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Labour Day battles in Ontario, Alberta have a lot on the line

The Labour Day weekend is often a critical point in the CFL season, and this year’s Labour Day Monday games set up as crucial ones for all teams involved. The 7-2 Edmonton Eskimos face the 7-1-1 Calgary Stampeders at 3 p.m. Eastern Monday in the Battle of Alberta, while the 0-8 Hamilton Tiger-Cats host the 4-6 Toronto Argonauts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern in the Battle of Ontario. Here’s a look at key storylines to watch in each game. Can the Eskimos rebound? Edmonton got off to a great start this year despite a historic amount of injuries, but they’ve slumped over the last two weeks, falling 54-31 to Saskatchewan at home last week and losing 33-26 in Winnipeg the week before. Quarterback Mike Reilly, an early favourite for Most Outstanding Player, particularly struggled last week, completing just 15 of 26 passes (57.7 per cent) for 160 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions before being pulled in favor of James Franklin. Franklin was impressive in relief (10 completions on 12 att...
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Henry Burris finally quiets critics, outdueling Mitchell in dazzling passing-record Grey Cup

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Henry Burris has long seemed so determined to quiet his detractors , and Sunday's Grey Cup set up as the perfect opportunity for him . It was against his old team, the Calgary Stampeders, the team that decided to trade him to Hamilton before the 2012 season to go with a younger quarterback (Drew Tate, who in turn gave way to Bo Levi Mitchell, Burris' opponent Sunday). It was after a year where the 41-year-old Burris was initially the starter, was replaced by Trevor Harris thanks to injury, was replaced again thanks to ineffectiveness, and then returned to lead the Redblacks into and through the playoffs. It was after a year where many were questioning if Ottawa even deserved to be in the postseason, and it was with Burris' own future seemingly up in the air, with the Redblacks apparently set to move on with Harris next year. It was with his individual highs (in particular, his Most Outstanding Player awards in 2015 and 2010) never seeming to quite align with his teams ...
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Eskimos' White leads them to controversial win, but they lose Reilly

The Edmonton Eskimos accomplished the first step towards defending their Grey Cup title Sunday, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 24-21 in the CFL's East semifinal, but it wasn't an easy win, an unquestioned win, or a win without cost. Edmonton dominated the first half on the scoreboard, leading 7-3 after the first quarter and 18-3 at the break, but that was after Hamilton failed to take advantage of multiple Eskimos' miscues; despite a blocked punt and other Edmonton mistakes, the Ticats went 0 for 7 on second-down conversions in the half and only notched one field goal. Hamilton woke up more late in the game, though, and had a chance to win it late, especially after Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly went down, but the Eskimos came out victorious thanks to a great performance from running back John White, a crucial interception from Kenny Ladler, a close non-call on what looked like a late hit, and an eventual field goal from Sean Whyte. White's play in this one was r...
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Why The Input Club's attempt to control longform isn't going to work

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I got angry yesterday. This isn't a regular occurrence for me in general, but it's particularly unusual when it comes to sports media; there's plenty of frustration and disappointment in that world, and in discussing it, but there isn't too much that motivates me to outright anger. Yet, Esquire and ESPN The Magazine writer Chris Jones' " In Defence Of Longform " (which really reads like a defence of a specific kind of longform that he practices, a condemnation of all other attempts at the form, and an exclusion of those who aren't already practicing his kind of longform, but we'll get to that) and the subsequent Twitter arguments I had about it ticked me off in a way I hadn't experienced in years. I've been trying to figure out what exactly sparked that anger (after all, surely there are more controversial and more problematic things out there than an argument over longform standards), and I think I now know just why it bothered me so...
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BWB6: Justice, society, and the rise of online and athlete activists

I'm in Chicago for Blogs With Balls 6 and taking plenty of notes. I'll be posting my notes from each panel here for the use of anyone who wants to check them out. Keep in mind that these are highlights, not complete transcripts. Every effort is given to be as accurate as possible; apologies for any transcription mistakes. Here are my notes from the "Justice, society, and the rise of online and athlete activists" panel that closed out the day. (Update: also see my take on this at Awful Announcing .) Panelists: Julie DiCaro @JulieDiCaro Aaron Harison @FreeBeacon Greg Howard @GregHoward88 Chris Kluwe @ChrisWarcraft Cyd Zeigler @CydZeigler Moderator: Kevin Blackistone, @ProfBlackistone CK: "I'm a straight white male. My life is not hard." CZ: "I don't watch much sports anymore." "It's a tool for social justice for me. It's a tool to advance kids' lives." JD:  "We have baggage we all bring. Before I wrot...
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BWB6: Breaking Away From the Narrative: How to Navigate the Waters of 24/7 NFL Coverage

I'm in Chicago for Blogs With Balls 6 and taking plenty of notes. I'll be posting my notes from each panel here for the use of anyone who wants to check them out. Keep in mind that these are highlights, not complete transcripts. Every effort is given to be as accurate as possible; apologies for any transcription mistakes. Here are my notes from the  "Breaking Away From the Narrative: How to Navigate the Waters of 24/7 NFL Coverage" panel. Apologies for the short notes here; I was uploading some other notes during this panel. Panelists: Eric Edholm @eric_edholm Andrea Hangst @fball_andrea Maggie Hendricks @maggiehendricks Robert Klemko @robertklemko Keith Bulluck, @kbull53 Moderator: Michael Schottey @schottey Maggie: [At USA Today] "I didn't necessarily always know my click numbers which was nice. It let me look for stories that are good stories." How to balance the 24/7 nature of the NFL today: Andrea: "It's hard to have that separ...
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BWB6: Your Pitch Is Futile

I'm in Chicago for Blogs With Balls 6 and taking plenty of notes. I'll be posting my notes from each panel here for the use of anyone who wants to check them out. Keep in mind that these are highlights, not complete transcripts. Every effort is given to be as accurate as possible; apologies for any transcription mistakes. Here are my notes from the very interesting "Your Pitch Is Futile" panel, a discussion about PR and the media.  Panelists: Mitch Germann (@mcg5) Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) Robert Littal (@bso) Dayn Perry (@daynperry) Moderator: Zack Smith (@sportsflackzack) The panel started with panelists asked to define storytelling and then describe either media (if they're from the PR side) or PR (if they're from the media side). RL: Storytelling is about his own unique take. PR people : Agenda. MG: "Storytelling is something that creates a connection with the audience." Media: resourceful, busy RG: "[Storytelling is] inf...
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