so maybe i went a little overboard for the labour day game...sue me...

GO RIDERS!

are the Rider's now the holiest team in the CFL?

michael bishop in roughrider green? i see this as a very positive move.

bishop, while inconsistent at times, has proven himself to be a bonafide starter with a heck of a throwing arm. Crandell is getting up in years, and has not shown himself to be of starting calibre. i wonder if this is a move to release Crandell, possibly? i don't think there is much doubt that Durant will be the starter when he comes back after the way Crandell has played in recent weeks. If nothing else, Crandell will be on the shortest leash of his life. if all the Riders had to give up for this was a conditional draft pick, then good on em' for making the move. i love how Eric Tillman sees an opportunity and grabs it. but i think this is a win-win situation. GO RIDERS!

10 things i hate about people stealing my rider's flag...and why i am not as good as the priest in Les Miserables

i was going to post a funny video from youtube called "what am i?", but then i realized at the end there was some naughty language, and some won't appreciate it. so funny, but for now, you'll have to settle for my rant.

my wonderful father (in law, but i don't like saying that. it makes it seem like they are less than worthy or something, but he is great) bought me a Saskatchewan Roughrider's flag to put in my car window. it was majestic and beautiful, dark green, tightly woven threads, beautiful...body...i guess. i was pumped cause i had wanted one for years, but was to cheap to put out the $20 cash for it. anyway, i went to work around 10:30AM, proud with my newly displayed flag on my hotrod. by hotrod, i mean my 84' corolla hatchback. pretty much a lambourghini...lamborgini...lambofgodini...i don't know how to spell it. anyway, i went out to my car 2 hours later, and saw the plastic holder still in place, but the flag was no more. someone had ripped it off.

it's just a flag. just a flag i had had for a grand total of two hours. i can't say i was really attached to it. but it was mine. my possession. i can't even describe the blind rage that came over me as i realized it had happened. i'm sure some of you have felt it before. but i hopped in my car, driving through the area, determined to find the villain who had violated me so. because, after all, when people steal things from you, they usually walk around the same neighborhood they stole it from with their freshly stolen item in their hands. like i said, i was in a blind rage. i drove for 20 minutes, convinced i would find the perpetrator and bring him to justice. i wish i could say i realized i was being silly and drove home to forget about it. but the rage stayed with me. i punched my steering wheel, said a few choice words in the privacy of my car, and sped home, realizing i wouldn't find the person. at home, i stayed furious. i explained to my wife, thinking my rage made perfect sense, but she didn't get it. she thought it was lame, but she didn't understand my anger. just shows how selfish she is...and so i took my anger out on her, not talking to her and treating her like she had stolen my precious flag. i decided to lay down for a nap, but couldn't sleep because of my rage. i went through the whole day angry beyond belief. to make a long story short. i woke up the next morning realizing what a wiener i am. my wife says i should have realized that many years ago, but sometimes it takes acting like a total knob to realize who you have become.

i was thinking about the priest in Les Miserables, who was robbed by Jean Val Jean of his silver cutlery. the next day, the police found JVJ with the stolen silver from the priest who had taken in JVJ the night before, fed him, given him clean clothes, and a bed to sleep in. one would expect him to feel much the same way i did, only worse as it was more expensive. instead of becoming angry and feeding him to the dogs/police, he took a different approach. he said to JVJ "why, you took the silver, but you forgot the candlesticks." or something to that effect. thus, he saved JVJ from going back to prison, and gave him a second chance at life.

i am not that noble. i want my flag back.

but i got over it by yesterday. then, this morning i went out to my car to go to work, and someone had been in my car and thrown stuff everywhere, looking for valuables. the feeling welled up inside me again. hatred, anger, revenge...until i realized, it was an 84' corolla hatchback, and the most valuable thing i had in there was my cologne in the glovebox, and they didn't even take that. i showed them. all part of my master plan of driving a crappy car. in your face, criminals.

funny CFL article by Mike Toth on Sportsnet.ca

What's in a name?
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Mike Toth Archive

Ryan Dinwiddie's surname is an easy target for taunts after any bad decisions.
Absolutely everything if you're a CFL fan who realizes that a name is part of the game.

