Jul
Eskimos looking for a win on Retro night vs Lions
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
Thursday’s encounter against the B. C. Lions has been dubbed Retro Night as the Edmonton Eskimos honour teams from the 1960s.
But the’09 version of the Green and Gold had better be looking forward, not back, as they prepare to battle a team still searching for its first win of the new Canadian Football League season in the B. C. Lions.
Just who will be hungrier: The 1-1 Esks, who are coming off a 50-16 embarrassment, or the 0-2 Leos, who have not looked good at all?
“This feels like a dream,” Lions star receiver Geroy Simon told west coast reporters of his team’s surprising 31-28 setback to, of all teams, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this past weekend. “I never thought in a million years we’d lose to Hamilton.”
Just like the Esks never thought they would lose by 34 to the Alouettes, one year after enduring a 40-4 pasting at Molson Stadium.
“It might be surreal, but it’s still real,” said Lions centre Angus Reid, of their stumble. “We haven’t won a game yet, and we have to learn what it feels like to win.”
So it should be a hungry, wounded pride of Lions that ventures into Commonwealth Stadium. The same holds true for the hosts, who can’t afford to be generous and giving.
“In some ways they are no different than us right now, not playing up to their potential,” said Esks head coach Richie Hall. “They’re 0-2 coming in and we’re 1-1, and we always know that it’s going to be a dogfight in the West. You have to win your home games. They’re going to be hungry to get their first one, but we’re going to be hungry to get our second.
“It’s not so much about the B. C. Lions, it’s about the Edmonton Eskimos,” continued Hall. “I don’t care that B. C. is 0-2 and desperate. We’re 1-1 and we’re desperate, too.
“There is a sense of urgency in this game. One game doesn’t make a season and one play doesn’t make a game,” added Hall.
His opposing coach, Wally Buono, is still looking for his first win of the season, needing five victories to pass Don Matthews in all-time wins.
“It’s bizarre,” Buono told the Vancouver press. “I’m befuddled, surprised and I’m disappointed. I’m not concerned about what happens to the Edmonton Eskimos, I’m concerned about our inability to execute. I know you can say it’s all the rookies we have, but they’re not necessarily the ones making the mistakes.”
It’s early in the season, but both teams have faced their fair share of adversity, which should only help build some character.
“It’s very much a character-builder,” said Hall. “When you don’t play well and things don’t go your way, you find out what you’re made of.
“Two things can happen. You can roll over and die, or you can keep fighting. It’s easy not to do anything. It takes courage to go out there and keep fighting.”
“It’s going to help us get better,” said Buono. “I just wonder why we have to get kicked in the ass before we can stand up straight. It’s the whole process we must go through, I guess.”
The same holds true for the Eskimos, who went 2-0 in the pre-season, while the Lions haven’t tasted a victory in four outings -0-2 in exhibition and 0-2 in league play.
“We have to find out who we are,” said Reid. “We have to keep hammering until we find out who we are.”
Both teams still need to establish their identities and it comes at a cost of facing each other.
“Here’s my problem,” Buono said. “I believe we should win. I don’t know why I see that as a problem. But I see us as being able to play better football than we are right now.”
And the same goes for Hall and company.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you progress during the season and how you finish,” stressed Hall.
“It’s a Western team. It’s a four-point game and these two teams, from the history that I’m aware of, aren’t exactly fond of each other. It’s going to be a big battle.”
Not to mention a critical two points.
POINT AFTER: To mark Retro Night, the Eskimos will welcome back defensive lineman John La-Grone. The 1969 Schenley Award winner as top lineman, LaGrone was also a two-time CFL all-star and six-time Western all-star.
