ROBSERVATIONS: Corey Mace and good grace … celebrating Steve Daniel … nerdy numbers … breaking news: broken headphones!
Let’s begin by observing the one-day anniversary of my story on Corey Mace’s one-year anniversary.
Yesterday on Riderville.com, we celebrated the hiring of someone whose appointment as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 48th head coach was announced on Nov. 30, 2023.
Now that the CFL West Division’s reigning Coach of the Year has had his say, I would like to offer some personal reflections on this exemplary individual.
Over my first 50 years of ardently following the Roughriders, my favourite team was the 1981 edition.
The Roughriders of 43 years ago didn’t win a Grey Cup. They didn’t even make the playoffs. But I enjoyed that team so much.
After back-to-back 2-14 seasons, the Roughriders went 9-7 under first-year head coach Joe Faragalli.
Many of the games went down to the wire, a la 2024.
The high-wire act of spectacular slotback Joey Walters produced 91 catches, 1,715 yards (still a Roughriders record) and 14 touchdowns over 16 regular-season games in 1981.
There was an immediate buy-in from Walters and his teammates, who loved Papa Joe.
I detected a comparable vibe while following the Green and White this past season, to the extent that I recently asked Mace to discuss his connection with the players.
Faragalli, who joined the Roughriders nearly five years before Mace was born, was cited in my meandering question as an example of someone who enjoyed a rare rapport with the men in the locker room.
“Specifically in your first year, it’s about spending time getting to know the guys and the things that they like that have nothing to do with football,” Mace replied. “It shows that you care, and I do. I’m interested.
“We can have real conversations, too. It’s not always just coaching. As it pushes forward, I think it’s infectious. Guys feel like they can have those conversations and bond with their guys outside of football as well.
“The staff is unbelievable here and they see it the same way. I don’t know if they’re going to look at me as Papa or Pops, but there are certainly a lot of conversations with guys that have nothing to do with football.”
Here, as a supplementary reflection, is something that has nothing to do with football …
On the day Mace was introduced, I sat down with him for roughly 10 minutes.
I was one of approximately 7,411 people he met on that momentous day. We had a wonderful chat, but I didn’t expect anything — including my name, whatever it might be — to stick with him amid the inundation of introductions, interviews, et cetera.
Fast forward to Jan. 13: Various members of the Roughriders visited Regina’s mamaweyatitan centre for Family Fun Day.
In walked Mace to kick off his first community appearance as a Roughrider. Our paths had not crossed since that first interview, 44 days earlier.
I approached him and began to extend my right hand, preparing to reintroduce myself.
Before a syllable could be uttered by this correspondent, he said: “What’s up, Rob?! How’s Candy?!”
To my enduring astonishment, he remembered me and my dog.
It is still a tail I love to tell.
HALL OF FAME GAME
Steve Daniel, the CFL’s vice-president of football analytics, and TSN’s Farhan Lalji were deservedly inducted into the media wing of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on Grey Cup weekend in Vancouver.
I had the pleasure of saying hello to Farhan when the Roughriders were in Winnipeg to oppose the Blue Bombers in the Western Final.
Although I have yet to meet Steve in person, he is someone I hold in the highest regard. He is a great gift to anyone (like me, for example) who habitually forages for numerical nuggets, such as …
NERDY NUMBERS
Steve has been of invaluable assistance as I strive to assemble an expanded Roughriders record book and statistical base.
I would still be stuck on 1956 — as I assess the entertainment scene, this young whippersnapper named Elvis Presley may have a future — without Steve’s invaluable assistance.
My year-by-year, game-by-game logging of Roughriders statistics recently took me to and through the 2008 season.
Perusing the data from an Oct. 30, 2008 road game against the Toronto Argonauts, I was reminded that numbers — as much as I love, love, love them — don’t always tell the entire story.
Consider the passing stats for the starting quarterbacks:
Kerry Joseph: 25-for-38, 307 yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions.
Michael Bishop: 18-for-32, 292 yards, zero touchdowns, four interceptions.
Based on that information, you would presume that Joseph and the Argonauts won in a rout.
Wrong!
Saskatchewan prevailed 45-38 after outscoring Toronto 28-7 in the fourth quarter.
Bishop ran for three touchdowns. Neal Hughes added two majors along the ground for the Green and White.
OK, here’s another one …
Aug. 6, 2010: The Roughriders registered nearly three times as many first downs (33-12) as the host Montreal Alouettes.
Montreal won 30-26.
You never know.
CRUNCH TIME!
CRISIS! Gormless writer destroys wireless headphones.
The destruction was such that wires are poking out of the allegedly wireless headphones.
It happened like this …
Earlier this week, I placed the black wireless headphones on a black chair in Mosaic Stadium’s alumni lounge.
Then I went for coffee — which, for the record, was not black. (Far too much cream.)
Upon revisiting the alumni lounge, I sat down and … C-R-R-R-RUNCH!
I had satisfied my caffeine fix, only to require a headphones fix.
Dear Santa …
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Corey Mace, Petra Mace, Maleena Mace, Micah Mace, Craig Reynolds, Saul Goodman, Rebecca Perigny, Dr. Verna Scott, Dr. Tom Robinson, Richard Aduboffour, D’Sean Mimbs, Ryan Robinson, Braden Konschuh, Steve Daniel, Farhan Lalji, Joanne McCall, Frank Kovacs, Pete Paczko, Ed White, Gregg Drinnan, Dorothy Drinnan, Todd Drinnan, Connor Hewson, Chad Hudson, Marlene Hoffman, John Hoffman, Glen Hoffman, Ed Bankowski, Darrell Romuld, Matteo Romuld, Candace Davis, Shawn Bane Jr., Bill Baker, Tom Shepherd, Tom Fuzesy, Keith Willoughby, Michael Bishop, Kerry Joseph, Neal Hughes, Rob Hepting, Trevor Buhnai, Karen Prokopetz, Tim Iannone and anyone who can give me a good deal on wireless headphones.
