the weekend will be at a fever pitch.

6 more sleeps until the biggest home game in 33 years!