2018 Story-lines

First off, Calgary doesn’t perpetually blow to big game year after year. It’s been 2 years. You seem to suggest Calgary needs a change, how do you change a 28-6-2 (28-2-2 in games that mean anything) team to make 2 or 3 plays go differently in 2 Grey Cup games?

Many coaches of winning teams have been fired. Jones is dividing the locker over his dealing of Carter, that has to be the case. That will lead to his downfall.
Besides that some of his personnel decisions have been terrible, and Collaroes may be the worst yet

The players say otherwise. Can you provide a link to something or someone stating the locker room is divided?

I've been reading that the players love what's happening here, and the new signings are amped to join the party. They have choices - yet they want to be here.

Really? All he is done is say that he was disappointed and that they would wait to see what the court said and that he was going to have a serious discussion with him. He also got in on the Bowman sweepstakes as a potential contingency…as he has shown multiple times that he is not afraid to let SMS bonus walk. I find it hard to believe a player would not respect that from any coach. The Stamps went through a similar thing last season with Campbell and they seemed just fine. Funny how that works when a boss supports an employee huh? Carter is over the top energy and I can entirely see that would be a bit much at times (still think he has ADHD or something) but he is very popular with the players overall…they like that he is generally the positive energy when things are down.

I don’t need proof. Common sense and life experience tells me there is a division.
We’ve all been in groups, whether it family, school, work or other, where a particular individual gets special treatment (as does Carter with daily counseling and Jones flying to Florida last month to see him).
You can rest assured there is a large faction that resent this, as we’ve all seen in our regular lives, terms like “teachers pet” were commonly used when I was a kid.
If you think everyone is fine with this and just love Carter you are wrong sir. Think about it. Would you like a guy at work who continually gets into scuffles and fights in meetings, yet still gets favored by the boss ???
You say players are happy to be there, what player doesn’t say that with there new team? I can point to an article were a newly signed Stampeder says Calgary is where he wanted to be “Players from BC and Saskatchewan have always told him Calgary is the best organization to play for” -paraphrasing.
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Jones certainly “supports” the employee, you are right about that
What does Campbell have to do with anything? Does he fight with teammates? Was DD or Huff meeting with him daily?- I don’t get the comparison.
The truth is, Carter had good numbers but not great, no better than he had in his Montreal years. Statistically speaking every team (including the riders) had 1 receiver better than Carter as he was ranked 10.

Until they see your stadium.

Anyways, RiderNation is going to fill Mosaic Stadium this year (again), and I believe we will compete. We know you don’t like this reality, but it will happen.

This thread is about 2018 story lines and yes, I believe DC will once again be part of that story line. As you can see from last year, it has done nothing to negatively affect RiderNation. Did I mention the team is sold out of season tickets?

Wonder what the Stamps could do to get your city to care as much?

Ummm I’m pretty sure this player was well aware of what our stadium looked like. LOL the new stadium is always a riderfans fall back when he’s lost an argument.

Why does the province of Saskatchewan define their worth based on support of a professional football team? The answer is- the riders are the 1 thing that bring Regina/Sask to the table with all other large Canadian cites. I’m sure if Alberta was 1 million total population and Calgary/Edmonton combined has 500,000 population with a single CFL team between us and no NHL, no World cup soccer or Olympic bids, we’d be doing just as well :slight_smile:
That’s not an insult. I think Regina, Saskatoon and the entire province is a great place with great people, but it is reality.

I didn’t realize we were arguing. Sorry to have not caught your angle on the dialogue. What I’m saying is: Your worry and concern about how Chris Jones and Duron Carter are collectively sabotaging this team - is likely unfounded. We know you want them to fail, but yet there is no evidence of this yet happening. Fans are spending as much as ever, and the president of the club recently gave Jones a very strong endorsement. Plus we look very strong headed into 2018 with the signings and re-signings in the offseason.

You will win your ‘argument’ when the team implodes as you predicted.
BTW - that hasn’t happened yet.

