Forum » Prince Miller is the lone true rookie learning how to live, fe

I had a couple of things happen this week that show how great the fans of the CFL are and how special it is for all of us to be part of this league. First and foremost it was great to see how quickly the ALS challenge has and will continue to help bring awareness and donations to help fight the disease. The players and people of the league are always eager to help whenever possible. I have a few interesting stories about interactions with fans and although it is a little weird for me to be recognized at times it is usually a nice thing meeting the many fans of this league. I was at a restaurant by the airport in Toronto after the Argo game Sunday night having a late dinner before I checked into the Airport hotel. I was at the bar and a young guy came over and said he was from Winnipeg and he wanted to say hi. He was a season ticket holder for the Bombers and was very complimentary and said that he was disappointed in what had happened to me when I was released. I told him I appreciated the kind words and I have been doing fine since that day. As he and his friend were leaving they said goodbye and asked about the new regime for the Bombers. I said he should be excited in the guys who are running the team now, I would call them all friends of mine and I have great respect for them. He was excited about continuing to see the season unfold. A while later I went to pay my bill and the bartender told me the two guys who left had picked up my entire bill! When they asked to buy me a beer, I said I was fine and I appreciated the offer but they didnt listen and paid for the whole thing! It didnt need to be done, but the gesture was and is appreciated. I still live in the City of Winnipeg and the people are very positive and great to interact with then and now. I remember after my first year in 2010 we had a CFL-record nine losses by four points or less. I was outside the house the day after the season and an elderly gentleman walked by and said, "you the Bomber Coach?" I said "yes" and he said "tough season" to me and I replied "yes, I was expecting a lot more." He didnt miss a beat as he kept walking by and said "SO WAS I". The same day I picked my daughter up from day care and a father with his kids said "nice season coach" positively and I said "you and I got different ideas of what good is". He stopped me and said "it will take time and you will get it turned around I believe". Both are examples of great CFL fans. I received a note and a Bomber jersey with my name on it and green numbers with 82 on it this year. This baffled me until I read the note. It was from a woman from Quebec who told me in the note that she was a big football fan and had her ninth (yes, ninth) child at the start of the 2011 season. She would PVR the games and watch them during the long nights with the baby. The Bombers became her favourite team and I (along with Marc Trestman) became one of her favourite coaches. She had a great time during those sleepless nights with the baby watching the Bombers season, winning first place and advancing to the Grey Cup. In 2012, she actually went out of her way and contacted Plymouth State College - my alma mater - and asked them to find my number in their archives. She actually got herself a Bomber jersey before the season and added green numbers (which were my college colours) to the Bomber jersey with my name on it. She said she was sorry to see that I had been released and had some kind words of encouragement as well as the jersey she had made up. These type of letters and E-mails and correspondence with people are amazing and mean a lot to all the players and coaches in the league. This letter and gesture meant a lot to me and shows how connected the fans are to the game we all love. My last story happened this past Tuesday night. I was helping with the ALS challenge at a friends house and I met an individual who is a big Bomber and CFL fan. But instead of talking about the season or about TSN, he wanted to tell me about when Matt Dunigan came to a fundraising breakfast when he played in Winnipeg years ago. He went on and on about the function and how great it was that Matt came and how well Matt did at the breakfast. Its safe to say that Matt only met this person once and it was years ago but he remembers it still and Matt made such a great impression on him for helping with the cause. A Hall of Fame QB who had the time for a charity breakfast to help out - that is what makes the CFL a great league, how approachable all the players are. Well to the guys who paid for dinner the other night, "thank you, you didnt have to" and to Anne Catherine, "thanks for the kind words, my head is up, I love the jersey and God bless you for raising nine kids!" Wholesale Air Max Shoes . Rudy Gay made the tying basket in regulation and a 3-pointer in overtime that gave Sacramento the lead for good, and Fredette scored a career-high 24 points to help the Kings beat the Knicks 106-101 on Wednesday night. Max 95 Sale China . "Ive got a lot of work to do on this team and the sooner that I can get back to my office and start that work, itll be better," he said straight-faced as the rest of the room erupted in laughter. http://www.airmaxshoescheaponline.com/. -- Even as Chris Paul remained evasive about his future, he did what team leaders are expected to do. Air Max Shoes Online .The Ottawa Senators winger was relegated to a corner seat in the locker-room to allow Daniel Alfredsson to return to his regular stall one last time. Cheap Air Max 95 . According to USA Today the Finns have tapped