Revenge is a strong motivator

The ugly word revenge defined in Websters dictionary as "to exact satisfaction for a sense of wrong or injury either physical or mental" is one that is being mentioned with regularity in reference to the feelings of members of the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders as their meeting at The Rogers Centre gets closer.

The Rider head man rookie Head Coach Kent Austin has reason to want to defeat the double blue as one year ago at almost this exact week he was stunningly released by the Argos after being the Toronto offensive Co-ordinator for two years and two months.including a Grey Cup victory in 2004. There was never any official reason given for the dismissal but the rumour was that Austin had tried to get backup quarterback Spergeon Wynn to perform in the same manner and same level as first stringer Damon Allen who had been injured a couple of weeks earlier. This apparently did not sit well with Argo General Manager Adam Rita who disagreed with Kent's handling of the situation and thus Kent was released. Austin being the classy guy that he is has never officially commented on the events that transpired but you can bet it is in the back of his mind as the Riders attempt to win their third straight game .

Then there are a couple of ex Riders of last year wearing the double blue Quarterback Rocky Butler and kick returner Domanic Dorsey. Butler who was in Saskatchewan from 2002 till this year before being traded to Hamilton where he was subsequently released and moved down the Queen Elizabeth to Toronto had his moments in Green and White. His first noteworthy performance came against Winnipeg in 2002 in the annual Labour day contest when because of injuries to the Riders first and second stringers he was forced to play the entire game against the highly favoured Bombers .He did himself proud with some impressive passing and running in leading Saskatchewan to an upset victory over the Blue and Gold

Then last year with both Kerry Joseph and Marcus Crandell unable to perform Rocky directed the Green Guys to back to back lopsided victories over Hamilton. There were many of the Rider faithful who were surprised that he was traded in the off season as they thought he would get a legitimate shot at the starting spot this year. Hamilton decided he was expendable after the highly regarded rookie Timmy Chang from Hawaii showed so much promise and released him earlier last month and when the Argo situation became so critical it was a natural for Butler to journey down the 401 to Hogtown and join them. His first start was last week against the Alouettes in Montreal where he had some good moments and some bad ones leading the boatmen back from a 26-10 deficit to tie the game at 26-26 and force overtime , only to lose 29-26 . The negative aspect of the game was that he threw four interceptions at crucial times. He will get the start in this one and will most definitely be fired up and ready to perform at his highest level and Saskatchewan cannot take him lightly.

Then there is Domanic Dorsey who last year was the number one kick returner for Saskatchewan who was traded to Winnipeg in the off season and later released and was picked up by Toronto when their ace returner Bashir Levingston went down with an injury and responded with a record setting 120 yard return for a TD off a missed field goal attempt at a key time in last weeks Montreal game.

As well two of Austins assistant coaches were with him in The Ontario Capital last year.,offensive Co-ordinator Ken Miller and receivers coach Paul Lapolice. To say these two teams know each other very well is an understatement Last year in the Riders seventeenth game of the season on October 20th a stingy Saskatchewan defence led the team to a 13-9 victory.

The Double Blue are hurting this year with a record of two and four and have an offence and defence that ranks last in most categories with most of the problems stemming from injuries to their signal callers ,starter Michael Bishop and legendary veteran Damon Allen. The highly regarded rookie Mike McMahon who started seven games for the Phildaelphia Eagles two years ago has turned out to be a bust .Their veteran defence has played well at times but it is a case where they have been on the field to long in several games and they get tired by the fourth quarter.

The Saskatchewan bunch are confident and with a couple of exceptions are injury free and can sense the possibility of moving temporally into a first place tie with BC in the West with a victory. The trap for them is not to feel overconfident against a team that appears to have the wheels falling off.