Mini-columns about Riders and sad sports stories

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A four-pack of mini-columns:

ONE: There isn’t much public concern about the Saskatchewan Roughriders losing two of their last three CFL games and retaining second place in the West with a 5-2 record.

The Roughriders looked tired while getting outscored 17-0 in the second half of Thursday’s 20-16 loss to the hometown Montreal Alouettes. Montreal’s third-string quarterback, Davis Alexander, played the final two quarters and his surprising proficiency helped beat the fatigued Roughriders.

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The Roughriders joined the lengthening list of victims of the CFL’s schedule-makers. That may explain why the defeat is being graciously accepted by the fanbase.

Like the Calgary Stampeders, who were sent East on a short week to get thrashed 33-6 by the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday, the Roughriders had only one legitimate workout before making their tough road trip to Quebec.

A couple weeks ago, Alouettes head coach Jason Maas reiterated a statement heard regularly from Edmonton Elks quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson — who keeps getting fined by the league for telling the truth — “Football’s not meant to be played with five days’ rest.”

Maas’ team subsequently suffered its lone defeat, dropping a 37-18, short-week decision to the Toronto Argonauts and losing quarterback Cody Fajardo to a hamstring injury. Fajardo’s backup, Caleb Evans, was replaced by Alexander after a horrible first half Thursday.

The Roughriders will get an extended nine-day break before playing host Saturday to the winless Edmonton Elks. The Roughriders played four of the CFL’s toughest teams in July and went 2-2 with backup quarterback Shea Patterson replacing injured starter Trevor Harris, who may be able to play against Edmonton. The Elks will again be playing on a shortened week and are expected to replace Bethel-Thompson with Canadian QB Tre Ford.

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TWO: Thanks a lot, Bev Priestman and John Herdman. Couldn’t you have found honest methods of making Canada’s soccer teams better?

We know coaches are always looking for anything that can help their teams, but using video drones to spy on opponents’ practices seems trite, illegal and very embarrassing.

Thanks to the excellent reporting of TSN’s Rick Westhead, Canada Soccer keeps showing itself to be an organization in turmoil. Their coaches besmirched the Canadian men’s team, which just appeared in the World Cup and Copa America, and women’s team, which is dealing with this turmoil amid the suspension of Priestman and two assistants while nobly trying to defend its Olympic gold medal.

The athletes who worked hard, bought into the program and upgraded it, made sacrifices and expected their coaches to be ethical, are now being punished for something they didn’t do. It’s so wrong.

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THREE: So the Edmonton Oilers hired Stan Bowman as their new general manager. Wasn’t there anybody else?

Bowman steps into a team that reached the Stanley Cup final before dumping its architect, Ken Holland. Bowman was a three-time Stanley Cup-winning GM with the Chicago Blackhawks before resigning in 2021, along with head coach Joel Quenneville and executive Al MacIsaac, for mishandling sexual assaults committed on one of their players by an assistant coach.

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“These things will never happen on my watch again,” Bowman told reporters. “I didn’t handle things properly. I should have done more.”

Following reports that Bowman had invested himself in programs to learn more about assault, the NHL recently reinstated the trio.

Bowman has been in regular contact with the assaulted player and earned an endorsement from Sheldon Kennedy, a former NHL player who founded Respect Group, a program designed to deal with bullying.

Bowman shouldn’t be kept entirely away from hockey. Maybe he should first re-earn his bona fides as a scout (or somewhere lower in the hierarchy) before being rewarded a boss job with the Stanley Cup favourites.

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FOUR: Hey, Argonauts: Whenever your suspended quarterback makes an appearance on social media, he sounds vindictive and vengeful rather than remorseful and grateful that he’s going to get another opportunity to play.

Of course you want Chad Kelly back in your lineup because it’s better having a good athlete than a good person, right?

Kelly was suspended for a minimum of nine games for mistreating a female Argos assistant coach, while the people who allowed that behaviour weren’t publicly disciplined. Judging by head coach Ryan Dinwiddie’s consistent defence of Kelly, plus the repeated downplaying of his actions by the culprit as he impatiently awaits his return, it looks like the player and the Argos haven’t learned anything.

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