This is the End...

Well, it's the end of an era here in Ottawa. The Renegades have officially packed it in for this season, and more than likely for the foreseeable future. What a shame, I thoroughly enjoyed attending their games (though admittedly out of the 15-20 games I went to I paid to attend but one contest). Without them here this season, I will be forced to come up with something else to occupy my time this summer.

Perhaps the saddest new of this whole turn of events is that I will no longer be able to see my beloved Green 'Riders come to town. Those were always my favorite games to go to, although for some reason the completely inept Renegades usually managed to somehow come up with the win in these contest, much to my dismay. Maybe I'll try and catch them in Toronto this summer.

With the doomed Renegades now out of their misery, attention can now turn to tomorrow's dispersal draft, where the few decent players from the 'Gades squad can be picked up by other teams. I have great concern that my Roughriders will go out and trade a good player from their roster for the first pick so that they can get Kerry Joseph, an over-rated and grossly overpaid glorified ballboy, to take snaps for them this coming season. The problem I see with this is that Joseph is not even as talented as the two quarterbacks currently in camp, let alone completely unqualified to be by far the highest paid player on the team.

The biggest need that the 'Riders can address in the draft would be to their receiving corp. I won't lie, losing our best receiver in the off-season hurts, and the fact it was to Calgary is like a knife in the back. This deficiency can be addressed nicely in the dispersal draft though as there are a pair of talented receivers available in Jason Armstead and Pat Woodcock. Armstead was one of the few bright spots for Ottawa last year with a ton of return yards and a decent year from the line of scrimmage. To me, the better option would be Pat Woodcock. Only one season removed from winning the League's Most Outstanding Canadian Award, Woodcock had the capability of putting up some crazy good numbers. He was hampered last year by a few injuries and inconsistency, but on that Ottawa team being inconsistent means that he was actually good for a little bit. One downside to him is that he is fairly high paid, but he could potentially lead all 'Riders receivers this season.

The only other glaring need for the 'Riders is at the kicker position, but there is no way in hell they would try and fill that from Ottawa. Anyone who even remotely follows the CFL must know that the kicking game in Ottawa has been a joke since they returned to the league three years ago. I think in that time Ottawa has averaged seven kickers per year, none of which have been any good.

Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed....