The Whole 110 Yards: Cobb anything but corny

Photo: Hamilton RB DeAndra Cobb (Michigan State) dances in for a touchdown before Toronto safety Willie Pile (Virginia Tech) can stop him. The Tiger-Cats won 16-12.

Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards, your weekly guide to the CFL! Only two games to cover last week and this week thanks to byes, so we'll get right to them. I'll also be live-blogging tonight's B.C. Lions - Calgary Stampeders clash tonight with the usual suspects in the CFL.ca Friday Night Football Live Chat; make sure to come join us at 10:30 Eastern/7:30 Pacific!

Game of the Week: Hamilton 16, Toronto 12

This edition of the Battle of Ontario was surprisingly entertaining despite the low score. Both teams' defences came to play and delivered impressive performances, particularly early; the score was 3-3 after the first quarter and 9-3 for Toronto at halftime. The Argonauts extended their lead to 12-3 in the third, but fell apart down the stretch, conceding 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points to lose the game.

Toronto actually did a pretty good job of shutting down Hamilton's star-studded receiving corps; Tiger-Cats' quarterback Kevin Glenn (Illinois State) completed only 25 of 36 passes for 247 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception, far below his usual standards. None of the Hamilton receivers, including Arland Bruce III (Minnesota) and Dave Stala (Saint Mary's) had great games, and no Tiger-Cats receiver was close to 100 yards.

Hamilton was able to get it done on the ground, though. Former Michigan State Spartan DeAndra Cobb came through in a big way for the second game in a row (unfortunately, the best possible Cobb headline was taken by the CFL.ca staff following that one) after a slow start to the season. Cobb picked up 99 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries to lead Hamilton to victory. They're now only one game back of Toronto for second in the East.

Other game: Montreal 39, Winnipeg 17

The real story in this one wasn't found on the scoreboard, but rather in the pain on the face of Alouettes' quarterback Anthony Calvillo (Utah State) as he was wheeled off the field following a hard hit. Montreal was up 24-0 by the time he left, so the game wasn't really in question, but the next few weeks for them certainly were.

Fortunately for the Alouettes, Calvillo's injury wasn't as bad as it looked. It's still nothing to be taken lightly, though; the official diagnosis is "a sternum injury with bruising to his ribs" [Herb Zurkowsky, Montreal Gazette]. Montreal has a bye this week, but Calvillo has already ruled himself out of at least next week's game with B.C. That means former Florida Gator Chris Leak, who completed 10 of 15 passes for 99 yards but threw one interception in relief of Calvillo last week, will get his first CFL start. It's going to be interesting to see how he does, and if the Alouettes change their game plan to take advantage of his skills [Matt Dunigan, TSN.ca].

For Winnipeg, the problems are more immediate. The Bombers sank to 2-6 with the loss and remain well in the basement of the CFL's East Division. Quarterback Steven Jyles (Louisiana - Monroe) was largely ineffective, completing 11 of 22 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. That's just not good enough to win in this league. The Bombers don't have many other options, though; Buck Pierce (New Mexico State) is still struggling with injuries, and Alex Brink (Washington State) was worse than Jyles, completing just one of his five pass attempts in relief. Without better pivot performances, it might be a long year in Winnipeg.

Former College Star of the Week: Chris Leak, Florida

Leak was a huge star with the Gators. He first saw action as a freshman in 2003 and went 6-3 as a starter, incredibly impressive. He survived a change in head coaches (Ron Zook to Urban Meyer), worked under three different offensive coordinators and held off Tim Tebow in his senior year, carrying Florida to a national championship that was sealed with a 41-14 rout of The Ohio State University in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game (where he was named MVP). Things haven't gone as well for him since then, though; he wasn't picked in the NFL Draft after reportedly scoring an eight on his Wonderlic test. He signed with Chicago, but was soon cut. He decided to try the All-American Football League, which never made it off the ground, then tried out with Kansas City in 2008 but was cut. He signed with Hamilton June 3, 2008, but was cut only five days later. Montreal then swooped in and picked him up a day later. He's been there ever since, but mostly as the third-string quarterback, and he hasn't seen much on-field action. Now, thanks to injuries to Calvillo and usual backup Adrian McPherson (oddly enough, a Florida State product), Leak has another chance to shine.

Matchup of the week: Calgary at B.C. (tonight, 10:30 Eastern)

It's a 6-1 team versus a 1-6 one, but this might still be a compelling game. B.C. will be desperate for a win at home, and Calgary might just be lulled into a false sense of security. We'll have to see how it plays out, but it has the potential to be good, especially with B.C. quarterback Casey Printers (Texas Christian) returning from injury.

Pick: B.C.

Other game: Saskatchewan at Edmonton (tomorrow, 7:00 p.m. Eastern)

This is a 5-2 team versus a 1-6 team, but it might not be as close. Edmonton's really struggling, Saskatchewan's rolling, and the Riders will even have a quasi home-field advantage; with Edmonton being so bad this year, even more tickets than usual have been sold to Saskatchewan fans looking for a road trip. It's going to be a cold one, with a high of 9 Celsius (about 48 Fahrenheit) predicted. It might be another chilling result for Eskimos fans too.

Pick: Saskatchewan

Last week: 1-1

Season: 12-11

The Whole 110 Yards: The Comeback Boyd

Photo: Toronto Argonauts' running back Cory Boyd (South Carolina) dives into the end zone for the tying touchdown in the last minute of the Toronto - Edmonton clash last Friday. The Argonauts won 29-28. [Dan Riedlhuber, Reuters]

Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards! Here's my breakdown of all of Week 6's CFL action and previews of the coming week.

Game of the Week: Toronto 29, Edmonton 28

A slow-starting game between two teams that aren't all that highly-regarded turned into a barnburner Friday night. 3-2 Toronto came out strong and scored 11 points in the first quarter on the road against a 1-4 Eskimos team that only picked up its first win the previous week. The Argonauts led 19-7 at the half, and it looked like this might be a blowout. Edmonton turned it on in the second half, though, with Arkee Whitlock (Southern Illinois) plunging one yard for a touchdown on the Eskimos' first drive. Slotback Jason Barnes (Sacramento State) then made a ridiculous play, catching a 45-yard end zone bomb from fellow ex-Hornet Ricky Ray with his knees in double coverage. Early in the fourth quarter, Jason Goss (Texas Christian) then picked off Toronto quarterback Cleo Lemon (Arkansas State) for a 49-yard interception return, and backup quarterback Jared Zabransky (Boise State) checked into the game and ran a bootleg in to put Edmonton up 28-19.

After doing nothing for most of the second half, Toronto finally came back to life in the dying moments. Lemon and running back Cory Boyd (South Carolina) orchestrated a drive that led to a Grant Shaw (Saskatchewan) field goal, pulling Toronto within six. It looked like the Argonauts might run out of time, but after a defensive stand, they pulled off a 94-yard drive (aided by a superb catch from former Tennessee Volunteer Jermaine Copeland and two pass interference penalties). The drive was capped off by Boyd's third touchdown of the day, which came on a one-yard run with only 22.8 seconds left and sealed the victory for Toronto.

Once again, Toronto won without a superb performance from Lemon. He finished the day 23 for 34 for 292 yards and a touchdown, but also gave up that critical interception. However, he kept them in the game and turned in a similar performance to the more-famed Ray, who completed 24 of 35 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown.

It was Boyd who really got it done for Toronto, though. He had a 25th birthday to remember, rushing 25 times for 164 yards and two touchdowns and then adding another 46 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. He's leading the league with 648 rushing yards, but has also kept a very good 6.5 yards per carry average. Much of the Argonauts' 4-2 record so far can probably be attributed to him, and if he can keep this level of production up, it could be a good season for the Boatmen.