I think the entire country coast to coast is great and filled with awesome Canadians.
There is no other country I would rather live in and I could easily like living in numerous cities or provinces in Canada. Why the major cities that you allude to cannot fill their stadiums is beyond me. The CFL is a great product and is attainable and affordable. But so many of those Canadians don’t care about the Canadian Football League.

I never said anyone was sabotaging the team.
What strong endorsement was he given? A 1 year extension is a strong endorsement?
I believe (this is my opinion)Jones forced Reynolds hand on the 1 year and I expect he will sign 1 year extensions as long as he’s with the riders.
He basically went to Reynolds and demanded it, what choice did Reynolds have? Fire him you have 3/4 of a million to pay out, you have no DC, no HC, no GM no head of football operations, what you do have is a PR nightmare!
Jones benefits because he keeps the team under a strong financial commitment without him having to commit long term to the team.- Jones really holds all the cards.

I agree. great country, but like so many things Canadians reject much of its own unique greatness for American ideals, culture and products.

It’s very odd. So many Canadians don’t know what they’re missing.

If we ever needed to fire him, we can afford to do that, because RiderNation has strong support for its team. Obviously that’s not something we want to do - but can do if needed. We are nowhere near that stage so it’s a moot point.

Craig Reynolds recently stated at the Commish Road Show that Chris Jones is the best coach in the CFL (in his opinion). The full room of season ticket holders erupted in applause.

I believe we’re good.

@ Iconic SR
Thread is getting too long so I started a new one;

If we ever needed to fire him, we can afford to do that, because RiderNation has strong support for its team. Obviously that’s not something we want to do - but can do if needed. We are nowhere near that stage so it’s a moot point.

Craig Reynolds recently stated at the Commish Road Show that Chris Jones is the best coach in the CFL (in his opinion). The full room of season ticket holders erupted in applause.

I believe we’re good.


This is what riderfans tend to do.
They get caught up in ceremony and forget to look at facts.
So what if Reynolds said that at a big public event! What do you think he'd say? "I'm really pissed at Jones for taking this team in his direction and not what he was hired to do" ? Just like press conferences for new signings, take Hughes for example, he talked about how great the facility is compared to Calgary,,,,this is called rhetoric, to complement your new team and fans.
If you want real life comparisons; "My you have a lovely home" or "Dinner was fantastic"
Words are words.....actions and facts tell the truth.

You can purr and coo over the great things Carter says about rider fans, but I'd be far more concerned about his in game antics, hiding a serious charge from the organization and showing terrible judgement in his life decisions.

The only way to measure success in any business (pro football or otherwise), is to measure the tangibles and revenues/profits. So - let’s drill down a bit thru the measureables:

1. Season ticket base. Is it in decline or is it increasing?
Answer: Increasing. The waiting list for season tickets is growing.

2. Support for club initiatives. Positive or negative?
Answer: Overwhelmingly positive. Regina built the nicest stadium in the league with no federal money and fans are in overwhelming agreement to pay $12 per ticket per game for the stadium fund. A very successful P3 project that benefits all stakeholders. Ticket demand is up.

3. Merchandise sales. Increasing or decreasing?
Answer: Increasing. With more square footage of retail store space than ever before. Five Rider stores in Saskatchewan, not including the various kiosks throughout the stadium and in the park adjacent on game days.

4. Support for Rider management. Positive or negative?
Answer: Was very negative one year ago when Jones bounced Durant and some veterans. Reynolds and Jones persevered and one year later all the naysayers are silent and now generally happy with the decision making on field.

5. Team performance. Increasing or decreasing?
Answer: Increasing. We missed the GC game by one defensive play in east final in 2017. The team is much better on paper today than they were at that time. TC can’t come soon enough. Fans are excited. Everyone knows we are a better club than in 2017.

6. Some fans dislike Chris Jones.
Answer: Yes, and who cares. They don’t impact anything except their own anxiety. History here shows Chris Jones and his staff are much smarter than the armchair GMs in the fan base.

7. Some fans dislike Duron Carter.
Answer: Yes, but they are in the minority. Majority of fans love the guy. If he succeeds or fails in 2018, the team will still be ok.

