The game was not much of a thriller, though.

Toronto Argonauts receiver Arland Bruce III's Michael Jackson tribute in the end zone last night ... might land him a fine. Never mind it was entertaining (and if it wasn't, it was pretty benign). Never mind that it was entertaining and the 20 yards in penalties the Argos were assessed on the ensuing kickoff was worth it. Besides, teams should kick off from the 15-yard line against Hamilton, just to give the Tiger-Cats a chance.



(Seriously, it was like a Ricky Bobby moment watching it live: How did he get down to his UnderArmour that quickly? Did you hear about Calgary Stampeders running back Demetris Summers is out 2-3 weeks "after pulling his hamstring running alongside" teammate during a kickoff return for a touchdown last night. What Bruce did not hurt anyone.)

Tuesday afternoon ...

What's not bothering you today, since it's all raisins off an Oldsmobile ... oh, and an Islanders beat writer says the team will take Matt Duchene No. 1 overall.

... Being the only person who ever saw a resemblance between Oren Koules and Michael Bluth from Arrested Development (it was the hair). The comparison is totally apt, considering what's happened to the Tampa Bay Lightning. At this rate, they'll soon be holding a Save Our Bolts fundraiser?

... CBC going ahead with a figure skating reality show. At least they showed a sense of humour by casting Glenn Anderson and Stéphane Richer as figure skaters. Talk about meta.

... Rosie DiManno getting into it with the entire city of Hamilton after she called it "a dump." Shame on her for violating the unwritten rule to never to point out the Hammer's failings in print. She missed the point that people love Hamilton, Ontario, the way you love a three-legged, half-blind, hard-of-hearing dog with a flatulence problem (so sayeth the guy whose sister and brother-in-law live in Stoney Creek, so hold the hate mail).

... ESPN.com failing to put Peyton Manning on its All-Decade NFL team.

... sports columnists who go on about the Tiger-and-Phil overkill during major golf tournaments. Please just explain to people that the way it works is the PGA's corporate sponsors expect the big names who move product to get more camera time, regardless of the leaderboard. Looking for serious storytelling on a golf broadcast is like looking for chastity in a cathouse.

... Peter C. Newman saying Heather Reisman "saved the publishing industry." Apparently saved is synonymous with running independent booksellers and small publishing houses out of business, but hey, Newman's books still sell at Chapters once they're marked down to $9.99.

... the MuchMusic Video Awards getting a worse ass-kicking than Perez Hilton. CBC got twice as many viewers by showing Happy Gilmore, a 13-year-old comedy.

In the name of the father: Dexter Manley II, a Ticat

Presumably the Hamilton Tiger-Cats signed Dexter Manley II for purely PR reasons, as in pass rush.

It speaks to the burden of legacy, how what happens to us is what first happened to our parents. There is an obvious hook with Manley the second trying signing with a team in the league where Manley the first tried to revive his football career during his long slide down from NFL glory in Washington to stints in prison and medical problems. He plays the same position, too, defensive end. (Mister Irrelevant joked he should be signed by the Washington NFL team.) You'll remember that it was kind of a running gag in the CFL, since the elder Dexter Manley went wherever Bernie and Lonie Glieberman owned a team, first Ottawa, then Shreveport, Louisiana.

ESPN's Tom Friend did a writeup a few years ago on the younger Manley when he was playing in junior college. This was before he passed through two college teams, Oregon and a small school, West Texas A&M. All throughout is kind of a theme of someone resisting his athletic destiny, plus it had an Ottawa reference!

"In 1992, Big Dexter signed with the CFL's Ottawa Rough Riders, and he invited Little Dexter to the press conference. The boy was in his bow tie, as usual, and afterward, he and Big Dexter raced each other in the empty stadium. That really was their last time running together on a football field."

As Friend related, Dexter Manley II played barely any football as a youth, instead focusing on hoops as wide-bodied, undersized power forward. He was playing junior college basketball in Southern California when some coaches basically said that with his genes, he was in the wrong sport:

"A couple of them had witnessed his (Charles) Barkley act on the court, and when they realized who he was, they asked him why he was playing a soft sport like basketball. 'Football's in your blood,' they said. They told him to come out for spring practice, that D1 scouts would see his speed and drool. A scholarship? His mom would love that. She worked at a Chico's in Atlanta, struggling to pay his juco tuition, and his dad hadn't made a child support payment since 1999.

"But more than that, football felt like home. He'd spent his life trying not to be Big Dexter, but he says the sound of cleats on concrete at spring practice made the hair on his neck stand on end. He'd hear one of his dad's favorite Luther Vandross songs and get emotional. 'I kind of forgave him,' he says.

"And get a load of what happened next: the coaches let Little Dexter Manley line up at defensive end. 'That's where I wanted to play," he says. 'If I was going to do it, I was going to do it all the way. I did it for my dad.' "

That part about tearing up when hearing a Luther Vandross song was jarring. Were this the movies, Manley would have made his peace with what Friend described as "carrying his father's demons." He seems to have the physical specs to play defensive end (6-foot-2, 280 lbs., timed at 4.6 seconds in the 40), but so do a lot of other guys coming out of a couple dozen other colleges. West Texas A&M, where he spent two injury-plagued seasons, isn't exactly a football factory. You know how some schools are known as Linebacker U or Quarterback U? West Texas A&M's football team could be Pro Wrestler U.