Calgary 27, BC 22:

This game didn't particularly look like a clash of a 4-1 team and a 1-4 team. B.C. actually led 10-7 after the first quarter, and they only trailed 17-13 at halftime. Things went off the rails in the third quarter, though, particularly when Dwight Anderson (South Dakota) picked off an errant pass from Travis Lulay (Montana State) and returned it 48 yards to the Lions' 10. That interception was particularly ill-timed, as it came right on the heels of B.C.'s Stanley Franks (Idaho) picking off Henry Burris (Temple) and it was followed by Burris finding former Lion Ryan Thelwell (Minnesota) for a touchdown that gave the Stampeders an 11-point lead. B.C. pulled six points back in the fourth quarter with Jarious Jackson (Notre Dame) working reasonably well in relief of Lulay, but he too threw a crucial interception that sealed the Lions' fate. The Calgary offence wasn't overly impressive, with Burris only completing 22 of 32 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns while being intercepted once, but they outshone the anemic B.C. offence and did enough to get the job done. They now lead the West Division with a 5-1 record, while B.C. is tied for last with a 1-5 record.

Montreal 30, Saskatchewan 26:

This was quite the game, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's followed the recent clashes between these two teams. Montreal led 10-7 after the first quarter and increased their lead to 17-7 partway through the second. However, Saskatchewan looked set to cut the lead to a single touchdown with a 42-yard field goal attempt from Luca Congi (Simon Fraser). The kick was wide, though, and Montreal's Tim Maypray (Virginia Military Institute) returned it 118 yards for a touchdown and a 10-point swing. Congi hit a field goal to narrow the gap a bit, but the Alouettes still led 24-10 at the half.

The Roughriders came out to play in the second half, though, particularly on defence. They held Montreal's high-powered offence to just 31 yards in the second half. Their offence then took advantage, adding three more Congi field goals and a touchdown pass from Darian Durant (North Carolina) to Wes Cates (California University of Pennsylvania) to pull within two points. Things then went wrong, though, as Andy Fantuz (Western) bobbled a pass from Durant and Chip Cox (Ohio) stepped in to intercept it. Montreal punted it back, but J.P. Bekasiak (Toledo) sacked Durant in the end zone to force a safety and a final Durant Hail Mary was batted down, sealing a Montreal victory.

It was an impressive performance from Durant, though, especially considering that he was fending off the effects of salmonella from eating undercooked chicken [Rob Vanstone, Regina Leader-Post via The Montreal Gazette]] after a July 10 game in B.C., as well as struggling with a thumb injury. He completed 35 of 62 passing attempts for 445 yards and two touchdowns, despite being picked off twice. If that's how he plays while feeling awful, the rest of the league had better watch out [Jamie Nye, NewsTalk 650] now that he's recovered.

Hamilton 29, Winnipeg 22:

There were a couple of interesting stories in this one. Hamilton kicker Sandro DeAngelis (Nebraska) had been struggling horribly this year, only hitting 58.3 of his field goals before Saturday's clash, but he went three-for-three on the day and credited the improvement to a discussion he had with former Tiger-Cats kicker Paul Osbaldiston about wind trends at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Winnipeg kicker Alexis Serna probably wishes he received the same advice; he was one for three on the day and was released later this week [Adam Wazny, Winnipeg Free Press]. Hamilton quarterback Kevin Glenn (Illinois State) and Winnipeg pivot Steven Jyles (Louisiana - Monroe) both turned in tremendous performances. Glenn completed 24 of 41 attempts for 371 yards and three touchdowns while being picked off once, while Jyles was 24 for 35 for 349 yards and two touchdowns. The real star was former Minnesota Golden Gopher Arland Bruce III, though, who's turned it on for Hamilton lately after a slow start to the year. He reeled in 11 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown, leading the Tiger-Cats to the win in the process. If he can keep that up, the Tiger-Cats' prospects look bright.

Former College Star of the Week: Jared Zabransky, Boise State

One of the great things about college football is the upsets, and in recent years, one of the most memorable ones is Boise State's 43-42 win [Spencer Hall, Every Day Should Be Saturday] over 7.5 point favourite Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Their quarterback for that game just happened to be one Jared Zabransky. You've probably seen these highlights of the game a million times, but they never get old (and yes, that is current Hamilton wide receiver Drisan James who's also prominently featured!).



Zabransky signed with the NFL's Houston Texans as a free agent after that game and then went to the Pittsburgh Steelers before winding up with Edmonton in 2009. However, he hadn't had many opportunities to run the kind of trick plays he did with Boise State until he spelled Ricky Ray for one play in Friday night's game (skip to 3:23).



Welcome back, Lord of Trickery. Good to have you in the CFL.

Off-Field Story of the Week: The Hamilton stadium mess. This has been an issue for a while, but it exploded this week when Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young withdrew from the stadium discussion Monday [Mark Masters, National Post]. Mayor Fred Eisenberger and council opted to go on without him and build at the West Harbour site Young believes is unsuitable for the team. That's led to speculation that the Ti-Cats could move anywhere from Ottawa to Moncton to Burlington to Quebec City [Drew Edwards, The Hamilton Spectator], and even tiny Milton, Ontario is throwing its hat into the ring [Masters]. There's a long way to go still, but unless things get worked out, Hamilton could build a stadium that sits vacant much of the time and have their CFL team leave anyway. This is going to be one of the most interesting off-field stories to follow this year.

Matchup of the Week: B.C. at Saskatchewan (9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight)

This should be an interesting one. The 1-5 Lions are off to their worst start ever in the Wally Buono era, so they'll be desperate to turn it around tonight. They're going to their third different starting quarterback of the year, former Notre Dame pivot Jarious Jackson. However, they're in a tough spot in Saskatchewan, facing a very talented 4-2 Roughriders team that now has quarterback Darian Durant back at full health [Murray McCormick, Regina Leader-Post]. The always-intimidating Rider fans should be fired up for tonight as well. Adding more fuel to the fire, legendary Saskatchewan receiver Don Narcisse was welcomed into the CFL Hall of Fame todayCP] along with Tracy Ham, Bob Cameron, Joe Pistilli and Elfrid Payton. The inductees will be honoured at tonight's game as well, which will add yet another interesting touch to this one. In the end, I think the Roughriders will be just too much for B.C.

Pick: Saskatchewan

Other games:

Hamilton at Winnipeg (8:30 p.m. Eastern Friday; I'll be running the CFL.ca Friday Night Football Live Chat with the usual gang for this one.

Pick: Hamilton

Montreal at Toronto (7:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday)

Pick: Montreal

Edmonton at Calgary (8:00 p.m. Eastern Sunday)

Pick: Calgary

Last week: 2-2

Season: 8-9

Thanks for reading The Whole 110 Yards! Tune in again next week for another edition.

The Whole 110 Yards: Stampeding over Calgary

Photo: Toronto Argonauts cornerback Evan McCollough intercepts a pass intended for Calgary Stampeders slotback P.K. Sam in their clash Wednesday, July 14. Toronto won 27-24 to improve to 2-1 on the year. [Mark Blinch, Reuters]

Welcome to another issue of The Whole 110 Yards, your weekly update on the CFL complete with game recaps, off-field stories, former college football stars and predictions for this weekend's games! Also, I'll again be running the CFL.ca Friday Night Football Live Chat tomorrow with Brian Wawryshyn of BC Lions Den and Tyler Bieber of CFL Daily. This week's featured matchup is the B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts, and we'll kick off the chat at 4:15 p.m. Pacific (7:15 p.m. Eastern) tomorrow evening; make sure to come join us then!

