Tag Archives: 92-CITI-FM

Bombers Win Again (Just As We Called). It’s going to Be Fun in the Playoffs.

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Wonder what all those misguided fans (it’s not their fault, they just read daily newspapers) and the thin-skinned Winnipeg mainstream media think of Mike Kelly today?

Didn’t that Bomber ream look terrific on Monday in their 38-28 road shellacking of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats? Pretty much as we called it, by the way.

I will reiterate, Mike Kelly is the best coach the Bomber organization has seen since Mike Riley. And there IS a Grey Cup in his future. Probably sooner than later, too.

Monday, Michael Bishop threw three touchdown passes as the Bombers won their third straight game, improved to 6-8 and pulled into a second-place tie with the Ticats in the Eastern Division.  The Bombers have four games remaining, three of them in Winnipeg and with a victory this week against B.C. at Canad Inns Stadium, they might just eliminate the crossover playoff format.

Can anyone say, “10-8?” Granted that would take two wins over Montreal, but right now, I wouldn’t call that impossible.

Monday, Bishop went 21-for-38 (not great) for 356 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions (not at all good). Bishop also lost one of two fumbles as the Bombers once again turned it over too many times.

However, since Bishop took ownership of this football team and Kelly weeded out the wideouts who didn’t want to play (Armstrong and Bryant), this football team has come together. Unlike the Labour Day Classic and Banjo Bowl, the Bombers can now score enough to overcome three turnovers.

Monday, Adarius Bowman had 10 catches for 213 yards and two TDs while Brock Ralph had five catches for 98 yards and one touchdown and even Lenny Walls got into the act with a fumble return for a TD. Until the Bombers went into a strange prevent-defence type of thing in the fourth quarter, they completely dominated that football game.

Still, based on the e-mails I receive from many fans — and the argument I had with my old friend Joe Daley last week — a lot of Winnipeggers simply hate Mike Kelly. Still.

It’s an odd thing, but when I mentioned earlier that Winnipeggers would rather have an outgoing, humble coach they liked, even if he couldn’t win, as opposed to a guy who was blunt and honest even when blunt and honest hurt, but knew exactly what he was doing and won football games, it appears they would indeed rather have the lovable loser.

It’s weird, but it’s Winnipeg.

And no need to worry. Those fans will still have fun in the playoffs.

(Don’t forget to listen to Coach Kelly with Tom & Joe this week on 92-CITI-FM.)

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A Big Night For Our Local Jocks Out in the Wide World of Pro Sports.

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I’m off to Tampa tomorrow. Hockey, football, Disney, my daughter, all the things that make Florida great. When you live and work in Winnipeg, MB., it’s October and the snow is on its way, heading off to sporting events where it’s 40 degrees C. is better than a morning on the Tom & Joe Show on 92-CITI-FM — and that’s about as much fun as a human being should be allowed to have.

Speaking of Tom & Joe, we had Chicago Bears defensive tackle Israel Idonije on this morning talking about his fund raising raffle for both the Bisons and Sister McNamara School. What Izzy still does to raise money for the right causes in Winnipeg is way past commendable, but he does it and we love him for it.

This past week, Idonije was tremendous in a 48-24 Bears win over Detroit. He had a tackle and a forced fumble and then, on Monday, went out and had arthroscopic surgery on a minor knee injury. Interestingly, one of our local bird-cage liners carried the headline “Idonije Could Be Out For The Season.” The story came from AP, so you can’t blame the fishwrap, but come on, it was minor arthro. Think before just blindly running an AP story on a local guy who isn’t as injured as the Associated Press (which doesn’t know him and didn’t know the injury) tried to make him out to be.

“I’m doing great, heading off to work, I’ll be ready to go in the Atlanta game,” Idonije said. “It wasn’t a big deal. Just a little clean up. I’m fine.”

Look, the Bears might hold him out an extra week, but he says he’ll be ready to go Sunday night, Oct. 18 against the Falcons. The reason he had the procedure this past week was because the Bears are on their bye-week. Have people suddenly become stupid?

But hey, Izzy is just another extremely talented Manitoba kid caught up in the nasty and high-paying world of big-time pro sports — which might not be as nasty or as messed up as the media types who follow it.

