The Pillar of the Rough House

A familiar face appeared when the REDBLACKS' announced their 2022 operations staff on January 3rd.  

(Brendan) Taman is a Grey Cup-winning executive who has worked in the CFL since 1987, including as Manager of Football Operations for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the early 1990s. Most recently, Taman, who won a Grey Cup as GM of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2013, spent two years as a Senior Player Personnel Executive with the Montreal Alouettes. Taman was also GM of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 2004-2008. 

He joined the Rough Riders in 1989. For glimpse of how he was perceived in the organization and league, we turn to Ottawa Citizen veteran writer Wayne Scanlan and his article from the October 13th, 1991, edition.

Taman's entry in the 1992 media guide confirmed that the dark hair on the upper lip reached at least Movember-week-three levels. 

Note: I believe the picture above was used for at least three years in the team's media guides so it may pre-date that article by quite some time.

I found the mention of Dan Rambo in the 1991 article is interesting. The Ottawa Sun reported that Rambo assisted the team in its search for a general manager so perhaps we're seeing his influence at play in Taman's addition to the staff. He (Rambo) helped improve the 1992 Rough Riders club and may now have a hand in improving the REDBLACKS 30 years later.

"REDBLACKS Usher In New Era, Name Shawn Burke Franchise's Second General Manager"

The Ottawa REDBLACKS and OSEG are proud to announce that Shawn Burke will become the second general manager in franchise history.

A native of Guelph, Burke comes to Ottawa after nearly 15 years with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, most recently serving as Senior Director of Player Personnel and Co-Manager of Football Operations for 2021’s Grey Cup runners-up.

“Today, we begin a new era of REDBLACKS football,” said President and CEO Mark Goudie, “We ran an extremely inclusive and in-depth GM search process that showcased the high calibre of football minds in our game. I am tremendously excited to experience the passion Shawn will bring to our team, and to RNation. On behalf of the OSEG ownership group — Roger Greenberg, John Ruddy, John Pugh and Bill Shenkman, we’re thrilled to welcome Shawn Burke to Ottawa.”

“I am also extremely appreciative of the excellent and professional job that Jeremy Snyder did in stepping up as our Interim GM, when we needed him.”

Prior to joining the Tiger-Cats – where Burke served in several key roles, including Assistant GM, Director of Football Operations, Director of Football Administration and Director of Community Relations and Communications – Burke spent three years with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.

In addition to his core duties with the Tiger-Cats – who have appeared in the Grey Cup game the past two seasons – Burke has also been responsible for such tasks as negotiating player contracts, and administrating the salary management system, among others.

“I’m incredibly excited to join the Ottawa REDBLACKS and the entire OSEG Family,” said Burke. “I’d like to thank Roger Greenberg and the entire ownership group, Mark Goudie and Adrian Sciarra for giving me this great honour and responsibility. RNation, we’re going to hit the ground running — let’s get to work!”

"Ottawa Sooners Under New Ownership"

The following article was written by Everett Hanmer. You can read the complete version on the Ontario Football Conference website.

The new owner of the Ottawa Sooners wants to bring a national championship to the city. Entrepreneur and Businessman Kevin Ling now owns the organization, taking over from John and Tammy Allaire.

Ling has been a fan of football his whole life and grew up playing the sport. Ling is from Burlington which is where he was first introduced to the Sooners. “We used to play the Sooners every year when I played junior ball. The Sooners were familiar to me as an opponent.”

Ling knows that the Sooners are a part of the football culture in Ottawa. “When people think about football in this town they think about the Redblacks and the Ottawa (Rough Riders) and if you’re not talking about them, you’re talking about the Ottawa Sooners.” 

Since taking ownership Ling has wasted no time, as he already has a number of candidates he is planning on interviewing for the head coaching position. 

Ling says that giving back will be a part of the Sooners. “I think as a team that will be a big part of what we do to rebuild this organization because the Ottawa Sooners are part of the City of Ottawa.”

Ling was recently on TSN1200 to talk about this. I tried, but failed, to embed the player into this post so I can only provide this link. 

This is comforting being that I feared the Sooners might be done for the foreseeable future. I would have hated to see a 60-year old club just disappear unceremoniously. I'm hoping the club can participate in other age categories as well, but one thing at a time. For now, welcome back to the junior ranks, Sooners! 

Happy 20th Birthday to the Ottawa Renegades

I guess.

I ran into this completely by chance. I was actually looking to confirm uOttawa scores from the 2001 season. An article about the Gee-Gees' home game  against Laurier on October 13th made reference to Renegades co-owner Brad Watters being invited for a ceremonial kickoff. Clearly the franchise had only recently been awarded then, so I went back a few days and easily located the article from October 11th about the team's birth the previous day.

There was much more material but much of it was spent recapping the Rough Riders' history and reliving the team's painful final season in 1996. The former is mostly broad strokes and includes nothing that has not been covered here already and the latter is best moved on from so I have no particular interest in copying any of it. It does, however, speak to the level of interest at the time that the announcement ate up the first three pages of the sports section.

Jo-Anne Polak's Media Guide Page

Inspired by Jo-Anne Polak's selection as a CFL Diversity Is Strength campaign "trailblazers", I thought I would share her bio from the 1989 Rough Riders media guide. It will be easier to read if you open it in another tab. Pardon the inevitable curving at the spine.

The league was quite new to me at the time of the hire. I don't recall being particularly surprised that a woman would get the job or whether a woman in the position created a great deal of controversy.

The only thing I can say is that she is one of the few front office employees from that period (mid 80's to the ugly end in 1996) that is still has the respect of fans from back then.

I only became a fan during "Super Season '88" which concluded with a 2-16 regular season record.

Polak, though, attempted and succeeded in making the fan experience fun regardless of the putrid on-field product. The 1991 media guide (her final year with the team) explains: "Jo-Anne and her staff have instituted an awareness campaign based on player identification, community orientation and unorthodox promotion".

If speaking to someone who's never heard of her, you could begin your description by pointing out that she would be a great fit with the current ownership. Player identification, community orientation and unorthodox promotion have all played large parts in the Redblacks success. Polak applied the same strategy to the Rough Riders 30 years ago.