This is being written without knowing much about Dexter Manley II and how he can adapt to the CFL. Three-down football is not for everyone, especially with the adjustment defensive players have to make to lining up a yard off the ball. There is also the adjustment from playing at a U.S. school, where football is king, to playing in Canada, where it's a niche sport.

It's not as if the signing will set off a media circus, since Manley is just another rookie trying to make the team. The Ticats will probably try to shield him from the spotlight until he's assured a spot on the team. However, he has the pedigree and defensive ends who have played in Canada are somewhat in demand in the NFL, between former B.C. Lions sackmeister Cameron Wake signing a big deal with the Miami Dolphins and San Diego drafting Western's Vaughn Martin. Friend said of Manley's attempts to play football, "He's a bright kid. It's not too late."

The question is whether that still stands.

(It looks like he can get after the passer, but that clip is from a game three seasons ago.)

Bleeding Tricolour: Tiger-Cats can find a Bederman;

Queen's Golden Gaels centre Dan Bederman, a two-time OUA all-star, has signed a free-agent deal with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Since there is no chance of this site ever being viewed as impartial when it comes to anything Queen's Football-related, here's hoping 6-foot-3, 320-lb. Bederman makes good on his opportunity. Centres don't get a lot of glory, but he was the anchor for a blocking group which cleared the way for Mike Giffin to have consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons and gave the other Dan B., as in quarterback Brannagan, plenty of time to throw.

Hamilton has an established centre, five-year veteran Marwan Hage, who is signed through 2010 and is one of the CFL's best-paid O-linemen. Getting a foothold as a lineman in the CFL is very difficult. All Bederman can do is give it all he has, eh.

The other Gael who was thought to have a good shot at being signed, defensive back-kick returner Jimmy Allin, hasn't been picked up. Allin's unique skill set probably mandates that someone has to give him a look. If not, though, people wouldn't mind if he wore the Tricolour for another season.

One 'skate' to drop amid the obfuscation from Balsillie and Bettman

There is more than one way to thin-slice what someone says in a court filing. As soon as the word of what Gary Bettman said in court filings hit the newswires yesterday, one knee-jerk reaction was, "Here we go. Head-fake 'em with the talk about Winnipeg and the idiots go for it." Bettman didn't necessarily say he wanted the Phoenix Coyotes to move to Winnipeg; he just hates the idea less than them moving to Southern Ontario, since it would mean giving in to Jim Balsillie.

Now that the throat has been cleared of snarky phlegm, there is a historical precedent people should think about amid the legal hockey tape holding together the remnants of the Coyotes franchise. If applied, it could represent a win-win for both Emperor Gary and BlackBerry boy. Balsillie would get a hockey team. Bettman would have so much hand that it would be coming out of his gloves!

The precedent involves a U.S. city which just lost a major pro sports team — Seattle — and a team located in Southern Ontario.

Of course, this is just one ass-talker's personal theory, not to be taken literally. It derives from:

• A desire to see a second NHL team in Southern Ontario, although its catchment area is very vague;
• Animus/grudging admiration for Gary Bettman;
• A knowledge of the legal pinholes Jim Balsillie must pass through to enter the kingdom of hoser heaven, owning a NHL team.

As some of you know, the Seattle Mariners baseball team "were created as a result of a lawsuit." (Wikipedia.) The city had a team, the Seattle Pilots, which existed for only one season, 1969, before they were bought and relocated to Milwaukee. All three levels of government sued the American League for breach of contract and eventually, the league set things right by offering them an expansion franchise to begin play in 1977.

The Toronto Blue Jays also came into being during that round of expansion, since a baseball league requires an even number of teams. For those who don't remember or find this as dry as a great-uncle's funeral, shortly before that time Labatt's had almost succeeded in purchasing the San Francisco Giants and moving them to Toronto. An 11th-hour effort by business and political leaders in San Fran, including late Mayor George Moscone, kept the Giants from moving.

The thought of three levels of government, the city of Hamilton, the province of Ontario and the government of Canada, suing the NHL might be a little far-fetched, even if Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a professed hockey nut who's not above being litigious. We're probably too docile to take that step.

All three levels of government certainly have self-interest. The city council wants to revitalize the rapidly deteriorating downtown core in the Hammer. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government, as others have already noted, would like to take back some once solidly-red ridings in the 905 area code that have gone NDP in the biggest union town in Canada. Attaching a hockey team to any big federal-provincial infrastructure project, such as the expanded light-rail system Southern Ontario is begging for, would make it an easier sell. (As an aside, you do realize that by 2025, you're going to be nostalgic for the days when gas for your car was only $1.30 a litre?)

