Golden Bears gridiron season opener
I'm already coming through late with promised posts: this blog is way ahead of the curve.
This afternoon, the Bears open their regular season in Saskatoon against the Huskies. The immediate question is: can Alberta beat the team that's knocked them out in the Hardy Cup the last two seasons? The immediate answer is: Probably not. The Bears have lost too many players and are going against too good a team to reasonably expect a victory today. In general, I agree with everything Andrew Renfree said in the Gateway. (As an aside, it's nice to see they're continuing my tradition of articles declaring that teams won't win. I wonder if Andrew will get booed by the team.)
But the really interesting question is long-term: can the Bears finally make it past the Hardy Cup after losing in it the last three years? That I don't know. They have obstacles to overcome: the loss of both Jared Winkel and David Bissett at running back is huge, especially for a team that has depended on the running game for so much of its success. Starting quarterback Darryl Salmon also needs to be replaced, though frankly the team's recent success was to a certain extent despite him, rather than because of him. Still, new quarterbacks always come with growing pains.
On the plus side, the defense has eight starters back, including linebacker David Lowry, which is as surprising as it is important (that is, very). And coach Jerry Frieson knows what he's doing; he quickly turned around the once-pathetic team when he took the job, and he's not about to let them turn back.
In the end, I doubt they'll be able to match their 7-1 records of the last two years--but then, that's not what matters in the end. There will likely be early growing pains, but once they're past, it's hard to say how strong the team will be.
In sum: I have no idea how good the Bears will be this year. I guess we'll start finding out this afternoon.
I'm already coming through late with promised posts: this blog is way ahead of the curve.
This afternoon, the Bears open their regular season in Saskatoon against the Huskies. The immediate question is: can Alberta beat the team that's knocked them out in the Hardy Cup the last two seasons? The immediate answer is: Probably not. The Bears have lost too many players and are going against too good a team to reasonably expect a victory today. In general, I agree with everything Andrew Renfree said in the Gateway. (As an aside, it's nice to see they're continuing my tradition of articles declaring that teams won't win. I wonder if Andrew will get booed by the team.)
But the really interesting question is long-term: can the Bears finally make it past the Hardy Cup after losing in it the last three years? That I don't know. They have obstacles to overcome: the loss of both Jared Winkel and David Bissett at running back is huge, especially for a team that has depended on the running game for so much of its success. Starting quarterback Darryl Salmon also needs to be replaced, though frankly the team's recent success was to a certain extent despite him, rather than because of him. Still, new quarterbacks always come with growing pains.
On the plus side, the defense has eight starters back, including linebacker David Lowry, which is as surprising as it is important (that is, very). And coach Jerry Frieson knows what he's doing; he quickly turned around the once-pathetic team when he took the job, and he's not about to let them turn back.
In the end, I doubt they'll be able to match their 7-1 records of the last two years--but then, that's not what matters in the end. There will likely be early growing pains, but once they're past, it's hard to say how strong the team will be.
In sum: I have no idea how good the Bears will be this year. I guess we'll start finding out this afternoon.
posted by Jake at 7:17 AM
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