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• Many fans have opined that a player’s suspension should be linked to the amount of playing time that is missed by the injured party. On the surface, that sounds fair, but such a measure would be fundamentally flawed. Consider the case of Collaros, who was presumed to be the Roughriders’ best quarterback when the season began. As it turns out, the Roughriders’ premier pivot may very well be Cody Fajardo, who threw for 790 yards over his first two starts. Suppose that the league had suspended Lawrence for as long as Collaros was sidelined, only to have the Roughriders continue to start Fajardo (as they should). Would Lawrence ever return to the field?

• The Roughriders will finish July without a winning record for the fifth consecutive season. Since 2015, they are 7-19 in regular-season games played in June or July.

• Shameless self-promotion: We cordially invite you to join us for a new feature, Rob’s Green Time Machine. In collaboration with Mark Melnychuk, I have prepared a series of historical videos pertaining to the Roughriders. Rob’s Green Time Machine can be found on the Regina Leader-Post’s YouTube channel.

• The most-recent episode flashed back to Ron Lancaster’s final game as a Roughriders player — a 36-26 victory over the host Edmonton Eskimos on Oct. 29, 1978. One week earlier, The Little General had been booed by a vocal minority of the attendees at Taylor Field. Thankfully, one more game remained, and Lancaster led a patented fourth-quarter comeback in his finale. As a sapling of 14, I was in the stands at Commonwealth Stadium when No. 23 signed off in fitting fashion. It will always be my favourite football game.

• Why is it such a big deal for each NFL team to play 18 regular-season games? The CFL introduced the 18-game-per-team schedule in 1986.

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Andy Sereda, Olga Sereda, Noah Pelletier, Paige Hamann, Autumn Neiszner, Jeff Stusek, Stephanie Jeanes, Matthew Exner, Rick Johnson, Eli Velychko, Adrienne Zuck, Courtney Wagner, Alex Kardynal, Kristina Lukey, Doug Miller, Maureen Miller, Ken Ripplinger, Jake Ripplinger, Howard Liou, Jim Kolitsas and Anastasia Kolitsas.

rvanstone@postmedia.com

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