Game of the Week: Toronto 27, Calgary 24

In recent years, the Toronto Argonauts have tended to receive more national coverage than any other CFL team. That's understandable, considering that they're based in the largest city in Canada and one that's also the home to most national media outlets. However, their last few seasons have been horrible, which has made the abundance of coverage of the team tough to deal with at times. That's far from the case this year, though; the franchise is playing very well under new head coach Jim Barker, and they're a lot of fun to watch in most games at the moment.

Last Wednesday's game was such an example, with action starting slowly but building to an exciting climax after a series of lead changes. The Argos trailed 24-13 after the third quarter, which would have enabled you to write them off in most years. They made plenty of mistakes early on and looked rather like the Argonauts of old, whose leaky boat would have sunk long before they got near the golden fleece. However, the defence stepped up, picking off Calgary quarterback Henry Burris (Temple) four times and holding star running back Joffrey Reynolds (Houston) to 44 yards on nine carries. Linebacker Kevin Eiben (Bucknell) was particularly impressive, recording two interceptions and two tackles.

For Toronto, it wasn't quarterback Cleo Lemon (Arkansas State) who really got it done on offence. Lemon only completed 18 of 36 passes on the day for 187 yards, and he fumbled once and was picked off once. Running back Cory Boyd (South Carolina) carried the day, though, rushing 20 times for 142 yards, and rookie kicker Grant Shaw (Saskatchewan) converted four of six field goal attempts and added a single for 13 points on the day. It wasn't a dominant performance from Toronto, but they beat a talented Calgary team and persevered despite adversity. If they can keep this up, it could be a very good season for the Double Blue.

Other games:

Saskatchewan 24, Edmonton 20:

The Roughriders improved to 3-0 on the season despite trailing 14-10 at halftime and 20-13 after the third quarter. Saskatchewan lost the passing battle, allowing Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray (Sacramento State) to complete 22 of 31 passes for 319 yards while their quarterback Darian Durant (North Carolina) only completed 15 of 28 attempts for 238 yards. Durant did throw a touchdown pass, but he was also picked off once. However, the Roughriders got it done on the ground, bringing back the Wes Cates Offence (California University of Pennsylvania, credit to Perry Lefko for the term) like it was 2007. Cates only received 12 carries, but he ran for 112 yards for an outstanding 9.3 yards per carry average. Saskatchewan also forced and recovered fumbles from Eskimo receiver Fred Stamps (Louisiana - Lafayette) and running back Calvin McCarty (Western Washington), which proved crucial to their success.

Montreal 16, B.C. 12

The reigning Grey Cup champions got their first win in British Columbia in a decade, but they didn't do so in overwhelmingly impressive fashion. B.C. quarterback Casey Printers (TCU, Florida A&M) looked quite average, completing 20 of 40 passes for 253 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Much of that was probably due to the knee injury that will keep him out this week against Toronto [Lowell Ullrich, The Province], but Montreal let B.C. hang around despite the Lions' poor play. The passing game clearly wasn't working, so if the Lions had given the ball to running back Jamal Robertson
(Ohio Northern) a bit more (six carries for four yards) or his backfield mate Jamal Lee (Bishop's), who didn't receive a single carry, it could perhaps have been a different story. Still, Montreal got it done with solid-if-unspectacular performances from quarterback Anthony Calvillo (Utah State), who completed 30 of 47 passes for 297 yards, and running back Avon Cobourne (West Virginia), who ran 13 times for 79 yards. The Alouettes haven't hit their stride yet, but they're getting results and they still have a tremendously skilled team. They should be a force to reckon with this year.

Hamilton 28, Winnipeg 7:

There isn't much to say about a blowout like this one, although Jann Shreve and I tried for three hours. Tiger-Cats quarterback Kevin Glenn (Illinois State) had a tremendous day, completing 29 of 36 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. He picked up the CFL's offensive player of the week award [CP, via The Globe and Mail] for his efforts. His counterpart, Winnipeg QB Buck Pierce (New Mexico State) won the award the week before, but his performance Friday was more deserving of a Razzie. Pierce only completed 10 of 19 passes for 117 yards and was picked off once. He suffered an injury midway through the game and was replaced by backup Steven Jyles (Louisiana - Monroe). Jyles did a bit better, completing 9 of 13 passes for 86 yards, but it was too little, too late for the Bombers.

Former College Star of the Week: Dave Stala

Stala, a former CIS star receiver with the Saint Mary's Huskies, had an incredible game for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Friday night. In a receiving corps full of big names from bigger-name colleges, including Arland Bruce (Minnesota) and Maurice Mann (Nevada), it was Stala who really stood out. Glenn targeted him on just about every critical play, and he's second in the league in TSN's "clutch catches" statistic. He's made a tremendous impact in Hamilton and should be a key part of their high-octane offence this year.

Off-field Story of the Week: Montreal's stadium renovation [Herb Zurkowsky, Montreal Gazette via The National Post]:

Today, Montreal has their first home game since winning the Grey Cup last season, and they've done a pretty impressive job of spicing up their home at McGill University's Molson Stadium with a $29.4 million retrofit. The expansion added 5,000 seats in a new upper deck, bringing capacity up to 25,012. That's still the smallest in the CFL, but it's nice to see the Alouettes keep their intimate setting instead of trying to build a massive new building or go back to The Big Owe. Demand's still as high as ever in football-mad Montreal, and this should allow more fans to see the games, which is always good.

Matchup of the Week: B.C. at Toronto (Friday, 4:30 p.m. Pacific/7:30 p.m. Eastern)

This should be an interesting one. Toronto's performed above most expectations so far, while B.C. has by-and-large underwhelmed. As Peter James points out, a key question is how B.C. quarterback Travis Lulay (Montana State) will perform in the absence of regular starter Casey Printers. Another question is if B.C. will finally elect to run the ball a bit; they've had great success at times with the ground game, but almost completely abandoned it early on last week. Meanwhile, the Argonauts have put up some great results, particularly thanks to RB Cory Boyd [Mark Masters, National Post], but quarterback Cleo Lemon's mediocre play so far has been covered up by strong running and defence. I'm not sure that will remain the case this week, though.

Pick: B.C.

Other games:

Hamilton at Montreal: (tonight, 4:30 p.m. Pacific/7:30 p.m. Eastern)

This should be a good one. Hamilton's coming on strong, while Montreal hasn't really impressed so far. Still, I like the Alouettes at home.

Pick: Montreal

Saskatchewan at Calgary: (Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Pacific/9:30 p.m. Eastern)

The Roughriders haven't dominated the stat sheet, but they've piled up the wins. They're the only undefeated CFL team thus far, and I think they'll extend that streak this week against a Stampeders' squad that disappointed last week.

Pick: Saskatchewan

Edmonton at Winnipeg: (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Pacific/6:30 p.m. Eastern)

Both of these teams have really struggled lately, but the Eskimos have at least been strong statistically. If they can reduce their turnovers, they should take this.

Pick: Edmonton

Last week: 2-1

Season: 4-3

Thanks for reading The Whole 110 Yards! Tune in again for more next week!

CFL: Argos sign Brannagan

It's nice to see CFL teams actually giving Canadian (and CIS!) quarterbacks a look for once. Shortly after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats added Erik Glavic (of Saint Mary's Huskies and Calgary Dinos fame) to their negotiating list, the Toronto Argonauts announced that they'd signed Queen's Vanier Cup-winning quarterback Danny Brannagan. There's a good piece from Chris Zelkovich in today's Toronto Star on the matter, talking to both Brannagan and Glavic about their invites to the CFL's evaluation camp this past weekend and the proposal that would allow teams to bring a Canadian QB to camp without taking up a roster spot. Of course, this is very early, and there's no guarantee that any of these Canadian quarterbacks will actually get a shot to prove that they belong. Still, progress is always good, and you have to start somewhere. Maybe this can be one of the first steps towards a real evaluation of quarterbacks based on their skills, rather than nationality, combine measurements or college.

