Back at er'

After a very long and drawn out absence I am back. Thanks to my loyal followers who reminded me that they did read this from time to time.

Let's start with MLB. The season is a meagre five months away but I can't recall being this excited about baseball in a long time. We're Canadian and we are supposed to cheer for Canadian teams but ever since Joe Carter took Mitch Williams deep in 1993 to claim the Jays second consecutive World Series crown, it has been tough to be a fan of this club.

The deal they made with the Marlins on Tuesday, aside from including many more players, reminds me a lot of the Fernandez/McGriff to the Padres for Alomar/Carter deal. That deal put the Jays over that proverbial hump. While they play in the toughest division in baseball, and possibly all of sports for that matter, they have made a statement. They are serious about bringing a competitive team to Toronto and are willing to spend money if necessary.

They weren't going to fill any holes in their rotation via free agency. The only pitchers of any value, Annibal Sanchez (too much $$$ for the return) and Zach Grienke (openly stating he did not want to be a Blue Jay) meant a trade was their best option. It is early but if the injury bug takes off, unlike last year, this rotation could be as good as they come in the bigs. Johnson, Buehrle, Morrow and Romero are a great front four. Granted, Romero needs to return to form as does Johnson. As of Sunday, J.A. Happ was looking to be the third man in the rotation. As of today he will be in a dog fight just to grab a spot.

Never mind they brought in Jose Reyes. He along with Bonifacio and Gose will steal bases at a considerable rate. That should set up nicely for the like of Bautista, Encarnacion and Lawrie.

Look I get it is November and a lot can happen, but the one thing the Jays have built through this, and other transactions is a culture of never resorting to mediocrity.

The other team involved in that trade have in the past few days, come across, at least in my opinion as fraudulent and shameful. The City of Miami agrees ot build this very elaborate and fancy new stadium with a bill of more than $600M and in return they were very active in trying to improve their club and build a potential winner to play in front of the fans of Miami who essentially flipped the bill for this thing. One year and a few bumps in the road later, everyone is gone and the team that will take the field in April will be a who's who of minor league players with next to no hope of being a winner anytime soon. It's a shame really.

The NHL; what a bunch of greedy, selfish, self absorbed individuals. And I am speaking about the players. I have never in my life tried to come across as pro - management but when it comes to this lockout, the players and their fearless leader, Donald Fehr sour me more and more daily. Find me another business where the employees are paid as much or more than the owners. There argument that there wouldn't be a game without them is bogus. There are thousands of players around the world who would love to play, and would play for a percentage of what these guys feel they need to be paid.

At the end of the day, Donald Fehr is going to do what he did to baseball, nearly cripple the sport and leave them (the players) with an uphill battle in terms of winning back the hearts, and more importantly dollars of the fans who keep them employed. At this point, I could do without a season. Not because I don't like hockey but because I don't want to see these greedy bastards get what they believe they are entitled to.

One thing that does not help the cause is the fact the TSN, Sportsnet and other major sports networks continue to talk about the lockout daily. Shut up already! Don't give them an audience and soon enough nobody will care anymore. Prove to these guys that the world does NOT revolve around them; it might change their tune pretty quickly.

And now on to my beloved Riders. I love the Riders, I live the Riders and watching Romby Bryant sprint down the field on Sunday just about broke my heart; seriously. A big hug from Mrs. Morin was needed to console me.

Before I provide you my thoughts on the team, let me get something off my chest. The number of part time fans who stab this team in the back during the bad times but quickly jump back on the wagon during the good makes me sick. A true fan sticks with them....good and bad, win or lose.

One of my BIGGEST frustrations all year long was the tendency to blame every loss, or bump in the road on Darian Durant. Darian Durant is a marquee QB; Darian Durant WILL win us a Grey Cup (Hopefully next year at the madhouse that is Mosaic) and the effor the put in on Sunday proved that. Get off his back; he is the third best QB we have ever had, and in time he could supplant Kent Austin as number two behind only the Little General.

Offensively, we have many of the tools needed to be a high powered juggernaut similar to a couple of years ago. Kory Sheets is as good as a back as I have seen dawn the Green and White; fast, elusive and determined. Weston Dressler is a treat to watch week in, week out. Greg Carr gave the Rider Nation a lot of optimisim with his performance on Sunday in Calgary. Chris Getzlaf had an off year and will need to rebound. An effective Getzlaf and hopefully a healthy Rob Bagg can only improve things for next year. A guy I noticed made plays when given the chance was Brooks Foster; given the chance I think this guy can contribute. He didn't make many catches but those he did were more than 50% of the time for first down yeardage.

Jock Sanders was a STUD. A healthy Sanders provides us with a triple threat similar to Chad Owens in Toronto. He makes us much better and more dynamic on the offensive side of the ball.


Odell Willis is a bum; plain and simple. The man can dance as he demonstrated every home game. That being said he appeared allergic to the QB in the second half of the season and he can't take criticism. My friends and twitter followers can confirm that. In my opinion don't bring this headache back. We can get six sacks and less annoying antics out of several.

Defensively I really liked the way they adjusted as the year went on. They realized upgrades were needed and the likes of Joe Lobendahn and Diamond Ferri truly helped. I can only hope these guys are back in the fold come June. Macho Harris, the rookie DB out of Virginia Tech was a guy I really liked on Sunday. He and Maze on the corners would be an upgrade over this year. Tristan Jackson is a more than capable fill in on the corner as well, and his value as a returner makes him a guy we should bring back.

As for who can go? James Patrick was a BUST; zero picks and some of the worst tackling I have seen. I would also not be heart broken to see Eddie Russ and Chris Mackenzie be looking for employment next year. These guys were very inconsistent and when they were bad, they were awful whether it be blown coverage, horrific tackling or dumb penalites I felt they did more to hurt than help.

The Rider Nation loves Richie Hall. Sometimes you have to let good things go. He is a hell of a nice guy but his defense cost us games this year on too many occasions. All allegiances aside, he is not the best fit as our D Coordinator and I can only hope that Chamblin can bring the right guy in. While our D was ranked second when we stunk we stunk. When we needed a play, we couldn't get it. It seemed like 2nd and long was a sure thing for the opposition. Just my thoughts.

That's it. Enjoy.