In fact, Thursday was a great day for Manitobans and folks with close ties to the province. Let’s review:

1) In Los Angeles, former Winnipeg Goldeyes reliever, George Sherrill, pitched another scoreless inning against the Cards and earned the win in a 3-2 Dodgers victory. The Dodgers lead the series 2-0 and Sherrill has been almost flawless in two appearances.

2) The Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in a shootout. Winnipeg’s Nigel Dawes scored his first goal of the year for the Flames and also added a goal in the shootout. Finally, Dawes is getting a chance to play on a scoring line in the NHL. The Flames might have the best $750,000-a-year player in the game. By the way, former Jets goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin, was the best player on the ice for the Oilers

3) The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a shootout in Tampa. Winnipeg’s Travis Zajac scored his second goal of the season and added an assist. His goal came at the 19:59 mark of the third period and sent the game into overtime.

4) Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia 5-4, but Portage LaPrairie’s Arron Asham finally got a chance to play and gave the Flyers 11 solid minutes.

5) The Anaheim Ducks massacred the Boston Bruins 6-1 as former Winnipeg Jet Teemu Selanne scored twice, 82 seconds apart, in the second period. Head coach Randy Carlyle’s Ducks (Carlyle is a former Jets defenceman and Manitoba Moose head coach) blasted the Bruins right in downtown Boston.

6) Detroit beat Chicago 3-2, but Winnipeg’s Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks captain, played 26 minutes. There is pretty serious talk now that with three of their biggest stars in the final years of their respective contracts, the Blackhawks might be forced to make a trade to free up some salary cap space for next season. Toews, Patrick Kane and Winnipeg-born Duncan Keith can become restricted free agents next summer, however the Blackhawks intend to keep all three. If a deal is done, it won’t be done until next year’s draft and yes, defenceman Cam Barker from Winnipeg (he has a $3,25 million per year salary) appears to be the most likely player who would be involved in a deal.

7) Atlanta beat St. Louis 4-2 but once again former Winnipeg Jets leftwinger-centre, Keith Tkachuk, had a terrific game. Tkachuk had a goal and an assist ad now, at 37, has three goals and three assists in the Blues’ first three games.
icon cool A Big Night For Our Local Jocks Out in the Wide World of Pro Sports. And the Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. Jordin Tootoo from Chruchill and Colin Wilson, the son of Winnipeg’s Carey Wilson, were scratched with injuries Thursday night, but Neepawa’s Triston Grant got a chance to play and did a good job in 11 minutes of action.

In a week in which Todd McCullough, the former NBA star from Winnipeg’s Shaftesbury High School, was inducted, with the first class, into the Manitoba High School Athleltic Association Hall of Fame, it was a pretty great for Manitoba’s athletes.

Keep coming back here for regular updates. Unlike AP, we’ll make an effort to get it right.

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Bombers Win Second Straight. Enough of the Reinebold Crap.

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It will be impossible to get those people have sucked long and hard on the local mainstream media’s Kool-Aid straw to admit that their anger with Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly is misplaced.

After all, when you believe everything you read in newspapers, you can be sucked into believing the craziest, goofiest stuff.

So while I’m sure that all the media-driven anger over Derrick Armstrong and Barrin Simpson and Pacman Jones and yada-yada-yada, is still going to be deeply imbedded in the DNA of many Bomber fans, the reality is this: Mike Kelly is building HIS football team and before he’s finished, it’s going to be a good one.

I know my pals at the FAN 960 in Calgary and The TEAM 1260 in Edmonton got a good laugh this week when I selected the Bombers to beat the Eskimos Friday night on every Pro-Line ticket I had. Indeed, they all got a good chuckle (although Mike Richards in Calgary did play his very funny Ricky Ray “I pooped my pants,” parody), but if you know anything about football, you know that (a) Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray is not as good as the media hordes have made him out to be and (b) he was awful last week at home against Saskatchewan and there was no reason to believe he would be any better in Winnipeg this week.

And, of course, he wasn’t. Ray throws for plenty of yards and not many important touchdowns and with a Bomber defence that has improved dramatically since the injured Barrin Simpson was run off the premises, there was no way Ray was going to be successful against Mark Nelson’s D on Friday night.