There is a scenario which could come into play as this winds it way through the court system. The NHL, as baseball did, could turn around and offer Balsillie an expansion team. It would be a face-save and a sop to Canadian patriotism, plus it is probably inevitable that the NHL will have to put a second team in the Toronto area, since it is one of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in North America and the largest where hockey is a major sport (where it ranks in size is debatable, see the comments from Jason Cormier). Two of the larger three, New York and L.A., have more than one hockey team. Chicago also has a thriving AHL franchise.

It would allow both to get what they want. Balsillie gets a team, albeit an expansion outfit instead of the Coyotes, who are presently a good young team that's close to being a contender. He gets time to build an arena that is more accessible to fans in the Kitchener-Waterloo region and in Toronto. This addresses any concern about a team playing out of Copps Coliseum siphoning off ticket buyers from the Buffalo Sabres, who always seem to have one skate on the banana peel which is Western New York's economy:

"The Sabres are always in a very precarious financial position, given Buffalo's shrinking size and awful economy. The Sabres (company name Niagara Frontier Hockey, L.P.) depend on the roughly 15 percent of their business that comes from the Niagara Peninsula, all the way up the Golden Horseshoe to Hamilton. Never mind that after almost 40 years most of the Canadians who attend Sabres games do not root for Buffalo; the main thing is that they’re helping to fill the HSBC Arena."
— Jeff Z. Klein, The New York Times

Meantime, Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly will still have "hand," to borrow George Costanza's term, in the relationship. It reduces the possibility of Bettman having to present the Stanley Cup to one of Balsillie's employees in the near future.

Bettman, et al., certainly want to expand the NHL from 30 to 32 teams, even during a recession.

The Hollywood producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, a noted "celebrity puckhead," (From The Rink) is apparently interested in owning a team in Las Vegas (David Shoalts, globesports.com). Please also keep in mind that another fish Bettman would like to fry is to provide a tenant for the Sprint Center in Kansas City, which is operated by L.A. Kings owner Phillip Anschutz's company.

It could become a three-minus-one: The NHL adds Kansas City, Las Vegas and thethe Golden Horseshoe Hammerheads, while subtracting Phoenix. It could also be four-minus-two, if the Sabres' situation in Western New York becomes untenable if the local economy continues to crater; relocation to a more western city such as Winnipeg or Seattle could be on the table. (Klein, a Sabres fan, makes a good point that people should stand up to defend "a true hockey city" such as Buffalo, but he lays on a little thick by pointing out that many hockey people make their home there. They moved to avoid paying Canadian taxes.)

No one knows how an Arizona bankruptcy court might mind. The best we get before Tuesday is an educated guess. However, people should at least be open to the scenario where Balsillie gets his team through expansion, although this would be a few years down the road, so try not take it too literally.

A 32-team NHL with four divisions even works out in terms of scheduling. Each team plays six games vs. each divisional foe (42 games), three vs. inter-divisional opponents (24 games) and one against each inter-conference team (16 games) to make up an 82-game schedule. For argument's sake, here are possible alignments that try to maintain existing rivalries:

• Adams Division: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton
  
  
• Patrick Division: Atlanta, Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Washington
  
  
• Norris Division: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City
  
  
• Smythe Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vancouver, Las Vegas
  

Obviously, the NHL would probably copy the NFL and divvy up 32 teams into eight divisions of four. But the fantasy has gone this far ...

Anyway, this is not a prediction on how it might shake out, but an acknowledgement of a possible compromise. Balsillie is not going to give up. Bettman, like one of those Southern expansion teams playing the neutral zone trap back in the '90s, could just be trying to prolong the inevitable.

It's better to look at this way than to jump to conclusions about what a paid liar like Bettman says in a court filing. Sure, he might prefer the Phoenix Coyotes to move to Winnipeg instead of Southern Ontario. Taken another way, that could be on par with a man saying he'd rather be kicked in the rear end than in the groin.

CFL: It's always sunny on draft day

The upshot of tomorrow's CFL Canadian college draft is that the players selected face long odds of having a lengthy pro career. However, player agent Darren Gill says there is a corollary between the teams who put time and thought into the draft and the ones who can't or won't:

"Gill also notes that the Grey Cup-champion Calgary Stampeders have amassed the highest percentage of starters from the draft during the six-year span (from 2002-07) at 18.2 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — who select first overall Saturday after posting a league-worst 3-15 record — have seen almost 45 per cent of their draft picks never play a down in the CFL, compared to just 20.5 per cent for the Stamps."

It's central to understanding the three-down Canadian game that scouting is relatively unsophisticated compared to the major pro sports leagues and the NHL. GIll notes, "Limited financial resources simply means that teams cannot dedicate the necessary funds for dedicated personnel to scout the upcoming draft talent ... With that being said, I believe that teams do see the positive effect of a good draft and many are starting to put more effort into their scouting efforts."

However, it is reassuring to read the teams which do right by Canadian players are rewarded on the field. The ones who aren't, such as Hamilton and the Toronto Argonauts, don't. Paraphrasing what Barry Alvarez said when he took over the woebegone Wisconsin Badgers two decades ago, the heart and soul of the CFL comes from Canada; the arms, hands and legs come from somewhere else. (The draft is pretty heavy in linemen.) It seems important to keep that in mind ahead of Saturday's selections.