With the Buffalo Bills preparing to play in Toronto on August 14th, CFL protectionists have been busy blabbering about how the Canadian brand of football is more exciting than the NFL.

But forget about the games.

The fact is, the CFL should be celebrating its colourful names.

For instance, if you're looking for the perfect advertisement to push three-down football, it doesn't get any better than Tom Canada. Sure, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive end actually grew up in the exceedingly Uncle Sam-ish community of Iowa, Indiana. But whenever Doug Berry, the coach of the 1-5 Bombers, tells the media to "Blame Canada", you can't help but feel a twinge of patriotism.

Truthfully, Canada doesn't get blamed very often, as he racked up 12 sacks last year and was named to the CFL all-star team. And like Canada, there are plenty of players around the league who have the game and the name to go with it.

Looking for tough guys?

The Calgary Stampeders have their very own physical foursome comprised of JoJaun Armour, Julian Battle, Funtaine Hunter and the ultimate in macho monikers, Ken-Yon Rambo.

If the power of positive thinking is more your style, the CFL is full of names that would have been perfect for "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" on "Saturday Night Live". Give a huge, happy hello to Chris Best of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg's Dan Goodspeed, along with Ian Smart and Zac Champion from the B.C. Lions. Yes, my friends, simply recite these self-affirming surnames over and over again and you'll finally be able to look in the mirror and say, "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough and Doggone it, People like me!"

But not every CFL'er is lucky enough to carry a feel-good label.

How many times has a certain Stamps offensive lineman, for example, been called Jeff "The Human" Pilon by a cheeky opposition defensive tackle?

Edmonton's Tyler Clutts and the Riders John Chick, meanwhile, are simply cruel jokes perpetrated by the football gods.

And Winnipeg quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie?

He's had to go through life as a walking, talking insult.

"You Dinwiddie! What were you thinking throwing into triple coverage?"

Then there are names that inspire goofy giddiness in Grade 3 bathrooms and sports departments across the land. Say a big "hee hee hee" to Chip Cox and Chris Leak of the Montreal Alouettes, Toronto's Willie Pile and the Hamilton Ticats' Pat Woodcock.

But to atone for the sin of having such evil fun at the expense of your fellow humans, football can serve as a religion and so can some of its names.

Remember that crazy "Rainbow Man" who used to show up at every major sporting event flashing a "John 3:16" sign?

It turns out "Rainbow Man" is now wearing black and white stripes while he serves a life sentence behind bars for blowing stuff up. But today, his message is still being spread via the massive shoulders of Jude St. John, a holy rolling offensive lineman who opens huge holes for the Argos. Michael Bishop is also a man of the double-blue cloth although having been reduced to do a back-up role, Bishop may be ready to renounce his position and move on to another Mission. The Lions Cameron Wake, meanwhile, has obviously lost his way because with a handle like that, he should be playing for a Ti-Cats team that has already been pronounced dead after only six weeks of action.

On the other hand, Calgary's Demirus Summers knows that living is easy at this time of year. And nothing says summer more than big blockbusters at the movies. "The Dark Knight", the latest installment in the Batman brigade, is breaking all the box office records. But for my money, you can't beat the campy Batman television series of the 1960's. The Caped Crusader and "Robin ... old ... chum" would wipe the floor with the villain of the week and the carnage was celebrated with "BOOM!", "KAPOW!" and "SPLAT!" graphics that appeared inside cartoon bubbles. With that in mind, we proudly present the Batman-inspired dynamic duo of Patrick Kabongo and Siddeeq Shabazz from the Eskimos. In fact, the next time Sportsnet Connected offers up "The Hits of the Week", don't be surprised to see the action jacked up by the presence of the odd "KABONGO!" or "SHABAZZ!".

But with apologies to Batman freaks everywhere, Gotham City is a long way from The Great White North.

And since the CFL is at the very core of Canadiana, it's only right that we conclude our exercise with a pair of names reflecting the league's true spirit.

Angus Reid of the B.C. Lions, for instance, would get a positive check mark on any poll dedicated to Canadian football.

But the surname that says it all?

There's no way you can scream "I Am Canadian!" unless you cast a vote for Hamilton's Sandy "Frosty" Beveridge.