Roughriders underdogs no more


Part of the charm behind Rider Nation has always been the sense that the Roughriders were battling against the odds, the weather, the big boys from the big cities and just about everything else.


Always the underdog. Always just trying to stay afloat as a community owned team, hoping to win a Grey Cup every decade. Or two.


Now, that all changed. The Riders, according to some local observers, may turn Grey Cup 101 into a profitable year for the organization that may top $10 million.


That more than twice the $4.4 million salary cap, if you keeping score at home.


The team brought in well known veterans for this season like Geroy Simon and Ricky Foley, and acquired Alex Hall, who was then leading the league in sacks, in a late season trade with Winnipeg.


This isn exactly little engine that could stuff.


At Riderville this week a beer was going for $7 a pop, the kind of gouging of which owners of the Rogers Centre are often accused. I spoke to a Hamilton fan this morning who paid $240 for a seat in the temporary nosebleeds and left rather disappointed. He said nobody was checking tickets, which meant customers were shoehorned into rows to such an extent that he was forced to abandon the game.


Everybody loves the prairie hospitality theme, and it real. Moreover, the connection between the Riders and the weather make them as Canadian as a loonie.


But if they not the richest CFL team, they close. They got a new stadium coming up paid mostly by taxpayers dollars, and the team is hugely successful, having been to four of the past seven Grey Cups, winning twice.


They are underdogs no more, nor are they poor.


We see if the rest of the country starts to love them a little less.


Strange that not once did Hamilton coach Kent Austin turn to backup quarterback Dan LeFevour in Sunday blowout. All year, Austin has inserted LeFevour for not just third down and short situations, but with entire packages. But not in the biggest game of the year.


Another Monday, another beginning of the week with some in the media endlessly suggesting the Leafs are lucky, or playing on borrowed time. It like there this desperate hope that Randy Carlyle team can go on a losing streak to legitimize some popular mathematical model.


Vancouver gets Los Angeles tonight, and the Canucks are finding it tough sledding in their new divisional alignment, just 1 7 so far against the California teams and Phoenix. They struggling to score under John Tortorella just as they struggled to score last year under Alain Vigneault.


The only difference is there isn a day to day goalie soap opera. The Canucks are going to have a tough time making post season play in the ultra tough west.


In Nolan first game, the Sabres beat the Leafs. Since then, Buffalo has lost four straight and unveiled just about the ugliest set of third jerseys the NHL has ever Odell Beckham Jr Jersey seen.


This is going to take a long time to fix.


CFL teams can now make trades and try to protect as many players as possible for the Dec. 16 expansion draft that will set up the new Ottawa RedBlacks with a base of players.


The future of Toronto backup quarterback Zach Collaros will be fascinating to watch. There lots of talk he may end up in Winnipeg, not Ottawa.


Interesting that those who want to glorify and mythologize the Grey Cup as pure Canadiana get all giggly when a Hollywood movie star shows up and takes in a game.


Seriously, people, Tom Hanks at the 101st Grey Cup suddenly legitimizes the CFL?


Daniel Alfredsson missed a date with his former Ottawa teammates on Saturday but is likely to play next Sunday when, for the first time since bolting as a free agent, he visits the nation capital.


The response from Ottawa fans will be intriguing, although no one anticipating a Dany Heatley like roasting.


Still, Alfie picked Detroit over Ottawa because he believed the Wings had a better chance to win the Stanley Cup. So far, he been sort of correct. Neither team looks headed for a Cup, but the nine win Sens sit 12th in the Eastern Conference, well back of the 11 7 7 Wings.


Boy, that Jhonny Peralta really paid a fearsome price for using performance enhancing drugs, huh? A four year, $50 million deal for Peralta from the Cardinals after a 50 game suspension last season for PED use has offended many in the game.