Pre-Season 2
6/20/2008 8:43:39 PM
Saskatchewan Starters out; Andy Fantuz, Scott Schultz, John Chick, Jeremy O'Day, Gene Makowsky, Wes Cates, James Johnson, Corey Grant, Lance Frazier, Wayne Smith.
 
Like I said before, it's still only the pre-season. This game being as lopsided as our previous game against Calgary was, in which we left multiple starters home much like the Riders did in this game; the score certainly didn't surprise me at all. It also doesn't mean much of anything. Like I said before, the pre-season is merely a dressed up practice period and has little to no indication in my opinion of what your teams chances are in the regular and post season play.

In spite of that, it's always good to perform well in front of your home crowd. As a team, it's important to set a precedent of winning in your own back yard, and the pre-season is a good place to start. Personally, it was good to get the kinks out and take a hit or two before going into the regular season. Most importantly, I'm glad that we were able to get through this dress rehearsal with minimal collateral damage to the health of our team. At this time last year, we seemed to have already lost several starters, and were somewhat reeling for answers as to how we would fill those holes. This game saw Ricky Ray go down in what could have been a very ugly injury, but seems to be fairly minor thankfully. If there could be a silver lining to such an instance, it must have been the ovation that Jason Maas received when he came in. If anybody deserves to be cheered, after what I've seen him endure in Hamilton, it's Jason. It was wonderful to see him play so well for the Eskimo faithful who have carried the torch for him through so much. The Ray-Maas- Lefors trio is one that puts us significantly ahead of any other team in this league in my opinion. While every team says that they are comfortable  with any of their quarterbacks behind center, It's almost understood that the further you go down your depth chart at that particular position, the higher the sales of heart burn medicine in that city. That won't be the case here though, I can guarantee you that. As receivers we wouldn't even realize that they've made a change at QB in practice if not for the differences in cadence, and the fact that Stefan may tell a joke before he throws a 45 yard strike to Andrew on the sideline.
It was good to see the exuberance of youth present in two of our rookie DB's Tristan Jackson, and Keith Williams. In fact both of the Williams boys (Keith and Lenny) looked very good at halfback.  Goss and Younger will speak volumes this year through both voice and play for us, while Buhl and Lenny Williams will mature before your eyes. It was nice for the fans to get introduced to Kelly Campbell, and re-introduced to Fred Stamps, two of our 4x100m members in our revamped receiving corps/track team. Add in an Alberta born speed merchant named Brock Ralph, the best utility man in the league in Andrew Nowacki, arguably the best receiver in the game in Jason Tucker, as well as myself and our quarterbacks will definitely have some options. ©

*My thoughts and prayers are with the Kabongo family at this their time of mourning. It seems like the season hardly gets underway before something occurs to put this entire experience into perspective. *

Kp8