This is a good Blue Bomber team. Not a bgreat one, but a good one.

In fact, you can stop equating it with the Reinebold years right freakin’ now. It’s now 5-8, it’s won two straight, it will win again this week in Hamilton and next week at home against B.C. and it will make the playoffs.

Kelly has had to work very hard to see who was with him and who was against him and he found out. Derrick Armstrong quit on the team and is gone. Barrin Simpson quit on the team’s medical department and is gone. Granted, Kelly still has a quarterback problem, but Michael Bishop will do in a pinch.

In fact, as long as Kelly keeps inserting all the motion he inserted into the offence against Edmonton, Bishop will survive.

In the meantime, I see in the Free Press today that there is an ongoing lament over the fact that only 22,083 went to the Stadium last week and only 21,965 went this week. Well, the Free Press and the Sun can blame themselves. They told enough people for as long as they could that the coach was an idiot and the team was horrible and fans were wasting their money by going to the games. Well, congratulations, since you’ve become the house organ of the Blue Bombers, your readers have believed you and they’ve decided to stay home. Well done.

Mike Kelly has had to overcome a great deal in this prairie town that embraces second-best in order to re-build a football team that went 8-10 last year and lost the Eastern semifinal at home. He has taken the scorn of the media, scorn that was turned into anger by the fans, and he’s done what’s right. And while he’s still a long way from his destination, he’s getting closer.

People who have never even thrown a football, let alone played the game, have convinced the people who buy the tickets that the coach is a bad guy and his plans are flawed and because he doesn’t genuflect at the altar of the daily newspaper, he’s somehow not worthy to be the head coach of this great franchise (this great franchise that hasn’t won a CFL championship in 19 years).

Well, bullshit. One day Mike Kelly will be remembered as the coach who turned around a failing football team. He’s not there yet, but he’s on the right path.

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Thoughts And News From a Crazy Sports Weekend

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

From Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson battling it out in Atlanta to Brett Favre’s brilliant comeback at the Dome to Jimmie Johnson’s win at the Monster Mile to the Bombers home victory on Saturday night to the Lions first win in 19 games, it was a wild and woolly weekend.

It’s Tuesday morning. Monday Night Football was a dog and our 92-CITI-FM radio show was highlighted by the announcement that we are “An Official Station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Radio Network.” So  here’s what’s left in my head…

1) Favre was magnificent on Sunday afternoon, hitting Greg Lewis with a 32-yard touchdown pass — a 32-yard bullet, by the way — with two seconds left to beat a very good San Francisco 49ers team.

Yesterday, wherever I stopped in Winnipeg, people were jumping up and down with enthusiasm over Favre’s final drive. Many were happy that they were going to next week’s Monday Nighter between the Vikes and Packers at the Metrodome.

It was a truly great moment in football history, a 39-year-old veteran who has retired twice, once again doing what he’s always done throughout his marvelous career — bringing a team back in the final seconds. On Sunday, Favre earbned his paycheque and Vikings head coach Brad Childress earned the respect he might have lost by encouraging Favre to come out of retirement — after training camp had ended — to play another year (or two).

If you get a chance, go to http://www.kfan.com/pages/psn_paulallen.html and listen to Vikings play-by-play star, Paul Allen’s call. It was almost as exciting as the fact Favre threw the pass about 40 yards on a line.

2) Jimmie Johnson, the three-time defending Sprint Cup champion, won the AAA 400 at the Monster Mile at Dover on Sunday, but once again 50-year-old Mark Martin was second and, as a result, Martin remains 10 points ahead of Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

It was Johnson’s fourth win at Dover, his second at Dover this year, and he’s now just eight consistent races away from a fourth straight Sprint Cup title.

I love Mark Martin, but if Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knauss keep it together, Johnson should take home the Cup once again. And what an incredible feat that would be.

3) My beloved Detroit Lions won on Sunday, 19-14 over Jim Zorn’s (he’s a former Bomber, you know) confounding Washington Redskins.

It’s funny, but all six people in my NFL pool picked the Lions to win (it was one of my few victories this week) and that suggested that nobody, not anybody, thinks the Redskins are a threat.

