FRIDAY IN RIDERVILLE

By Murray McCormick Fri, Nov 20 2009 COMMENTS(0) Rider Rumblings

That’s it. The final full practice of the 2009 season for the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium in the books. It seemed like just yesterday we were watching the rookies work out.

The Riders wrapped it all up Friday with a spirited workout. Eddie Davis addressed the team then all of the Riders hustled over for a whole lot of media interviews. You might think we would have run out questions by now and I will let you in on a secret — we have. But there are still reports to be filed and papers to sell.

Speaking of selling papers, I would strongly suggest buying at least one or more copies of Saturday’s Leader-Post. Along with my prose, there is a 32-page supplement kicking off the West Division final. We’ve been working on it for two weeks and every angle is covered. It was quite the project and one we will duplicate if the Riders win on Sunday for the Grey Cup.So make yourself and everyone else feel better by supporting blogs like this and all of our on-line coverage by buying a paper. I would really appreciate it.

So here is your reward for making through the last two paragraphs, an update on what took place today:

— Ken Miller watched the special teams practice today a different perspective. He was about six rows up in the stands checking on their alignment. I don’t know how he made it up there without any noticing but he did catch the attention of the railbirds. Some went up to talk to the coach. He did return to the relatively tranquility of the practice field for the remainder of the practice.
— I suspect that Adam Nicolson will get the s
tart as the wide-side receiver or least a lot of playing time. He has been on the roster since Week 4 and has quietly earning his chance to play more. I’ll have more on this thoughts online later or in Saturday’s paper.

— Lots of talk about the big game, the hype and the Riders will handle the pressure. Darian Durant said the pressure is on the Stampeders because they are the defending Grey Cup champs and the Grey Cup is in Calgary. Interesting take. I think the pressure is really on Durant as a first-year starter to lead the team. Mind you, that pressure has been there all season.

— I’m really interested to see how much of a role Jason Clermont has in Sunday’s game. He worked out rarely with the first-team offence and was mostly used on special teams. Some are hoping for the West final to be a break-out game for Clermont. If that does happen, it will have to take place with limited opportunities. At least based on how involved he was with the offence during practice this week.

— I guess there are 30,000 or so thundersticks being given away before Sunday’s game. I laughed when I heard that. As if the Riders fans need help making noise.

— That’s about it. It’s Friday, so loads of work to do in preparation for the game and I had better get pounding.