Sports Roundtable – March 14

Beer and basketball, what a great mix

Braden Dupuis, Paige Kreutzwiser, Autumn McDowell

The U of R will play host to the CIS Women’s National Basketball Championships next weekend, will you be attending any of the games to help cheer on the Cougars?

Dupuis: I’ll be there with my camera, recorder, notepad and pens, and probably a beer in each hand as well – come to think of it, I may need another hand. You should all be there too, friends. Our b-ball team rocks and they’re playing for a national championship at home. They deserve our support, and I deserve an extra hand.

Kreutzwiser: I would love to go and watch the team, considering it’s here in the city, and to cheer on the our girls, especially Kehlsie Crone, who is making MJ real proud!

McDowell: Oh I will definitely be there. Whether or not all of the members of the women’s basketball team will be happy I’m there is another story. But, I will be cheering them on, hopefully to a first place finish. Interviewing people after they win is so much less awkward.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have made many moves so far this off-season; which change are you the LEAST happy with?

Dupuis: For the most part, the additions have outweighed the subtractions this off-season, but if I had to choose, I would say I’m least happy with the departure of Odell Willis. He took a lot of bad penalties, but he was entertaining as all hell. I’m also pretty sure he’s clinically insane, and I can relate to that.

Kreutzwiser: Just wary about Foley/Anderson combo but, as I’ve been told, we shouldn’t judge a book – or books – by their covers.

McDowell: Well, besides the fact that I am still bitter that we have yet to trade Chris “Butterfingers” Getzlaf, I am rather upset about the departure of Odell Willis.  Not only was Odell a riot to watch on the field, he was also always a threat to sack the opposing quarterback. He was also always a threat to take an untimely penalty, but that’s another story.

The Regina Pats will miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. What needs to change for the team to consistently be a playoff contender?

Dupuis: I don’t know. Maybe they need to…play better…or something? Haha. Sorry. I watched the Pats play exactly once this year and I can’t name a single player on the team. In short, I am dangerously under qualified to be answering this question, but I have a feeling I’m not the only one.

Kreutzwiser: They need to clearly put up more billboards around the city of them holding cell phones.

McDowell: Well, the Pats veterans were bitten by the injury bug continuously this season, which definitely didn’t help matters, especially on defence. Pats 20-year-old captain Colton Jobke had numerous injuries to deal with resulting in him only playing in 28 games this season, leaving the defence in young, inexperienced hands. On the upside, with all of the playing time the youngsters got on the blue line, the Pats will be back to playoff contention in the near future.

What has been your favourite moment from this year’s Brier? (Be honest if you didn’t watch it at all.)

Dupuis: My favourite moment was when I put on TSN expecting SportsCentre, noticed they were showing the Brier and immediately changed the channel. Ain’t nobody got time for that shit.

Kreutzwiser: Since I’m writing an article on this, I really don’t want to answer, but since I have to, I will say I got a good chuckle from Brad Gushue’s fall. Poor guy, he’s just the black sheep.

McDowell: I didn’t watch it at all. I’ve never really been into curling and find it incredibly boring as a matter of fact. I also find it incredibly annoying when they continuously yell “hurry hard!” as if their teammates don’t know what their doing and if their continuous yelling somehow makes a difference.

Most legitimate question: Which athlete, dead or alive, would you most want to party with on St. Patrick’s day?

Dupuis: I would be doing my French-Canadian heritage a major disservice if I said anyone other than St. Patrick himself – Patrick Roy. The guy’s got a mean temper, and I have a feeling he can really slam ‘em back – the perfect drinking buddy for a good old-fashioned St. Patrick’s day shitshow.

Kreutzwiser: Hands down it would have to be Rory McIlroy. I lived in Ireland, so I know how the Irish celebrate on St. Patty’s day and needless to say, McIlroy has more money than all of the Irish I partied with combined. That would be a perfect St. Patrick’s day for me.

McDowell: This might be the most difficult question that has ever been on the roundtable. Oh god so many choices, I don’t want to just waste my choice on an obvious answer, so I think I’ll go with former terrible Roughrider quarterback Nealon Greene. Then it would be perfectly acceptable for me to ridicule him for being the worst QB in Rider history, because I would be drunk. That, and his last name is Greene. Get it?

Photo courtesy of thecurlingnews.com