The Lions won’t likely win more than two or three games this season, but right now there are six winless teams (and the Redskins aren’t one of them) after three weeks — St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Kansas City, Tennessee and Cleveland. And three of them — St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Cleveland — don’t look like they’ll win a game. In fact, if you look at every schedule, there is a reason to think all three could go 0-16.

4) Despite his win on Saturday night, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly is still despised by plenty of Bomber fans. I know, I get the e-mails.

However, to be fair, Kelly could be Bart Andrus, a guy who has lost the Toronto Argonauts’ locker room and who has turned the Argos into a 3-9 last-place team. No matter how bad you might think Kelly is – and I’m not so sure he is that bad – it could always be worse.

Yesterday, another veteran has been sent packing by Andrus as the Argos traded cornerback Byron Parker — who has more interceptions for touchdowns in his CFL career than the entire Argos defensive backfield has interceptions — to the Edmonton Eskimos for a fourth-round pick in next year’s Canadian draft. Nice deal.

There is a chance Parker, who was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles to make room for Michael Vick, could suit up for the Eskimos when they play 4-8 Winnipeg at Canad Inns Stadium on Friday night.

If he plays, Parker could be a difference maker in that game so I guess if the Argos can’t beat Winnipeg on the field, they can make someone else better and hope that team beats Winnipeg.

5) Finally, I was able to announce on 92-CITI-FM this morning that our radio station is now “An Official Station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Radio Network.”

That’s tremendous news, but it also means that 92-CITI will carry Canada’s games, plus the medal round of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament.

Here’s the schedule and every game is on 92-CITI-FM in Winnipeg:

Tuesday, Feb. 16: 7 p.m., Canada vs. Norway

Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Canada vs. Switzerland

Sunday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., Canada vs. USA

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m. Qualification Game (Canada is not likely to play in this game).

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Quarter-final game.

Friday, Feb. 26, 2:30 p.m., Semi-final No. 1

Friday, Feb. 26, 9 p.m., Semi-final No. 2 (Canada would likely play in this game if Team Canada qualifies).

Saturday, Feb. 27, 9:30 p.m., Bronze medal game.

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2:30 p.m., Gold medal game.

There is nothing better than Olympic hockey. And there is really nothing better than having Olympic hockey on 92-CITI-FM.

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Things Banging Around in My Head

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

When you spend every waking moment reading about, writing about or thinking about sports, one of two things will happen: Your brain will turn to tapioca or you’ll start a blog to get this crap out of your head.

Right now, I have a headache. Let’s see if I can drain the swamp.

1) For head coach Mike Kelly’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, there might not be a more important football game played this season than Saturday night’s Bombers-Argos battle at Canad Inns Stadium. If the Bombers win and go to 4-8, they’re right back in the playoff hunt (that’s what happens in a league where six of eight teams make the playoffs). However, if they lose and fall to 3-9, it will be time to think about next year.

Lose, and the Bombers can go right ahead and release Michael Bishop, save some money and let the kids, Casey Bramlet and Ricky Santos share the quarterbacking duties for the rest of the season.

2) “The Minister of Defence,” Barrin Simpson, is no longer a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The star middle linebacker, who was, for awhile, on the CFL’s nine-game disabled list, has been told by head coach Mike Kelly not to return to the locker room, to meetings or to hang out at practice.

To make matters more difficult for the Minister’s future in Winnipeg, the CFL’s board of governors ruled yesterday in favour of Simpson’s grievance, a grievance that was filed last week. The board said Simpson would be placed on the one-game injured list, not the nine-game list. The Bombers wanted him on the nine-game list so his contract wouldn’t count against the cap.

Now that he’s already come off that list, if he can’t be traded quickly he will likely have to be released.

And the Bombers will get nothing in return for a very good football player.

3) This my good friend and 92-CITI-FM producer, Scott O’Neil: “Mark my words, you will be doing a CFL Report (7:15 a.m., every Monday through Friday, on 92-CITI-Fm brought to you by MAACO) on how Casey Printers led the B.C. Lions into the playoffs and how Barrin Simpson led some other team into the playoffs.”

I agreed.

4) Jim Balsillie, the man who wants to buy the Phoenix Coyotes for $242.5 million and move them to Hamilton, told the bankruptcy court in Phoenix on Wednesday, that he would agree to keep the team in Phoenix this year.

