Sports Roundtable – Sept. 27

From Yunel Escobar to the Regina Stadium, everyone is making bad decisions

Braden Dupuis, Britton Gray, Kris Klein, Autumn McDowell

The Regina Rams scored a 35-26 victory against the U of S Huskies in front of 9,000 fans on Sept. 21. Who has been the Rams MVP so far this season?

Dupuis: Marc Mueller is the obvious answer. The guy has been damn near unstoppable lately, especially in the second half. Honourable mentions to Kolten Solomon, for making big catches game after game, and Michael Kiapway, who has been making the Rams ground game a force to be reckoned with.

Gray: First off, congratulations to the Rams for beating Saskatoon. Now then, about the MVP, I think you have to go with Marc Mueller. He has come back from last year’s injury to help lead this team and has the Rams rolling. Hopefully they can continue to win and make the U of R proud.

Klein: I’ve got to say it has been Marc Mueller so far. Is there any other player on that team that makes more of an impact than him? When he is playing, they win and when he is not playing, they lose. Lets just hope he can stay healthy so the Rams can make it into the playoffs.

McDowell: Let me take a wild guess, everyone is going to say Marc Mueller on this one, right? Well, I’m not. Sure Mueller is playing well but other players deserve some praise too so my MVP goes to Jamir Walker. The kid has been a stud on defence and his ball-hawking and ridiculous interception abilities continue to amaze me.

What do you think of the designs for the new stadium in Regina?

Dupuis: I could go with the obligatory toilet bowl/vagina joke, but they’re already played out. It’s a decent design that would bring a touch of prestige to the Riders, but it’s no Taylor field. Going to games in that thing just wouldn’t be the same. Plus, it looks like a toilet bowl, or possibly a vagina.

Gray: I saw them and it looks pretty decent. My only worry is that it’s going to cost a lot of money and people are going to get angry at how much it actually is. Once it is done, everyone will see it was for the best but until then people are going to complain that we should be putting the money to something different.

Klein: Stupid to say the least. I thought we were getting a dome, not a half roof with a giant hole in the middle. If they are doing that, at least make it a retractable roof so it can be used for a concert venue in the winter. The moral of the story is the designs are just plain silly.

McDowell: I hate it. The drawing is outright ridiculous. I hate how Regina always tries to go over-the-top artsy with their designs. Just give me my God damn retractable roof and I will be happy. According to the design it has a “spectacular roof” – which is a lie, it’s some weird beehive thing. It also has “ramps with views” – what the fuck are they talking about?

Who is currently the best quarterback in the NFL?

Dupuis: Michael Vick. That guy’s got bark. Every game he brings the growl, and drags his team through the dogfight. He truly is a rare breed. Seriously though, this guy should be in prison, not making millions as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Gray: The best quarterback in the NFL isn’t Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. It’s not even Aaron Rodgers. The best QB so far in the NFL has been Alex Smith. He may not have all the stats needed or the rep but he has been doing his job and has the 49ers on a roll. He’s simply doing his job effectively.

Klein: Once again, I don’t really follow NFL enough to really care who is. I know Jay Culter isn’t, based on how much my Dad spends yelling at the TV every time the Bears play. I almost got kicked out of the house when I suggested that he stops picking shitty quarterbacks for his fantasy.

McDowell: Tough call. Well I think I’ll go with Michael Vick, because that kid is sick. Not like sick in a, you’re twisted kind of way, it’s not like he had a dog-fighting ring at his house – oh wait. But honestly, he’s so unreal it’s disgusting and he just has so much swag. I want to be friends with him, or “bro’s” he would probably say. I would also like our bro-ship to have a secret post-touchdown handshake.

The NHL is on lockout for the third time in 18 years. How long do you think the NHL lockout will last this time?

Dupuis: The lockout will last until Gary Bettman gets what he wants, simple as that. As much as hockey fans love to hate the guy, there’s a reason he’s still the commissioner. He speaks for the owners, and he’s good at what he does. He is the evil face of 30 blood-thirsty billionaires, and he revels in it.

Gray: Well there are only two instances when an entire season was lost in sports. Donald Fehr was involved in one with baseball and Gary Bettman was involved in the hockey one. Both won because of the work stoppage. This is going to be a battle of wills. Get ready because this is going to get dirty. No hockey this year.

Klein: If it gets cancelled again I’m really going to be pissed. I would rather take a 40 game season other than it being wiped out all together. Either way, Bettman has to go. He is getting paid $8 million to watch hockey games and get booed when he hands out the cup. Eight million dollars to do nothing. In my mind that is fucking ridiculous.

McDowell: I can’t even talk about this. This makes me so enraged it’s ridiculous. This is the result of putting a two-year-old at the controls of the NHL. Three lockouts in 18 years is three too many. Since hockey fans are dealing with an idiot the lockout will probably last all season. No hockey and too much Bettman make Autumn go crazy. Also, fire Bettman.

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar received a three-game suspension for wearing eye black with an anti-gay slur written on it. Do you think that his punishment was too steep, not enough, or just right?

Dupuis: Three games seems about right. It’s obvious that the term means something else in Latino culture, and I really don’t think he meant to offend gays. That being said, as a public figure he should know better. It’s hard to plead ignorance in the politically correct western world.

Gray: Not even close to enough. While the season is almost over, he should be suspended for games next season. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue or anything, he wrote it on his eye black for a baseball game. He clearly was aware what was going on and should be disciplined more.

Klein: Well I don’t speak Spanish so I don’t really know what it means before I react. But if it is an anti-gay slur, suspending him was the right choice. You play in Toronto where plenty of gay and lesbian people live and you decide to go and piss off the general population?

McDowell: Escobar definitely deserved the suspension, I like the Blue Jays as much as the next person, and having Escobar out is definitely a blow, but at the end of the day, he deserved it. He claimed it was “just a word” but if a word is discriminatory, he should know better than to put it on his fucking face when he is seen all over the world. I roll my eye black at his stupidity.