[Thanks to Arden Zwelling for the heads-up].

Lions - Argos live blog: Buono goes for the record

It should be an interesting CFL clash in Vancouver tonight. For B.C., quarterback Buck Pierce returns after missing a couple of weeks with a concussion, thanks to what may have been a season-ending rotator cuff injury to Jarious Jackson. Head coach Wally Buono will also be going for a record-breaking victory that would vault him above Don Matthews (who will be in the building) into sole possession of first place on the CFL's all-time win list. Perhaps even more importantly, a win would improve B.C.'s record to 5-6 and strengthen their push for a playoff spot.

This game is just as important for Toronto. They'll be trying to build on an overtime win against the Tiger-Cats last week and improve their record to 4-7. If they win this one, they're back in the hunt for the playoffs; if they lose, it's going to be a tough slog for them. Playing a late game on the West Coast in the unfriendly confines of B.C. Place won't help, but they may have an opportunity thanks to the injury to Jackson. It all depends on how well Pierce plays and how much protection he gets from his line. For game previews, check out my CFL column here, Jack Bedell's breakdown of last week's action here, Lowell Ullrich's preview here and his game preview chat here. It should be an interesting one, so come join me here for it at 10 p.m. Eastern!

(P.S. If you're interested in the Toronto FC - L.A. Galaxy clash at 10:30 p.m., I'm also live-blogging that one below. Feel free to contribute to both live blogs!)

Live blogapocalypse now

There are several key sporting events going on tonight, including the return of Buck Pierce in the B.C. Lions' match against the Toronto Argonauts and the clash of Julian De Guzman and David Beckham in the Toronto FC - L.A. Galaxy MLS contest. Which to follow? Well, it's time to make this blog live up to its name of Sporting Madness: I will be live-blogging both games simultaneously. We'll see how it works out, but hopefully, with enough caffeine, I'll be able to keep up with both of them. Both will be posted here in separate posts, so you can follow them both that way; the CFL blog will also be available through Out of Left Field and the MLS one will be available through The 24th Minute and Epic Footy. The CFL game kicks off at 10 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Pacific), and the MLS match starts at 10:30 p.m. Eastern (7:30 Pacific). Stop on by for one or both!

Friday Night Football: Lions - Argos live blog

Saturday may well be Hockey Night In Canada, but Friday's reserved for the CFL! There's an excellent matchup this week, with the B.C. Lions looking to keep their momentum from a win over Saskatchewan and the Toronto Argonauts hoping to avenge last week's shutout at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes. For a full preview, check out this piece over at CFL.ca; you can also check out my weekly CFL column over at The Rookies. There, I predicted a B.C. win, and I'm sticking to that; both teams may be 2-4, but B.C. was very impressive last week against a good Saskatchewan team, while Toronto played their worst game of the year against Montreal and couldn't record a single point. Join me in the live blog below to see if they can bounce back!

Links, tunes and live blogs

I'll be live-blogging the B.C. Lions - Toronto Argonauts game here and at Out of Left Field at 7:30 Eastern/4:30 Pacific. Until then, here's some links to the other stuff I've been writing and some of the best stories from around the web, as well as some tuneage to get you all pumped for the game.

My pieces:

- Here's the story of Canucks' prospect Sergei Shirokov and his quest to escape the KHL [Canuck Puck].

- Here's a link to the newest edition of The Whole 110 Yards, my weekly CFL column over at The Rookies.

- The Vancouver Olympics are now only six months away. I have a story on one local group's Olympic preparations in The South Delta Leader, where I'm working for the next few weeks.

- My weekly Phoenix Pub column took aim at the lack of proper standards and treatment around concussions in sports.

- As part of those aforementioned Olympic preparations, the Richmond-Vancouver-Vancouver Airport SkyTrain line is opening on Monday. It will see heavy use during the Olympics, especially transporting athletes, journalists and officials downtown from the airport. I have a story (and a video) talking to some local transit users about their thoughts on the line [The South Delta Leader].

Best of the Interwebs:

- Shakey gives us Landon Donovan's real backstory [Style Points].

- The Pirates Fan on the worst members of Steeler Nation [The Phoenix Pub].

- Weed Against Speed on an upcoming Toronto charity soccer game featuring members of Great Big Sea, Broken Social Scene, Weezer, Bedouin Soundclash and More [Sportress of Blogitude]

- Duane Rollins on Canadian international striker Simeon Jackson's potential Premiership move [The 24th Minute]

- Chilltown on why Tim Wakefield is The Most Interesting Knuckleballer In The World [The Rookies]

- A very painful injury to the Mariners' Adrian Beltre [Gunaxin]

- Adam Best on 30 sports figures who could be aliens [Fan Addict]

- Jason Davis on Landon Donovan apparently contracting swine flu before the U.S. national team's game against Mexico [Match Fit USA]

- Brian Wawryshyn on why football is, after all, just a game [B.C. Lions Den]

Tunage:
Here's a classic most appropriate for a game in Toronto. See you shortly for the live blog!

B.C. Lions - Hamilton Tiger-Cats live blog

I'll be live-blogging the second game in the CFL Friday Night Football lineup tonight, which features the B.C. Lions hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Both teams lost their opening games last week, so they'll be eager to pick up their first win of the season, but that's going to be a difficult task for the Tiger-Cats. For one thing, despite an appalling showing last week against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, B.C. had plenty of chances to win the game, including on the last drive. That's not too bad against a pretty solid Saskatchewan team, especially one playing in their home fortress of Mosaic Stadium.

Meanwhile, Hamilton got their clocks cleaned at home by the lacklustre Toronto Argonauts. The final score was 30-17, but the Tiger-Cats looked worse than that to this observer. Moreover, as Globe and Mail football reporter David Naylor relates on his blog, the Tiger-Cats are 2-22 in June and July since 2005, and no team from the Eastern time zone has won in B.C. since 2004. Interestingly enough, the Eastern team to last accomplish that feat was the 2004 Hamilton Tiger-Cats, coached by one Greg Marshall, who's now the head coach of the defending Yates Cup champion Western Mustangs.

In any case, it should be an interesting evening of football. Calgary takes on Winnipeg in the first match at 7:30 Eastern for anyone looking for an early CFL fix. B.C. and Hamilton will kick off at 10:30 Eastern (7:30 Pacific), and I'll start the live blog then. The games are broadcast on TSN in Canada; they should also be available on webcast for viewers in Canada and the U.S. through CFL Broadband. Hope to see you tonight!

On David Braley, the Argonauts, the CFL and the NHL

[Photo: B.C. Lions owner David Braley (left) with the Grey Cup, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, former CFL commissioner Tom Wright and 2005 Grey Cup Committee Chair Dennis Skulsky in 2004. From gov.bc.ca].

Quite the story in this morning's Globe and Mail from David Naylor and Matthew Sekeres. According to the Globe, B.C. Lions owner David Braley "secretly put up half of the $2-million franchise fee when David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski purchased the Toronto Argonauts out of bankruptcy in the fall of 2003, and continued to lend money to the CFL club". The story says the deal was made without informing then-CFL commissioner Tom Wright (who I spoke with not that long ago about the Coyotes-to-Hamilton situation) and has continued to the present day without the knowledge of current CFL commissioner Mark Cohon.

