the 4th star

Please welcome the Wyatts. Clockwise from the red hair we have Brandi, Tim, Ryder, and Sierra. Just a guess here, but I imagine this family was preordained in high school, probably in Craik or Foam Lake. Back then, Tim thought Brandi was “a sweet girl” and Brandi liked the cut of Tim’s “jib.” Only she would never say it like that, not before marriage, anyway. And yes, you read that correctly. The happy couple named their first born Ryder. You know, like the only reason to not kill yourself because you live in Saskatchewan football team. See what they did there? At Christmas, the families still get quite a chuckle over the word play. It seems ‘Pat’ was a little too obvious — even for them. Now that I’ve typed out a thousand words simply by posting this family portrait, let’s just get to the three questions and call it a weekend:

Winnipeg Blue Bombers (3-5) at Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-4)
Somewhere in Regina
Sunday, 3 pm

1. A football…game?
That’s right. A real-live game — on the field with pads and hitting and running and throwing and kicking and everything. What a nice distraction from all the off-field distraction that will be. Everyone is saying the right things with regards to where their focus is and being able to tune out all the Pacman drama of the past week, but now one can dispute this point: Only today — Friday — did the conversation actually revolve around the Saskatchewan Roughrighders. One has to wonder how many times this circus can go on before it starts to show on the players. Or maybe they’re used to it by now.

2. Who holds the bigger grudge: Damon Allen Michael Bishop or Brendan Taman?
The Riders cut the under-achieving Bishop almost immediately after they bowed out of the post season last fall, so he probably wants to stick it right up their ass on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Blue and Gold treated Taman like crap following the first round defeat in Winnipeg and he had little choice but to walk away from the team, only to resurface in Regina. No doubt both want to win this game. The question is: Who is putting more money on the board before the opening kick-off?

3. Can the Riders, not to mention the Riders faithful, stop Fred Reid?
Once again, the Winnipeg hopes rest on the legs of the talented running back. Reid is coming off a team-record setting performance two weeks ago, and no doubt Saskatchewan has studied the one play the Bombers used against B.C. As Reid goes, the Bombers offence goes. If he doesn’t have it, or the porous Riders defence shows any ability to stop a straight draw play, the Bombers players could be in for a long afternoon of insults and death threats from the crowd. Classy Mike “Crotch of Canada” Kelly should feel right at home.