forwards Jarkko Immonen and Sakari Salminen to replace injured forwards Mikko Koivu and Valtteri Filppula at the Sochi Games.Hunt, Hit and Hurt. That is what Weldon Brown, the new strong-side linebacker, says is the motto for the 2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders defence in 2013, better known as the “Wolf Pack.” The definition of a wolf pack is a group of wolves that live, feed and travel as a family group. I love the “Wolf Pack” moniker for the Roughriders defense, as football is the ultimate team sport where the premise is to play and stay together; theres power in numbers. Novelist, Rudyard Kipling once wrote "the strength of the Pack is the Wolf and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." This holds true for any defensive unit in the league but has a bit more significance with the Riders defence this season. Why? Well, GM Brendan Taman, head coach Cory Chamblin, and defensive coordinator Ritchie Hall have assembled a unique group of castoffs from various teams to form an intriguing and extremely talented unit. Case in point, five of the seven interior starters fall into this castoff category. Even two of the backup linebackers, Tristan Black and Diamond Ferri, fall into this category, with Black coming from Toronto and Ferri from Montreal. The only Rider-experienced interior players in Halls defense are Sam Hurl, a second year backup linebacker, and the beloved defensive lineman Keith Shologan, a veteran of six seasons with the Riders. (Note: Tearrius George, two years with the Riders and three with Calgary, is on the suspended list). The three other backup interior ball players are young wolves/rookies to the CFL: Will Davis, Antonio Coleman and Levi Steinhauer.After being deemed not worthy by the Eskimos, Brown comes over from Edmonton where he spent three years as a cornerback. In the Wolf Pack, he is playing the SAM or strong-side linebacker. In the CFL a SAM linebacker has to be a jack of all trades, possessing the ability to cover some of the leagues best receivers, take on pulling offensive lineman/goliaths, and stop the run. SAM linebackers need a combination of finesse and power. Middle linebacker Rey Williams comes back to his old stomping grounds after spending the last two seasons in Hamilton. The once feared alpha male looks to recapture that title within the structure of the Wolf Pack. Rey is a bit more familiar with being a Rider than some of the other newbies as he spent three seasons (2007-09) with the club. John Chick comes back to Riderville after spending three years in the NFL, one with Indianapolis, and two with Jacksonville. Johns a physical and polished pass rusher that brings an insatiable appetite for hunting down quarterbacks. On the other side at rush end is another tremendous “QB hunter” cast aside from his former team, Rickey Foley. Foley is coming to Saskatchewan fresh off a Grey Cup Chaampionship with the Argonauts, where he earned the Grey Cups Most Outstanding Canadian award.dddddddddddd. I say earned because he stepped up big in the championship game, recording four tackles, one special teams tackle, one QB sack and a fumble recovery! Moving into the middle of that interior line you find the addition of Jermaine McElveen. McElveen spent a year with the Ticats after four with Montreal. Hes been productive and often underrated since coming into the league. Great pick up for the Riders! As you delve into the back end of the defense you will find two of the starting five positions are potentially now occupied by players new to Rider Nation. Highly touted man-to-man cover guy Dwight Anderson comes over from Montreal and Carlos Thomas comes over from Hamilton (Thomas was a Rider four years ago in 2009, albeit only for one game). The alpha male of the secondary, starting free safety Tyron Brackenridge, (I had Brackenridge in my TSN Top 50 selections) is new to the position having played SAM linebacker last year and halfback the year before. The flexibility and numerous options that are created defensively with playing Brown at SAM, Craig Butler at WILL and Brackenridge at safety are fantastic. Basically you have two interchangeable parts in Brackenridge and Butler, with Brown giving you that Swiss Army Knife ability in Halls defence. Cornerback Paul Woldu, who is going into his sixth year in the league and second with the Riders, and second year free safety out of the Saskatoon Hilltops program Graig Newman give Halls defence even more flexibility as they can play numerous positions and are both Canadians. Rounding out the secondary is Terrell Maze, Macho Harris and Woodny Terenne, all second year Riders. Prince Miller is the lone true rookie learning how to live, feed, and travel with the group. From what Ive seen in both Brackenridge and Butler is that these players have an innate ability to find the ball and be in the middle of all things nasty. So whatever you may lose by taking arguably the best defender/cover guy in Brackenridge away from the line of scrimmage and playing him at safety, its safe to say Butler offsets by being closer to the mix at WILL linebacker. Im anxious to see "Butts" play an 18-game schedule to see what kind of numbers/food he can provide for the Pack. In week one, we saw the Wolf Pack feast on a weaker Edmonton Eskimos team. They looked hungry and ravenous, determined to come together and dominate as a group. Individually they all looked like they were playing with a chip on their respective shoulders. Collectively they all worked together to Hunt, Hit and Hurt; which makes this group of talented castoffs an extremely dangerous Pack! Howwwwwwwwwllllll! ' ' '