No sources are named and all sides appear to be denying the story, but in very carefully worded terms. For example, consider these comments from Sokolowski:

"When asked yesterday if Braley had an ownership interest in the Argos, Sokolowski vehemently denied it.

'Absolutely not, David Cynamon and myself are the owners,' he said. 'There are no formal financial records whatsoever in terms of him being an owner.'

When asked whether there were any financial arrangements between the Argos and Braley, Sokolowski replied: '[Braley] is not an owner. He has never been an owner. It’s a private company. That’s it.'

That's quite the non-denial denial; Braley doesn't have an "ownership interest", but there's
no denial of financial arrangements between the parties. Later in the story, Braley says he's loaned money to various CFL owners from time to time, including the Sherwood Schwarz group that sold the Argos to Cynamon and Sokolowski in 2003. That would support claims of his involvement in the franchise transfer. Like the one offered by Sokolowski, Braley's denial of ownership interests is also very limited:

'I don’t have any ownership interest at all with the Toronto Argonauts and I never have. … There is no paperwork and there’s nothing to be able to prove that.'

Those comments certainly doesn't prove the Globe story, but there is enough there to give it some credence. The full truth of the matter certainly is still up in the air for the time being, though. The bigger question is what it means if these allegations are true, and that's one Globe columnist Stephen Brunt tries to address with this piece. Brunt makes some good points about how Braley may have become involved and how his involvement may have preserved the Argonauts (and by extension, the league; without a Toronto franchise, say goodbye to national sponsorship and television deals). I'm not sure if I agree with the last part of his piece, though:

"In stepped Braley with a solution – one that he could certainly afford, but one that would be controversial in most leagues. He offered Cynamon and Sokolowski some financial assistance – and no one would have to know. ...

Almost all good – except that, on an absolutely fundamental level, you can’t do that in professional sports. Not even if it’s just a “loan” between businessmen. Not even if you’ve done it before for other owners in the past. Not even if there’s no paper trail, no formal partnership agreement."

It isn't entirely true that "you can't do that in professional sports". Almost exactly the same thing happened in Nashville when Craig Leipold sold the Predators to a "local" ownership group featuring noted huckster Boots Del Biaggio. As the Nashville Tennessean's Brad Schrade reported last year after Del Biaggio went bankrupt, Leipold loaned money to both the local group and Del Biaggio. The $10 million he loaned to the local group (in short-term financing) was disclosed to the league; the extra $10 million he gave Del Biaggio apparently was not. Moreover, if Del Biaggio's group hadn't become involved, Leipold would apparently have had to loan the local group $40 million.

Just over a month after completing the Predators' sale, Leipold bought the Minnesota Wild. The league obviously knew of the $10 million loan he still had out to the Predators, as it was listed in those sale documents. They didn't know about the extra $10 million he gave Del Biaggio, but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told the Tennessean that it might not have made a difference.

"It isn't clear how having a continued stake in the Predators would have affected Leipold's ability to purchase the Wild or another NHL team. The league, like most major pro sports leagues, frowns upon owners having significant stakes in multiple teams.

Asked whether this would have affected Leipold's ability to buy another NHL team, Bettman said: 'Not necessarily. It's something that would have had to be evaluated at the time.'"

Rumours of a similar seller-financed deal in Tampa Bay when Oren Koules and Len Barrie took over the team have also arisen, and the league has loaned massive amounts of money to the Phoenix Coyotes to keep them running. Thus, it might not be all that uncommon to see this in the NHL. Moreover, ownership interests in multiple teams isn't exactly verboten everywhere; consider MLS, where Clark Hunt owns both the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas (and used to own the Kansas City Wizards) and the Anschutz Entertainment Group owns both the LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo, as well as arenas and sports teams all over the place. Loaning money to another owner is considerably below owning franchises in two separate cities, and it sounds like the Braley deal may be more of a loan than anything else.

Furthermore, consider the people involved. David Braley is not Jerry Jones or Al Davis, looking to make himself the team's de facto general manager. The portrait of him that emerges in Bob Ackles' excellent book The Waterboy is a limited one of a reclusive owner who hires good people on the business and football side and lets them run the show. That certainly happened in B.C. under Braley's tenure with Ackles and coach/general manager Wally Buono. If the story of massive loans to the Argonauts' owners is true, it isn't difficult to imagine Braley being even less assertive on the football side when he's only partly involved (and well-known as the owner of another team). It would be very hard to see him as some sort of tyrant that marched down and started telling the football guys how to run things.

Therefore, I don't think there's any substance to the competitive concerns. The deal's image is still problematic and it's certainly not a good idea in general to have an owner involved in multiple franchises if it can be avoided, but this is perhaps the exception that proves the rule. For one thing, the CFL absolutely needs a strong, successful Toronto franchise. With the Argonauts doing well, it's a national league; without them, it's much more of a regional one. There's zero question of relocating the franchise, but it was certainly difficult to find a buyer for it in 2003 thanks to the disastrous Schwarz era. Thus, something had to be done to sweeten the deal. Moreover, if you have to have an owner involved in multiple franchises, a guy like Braley who's largely hands-off on the football side would be the perfect candidate.

What's concerning is the secrecy surrounding the deal and the (apparent) lack of information on it received by two separate commissioners. Presume for a moment that the allegations reported in the Globe are completely accurate as to Braley's involvement. If that information was known by everyone in the league and released at the time of the sale, would it really be a big problem? Imagine a press conference where Wright explains the situation and says that Braley has generously offered to step forward with the necessary cash as a loan to allow Cynamon and Sokolowski to purchase the team and keep it local. The CFL could say that it's not ideal, but given the importance of the Argonauts and Braley's reputation, it makes sense. Tweak the deal slightly so Braley's only putting up 49.998 per cent of the money (and thus Cynamon and Sokolowski have a majority interest), make it clear that he can't make any decisions for the franchise without their approval, and you don't have much of a problem. Sure, it reduces Cynamon and Sokolowski's status in the Toronto pecking order somewhat (which may have been why this was kept so secret), but you don't have competitive concerns, you have the league and the fans aware of exactly what's going on and you have a strong Argonauts franchise. That seems like a good solution from this corner.

Keeping the league and the fans in the dark is a substantial problem. There has been far too much infighting and jockeying for position in the CFL over the years, with individual owners often doing what's best for themselves and ignoring what's best for the league. Often, the commissioner and the league office have been undermined, an all-too-frequent situation that former league president Jeff Giles described very well in his book Bigger Balls: The CFL And Overcoming the Canadian Inferiority Complex. (By the way, Giles is now the athletic director at McMaster University, where Braley is one of the most influential alumni and has an athletic centre named after him). The owners need to step back and do more to support commissioner Mark Cohon, and that means keeping him in the loop on these sort of deals. The CFL needs a strong, united front more than ever at the moment, given the rising threat from the NFL and the Buffalo Bills' potential relocation. Secret deals between owners that undermine the commissioner's role do not help with that.

As a final note, it's interesting to consider this in light of Cynamon and Sokolowski's supposed bid for the Phoenix Coyotes (who are still in limbo after Judge Redfield T. Baum's most recent decision). Any interpretation of this story suggests that that bid was a sham, certainly in the way Bettman presented it. If this was a straight loan, there's no way in hell Cynamon and Sokolowski have the cash to afford an NHL franchise; if they can't raise $2 million to buy a CFL franchise on their own, how would they get into the NHL? If it was an ownership interest to minimize their potential exposure and losses from owning a CFL team in Toronto, it's highly unlikely they'd want an NHL team in Phoenix, as that's a much worse situation. Of course, the thoughts from this corner were always that their bid was either a stalking horse to help inflate the franchise value or a plan to buy the team, run it for a season or two and then either move it to Toronto or sell it to be moved somewhere else, picking up an expansion franchise in Toronto for their service. This certainly doesn't help anyone take Bettman's claims about their interest in operating a team in Phoenix seriously, though.