The B.C. Lions have a deal in principle to move up to the No. 3 overall pick and take the hometown kid, record-setting Bishop's Gaiters running back Jamall Lee (who was coached by Napanee native Leroy Blugh).

Incidentally, it's impossible to resist passing along a column from South Carolina actually dedicated to the CFL draft and the fact Americans are not eligible:

"As for the CFL, its top pick is expected to be Alberta offensive lineman Simeon Rottier. By the time the draft is done it’ll read like a who’s who of Canadian stars, although those of us unfamiliar with Canadian college ball might be asking, 'Who?' "

That could go for much of Canada, but that is neither here nor there. It's going to be a very special day for some Canadian footballers.

Related:
CFL agent Darren Gill offers his clients some sage advice (The Canadian Press)

Just crazy enough to work...

The best TV writer in the country, Bill Brioux had a wrote a great piece over the weekend on the effort to save CHCH in Hamilton, whose branding has been muddied by all that E! pap.

It kind of ties in with some topics covered previously and the reason why there was a one-day lag getting into it, namely broadcast and blog commitments to Streaming Sports Network Canada at the CIS Final 8 here in Ottawa. This kind of jumped out:

"CHCH's Live@5:30 co-host Donna Skelly – one of the few local personalities left – thinks it's time the community stood up and took back their station. She is spearheading a group that is hoping to buy back CHCH and return it to its roots while at the same time.

" 'We are going to focus on local, period,' says Skelly, taking courage from a local news commitment declared recently by the Rogers'-owned City stations. She sees opportunities, for example, to hype local sports teams on TV and then stream full games on a web platform."(Emphasis mine.)

Skelly's push to return CHCH to its roots, frankly, is awesome. The urgent feeling that if the business models don't change, then local storytelling will be imperiled, seems to be at the heart of the matter. It's the same for people who work in print, it's the same for at the local affiliates across in Canada who have had to suffer because Canadian private networks, according to Brioux, spent more than a half-billion dollars last year importing U.S. comedies and dramas everyone can see already on American stations. (Seriously, who cares if you watch 30 Rock on Citytv or NBC?)

Anyone interested in this probably should peruse this post from Clay Shirky gradual disappearance of newspapers before going any farther.

"When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won't break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

"There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie."

Shirky adds, "We’re collectively living through 1500, when it’s easier to see what’s broken than what will replace it." The feeling on this end, as an eternally glass half-full guy, is that it is a positive step when you have someone who was once old media, such as Ms. Skelly, talking about streaming local teams' games on your station's website.

All the best to those trying to restore CHCH to a modicum of its bygone glory. In retrospect, those days in the 1970s and '80s when CHCH

You don't have to have grown up in the 519/905 area code to know that back in the day, CHCH was legen, wait for it, dary for its local programming. Reviving the era when a hometown TV station produced some its own shows, such as The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, Smith and Smith and The Red Green Show seems like a gilded age. It could be kitschy, cheesy, hokey (remember You Can't Do That On Television?), but in retrospect, it seems legen, wait for it, dary. It could be a real boon for sports coverage, too. At least a conversation is underway.

(By the way, you have not lived until you've watched Red Green use his lawnmover to make coffee.)




(Apologies for only getting this up this morning; needed a few hours to deglaze after commentating eight basketball games in three days. Thanks again to Bengt Neathery, Matt Copeland, Sarah Miller, Mark Masters, Chris Messina, Alison Sandor and Joe Fishman from SSN Canada for having me.)

Previous
How to save the newspaper ... (Feb. 27, 2009)

Related:
Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable (Clay Shirky)
Will townsfolk save House of Frightenstein?; Rallies for local owners start as corporate debt threatens CHCH (Bill Brioux, Toronto Star

Snark break...

The wonderful thing about doing this site .. not having to spend a Friday coming up with fake insights about Mats Sundin. He gave Toronto his best, now he's gone, over and out. Will Ferrell's one-man play broke box-office records, there might be hope yet for him.

The Oakland Athletics gave up the ghost of having their ballpark village in Fremont, Calif.; those dubious of Eugene Melnyk's entertainment village concept in Ottawa should take note.

South Carolina might soon allow MMA. Does this mean the same state where some idiot sheriff wanted to charge Michael Phelps for pot possession is actually more progressive than Ontario?

No word of a lie: On Thursday, the 10th anniversary of the release of Office Space, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats cut QB Casey Printers.

You are excused for completely forgetting the Academy Awards are this weekend. Opinion will change if Mickey Rourke wins Best Actor for The Wrestler.

Women's boxing could be added to the Summer Olympics. Is it equality if Canada sends underfunded female and male fighters to London in 2012?

There have been a million and three tributes to Conan O'Brien's years on Late Night. .



Honestly, future historians will use this clip to explain 1994.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• Matt Stairs wants to be a coach for the Blue Jays some day.
• It was a good night to be a post player from Eastern Ontario last night. Napanee's Matteke Hutzler and Ottawa's Anneka Bakker each hit the shots which respectively put Simon Fraser and Alberta ahead to stay in their Canada West women's basketball playoff wins last night. (Hutzler's came on a free throw in win over UBC, but nevertheless, attention should be paid.)
• Spare a thought for the Bathurst Phantoms in their provincial championship game today.

