Friday, May 21, 2004

Renegades head for the Farm

The Ottawa Renegades will board the buses for Kemptville on Saturday, as the CFL team kicks off its 2004 training camp. Medicals are scheduled Saturday for Kemptville College a former agricultural school, Sunday will be the first day of the dreaded two a day workouts, with sessions planned at 9 am and 3:30 pm for five consecutive days. Veterans and rookies will be vying for spots on the team that can no longer be discovered an expansion team.

This is “win year” as linebacker Jason Kralt puts it, as Ottawa attempts to go from training camp to Grey Cup. The Rens are hosting the annual classic this year and nothing would make the year complete than having the home team be the home team this year.

With the Grey cup in Ottawa this year the season ticket base is growing nicely, the Rens have sold 12,500 packages for this year the highest amount of season tickets sold since the CFL returned to the capital. Renegades owner Brad Waters says credibility is the key to the teams success thus far at the ticket window. Old time Rough Rider fans who may have been sceptical about the reborn team’s chances have finally come around, realizing that Waters and his crew are around for the long term.

And full credit to Waters, Tillman and Paopao who putting together a comprehensive plan to build this team slowly but steadily. Each year has seen the Rens become more confident on the field, providing a quality product for the fans whether they win, lose or tie.

14 days in Kemptville will give the coaches and managers and idea just how close they are to their goal of a Grey Cup berth this year. The East division will be much more competitive this year with new owners in Toronto and Hamilton, both of which are turning around previously inept franchises. Ottawa with a couple of years under their belt now are ready to challenge, Two weeks of two a day workouts, film sessions and intense job competition will give us an idea how close they are to win year!

No comments: