A Busy Few Days

As the title says, it was a busy weekend in the wonderful world of sports. So much went on that I am afraid I will leave you having forgotten something important. Nonetheless, here we go...

The Saskatchewan Roughriders looked like a whole new football team on Friday night. Coming off of a short week which say them practice only once, Darian Durant played as well as he has in a long time, the defense smothered the Lion's at every opportunity and the Riders walked out of BC Place with a 31 - 17 victory. Not only does the win break the funk the team had been in, it also moved them back into 2nd place in the West and basically leaves their fate in their own hands in terms of a home play - off date. Worth mentioning from Friday night:

* Craig Butler was awesome

* The Defensive Line was as good as it has been all year

* Kory Sheets is terribly important to this offense

* Chris Milo had an off - game; no concern is necessary until this becomes a habit. One has to think he has those 'posts' in the back of his mind given the past month

* It is crazy how quiet message boards get following a Rider victory. Suddenly not everyone in the province is calling for changes everywhere, most notably at the QB position.


The Riders were not done making news on Friday however. Sunday afternoon brought news of the acquistion of CFL sack leader Alex Hall from Winnipeg for Patrick Neufeld. Draft picks changed hands as well. Some will scoff at this move as being a poor decision given a potential 'rental' was acquired in exchange for a Canadian O - Linemen. Let me say this, Patrick Neufeld has not played great this year. Did anyone else notice that Darian had much more time in the pocket on Friday night? Part of this was due to the fact the Devin Tyler played on the edge in place of Neufeld. There was a good chance Neufeld would have been gone in the expansion draft anyways so being able to get Hall as well as a 2nd round pick is fine in my books. What makes this deal even better in my eyes is not only does it allow Chick and Foley to take a breather while not hurting the pass rush, but I heard that Calgary was heavy after Hall themselves. Keeping this guy out of Calgary is certainly a benefit to us moving forward.

To golf and the President's Cup where Weyburn's Graham Delaet was on full display this week at Muirfield Village in Columbus, Ohio. The young man did not disappoint, going 3 - 1 - 1 in his debut on this stage. He along with Aussie Jason Day were the best the International team had to offer this weekend. Two hole outs on the 18th hole yesterday were awesome to watch. If the world hadn't taken notice before this weekend, they have now. Graham Delaet is a force to be reckoned with on the world golf stage. That first win is coming; hopefully soon.

The Edmonton Oilers were a disgrace to watch on Saturday night. They were terrible in their own end, turning over far too many pucks. To make matters worse, Devan Dubnyk stuggled mightily for the second game in a row. If Jason Labarbera is not between the pipes tonight when the New Jersey Devils invade Rexall, something is wrong. Thankfully the Taylor Hall down the middle experiment ends tonight with the return of RNH. I get that learning a new position is difficult but Hall is - 5 on the young season and has not played well at all. Desite the 0 - 2 start, it is refreshing to me to hear Dallas Eakins talk of the disappointment of the first two games. Ralph Kruegger had a tendency to sugar coat everything while Eakins doesn't. I like a guy who can call a spade a spade. Here's to hoping for a different result tonight.

The Philadelphia Flyers fired Head Coach Peter Laviolette this morning and replaced him with Craig Berube. Really, you gave the guy three games? Clearly this was something that management has been thinking off prior to the start of the season. I am left to wonder why they would allow him to run camp, introduce systems and begin the season only to make a change that was apparently inevitable. Make this change in the off - season and start fresh rather than do this to Laviolette and the organization as a whole. Furthermore, making this move in the off - season would have given them greater leverage in terms of hiring a coach they see fitting with them long term.

Is it just me or are the Cincinnati Bengals a little schizophrenic. How do you lose to Cleveland and then dominate Tom Brady and the New England offense only seven days later?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are still terrible.

I love the fact that the New York Giants are 0 - 5.

On to baseball and the play - offs are in full swing. With the Blue Jays being eliminated since early June (seems like that anyways), how can you not root for the small market teams such as Pittsburgh and Oakland. Could you imagine a Pittsburgh / Oakland World Series. MLB would hate it, FOX would hate but many fans of the game would love it. It would completely disspell they myth that money buys championships. As I write this, both the A's and Pirates are a win away from advancing to their respective League Championship Series.

That's it....

HM