8. Financial obligations: The team committed $25 million to the new stadium before construction began. Fans were concerned about this.
Answer: This $25 million was paid off BEFORE the teams very first game in new stadium, and now the Riders now own a massive share of the new state of the art $300 million facility. There isn’t another team in the league capable of doing this.

Sorry to interrupt this two man pages-long outburst about which franchise is better-Calgary or Saskatchewan.

Maybe just start a new thread. No need to have that debate in this story-line thread is there?.

In the shadow of an imminent new CFL franchise announcement in Halifax, and how best to do this expansion, I truly believe what is happening currently and evident in Saskatchewan - will be VERY important for the new CFL team in the Maritimes. In fact, this may be the biggest CFL story line for 2018.

Doing what some other CFL teams do - will likely result in failure. The new Maritimes club can not afford to do that, so they had better emulate the teams who enjoy passionate fan support for their clubs. It’s not rocket science to model successful behaviours.

Well on Winnipeg, I’m all for any and all mistakes they should make. ;D

My Hometown Too - Viva Las Vegas!
I had lived there from 2005 to 2008 and was one of the folks who was a casualty of the Great Recession and had to go elsewhere. Ironically, after making stops in Clearwater FL, Indianapolis, IN, and one hour north of Philadelphia here in Easton PA, I am moving right back to the very same town where I moved ten years ago in the Philadelphia suburbs.

I still have my 702 phone number and still consider Las Vegas a home, but paying for parking on the Strip is bunk as are some of the other looming changes in the name of “security” and the like. I had seen such BS after 9/11 when living in the Washington DC area, for I was there on that day too mind you, and I pray they don’t make such awful decisions there too because that police state future is awful and was the main reason I had left Metro Washington DC for Las Vegas in 2005.

Josh Freeman - Brighter Days Ahead?
And on Josh Freeman, if you do a search you might find some of the historic posts about him as I shared here when living in Tampa Bay at the time and knowing a bit about that situation from the local lore beyond that which was reported otherwise.

Josh Freeman was a fine quarterback and a fine young man, whom I addressed once live and directly with nothing but praise on a local radio show after calling in to get on the air, with his better day ahead of him. I thought more highly of him than the likes of Sam Bradford and other high-profile quarterbacks who had been picked at the time and in then recent years.

And then it appears that Freeman made some bad choices locally that caused him, shall we say without violating the new rules, to lose an abnormal amount of weight. He said he gave up Taco Bell and the like as his cover story, but no one locally was buying it.

And then he was shipped out of town over a weekend in the off-season, after not showing up for a team photo and given a dispute with the coach then Greg Schiano, very quietly and discreetly with the local homer media not giving the matter the usual lip service but for one local radio show calling out the BS without going into defamatory details. It was as if the Vikings owner Wilf was doing the Bucs owner Glazer either a favour or returning a favour.

I’m all for if Josh Freeman has a new lease on matters and on life via Canada. And I hope he would remain and excel in the CFL too.

My rebuttals:
1- season ticket base in increasing due to the novelty of new Stadium, a few losing seasons and once the 'new stadium smell" wears, you will go back to the pre new mosiac days, 2016 the old mosiac had a single sell out!

2-No federal money for stadium…so what ? The only time federal gives money to new stadiums/arenas is is a large international high profile event is going to occur, no such initiative exist is Regina (sorry AC/DC farewell tour doesn’t count). The success of this project will be measured in the long term, not 1 year. The CFL is always in a precarious position, what happens if the league folds? Where does that user fee money come from then. Has any rider fan though of that?

3- Riderfans will buy anything with a rider label on it. Yes it’s good revenue, but these dollars can buy TD’s

4-Irrelevant, fans know nothing.

5- You improved to 10-8, very mediocre. The question is can you get to 12-6 and beyond? and do it so many years or decades?

6-This goes back to point 4

7- People dislike curtain people because they give people a reason to dislike them. You to and including smuggling drugs across the border, TWICE

8- You own a massive share in a stadium, so what. Unless your stadium is on park avenue you have a worthless asset. Who’s going to buy it? What benefit is there to anyone? The Stampeders, by virtue of their owners have assets will in excess of 25 million. 25 million is the annual salary of our starting front 3!