- YORKTON IS RIDERVILLE!!!!!! (Or, we have a 20% of being Riderville) Yorkton was announced as one of the 5 finalists for Riderville at Saturday's Rider game, along with Avonlea, Nipawin, Unity and Weyburn.
Co-Chair of Yorkton's bid Roby Sharpe explains what's next.
"The Roughriders will visit Yorkton again, sometime in the next 3 or 4 weeks. Online voting starts in mid-August. They're going to play our video at an upcoming Rider home game, and hopefully we win the $25,000 for our program."
Voting for Riderville was originally set to start today... it's been changed to August 13th to 31st. You can vote once per day.
We'll have MUCH more on this up to and during the voting period, so get ready to vote! (http://www.riderville.com/)
- It was anything but a BLACK OUT at the Rider game on Saturday. Clearly, I wasn't the only fan NOT buying in to it. I saw about 10 of those jersies in the stands, and a handful of others wore black T-shirts. I'm all for honouring the past, and the 100 year anniversary is a great time to do it... but yeah, it was DIFFERENT to say the least! They did it, it's over, and hey, they won!
- The win itself was far from pretty, but it comes down to wins, and if you win more games than anyone else in your division, you host the West Final, and if you win that you go to the Grey Cup. Sounds simple, but the Riders have more wins than anyone else one-sixth of the way through the CFL schedule... 3-0, after Saturday's 24-20 decision. A Hugh Charles run and an Andy Fantuz catch accounted for Saskatchewan's only TD's.
- I took my Dad to the game on Saturday. It's been a few years since we'd gone together, and he was a little overwhelmed by the amount of Green! He DID NOT wear a Rider jersey (don't think he owns one), and did 'stick out' a little. I wrote my morning "Sports Scope" about the situation today... here it is:
For the first time in at least 5 years... I attended a Rider game with the old man on Saturday. My dad, like most Saskatchewan farmers... isn't having the greatest of years, with just over half his crop in the ground... BOTH his parents, my grandparents, are in two different hospitals right now, and will be for the forseeable future... so I figured, he'd be a good guy to take. It rained enough on Friday night that he couldn't be in the hay field, otherwise he would have been.
Now, my dad would call himself a Rider fan, has been his whole life... but hasn't been to a game since before Rider Pride REALLY kicked into high gear with their '07 Grey Cup win. You saw colours OTHER THAN green in the stands the last time he went to a game, so when we got to the practice field half an hour before kickoff... he said, "I feel a little out of place here."I think of the 50 or so people right around us, I think he was the only one NOT wearing a green Rider jersey.
So after the game, we're listening to the Post Game Show on the way home, and Marshall Hamilton says on the Round Table... there's still the odd guy NOT wearing Rider colours in the stands, and I just wanna go up to those guys and flick them in the ear! Like if you're a Rider fan and you're coming to the game wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt, get into it buddy, give your head a shake!"
I look over at my dad... Blue Jeans... Blue Shirt... needless to say we shared a big laugh from about Lumsden to Findlater!
Next time, he'll know.
With Sports Scope, I'm Craig Stein.
- Think it's a small world? In REGINA, at a SOLD-OUT Mosaic Stadium, I was sitting in the same row, 3 seats away from SWAN VALLEY Star & Times Sports writer Derek Holtom. Derek likes Pilsner.
- Our seats were in Sec 202, upper deck, so it took a long while to get down the ramps and out of the stadium after the game. I was wearing my SZARKA jersey, which I've had since High School, and it's showing its age a little. A guy behind me on the way out of the stadium says, "You know your 'K' is falling off?!" I said, "Yeah, it's probably time to upgrade, had this one for a while!" He says, "You know they fix those in Yorkton don't you?!" I'm not sure who that was, and I apologize if you're reading!
- I've always felt the Riders' Public Address guy is great to listen to, and I'm sure this was just a rare mishap, but Fred Stamps put on an absolute clinic on Saturday. The Esks receiver caught 12 passes for over 200 yards... and after one of his early catches, the announcer says, "Ray's pass complete to #2... JASON GOSS..." Jason Goss is a DB.
- It's an awesome time to be a football fan in this province. Even Riders aside, Team Sask captured their second straight Football Canada Cup. Saskatchewan beat Quebec 18-10 in Saturday's Gold Medal Game. DL Jon Paradis from Melville says playing alongside and against the top High School football players in the country only made him better.
"Some of these guys are going to play high-end CIS Football, and some will probably eventually make it to the CFL. I'm hoping if I keep progressing the way I am that I can be one of those guys to make it to the next level."
Paradis and the rest of Saskatchewan's defense gave up just 27 points in three games in Wolfville, NS. They beat Manitoba 26-15, thumped BC 33-2 in the Semi, and then the 18-10 decision over Quebec to claim the gold.
- The Saskota (Saskatchewan-North Dakota) Bowl for 9-Man Football was held in Lumsden, SK on Friday. North Dakota wound up winning 56-42. The game saw two records set... the most points scored by the winning team, and the most points scored by Team Sask in the game's 7 year history. Former Kindersley Klipper Voice Darren Dupont, now running his own website, http://www.saskgridiron.com/ , called the game, and has more details on his blog.
- I got a little lazy and didn't post much of a recap from the 6-Man Can/Am Bowl we had on July 3rd in Preeceville. I guess it was a long weekend and the blog wasn't really on my mind. Team USA won 25-17 over Team Canada, and for those who've been asking, it's now available to listen to, thanks to our Production man Chad Mikals. It's through a website called 'dropbox.com'... it's all free... so have a listen if you please. It's split into 5 parts, with myself and YRHS Raiders Head Coach Roby Sharpe.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9103237/Can%20Am%20Bowl%20Part%201.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9103237/Can%20Am%20Bowl%20Part%202.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9103237/Can%20Am%20Bowl%20Part%203.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9103237/Can%20Am%20Bowl%20Part%204.mp3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9103237/Can%20Am%20Bowl%20Part%205.mp3
- The Yorkton Cardinals have lost 10 straight ball games now, after 2 losses to Melville on Friday, and two more in Swift Current over the weekend. They're still very much alive in the playoff race, just a game back of Weyburn for the final spot in the East. A HUGE game tonight, as the Cardinals host Weyburn at Jubilee Park starting at 7:05. The two teams square off 3 times this week, with Yorkton in Weyburn Wednesday and Thursday. Melville's home to Regina tonight at 7:05. The Red Sox have won 4 straight games and have built a 2.5 game lead over the Mils for top spot in the East. Still 10 or so left, but this is probably a game Melville needs if they want to finish first. 3.5 would is a lot to make up with under 10 remaining, but not impossible.
- Swift Current beat Prince Albert 9-5 to win Bantam 'AA' Ball Provincials in Yorkton over the weekend. Yorkton lost in the semis.
- The Yorkton United U16 Girls won Division 3 Soccer Provincials in Weyburn. They beat Saskatoon Hollandia 2-0 in yesterday's final.
- I can't believe it, but my 1st wedding anniversary is this coming Sunday. Fastest year ever. I also haven't taken a vacation day since the honeymoon, aside from a couple days after the baby was born, so after this week, I'm OUTTA HERE for 2 weeks. Of course, with an infant, I won't be going too far. Probably just both sets of Grandparents for a week each. We've got a family BBQ at Manitou Beach sometime during August long, and my wife's Grandparents 60th anniversary in Saskatoon at the tail end of the holidays. All I know is I'll be blocking off a few days for "couch activities", July 24 (Riders @ Calgary), July 31 (Riders vs Hamilton), and August 6th (Riders @ Montreal).
Looking forward to holidays, but also to the work week ahead, see ya around!
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