Riders at Lions Game Day Thread November 3, 2012

[TheLionKing]

In this day and age I find it hard to believe he had no photo ID except his passport. Does he have a driver's licence ?

[PigSkin_53]

Want to start framing this game up early as there are a lot of story lines - some wild, some wacky.

First, who'll start at quarterback for our Leos? Is Coach Bene really going to wait until warm-up to determine whether Travis will play and, if so, how many reps will he get? Or does the club already know the answer?

“He had a pretty good day today, but I’m still going to reserve judgment until (Saturday’s pre-game) warmup,” the B.C. Lions head coach said on Thursday, two days before his team’s regular-season finale against Saskatchewan...."

SOURCE: Ed Willes, Vancouver Province

Regardless of whether Edmonton wins tonight, it appears that the Riders are intent on resting a lot of their starters, namely Darian Durant but possibly Weston Dressler and a host of others too.

It has also been reported that the largest crowd of the season will be on hand tomorrow (over 35,000) so it should be a pretty good atmosphere. Can the Leos put last week's debacle behind them? On the line is their stellar defensive record (20.4 points allowed per game so far), which could be the best Leos defense of the "18 game" era if they can smother the Riders again tomorrow night.
Oh, and Riders' rookie receiver Ismael Bamba will be arriving to the game in the team's equipment truck as he doesn't have any picture ID to fly. True story. Only in the CFL!


DH

If Travis does not start tonight it will have been official a full month since his last game played (Fri Oct 12), to a supposed start in the Western Final.

We need TL to shake off some rust tonight or risk having it happen in the WF, which could have more devastating effects than his playing tonight!

[sj-roc]

Carm Carteri on 1040 right now: "Maybe I'm biased but I think a lot of teams don't want to play the Riders right now."

[PigSkin_53]

Carm Carteri on 1040 right now: "Maybe I'm biased but I think a lot of teams don't want to play the Riders right now."

Oh! We want to play them tonight, even if we never see until next season again... we have a score to settle tonight!

[sj-roc]

1040 is now speculating on attendance approaching 40k. Not sure if that will really happen...

But if it does, it'll be a bit of a headscratcher, albeit a pleasant one. All the endless handwringing on here for ages about attendance so often falling short of expectations, blamed on everything from high ticket prices to market indifference to a weak economy to competition for the entertainment dollar and everything in between. And now today we might actually see the highest attendance for a regular season game at BCP, aside from the re-opening last year, in almost 20 years (dating back to 40,556 for Lui Passaglia Night almost 18 years ago to the day on Nov 5, 1994), for, of all things, a COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS game that our marquee player might not even appear in, and it's not like there's not a better Lions option that everyone has known about now for several weeks.

The largest regular season crowd since 1994's LPN, aside from last year's re-opening, was on the same Nov 5 date in 2005: a crowd of 38,847 took in a narrow 13-12 loss to Ssk, a defeat that closed out the all-too-well-documented poor finish to that regular season.

I will be very interested to see the size of the green contingent tonight.

[Rodu]

we really need to have a big game today, can't go to the West final backwards on a two game losing steak, no more chances for players to shake the rust

[Belize City Lion]

1040 is now speculating on attendance approaching 40k. Not sure if that will really happen...

But if it does, it'll be a bit of a headscratcher, albeit a pleasant one.

Not sure why tonight of all nights would pull 40k. Sure the Riders alway bring a little spike in attendance, but it's a meaningless game for both teams. Likely there were a number of tickets sold earlier in the year when this might have been seen as a potential first place showdown. But it doesn't add up to the Lions suddenly attracting 8-9K more than normal. Especially not after crapping the bed last week.

Could it be that the Lions have quietly papered the house in order to create a bit more buzz to help push ticket sales for the WDF? If the announced attendance tonight breaks 40K, suddenly talk of a sell out for the WDF doesn't sound so unrealistic.

[sj-roc]

1040 is now speculating on attendance approaching 40k. Not sure if that will really happen...

But if it does, it'll be a bit of a headscratcher, albeit a pleasant one.

Not sure why tonight of all nights would pull 40k. Sure the Riders alway bring a little spike in attendance, but it's a meaningless game for both teams. Likely there were a number of tickets sold earlier in the year when this might have been seen as a potential first place showdown. But it doesn't add up to the Lions suddenly attracting 8-9K more than normal. Especially not after crapping the bed last week.

Could it be that the Lions have quietly papered the house in order to create a bit more buzz to help push ticket sales for the WDF? If the announced attendance tonight breaks 40K, suddenly talk of a sell out for the WDF doesn't sound so unrealistic.

Possibly, BCL, but wasn't there some quote on here from Skulsky or Braley a few weeks ago about how they don't want to do that because "how do you get those people back when you ask them to pay full freight?". Something to that effect, with some average $100k STH income figure thrown in.

But it does seems odd that this game of all games would draw the highest crowd of the year, and quite possibly in many years. Don't get me wrong; it's great to have a big crowd. But if it's not clear what's drawing them in, how can you be sure they'll be back next year? Nothing so far about tonight says we won't be back to 26k for the 2013 home opener.

[notahomer]

Carm Carteri on 1040 right now: "Maybe I'm biased but I think a lot of teams don't want to play the Riders right now."

I know three playoff bound teams in the East that WOULD LOVE to have to play the Riders right now cuz that would mean they would be in the Grey Cup. Can't see any team caring out of Calgary/BC. Neither team is playing all of its starters or would show anything special. Yup, I'm thinking Carteri is biased.....but I can admit so am I. To be honest I can't think of a team I'd rather see the Lions play considering that dogs breakfast of a game I watched last week.

[Ballistic Bob]

Attendance? Its simple. No NHL thank God. BB

[sj-roc]

Attendance? Its simple. No NHL thank God. BB

I don't think it's that simple. Where were they for the last game, which barely scraped 30k?

[agent2]

I think a big part of the attendance question is seasonal, people have a lot more to do in the summer. Me and my family are often away on summer weekends so most Sat nights are out. In Oct/Nov, the weather here is crap and fall is typical "football season". Right now, no NHL helps too.

[ziggy]

I've seen a lot more adds for tonights game than in the past. Also there is a bit more buzz with the Western Final and Grey Cup getting some media attention and this being the final regular season game. Even the "Engraved on a Nation"' series is getting people talking football, which may help generate interest. I just hope the game doesn't turn out to be a preseason type of affair that turns off the newly found crowd.

[PigSkin_53]

We have to look at this game like a dry run for the WF, and play hard and round into playoff contention...yeah?

[PigSkin_53]

Nobody takes the night off...I want everyone flying around making plays!