Saturday, June 03, 2006

Winning Ugly Redefined

It really is criminal what professional football teams charge for tickets to exhibition games. Today's game at Taylor Field (Riders 14 - Edmonton 8) was not exactly aesthetically pleasing. Okay, it was friggin' brutal! But that's to be expected in the pre-season, unfortunately. Can you imagine if prospective season ticket holders used an exhibition game to judge whether it's worth forking out the dollars required to attend every game? Taylor Field would be a tomb the rest of the year!

Thankfully that's not the case. And, there were a few bright spots for the home side today. Luca Congi's 52 yard field goal was a beauty - it probably would have been good from 60 yards. The defense in general was sharp. Rookie defensive back Shukree Shabazz was outstanding in pass coverage. Methinks the coaching staff will find a way to keep him around.

On offense, (insert first name here) Bracey ripped off some impressive runs in the fourth quarter - he looks like a keeper. No Roughrider quarterback was particularly sharp, in fact much-heralded offseason addition Kerry Joseph.........well he kind of stunk, actually. Hopefully Joseph has a much stronger outing in the rematch Friday night in Edmonton. He'd better.

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