Get with the Times; the CFL is a good game

There might be blogging manna for someone who just wants to recycle American media references to the CFL.

It is at least reasonable to wonder about the possibility of the CFL making another U.S. incursion, given the Arena League's demise. The notion of a high school running back, Bryce Brown, skipping college to play in Canada, fails the no-way test.

(Update: Tell that to College Football Talk. Don't they realize Tim Tebow would struggle in Canada?)

As in, there's no way it world work, even assuming that the CFL got out of the bed with the NFL long enough to let it happen. Speculating about it comes across as Americans failing to appreciate the calibre of athlete playing for the seven professional teams up here, along with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The difference between CFL lifer and a NFL player pulling down a couple million a season is so narrow that you could barely slide a bank card into the gap. Brown has the requisite highlight package online, but that was high school.

(Granted, Brown seems like quite the scatback and the Argos did just loseDominique Dorsey to the NFL. Squash that thought.)



It's too funny by half. Every spring CFL teams bring up players who have got Heisman Trophy votes, played on teams which went to and won big bowl games, and found them ill-suited for the Canadian game, after four years at some big football factory. The Times is right to point out that there are stud basketball players who are opting to play in Europe instead of play for free at Big State, but basketball is a different game.

This is good a time as any to note that in the States, it is National Letter of Intent day in football. One player from Ottawa has signed with a Conference USA school, but you'll have to read it in the Ottawa Sun.

Related:
College Recruiting's Thin Gray Line (Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans, The New York Times)
Bryce Brown to the C.F.L.? (Pete Thamel, The Quad)

Snark break...

There had to be a better way ... and out of that, a new holiday was born...

It is funny how the Carolina Panthers defence didn't get a pass interference call against it all season until it really helped out the New York Giants.

(It also helped the Vikings, since next week is a nothing game for New York.)

True story: Retail outlets that have marked down their merchandise over the past few days refer to the practice as "Favreing."

Someone with a larger platform should connect the dots between Hockey Canada's shameless profiteering and forward Dana Tyrell's season-ending injury. Loading 18- and 19-year-old players up with three exhibition games to get ready for a six-game tournament tempts fate, but takes advantage of the teenagers, who aren't seeing a cut of all the revenue they generate for Hockey Canada and TSN. It's a lot to put on players that age and Tyrell's overexuberance might have cost him.

Scott Radley at the Hamiton Spectator did take on the World Juniors beast on Saturday. It was not far off from a post written here two years ago, which is fine as long as the message is getting to more people.

"That said, elements of the coverage are still way over the top. Let's be honest, as talented as many of the players are, a fair number will never play at this level again, no matter how often we're told about their heart, their special skills and their monster performances."

The upshot for Tyrell is that he did already sign his entry-level NHL contract two weeks with ago with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which is a wicked burn on their idiot owners.

Nolan Ryan, now the Texas Rangers' presidents, wants the team's pitchers to be more like him. They already do -- that's why they all have .500 records.

One possibility for the ECHL's Fresno Falcons, who are close to folding, is being transferred to a nonprofit organization. Only about half the U.S.-based NHL teams would fit the bill.

Please don't infer anyting about the sport from this: The contestant on Momma's Boys with the bigoted mother -- "Her no-go list included any girl who is black, Asian, Jewish, Muslim, tall, a 'fat-butt' or anyone from a broken home" -- is a college hockey player. Please don't make an overly obvious, tissue-thin connection.

You have to love how everyone's jumping all over a reporter in the NFL for crossing the line with a dumb question. The Detroit Lions have averaged four wins a season since 2002. The NFL's revenue-sharing system means they make money every year despite having a sucktacular team, but some reporter asking an inappropriate question, that's the outrage. The reality that you can be as bad as the Lions and not be forced to relocate is the obscenity.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• There is still no good news about the condition of Don Sanderson, the injured Whitby Dunlops player.
• You should click through to read this profile of Jerry LeVias, the first African-American football player in the Southwestern Conference.
• For those of you who enjoyed Michael Lewis' The Blind Side, the subject of his book, Michael Oher, is doing pretty well.
• Note to readers: Please say "yay" or "nay" as to whether you expect regular posting to continue through the holidays, so we know how to proceed from here until Jan. 2. Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah.

CIS Corner: It's Als good for Giff; some after-the-fact analysis)

Notes on our athletes of interest from The 613...

FOOTBALL

The upshot of Kingston's own Mike Giffin signing with the Montréal Alouettes being confirmed -- The Whig-Standard had it a while ago -- is that the word "fullback" is barely in his new team's category.

The Als like their versatile backfield men. Dahrran Diedrick and Kerry Carter, each of whom played tailback in college, are fullbacks in their grand scheme. One would also trust their ability to manage young talent a lot better than one would with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who drafted Giffin last spring). The Alouettes also had 17 free agents when teams submitted their lists to the league last month.