NHL to Hamilton conference call, part IV: Muddying the waters

The NHL to Hamilton situation continues to get stranger by the day. Yesterday, a new group came forward with their own plan for a team in Toronto [The Canadian Press via The Globe and Mail], which involves a 30,000-seat arena at Downsview Park (with Olympic-sized swimming pool!), a percentage of the profits going to charity and possibly the stupidest name ever proposed for an NHL franchise, the Toronto Legacy. MLS and WNBA clubs laugh at that name. Even the Oklahoma Thunder snicker at that name. Anyway, add them to the list of prospective owners for a GTA franchise. Of course, that list also includes Balsillie and his Hamilton plans as well as the group led by former Leaf Kevin Maguire, who are trying to bring a team to Vaughan.

Even more interesting, though, was today's revelation that Toronto Argonauts owners Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon are apparently interested in buying the Coyotes and leaving them in Phoenix [Paul Waldie, The Globe and Mail]. Here's the information from Waldie's story, which comes from court filings by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman:

"Bettman said the league has received a “preliminary background application” from four potential buyers for the Coyotes including Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon, co-owners of the Argonauts. The others applications have come from Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls, as well as current Coyotes co-owner John Breslow and another unidentified Phoenix businessman.

Bettman said each group has “indicated an interest in operating the franchise in Phoenix.”

Bettman did not provide details of the proposals, citing confidentiality issues, and said the league is reviewing each application."

Now, of course, it isn't particularly hard to "indicate an interest in operating the franchise in Phoenix". Clay Bennett indicated an interest in keeping the Sonics in Seattle, and we all know how that worked out. To see if this interest could be at all genuine, we return to some of the material from this week's conference call (earlier posts on the matter are here, here and here), particularly the information dealing with the financial situation of the club in Phoenix.

The application (available via fadoo.ca) to relocate the team that was the subject of said conference call was written by CFL commissioner Tom Wright, but he was retained to do so by both PSE (Balsillie's group) and current Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes. Thus, by working for the franchise, Wright was able to gather complete information about its financial health.

"We had access to all the finances of Mr. Moyes," Wright said. "In its 13 seasons, the club has never approached a profit." Wright added that Moyes had injected $380 million into the team since 2001 without any discernible impact. "The club is not financially viable, and the prospect for it to become financially viable is not there either," he said.

How bad is the financial situation in Phoenix? Wright said the club's studies showed that even if they doubled ticket prices AND increased their attendance by 20 per cent, they would still lose $40 million dollars annually. Clearly, that's not a desirable prospect for any investor focused on the bottom line. Now, NHL franchise values have been increasing, so if that trend continues, the team could still be a worthwhile investment despite operating losses. However, it's doubtful that those values would go up by $40 million a year given the NHL's current struggles, and if losing $40 million a year is the best-case scenario, it's tough to imagine that any smart businessman would want to keep the team in Phoenix for the long haul.

Two of the four prospective ownership groups listed have local connections, though (current co-owner John Breslow and another unidentified Phoenix businessman), so the team could potentially be a loss-leader for them. The PR benefits of being "the guys who saved the Coyotes" might counterbalance the amounts of money they'd have to pour into the team, and they might be able to get a sweetheart deal from the city of Glendale and the other creditors to keep the franchise around. However, it's difficult to see any benefits in owning a team in Phoenix in the long run for either the Cynamon/Sokolowski group or White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, the other prospective owner listed by the league.

Past history may prove instructive here, though. The NHL takes care of those who play by its rules. One example is Craig Leipold, who famously took less money from a mostly-local (except for noted crook Boots DelBiaggio) ownership group in Nashville to keep Balsillie out of the club. Shortly thereafter, Leipold wound up as the owner of the Minnesota Wild. Would anyone really be surprised if Sokolowski and Cynamon take over the Coyotes, keep them going in Phoenix for a year or two, and then either move them to Southern Ontario with the approval of the league or sell them to local interests at a discount and receive an expansion franchise in Southern Ontario as their reward? From this corner, that's the most plausible explanation for their sudden interest.

However, it's also possible that all of this is an elaborate series of smokescreens. A new ownership group in Toronto with massive amounts of funds that wants to play by the league's rules and promises to donate profits to charity? Hmm; that sounds like an attempt to cultivate an even more glossy PR image in Canada than Balsillie's pulled off to date. One of the big things in Balsillie's favour so far is how he's managed to get large amounts of Canadians onside and play on anti-Bettman sentiment. He's seen as the good Canadian willing to stand up to the evil American commissioner, and Bettman's attempts to paint him as a dangerous rogue threatening the entire structure of the league have failed so far. Those attempts look a lot better if there's suddenly a more palatable group on the scene claiming to want to play by the rules and only stating interest in an expansion team, which would certainly be a long and complicated process and probably wouldn't happen for years given the league's current economic state. Bettman and co. can now shoot down Balsillie but fend off some of the backlash in Canada by claiming to work with a new group for an expansion franchise down the road.

Similarly, Cynamon and Sokolowski don't actually have to be serious about purchasing the Coyotes and keeping them in Phoenix. A big part of Balsillie's case to the bankruptcy court so far has been the idea that his bid is the only reasonable one, the only legitimate offer that would satisfy creditors. In the conference call, Wright said that none of these supposed other bids had ever been received by Moyes and that they weren't offering enough money to keep creditors happy.

It's unclear what the terms of any of these offers are at the moment, but consider this scenario: perhaps the NHL has one somewhat legitimate offer (probably Reinsdorf's, as it's been mentioned before), but it's nowhere nearly as attractive as Balsillie's. To make it look better, they recruit other businessmen and have them submit slightly lower offers. Thus, Reinsdorf's offer goes from being a low-ball bid to keep the team local to a reasonable deal slightly above "market value". Of course, there's no indication that this has happened, but it would help to explain why these bids came in so late in the game. If all of these other groups are just to confuse the central issue of Balsillie v. Bettman, they're doing a pretty good job of it so far.

A Tale of Three Cities...

Three of the football teams I follow all recorded important victories over the past weekend, but those victories couldn't have been more dissimilar. However, there were still common threads and themes between the three games.

First, there was Queen's 43-16 win over Western [myself, Queen's Journal] Saturday. This was particularly interesting, especially when you consider that Western was favoured by many going in. However, the score was rather deceiving.

Queen's offence was missing in action for most of the day, and only created 295 net yards and 18 first downs against Western's 510 net yards and 33 first downs. The lopsided victory was mostly due to the excellent field position Queen's offence was given by Western's 12 turnovers and inability to convert in the red zone. The strong efforts from Queen's defence and special teams also came in handy in terms of field position.

The game was also made more of a blowout by Western head coach Greg Marshall's decision to keep gambling on third downs in an attempt to come back. Five of those 12 turnovers came off turnovers on downs (another three were on lost fumbles and the final four were interceptions). Marshall said after the game [myself, this blog] that he'd rather try risky offensive strategies in an attempt to come back instead of playing it safe to try and keep the score close.

"I don't care if we lose by 100 points. I never do," he said. "We're not going to win the game by punting the football away."

