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Trouble at the henhouse

Saturday was an emotional night. More than likely you were watching The Tragically Hip’s possible last concert in Kingston, which was an absolute tour de force as singer Gord Downie gave everything he had out on the stage.

Saturday was an emotional night.

More than likely you were watching The Tragically Hip’s possible last concert in Kingston, which was an absolute tour de force as singer Gord Downie gave everything he had out on the stage.

Or you could have been one of the people who watched the entirety of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 53-7 shellacking that they suffered at the hands of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, which may have led you to question what you had done with the last three hours of your life.

Speaking of contemplating your life choices, that’s exactly what I was doing earlier this week when I decided to listen to both Riders radio post-game shows for the purposes of this column.

Now obviously the Riders are the big team in this province and they are going to get a ton of attention and media coverage.

However, if you tell someone who’s not from Saskatchewan that there are two stations doing pre and post-game shows and that one of the stations boasts about 10 hours of game day coverage despite not being the radio rights holders, they are in disbelief.

Anyways, prior to Saturday’s game I said on Twitter that I would listen to both post-game shows and write about the experience.

So, thanks to the Tiger-Cats demolition job I did just that and strapped myself in for nearly five hours of hot takes.

I was expecting it to be a complete tire fire with vitriol being thrown at everyone and everything. That and a bunch of conspiracy theories on how the CFL is against the Riders given play-by-play announcer Rod Pedersen’s tweets during the last two games.

Instead, the atmosphere and feeling among those who called in was one of shell-shocked depression. It was as if everyone had just listened to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska record and needed to reflect on it.

Even though I’m a staunch supporter of the Ottawa Redblacks, I can understand where that comes from.

You’d be upset too if the team you supported was on a 6-29 skid since quarterback Darian Durant was injured in the 2014 Banjo Bowl.

However, there were some comments from The Green Zone that made up for those that were down in the dumps.

“The fun has gone out of this town (Regina) and this province,” panelist Warren Woods said.

Apparently Craven was nothing more but a fantasy.

“I’ve missed a block party for this,” panelist and former Riders offensive lineman Belton Johnson added.

I’ll say this. Belton was easily the highlight of both shows. I would totally listen to him do a show based around the SEC conference in college football, seeing that played for Ole Miss.

Oh, have I mentioned that the college football season is about to start? That might be worth checking out if the Riders’ struggles continue.

I’m digressing here, let’s get to the callers on The Green Zone.

“I’m in the Crowsnest Pass at the moment and I’m close to going out there and burning my flag,” said one listener, who is apparently not prepared for the winter months.

“It sounds like you’re trying to instigate a fan revolt and get people against the Riders,” added another caller.

I have no idea what that guy was on about, but the best call of the show came late in the first hour.

I give you Dave from Winnipeg. Though I’m not sure he’s actually from Winnipeg as you will see during this call.

“I want my money back,” Dave said. “This is ridiculous. Why don’t we just get the (Regina) Rams to play instead? Would they be worse? Would they?”

After host Jamie Nye said that he understood where he was coming from, Dave lost his mind. While I’m writing this like a normal quote, imagine someone is yelling at you after a drunken argument at a bar. 

“No you don’t hear where I’m coming from,” Dave said. “I paid over a thousand dollars for events at the Grey Cup. I’m a businessman in Regina. This is what we get back from this team? No, listen to me. We can get rid of these people that are playing the game. What are we doing? I want an answer.”

Sadly there was no follow-up, but I’m sure Dave would have said one of the seven words that you can’t say on television.

My next stop was Sports Cage Radio Round Table on CKRM, the official radio rights holders of the team.

Surprisingly, well for me at least, there was some actual decent discussion going on between host Michael Ball and former Rider Mike McCullough about where the team goes next as the season continues and as they build towards the future.

Again, I was expecting hot takes and pure madness. I was very impressed and would like to hear more of that type of chat in the future.

Then the callers returned and more fun ensued.

“I drove to Dairy Queen at halftime and felt better about myself,” one caller said, who actually dialed up both shows and compared the Riders to a sushi joint.

“When I played junior hockey we made three game road trips in three nights to North Battleford, Flin Flon and Nipawin,” another caller added. “So don’t tell me that the Riders can’t handle a trip out East.”

I’ll leave the last word though to the final caller on the show, who was upset that fans want Chris Jones fired from the Riders after a 1-7 start.

“Come on fans, let’s stick with this guy,” he said. “This is the Canadian Football League. He’s the best thing we have.”

If that’s the case, both radio programs might be must-listen radio if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers can win on Labour Day for the first time since 2004.