Point being, speaking as a follower of Queen's football, there should be some positivity that Giffin is going to get a fair shake from the Als. That did not happen with the dysfunctional Ticats organization last spring, when they told him he was a fullback but didn't bother to try to teach him how to play fullback.

Others can take a crack at what Giffin's chances are of making the one good team in the CFL's East Division. A positive spin is that although some people would say it would be easier to make the roster with Hamilton or Toronto, that's not necessarily the case. It's oftentimes better to go to a team that will let you know where you stand and give you as much of a chance as can be expected to succeed or fail on your own merits. Not every player out of a Canadian school gets the chance to try his luck with another CFL team, since jobs are scarce with only eight teams in the league.

Go get 'em, Giff.

HOOPS

Jesse Sazant, who coaches basketball in the UK, sent along word last night on some former Canadian university players now playing abroad (cross-posted to cisblog.ca):

• Ravens: The uber-guard, Oz Jeanty, is averaging 14.2 points in 36 minutes a game for Nördlingen, which is now in Germany's top league. He's first in the Bundesliga in three-pointers made. Ryan Bell is playing major minutes for Schalke in the Pro A (second tier), averaging 29 per game. He's averaging 5.7 points and 3.2 assists, but as you know, he earns his keep with his defence.
  
  Daron Leonard is playing in the top tier in the Swiss league with Lugano, averaging 2.1 points in 14 minutes.
  
• Golden Gaels: Former Queen's swingman Simon Mitchell, of Navan, is averaging 6.0 points and a league-high 5.6 assists for the Kent Crusaders in England, a third-tier team.
  
• Gee-Gees: Former U of O standout Ali Mahmoud has helped Al Riyadi get off to a 3-0 start in Lebanon's top league, averaging 9.7 points.
  
• Ottawa native Achuil Lual, who of course helped Acadia end Carleton's five-year title reign last March in the national semi-final, is averaging close to double digits in scoring in one of Germany's top leagues.
• Another Gee-Gees note ... they'll play in Winnipeg at the Dec. 28-30 Wesmen Classic. Their first game is vs. Saskatchewan.

Snark break ...

As you were developing that vaccine for weirdness ...

Don Matthews resigned Friday as Argos coach, but really, he quit seven weeks ago.

The Detroit Lions won't start rookie QB Drew Stanton because they don't want to "embarrass" him if he's not ready. Since when have the Lions ever worried about embarrassment?

A woman in Ontario was charged with driving a Zamboni while drunk. It's good to know Oksana Baiul finally found work!

The Daniel Alfredsson signing makes sense when you consider that the Seattle Sounders signed Freddie Ljungberg. Sens owner Eugene Melynk must figure the MLS is impressed when you overpay for a 30-something Swede.

The L.A. Kings' Dustin Brown will donate $50 from every bodycheck he makes to a non-profit organization. Jason Spezza should have the same deal for every time he makes a blind pass.

Now that Studs Terkel has left this vale of tears, does that make the Philadelphia Phillies' Jamie Moyer the world's oldest living lefty?

(Studs Terkel was awesome. As one critic put it, he understood "what people need -- more than sex, almost as much as food -- and what they perhaps will never find, is a sympathetic ear.")

This above is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• It's reached the point where someone could have blog just dedicated to some of the stops U.S.-based NHL teams are pulling out to draw fans. For tonight's game vs. the Senators, the Tampa Bay Lightning, as Puck Daddy notes, are offering 50% off to anyone who wears Tampa Bay Rays gear, free admission to anyone who travels to the game on a bike and a $20 lower bowl ticket for someone who brings a phone book to recycle.
• Scott Niedermayer is eyeing playing in the 2010 Olympics.
• Another Canadian who will playing D-1 football in the States: Benjamin D’Aguiliar, a defensive end from Hamilton, has committed to Arkansas.

Playing the Game: The Ti-Cats vs. The Fans

It's always amazing to see the Hamilton Tiger Cats fanbase, while not the biggest city around they're very passionate about their football team! The Hamilton Bulldogs - Montreal's AHL affiliate - is definitely not enjoying much of a draw from the fans but then again the city has never been hockey first. While growing up in the Hamilton-Wentworth area I definitely felt that both basketball and football were more prominent than hockey, maybe it was because that's what I played but I thought it was also a trend with my friends at school.

Despite losing seasons the crowd still turned out for the Cats, in seasons where they couldn't manage more than 5 wins on the season there was still an average turnout of more than 26,000 in a stadium pegged to hold just under 29,000 (in that 5-13 season they actually averaged 800 people short of capacity, granted that was following a winning season still shows even some success translates very well in Steeltown). But recently, the attendance has started to slip, and for pretty obvious reasons...

Only averaging 21,153 this season while on the way to putting in a second consecutive 3-15 campaign, is not a good sign - really attendance has dropped by about 3,000 at a time these past few seasons. And it's for that reason that the season tickets prices will not budge, they will stay the same and there will be no extra charge, according to Scott Radley of the Hamilton Spectator. However therein lies the dilemma, especially since so much has been made about getting back in black for the Cats - Team President Scott Mitchell has stated publicly that the team will be run as a business, and so they are intending on making money. So the inevitable hit now falls on the single game ticket owner.