I thoroughly approve: as ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook wrote in his excellent Tuesday Morning Quarterback column a few weeks back, too many coaches are more concerned with keeping the score close in a defeat than trying to win the game. As such, they opt for the safe punts late in the game, even though those do absolutely nothing for their chances of winning. Marshall doesn't subscribe to that theory, and his team lost big as a result, but they could have easily pulled off a comeback win thanks to his bold strategy if a few plays in the third quarter had turned out differently. It's good to see a coach willing to take some risks, and it's important to keep in mind that those gambles led to the one-sided nature of the final score, perhaps making this appear a more decisive victory than it really was. It was a deserved win for the Gaels and an important one, but not the rout the scoreboard seemingly indicated.

The weekend's second blowout victory was less illusory, even though the score was closer. The B.C. Lions destroyed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats [Matthew Sekeres, The Globe and Mail] 40-10 Saturday night, and this one was decided almost right after the kickoff. As Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province wrote after the game, "Two minutes and 14 seconds into the contest at B.C. Place Stadium, the affair lost all pretense of suspense and took on the dreary predictability of a Russian novel, which, come to think of it, is the way most games involving the Ticats have played out over the last seven years."

From a B.C. fan's standpoint, this kind of win was probably good to see, especially considering that it completed the Lions' perfect record in September. It also improved their overall record to 8-5, moving them into a tie for second in the powerful West with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, only one win behind the 9-4 Calgary Stampeders. Still, it came over the 2-11 Tiger-Cats, so it should be taken with a large seasoning of salt. As Stephen Brunt of The Globe and Mail wrote early in September, right after the Tiger-Cats fired Charlie Taaffe and immediately after their last horrible loss to B.C., "The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are terrible, again; they have hit the panic button, again; they are playing out the string, again; and their abused fan base is having its faith severely tested, again." This franchise has been so horrible for so long that it's hard to take them seriously. Thus, the euphoria needs to be kept in check.

The third crucial game of the weekend saw the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens [Alan Robinson, The Associated Press via The Globe and Mail] 23-20 on Monday Night Football, thanks to an overtime field goal by Jeff Reed. This was the least decisive victory of the three, especially considering that the Steelers were heavily favoured going in and they only managed to win thanks to a tremendous second-half comeback. In essence, they pulled off what the Mustangs could only come close to against Queen's.

This game really showcased how fast everything can change in football. For the entire first half, all the commentary centred on how overrated the Steelers were, how good Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco was and how effective the Ravens' defence was proving against quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offensive line. In the second half, Flacco began to make bad decisions, the Steelers' offensive line started to bear up under the pressure, and Roethlisberger picked apart the Ravens' defence, nullifying most of the storylines of the game.

Michael Wilbon, an ESPN commentator who's also a tremendous columnist for the Washington Post, made a great point here about how all the writers at the game were starting to scrap their columns after the half, something I've always found very interesting. With the instant nature of deadlines these days, reporters and columnists frequently have to have their pieces almost completely written before the final whistle. I've done this myself on many occasions, and it's no problem in the case of a blowout (such as Queen's 58-14 win over U of T [myself, Out of Left Field], where I had to file right at the end of the game in order to catch the bus back], but it's much more difficult in a close contest. The brilliant Joe Posnanski described this much better than I ever could in this post. Here's the highlights, about the Yankees' stunning comeback in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series:

"Now at this point I should mention that experienced sportswriter — that is, sportswriters smarter than me — have a little trick they use when on a pushbutton deadline. They write what I like to call the adjustable column. That is they write a column that leans one way but, in case of emergency, glass can be broken, verbs can be reversed, adjectives can be turned and so on. I did none of these things, of course. The ultra-rich Yankees finally going down — and to a team in only its fourth year of existence — deserved something more than an adjustable column. It deserved the works. And so I wrote it, the Yankees is dead, it’s been a nice run, the Diamondbacks had too much pitching, hell, I don’t remember it all but I know it was confident and unwavering and Kim got Jeter out on a bunt, he struck out Bernie, man on, two outs in the ninth and I was about to send the thing …

And you know what happened. Tino hit the home run. Yankee Stadium went nuts, I guess, though I don’t remember that. Here’s what I remember: Staring at my screen at all these little words I had written, words that now might as well be in Pig Latin, words that now looked like the code in the Matrix, words that could not possibly be more worthless. I remember that feeling … like my head was about to explode. I remember looking to see if I had left any adjustable sentences in the column (“The Yankees are NOT dead?”). I remember going into a few seconds of sheer panic. I had no column. Nothing. If the Yankees won the game (and of course they would win now) I had absolutely nothing to send to the paper.*

*I’ve had nightmares like this … seriously. A lot of sportswriter friends have had nightmares like this — deadline hits, and you have a blank screen and no idea what to write and no clue what to do. I think this is the sportswriter version of the go to work in your underwear dream.

So … what to do? Well, of course I started a new file and just began typing madly, something, anything, whatever thought came to mind, not unlike this blog I suppose. It was sheer stream of consciousness, nothing but typing, and when Derek Jeter hit his home run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th (off poor Kim, who must have done something to really tick off Bob Brenly), I had some sort of mishmash of words. My phone was ringing — SEND THAT COLUMN — so I sent it without even reading it."

As Posnanski points out, you almost have to have two entirely different stories or columns ready in a close game, and then just choose whichever's appropriate for the final score. The problem with this is that you can't usually write anything too nuanced: you have to usually pick an angle for each and run with it, and that means that the other side will be diminished out of necessity, even if it's just as legitimate.

For example, in this case, you could have written a great game story focusing on the play of rookie quarterback Flacco, and it would have been absolutely appropriate if the Steelers had missed that OT field goal and the Ravens had gone on to win. You also could have written a story about Roethlisberger's experience getting the better of Flacco and the Ravens, which would not have been appropriate at all for the first half of the game but made sense in the end.

The problem is that the truth is really somewhere in the middle: both quarterbacks were good and bad at various times during the game, so it's tough to argue that a long field goal curving just inside the upright instead of bouncing off dramatically changes Roethlisberger into a hero and Flacco into a villain. Their performances really weren't all that different if you look at the whole night.

Unfortunately, it's awfully hard to write those middle-of-the road nuanced stories well, as you can't focus on an angle and you often come off as wishy-washy. I'm not saying we should get rid of angles: on the whole, they're a tremendous boon for sports journalism and they make articles much more interesting. My point is just that it's important to keep in mind how small the difference between victory and defeat can be, even if that isn't always reflected in the post-game coverage.

Overall, Queen's fans should probably be the happiest with their team's performance this past weekend. The Gaels knocked off the No. 2 team in the country by a considerable amount, and also proved they can win without a dominating performance from their offensive stars. Their fans should bear in mind that the score was somewhat deceiving, but Queen's has a nice easy match-up this weekend against the 0-5 York Lions.

Lions' fans can also take several positives from last weekend's game. Their team is now running like a well-oiled machine instead of the sputtering clunker we saw at the start of the campaign. Also, they appeared far more dominant on the gridiron than either the Gaels or the Steelers and controlled the entire game. Still, the quality of the opposition has to be considered and the utter incompetence of the Tiger-Cats has to dilute the thrill of victory somewhat. It will be interesting to see how they do tonight against a slightly better team, the Toronto Argonauts.

For Steelers' fans, things aren't nearly as rosy. Yes, they proved that they can come from behind, but they were not overly impressive for most of the game against a less-than-dominant Ravens' team. They also lost key running back Rashard Mendenhall to a season-ending injury [The Associated Press] Monday, and wound up having to go to Mewelde Moore, who started the season as the fourth-string back. Given how important the run game is to Steeler football, that doesn't bode well for the season. They also face the toughest test of any of these teams this week, as they'll have to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday. That game should tell us a lot about this Steelers team and their prospects this year.

Tillman the genius...

