how long has it been since the Riders were a true, bonafide contender that everyone feared, and buying a home playoff ticket wasn't a laughable joke in the pre-season but more of a guarantee!??
That was in the 70's for pete's sake!!!
I truly believe that Tillman will make something out of the Riders that no one since pre - 1976 has been able to do.
It might take a season, but The Riders could very well be a first place team once again!!
Tillman will hire the right guys for once, and the Riders will bring in the right Players for once... (yea we do have some, but we have a lot of bad characters..) And Tillman does NOT want bad characters!
I am going to wait until the end of the 2006 season to really get excited, unless the Riders pull of the unthinkable and go on a huge rampage for the rest of the season and shock everyone!
I like what he is saying already, he said he commended the Loyality the players had to Shivers....but..he said it ends here...he said the players need to focus there loyalty to the Big "S" on there helmets the Province & there fans.
Be loyal to the fans? You mean we are not going to here our GM talk about how the fans should be more supportive of the team? I hope Tillman iw the answer that we have been waiting for.
Funny after tonights game Barrett commented how they (himself & shiv loyalists)dedicated this game and the rest of the season to Shivers..Absolutely no mention about the Fans..
Now you know why this guys gotta go.. was a slam against Tillman comments for sure and a slap in the face to Rider fans
Please. If you have ever played them you would know you play for yourself and the other guys on the team or you have little success. The fact that DB and the players dedicated the game (the season?) to Roy Shivers is a testemony to the fact they feel he was unjustly fired. Agree or not look at the record for the last quarter century and the talent base in Saskatchewan and it is hard to argue it was justified.
Now having said that I am left to wonder why they should dedicate the rest of the season to a group of malcantent fans who are lead like sheep by the pied pipers of the print media. Pied pipers with ulterior motives. Pied pipers who have campaigned for jobs to be lost because theirs was now difficult amongst other things.
Now I am not saying Eric Tillman is not saying all the right things. From what I have read he is. I am saying it was injustice that brought him here. Now that he is here the coaches and players have to adapt and move on. I think they have. Now it is time for the fans and media to do the same.
I wish Danny Barrett all the success in the world. He was a great leader as a player, a gifted athlete and for my money, a good coach.
Realriderfan is right about what a winning team and its players play for. However, it simply doesn’t make sense for the Riders to be dedicating the season or wins to the ghost of GMs past, no matter how much loyalty they feel. This can only be a death wish for their coach.
It may be true that Eric Tillman has already decided that a new coach is coming at season’s end no matter what. That may have been part of the understanding that was given to him when he took the job. But if the Riders played great and went on a real tear from here to season’s end and Danny Barrett showed any class in publicly showing he can work with and is working with the new GM over sulking about his departed friend and possibly the loss of his own shot at GM in Riderville, he’d improve his chances of getting another contract or at least making sure he’d be considered for another head coach job when one opens.
But if he continues to sit back and let the talk fester about who the team is playing for and locking out the media (I bet Tillman was totally pizzed off over that stupid act), then Barrett not only will be done as a prospect for rehire he will done as a Head Coach ever in the CFL. That would be a sad way to end a promising coaching career. The choice is his. I don’t like what I see so far.
Funny after tonights game Barrett commented how they (himself & shiv loyalists)dedicated this game and the rest of the season to Shivers..Absolutely no mention about the Fans..
Now you know why this guys gotta go.. was a slam against Tillman comments for sure and a slap in the face to Rider fans
I don't care who they dedicate the rest of the season to, just win. If the players are gonna play a little bit harder which brings us a Grey Cup because they are dedicating the rest of the season to Shivers, then who really cares.
This is an interesting idea. The team is playing for their dearly, departed GM and friend. And now, they are dedicating the game (and rest of the season) to him? If they truly admire him this much, should they not have been doing that BEFORE he got fired?
I agree with Dentor and Football 16 that Danny Barrett has to let it go and move on, or he will be joining his friend quickly.
The decision to fire Shivers was decided on the friday BEFORE the game. The announcement didn't come til AFTER the game. Shivers was gone, win or lose!