I don't know what the Tabbies are really trying to accomplish here because...well maybe they didn't get the memo, but the economy is as promising as a Fine Young Cannibals reunion tour right now (hey if it can work for the New Kids, one can always dream!). The Ti-Cats organization seems to believe that people will drop more money for an entire season rather than just for the occasional game here and there, even with a stagnant and inferior product on the field. I agree with not budging the seasons ticket prices but can't help but think that the logic behind this move is rather flawed...

Radley sums it up very well himself though in his article:

The reality is, there's only one way the bleachers at Ivor Wynne get filled again anytime soon. It's not a sales job. It's not a discount. It's not clever promotions, clean bathrooms, better concessions or even good weather.

It's winning. Period.

If the Cats could ever figure out how to do that with some regularity, ticket sales would take care of themselves and instead of worrying about crowd sizes, everyone could go back to complaining about the cost of beer.

This sort of move will effectively scare away the casual fanbase - as many hardcores as there are in Hamilton, you must always expand your reach to survive and a move like this contradicts that very notion! Yes you need to spend money to make money and they need to go out there and get the star players but they've done that already, signing Casey Printers and Kenton Keith makes it clear that Hamilton is willing to spend the dough to improve the team! More money for more players, who are even being shown up by current third stringers on the team, is certainly not the answer to righting the ship.

There's something wrong in Steeltown, and this life long Tabbies fan hopes that it's on the road to being corrected and not the other direction. When the crowd is out Ivor Wynne is one of the toughest places to play out of the entire CFL, I'm certainly one who is hoping to see that raucous crowd return sooner rather than later...

Why should fans buy rock-bottom Cat stocks?

Snark break ...

As you were hugging your pillow girlfriend ...

If you thought you were already sick of hearing Tank for Tavares, wait until people start saying it about the Senators. (Three in a row, eh? They'll be OK. Just OK.)

"And he didn't even sustain a concussion joke in 3, 2, 1 ... " A Hamilton Tiger-Cats fan threw a bowl of soup at injured Stampeders QB Dave Dickenson and an assistant coach while they were out jogging Thursday.

Only J.P. Ricciardi could sign two of the first four picks of the infamous 2002 MLB draft on the same day. You know when you're trying to unload a couch for 50 bucks and someone always inquires about, comes over, sits on it, and then says not interested? That is J.P.

(Adam Loewen hopefully works out with the Jays.)

Irony: Frank McCrystal, the University of Regina football coach, uses an interview with a blog as an opportunity to call fans who critical of him on message boards a "criminal element."

The Isiah Thomas situation yesterday, at first blush, does not count as news. It is none of your damn business just because he played point guard and later rendered the New York Knicks uncompetitive for years to come. A lot of people need emergency services each day and you never hear about it.

Snark break...

What's that falling figure shooting past your window .... why, it's the Tampa Bay Rays!

It would make sense if Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin was not wearing the "GU 63" pin that all NFL coaches during the late Monday Night Football game last night. Given how the Raiders have been looking, not wearing the pin was probably the best way to honour Gene Upshaw.

It sort of says it all that the 10-year anniversary of Mark McGwire breaking Roger Maris' home run record passed almost without comment.

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? (They fired their coaches on the same day -- crazy. Bucholtz has more on the Don Matthews hiring over at Sporting Madness.)

The U of T Varsity Blues are having the best season so far among the five pro and university teams in the GTA. Let that roll 'round your mind for a bit.

(Former Ottawa Gee-Gees coach Marcel Bellefeuille is the interim coach for the duration of the season. The Ticats are fast becoming the Cradle of Coaches for CIS football.)

What happened to Ottawa radio host Glenn Kulka recently -- suffering a broken orbital bone after being hit in the face with a puck while reffing a charity hockey game -- should not be wished on anyone. Even the Coen brothers are kinder to their characters. Having something so random visited upon someone who went public in 2005 about how turning to religion to deal with his guilt over abusing steroids, then suddenly goes into MMA looking exceptionally buff and cut than most men his age -- clean living, exercise and Vitamin Church, rihgt? -- does make one wonder about karma, however.

Go get 'em, Kulkster.

Stuff that's semi-halfway important:

• On MNF, Ron Jaworski referred to Brett Favre as "probably the best quarterback ever."
  
  No disrespect, but when the all-time leaders in yards per pass are factored in -- and Bart Starr is eighth and the Gunslinger is tied for 75th, despite playing in an era of domes, the no-bump rule on defence and holding being legalized for offensive linemen. Favre isn't even the best Packers quarterback ever.
  
• Vikes Geek did the demolition work on that soul-sucking season-opening to the Green Bay Packers. (Two 50-yard-plus gains allowed on defence, a punt return for a touchdown, one tackle for Jared Allen and Brad Childress' characteristically unimaginative playcalling -- hey, let's run it up the middle again, they can't be expecting it this time! -- and they still only lose by a touchdown. Arrrrrgh.)
• Via Drunk Jay Fans comes an argument that runaway American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee has built his 21-2 record and 2.28 ERA against some lightweight opposition. Roy Halladay might be more of a real deal.
• Kingston's K-Rock Centre will host two pre-World Junior Hockey Championship exhibition game. Apparently the tournament is in Ottawa or something.

