These things I think I think I have been very surprised to the reaction to last week's column about people leaving behind some rather unpleasant leftovers on an Estevan resident's lawn.I wasn't surprised that people would have a strong reaction since finding a discarded condom on the lawn is something that many of us live in fear of everyday. I was far more surprised by how many people have had similar experiences. I'm not talking just one or two people either; multiple people have apparently had the same thing happen to them.Just when I was thinking we had a respect problem in the city, maybe it turns out we're just a bunch of deviants.I think watching Monday's Calgary-Edmonton "game" made me, and a lot of Saskatchewan Roughriders fans, very angry. I don't know about you, but I have never seen a team so completely dominated in what was supposedly a professional football game.It wasn't just that Edmonton lost, they lost in such a humiliating way that if I were a member of the team, I would seriously start questioning my life decisions. It looked as though an amateur team had taken the field dressed in Eskimo colours. You really have to feel for Richie Hall. One of the best, and certainly, classiest Riders of the past 25 years, Hall is basically a victim of circumstance. He didn't pick that pile of dung that took the field and he is going to be fired as soon as the season ends, if he happens to make it that long.But the real question isn't when will Richie walk the plank, the question is how did the Riders lose to those guys?They have a lot of flaws but the Riders are a pretty decent team. Not great, but they are definitely in the top four which, admittedly, isn't that big of an accomplishment this season with so many teams looking so bad.There is no way in hell the Riders should have lost to that abomination and one can only hope they have learned their lesson. Still, the more points Calgary put up, the angrier and angrier I got. I doubt I am alone.I think the Riders made some positive steps forward from that Edmonton loss with the win over Winnipeg on Sunday but they still have some more to take.The offensive line was embarrassingly bad for a good portion of the game and had Darian Durant running for his life on way too many occasions. The play calling on offence was atrocious for a large chunk of the match. Offensive co-ordinator Doug Berry has to decide what type of offence he wants to go with. Are they going to air it out and hope for the best like they did through three quarters with little to no success or are they going to use a methodical, ball control style offence that takes advantage of the many assets the team possesses as they did in the fourth quarter?I know which one most people would prefer but it's getting high time the Riders decide. They have the rematch with Winnipeg this weekend and then the real fun starts when they host Calgary Sept. 17. If they don't make a decision by then, the Stamps are going to hand them an Edmonton-style butt kicking.