Yesterday saw some more incredible news out of the Toronto Argonauts when new head coach [Sporting Madness, Sept. 9] Don Matthews announced [The Canadian Press, via The Globe and Mail] that he would start backup quarterback Cody Pickett in place of Kerry Joseph Friday night against Calgary.

Now, Pickett did play well in relief of during the Argos' 39-9 loss [James Mirtle, The Globe and Mail] to Winnipeg Friday night, completing nine of his 13 pass attempts for 100 yards, but that was his first game action for the Argos. It's a risky move by Matthews, but one perhaps justified by Joseph's poor play, and as Duane Forde pointed out on TSN yesterday, benching, reducing or changing the role of established players in favour of unknowns has given Matthews two Grey Cups (changing Pinball Clemons from a running back to a slotback in 1997 and benching running back Mike Pringle in favour of an offence centred around then-unknown quarterback Anthony Calvillo in 2002). This may yet work out for the Argos.

The real story, though, is how Pickett is set to replace the league's outstanding player last year, the quarterback so good that Toronto traded offensive tackle Glenn January, defensive lineman Ronald Flemons (who, incidentally, they reacquired [Wikipedia] in July with a fifth-round pick for receiver T.J. Acree, the rights to NFL free agent Brian Smith and a third-round draft pick), and first- and second-round draft picks to Saskatchewan for him and a third-round draft pick. After the trade, a quarterback controversy developed between Joseph and Michael Bishop, the man he was brought in to replace, forcing the Argos to unload him cheaply last month. Guess who was more than happy to trade? Saskatchewan, and they only gave up a conditional pick in 2011 [Murray McCormick, The Regina Leader-Post].

In case you're keeping track, that's a net loss of an offensive tackle and quarterback who are bothnow starting for the Roughriders (only the best team in the CFL by record at the moment) [Saskatchewan depth chart], a wide receiver on their injured list and draft picks in each of the first two rounds in 2010 for Joseph. That is one high-priced backup quarterback.

What's clear here is that Saskatchewan general manager Eric Tillman played Toronto GM Adam Rita like an electric guitar with an amp cranked up to 11. Joseph is 35 this year, and it wasn't too farfetched to imagine that his skills might begin to slide. In fact, even his Most Outstanding Player award last year was somewhat questionable, as Winnipeg quarterback Kevin Glenn had better passing stats. Still, trading your franchise quarterback after you win the Grey Cup would be regarded as lunacy by most, and many thought Tillman had lost his mind. Well, it looks like he got rid of Joseph just at the right time: his Riders are leading the league with an 8-3 record, and he's managed to acquire a starting right tackle, a starting quarterback (Bishop, who's only 32), a skilled receiver and two high draft picks in exchange for a man who's riding the pine in Toronto and a conditional draft pick. That sort of highway robbery is illegal in most states and provinces.

Saskatchewan is a strong franchise because of a brilliant GM who doesn't buy into the hype around players, frequently makes swaps to maximize his assets and gets rid of them before they go down in value. The Argos, on the other hand, seem to be overpaying for old players a la another Toronto team. Success starts with the man at the top, and the Bishop/Joseph situation suggests that Tillman is a far better GM than Rita.

Update, 10:38 A.M. Sept. 17: Some good stories in the Globe this morning on Pickett/Joseph, including this excellent profile by Allan Maki and this story on how he was chosen over Joseph by David Naylor. Naylor also shares my skepticism on the Joseph trade, writing that the move to go with Pickett "also casts further questions about the Argos' trade for Joseph, the Saskatchewan Roughriders hero who has looked like a fish out of water through 11 games in Toronto. Sources say part of the reason Toronto's staff was split on the need to acquire Joseph in March was the belief that Pickett was a more than capable backup to Bishop. Sources also say Buratto has often been frustrated with Joseph's play this season, something Matthews seemed to pick up on immediately."

P.S. Regardless of what actually happens in Friday's game, I want to see "Pickett's charge" [Wikipedia] used in a headline somewhere. If they win, it could be something along the lines of "Pickett's charge worked this time," or if they lose, "Pickett's charge fails again." I may have to write a post about the game to get these in, but darn it, they're going to be used. The parallels are too perfect.

CFL: Send in the Don!

This [David Naylor, The Globe and Mail] is absolutely out of the blue. I hadn't even heard rumours that Toronto Argonauts head coach Rich Stubler was about to be fired, but that makes sense given their play this year, and it makes abundant sense if you can replace him with the CFL's all-time leader in wins, Don Matthews. The team has called a press conference for 11:15 this morning to announce the change, and everyone from the CBC to The Fan 590's Bob McCown to Sportsnet's Perry Lefko has picked it up: TSN still hasn't had anything on the air, though, as they're still focusing on yesterday's firing [Stephen Brunt, The Globe and Mail, a must-read as always] of Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach Charlie Taafe.

It's pretty funny that both struggling Ontario franchises decide to get rid of their coaches within a day of each other. Perhaps this is just the usual Argos' plan to upstage the Ti-Cats? Seriously, though, Matthews certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, and has had notable struggles with the media in the past, as well as bizarrely resigning his last job with the Montreal Alouettes part of the way through the season. Most thought he was retired for good, but if he wants to come back, I'd think most teams would be willing to give him a shot: the man knows how to win, and how to win without the best players (a problem faced by both Toronto and Hamilton these days). He certainly can't make things any worse in Toronto, and just his hiring will reinvigorate the interest in the franchise from both fans and the media. In my mind, this is a pretty smart move by franchise president Pinball Clemons, and it makes much more sense than him stepping back to the sidelines himself, which was the preferred rumour for a long period.

The downsides of this move are mostly for fans of other CFL teams, including my beloved B.C. Lions, as playing Toronto just got a lot more intimidating. Also, Wally Buono's charge to pass Matthews on the all-time wins list (Matthews currently leads by 15, according to cfl.ca) may take a bit longer. Still, all things considered, it's great to see a legend like the Don return to the game. That should make it a very, very interesting stretch drive in the East, where Toronto is currently second(!) with a 4-6 record: at the moment, the bottom-of-the West Lions (5-5) would take the third playoff berth in the East via crossover and have a better record than the second-place team. I'm guessing a Matthews-coached Argonauts team is good for at least .500 though, especially in that division. It should be fun to watch.

(As an aside, this might cheer Neate up. This morning, he wrote, "What's worse: Supporting for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who tied the can to Charlie Taaffe on Monday, or supporting the only CFL team the Tabbies can beat, the other one in Southern Ontario?" Well, at the moment, it looks like there's a lot more hope for Toronto.)

CFL: Week IV Picks

Hopefully I'll be able to get/keep weekly CFL picks going here. Here's the first (brief) version: more detail to come in future weeks!

Tonight: Hamilton (1-2) at Calgary (2-1) (TSN, 9 p.m. ET):

Pick: Calgary

Rationale: Calgary's solid offence and quality defence should be enough to beat a Jesse Lumsden-less Tiger-Cats team.

Tomorrow: Winnipeg (0-3) at B.C. (1-2) (TSN, 10 p.m. ET)

Pick: B.C.

Rationale: B.C. and Jarious Jackson finally looked like they were supposed to last week on the road, where they demolished Winnipeg: this week should be round two.

Saturday: Montreal (2-1) at Saskatchewan (3-0) (TSN, 7 p.m. ET)

Pick: Saskatchewan

Rationale: No one's looked able to beat Saskatchewan yet, and I don't think the Alouettes will be able to break that streak.

Sunday: Edmonton (2-1) at Toronto (1-2)

Pick: Edmonton

Rationale: The Eskimos have looked much better than expected so far, and Ricky Ray should be able to pick apart an old and slow Argo defence that has underwhelmed.