Bleeding Tricolour: No laurels to rest on

Queen's should get one ornery opponent in four days' time.

Monday's season-opening 35-11 win over McMaster didn't turn up any glaringly obvious red flags. Dan Brannagan throwing for close to 300 yards? Check. One-hundred-yard games for Mike Giffin (143 yards rushing) and Scott Valberg (a buck thirty-two receiving)? Check Defence pitching a shutout for three quarters? Check.

All of that is nice, for a moment. The Guelph Gryphons, meantime, shot themselves in the foot big time in their 15-13 loss to Laurier, which means if they're worth a damn, they'll play with an edge when on Saturday for the University Rush season premiere on The Score.

Guelph had several blown scoring opportunities -- turnovers and settling for field goals in the red zone, sacks allowed at the worst possible times. They were especially unlucky when their speedy sophomore, Jedd Gardner, stepped out of bounds at the eight-yard line after a 117-yard runback of a missed field goal on the last play of the first half. They'll be desperate on Saturday, or at least they will be if they're worth a damn.

Meantime, Queen's got through that opener against overmatched Mac pretty much unscathed -- or if they were nits to pick, they weren't obvious from listening ot the game over the web. Guelph offers a much more dangerous, if still youngish, group of backs and receivers, plus they can play a field position game.

This is worry-wartism from a guy who's never been there, of course, but after last season (walkovers against Waterloo and Toronto to end the regular season before you-know-what happened), there's bound to be a little fanboy foreboding until Queen's gets a real physical test. Point being, Saturday should serve to tell where Queen's stands.

Other business:

• The Whig-Standard and the FAN 590's Mike Hogan have weighed in on Queen's subtle switch to "Queen's Gaels."
  
  Ex-coach Doug Hargreaves, at least according to the story, has been able to abide by the switch. He was quoted saying, "The ironic part about that is wherever you go in this country people are going to ask, 'What's a Gael?' "
  
• A spot on CFRC congratulates Pat Sheahan for "20 years of service to Queen's football," which seems to actually refer to this being his 20th season as a head coach. (His record vs. the Gaels during his 11 seasons at Concordia was actually pretty good.)
  
• That was quite a number Queen's did on The Hammer, eh? The Gaels beat Mac and Bryan Crawford scored the winning touchdown in the Toronto Argonauts' win over the Tiger-Cats.
  
• Both Toronto teams needed a Queen'sman on Blue Monday -- former Gaels coach Bob Howes is now with the suddenly victorious Varsity Blues.
  
• As for The 613's winless team (kidding) ... Ottawa coach Denis Piché's post-game quote after the Gee-Gees' letdown in London was that he was "upset but not concerned."
  
  That's an together reasonable statement. No doubt a few Ottawa fans are muttering, "Choke job!" after the Gee-Gees gave up 22 points in a four-minute, three-second span in a 35-31 loss to Western. They outgained the Mustangs, had more than 500 yards in offence, but turnovers and a defensive meltdown were killers.
  
  What happened last night, hopefully for the Gee-Gees' sake, was the byproduct of starting the season on Labour Day. Teams are a long way from fully developed when they hit the field, even relative to back in the 1990s, when the season started later.
  
  Everyone is a little "disoriented and disshevelled," to borrow a line CFRC commentator Mike Cotton used on air yesterday. Teams can get a little sloppy, so it's not the end of the world for Ottawa to lose. Besides, the OUA is nutty enough that it's reasonable to believe no one is going to finish 8-0. There could be some crazy tiebreaker scenarios in effect by the end of Oct. 18.
  
• There's a mostly full accounting of opening day in the OUA at The CIS Blog, and our man Mike even has some video from U of T's win a little farther down on our mainpage. The YouTube clips on the sister site are also his.
  
• Our man at The Merc, Greg Layson, has all your Guelph Gryphons-related needs taken care of at his Big Man on Campus.  
  
• This is only tangentially related to football, but the first block of commercials CFRC played yesterday included spots for a tattoo parlour and a Kingston realtor. It was the second one that included a heavy metal song.

Avoid the obvious "get Hammered" headlines

There seems to be a happy development in the saga of Wayne The Beer Guy.

The FAN 590's Roger Lajoie mentioned about a hour ago that the Ice... Cold... Beer... Guy, AKA Wayne McMahon, is going to be serving beer on Thursday at Ivor Wynne Stadium when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats bend over for host the Toronto Argonauts. Of course, it would have been preferable for Aramark, the Rogers Centre caterer, to do what was right and give McMahon his job back after terminating him for a bogus reason. That being said ... it's in Hamilton and Jesse Lumsden might not play -- the hometown fans might be driven to drink.

This story has been Drunk Jays Fans' baby from the beginning, of course -- to the point there was reluctance to post about this after hearing it on the radio. McMahon, whose Facebook group has grown to more than 20,000 members, was pouring pilsner last week at an Inter-County League baseball game in Hamilton, and the hometown team lost. That streak will surely continue on Thursday.