CANADIAN FOOTBALL WEEKEND: FRANK D'ANGELO, ARRRR-GOS AND CIS LOOK-AHEAD

What a weekend for Canadian football: Second-half comebacks in both CFL division semifinals yesterday, and we're rid of one Frank D'Angelo, except for that offensive Cheetah commercial with Ben Johnson.

Wanted to get this up last night but sleep and a good book were beckoning instead: The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that D'Angelo says the CFL has told him thanks, but no thanks. Of course, it's probably all about money, but given D'Angelo's questionable taste and judgment, good riddance.

No one should be surprised -- Erin Nicks of The Universal Cynic reported some three months ago that D'Angelo, according to unnamed associate, didn't have the right kind of liquidity to be investing in a sports franchise, and "never had any intention of ever buying the football team. It was all to get his name out there and gain some beer sales."

Which kind of begs the question: Who do you know who actually drinks Steelback? Or cheetahs all the time?

DIVISION SEMIFINAL SOMETHING OR OTHER

Some friends watched to see Borat, so I missed seeing Michael Bishop come off the bench to throw two fourth-quarter touchdowns to vault the Argos to a 31-27 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. (It's not rule No. 1, but a good one for a blogger: It's a bad precedent to turn down an invite because there's a game you want to write about.)

This will rank as a painful loss for the Bomber faithful; little Charles Roberts had a 179-yard day marred by the fumble he coughed up in the fourth quarter that led to the winning TD.

Classic game for the Argos in the Pinball Clemons era: They didn't seem interested in winning the game for about half of it, and somehow ended up on top at the end.

Oh, and Ricky Williams did have some involvement, setting up an early field goal with a big run. So much for Ricky only doing one kind of rambling, eh?

CIS FOOTBALL

Early line on conference championship Saturday (all rankings are from before this weekend's games):

Yates Cup, No. 7 Laurier vs. No. 3 Ottawa: The Gee-Gees' offensive line of Naim El-Far, Mike DeGagné, Peter Hogarth, Kevin Kelly and Frank Spera should be able to get 'er done. Laurier, though, has big-game experience and the media will probably play up the notion that the two-time Ontario champs are going in as underdogs.

Hardy Trophy, No. 4 Saskatchewan vs. No. 1 Manitoba: The Manitoba/Saskatchewan rivalry has already been examined. It says here that the U of M defensive line, with Simon Patrick, Justin Cooper and Justin Shaw, can make the Huskies a passing team, something they really can't be with top receiver Leighton Heron battling injuries.

Dunsmore Cup, No. 5 Concordia vs. No. 2 Laval: After seeing that Montreal was picked to beat him team, Concordia rookie DB Bryan Charleau, one of two Stingers from the town where I used to work, left a comment late Friday, "Where is the Simcoe love?" Charleau, fellow Simconian Curtis Merrick and their Concordia teammates have the near-impossible task of beating Laval at Laval in a playoff game.

Jewett Trophy, Saint Mary's vs. No. 10 Acadia: As foreseen in the pre-season, Acadia and SMU finished 1-2 in Atlantic loop. Steve Sumurah's Huskies have played better over the second half of the season, although they're still a youngish team.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.