Renovations needed for Rens?

There's nothing like a shellacking to start the chatter about major changes needed and need fast. The Ottawa Renegades who have seen the wheels fall off of their previously successful cart, suffered a rather severe spanking at the hands of the undefeated BC Lions on Thursday night.

The Lions started early on the foot of Duncan O'Mahony and didn't stop until the final gun as they cleaned the Rens clock by a 61-27 margin. The Lions looked every bit the best in the league as Dave Dickenson picked apart the Ottawa secondary at will in the third quarter, picking up fourteen points in a matter of minutes. Dickenson was given a rest after the points explosion, leaving the rest of the game to the clean up tandem of Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson.

For Ottawa the loss capped off a rather tumultuous week in Rensland as Forrest Gregg lowered the hammer on Joe Paopao's hand picked talent assessor Chris McRobbie, a sure sign that some of his authority is being whittled away from under him.

As if that wasn't enough controversy for the Rens, the Gliebermans decided to think aloud this week about how they could trade with Montreal for the rights of recently released Giants QB Jesse Palmer, a hometown boy, who has spent three years on the Giants taxi squad while seeing little to no action on the field. Imagine how current QB Kerry Joseph must have been thinking with that bit of news buzzing around Frank Clair Stadium.

However, after Thursday nights massacre Joseph probably had best get used to the soon to be loud rumblings of a Palmer landing, with an anemic offensive display, the Rens did no favours for their QB or their coaching staff. If the Rens are looking for someone to point a finger at, there may be no better target than Freddie Moore, the Rens tackle who offered up some pretty good bulletin board quotes for the Lions to read! 61 points later Wally probably has soothed his fragile feelings sufficiently.

The Glieberman's seem to attract controversy and while things started off somewhat smoothly it seems that the entire season in Ottawa is about to implode, not a good thing for the long suffering football fan in the capital.

Over on the West Coast the Leos continue to convert the doubtful, the attendance numbers have been steadily rising the last year and with a 10-0 record this year the planning of the Grey Cup parade route is probably underway. Though don't mention that kind of stuff to Wally Buono, even with a convincing 61-27 victory Buono says there's lots of work still to be done for the Lions to be a true champion.

After Thursday you can probably expect the Renegades to be thankful that they won't be available for any more tune up sessions this year.