Which mans that Balsillie has another $50 million (the likely number for this year’s losses) to throw away on that dog of a franchise.

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Quote of the Year

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly has been beaten up pretty badly in recent days. Of course, when you’re 3-7 and you’re rebuilding a franchise and you don’t spend a lot of your spare time genuflecting at the shrine of the humourless and ridiculously judgmental mainstream media, you can be quite easily beaten up.

So on Wednesday morning, during an interview with Tom, Joe and The Coach on 92-CITI-FM, Kelly responded to a question about the 17-year-old who had started the “Fire Mike Kelly” Facebook site.

“Facebook?” Kelly asked, “I thought that was a website for 14-year-old girls. I spend way too much time around football, I guess. Geez, I’m going to get in trouble again for saying that, aren’t I?”

Not here.

Thank you Mike. Quote of the Year.

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Pacman’s Coming. Probably Later Than Sooner.

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Week 10 in the CFL begins Friday night with Montreal at B.C.

The Bombers play again Sunday at 3 p.m. on TSN in the Labour Day Classic at Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Riders are 7 1/2-point favourites.

That’s all we know — exactly — about the Bombers involvement in the Labour Day Weekend. We know a lot of other things, but none of them, for certain.

This week, the blockbuster news came down that Adam (Pacman) Jones had signed a one-year contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Jones, who has had a number of run-ins with the legal community in the United States, is still a great football player who simply can’t separate his football life from a private life that appears to be poisoned by booze and a love for strippers and guns. That’s a pretty toxic combination and it’s resulted in an inability to be hired by the nice, upstanding folks who run the National Football League.

So we first hear that Pacman’s coming, then Blue Bombers’ CEO Lyle Bauer tells Tom, Joe and I on 92-CITI-FM this morning that the team’s player personnel director, John Murphy, who spilled the beans to Sports Illustrated, might have spoken too soon. Bauer wouldn’t deny that he’d like to have Jones join the local football side, he just wasn’t sure that a signed contract — plus all the paperwork required to get Pacman and his legal baggage across the border — has been formally notarized.

Meanwhile, everybody from community activists to politicians gave us their opinion on the potential arrival of the bad boy cornerback, and of course most of them were either morons or just historical revisionists who forgot about Kyries Hebert (domestic trouble), Onterrio Smith (the user of the original Whizz-in-ator), Juran Bolden (stole a car) and Mike Sellers (smoked the hippie lettuce), all less than golden citizens when they came to came to Winnipeg — and all but Smith — turned out to be decent guys and rebuilt their NFL careers.

Of course, even the silly Winnipeg Free Press asked the following question of the day: “Is Pacman Jones worthy of the Blue and Gold?” Worthy? Guess the ol’ Freeps’ editors just forgot about the team’s history with players who have notorious backgrounds.

Assuming that Jones will be allowed into the country, he would be a welcome addition to a team that desperately needs a punt and kick returner and can always use another corner.

Meanwhile, there was also talk on Tuesday night that wide receiver Charles Rogers, the Detroit Lions’ castoff  could be headed to Winnipeg. At least, last night at the Hearts of Blue and Gold Dinner for Variety, the Bomber players were intrigued with that rumour.

Regardless, Pacman’s agent says his client will be in Winnipeg soon.

He’d look good in the lineup on Sunday. With or without all the baggage.

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Favre Now On The Vikings Practice Field

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

He has a contract, the fans are still going nuts and Brett Favre is now practicing with the Minnesota Vikings.

Remember this? “And that’s why I still believe the Vikings are going to make some news before Sunday, Sept. 13. Whether that news is spelled F-A-V-R-E or V-I-C-K or something else altogether, I just can’t for the life of me see Sage Rosenfels or T-Jack under centre on Opening Sunday in Cleveland.

“How about Favre coming in about Week 3 of training camp?”

That’s what we wrote right here at www.rivercitysportsblog.com on July 29, after Favre said he wasn’t coming to camp. Later that week (on July 30 to be exact), with Tom and Joe on 92-CITI-FM, I guaranteed that Favre would be wearing a Vikings uniform after the team broke camp at Mankato State University. On Thursday, July 30, on The FAN 960 in Calgary, I told Mike Richards that it was an absolute guarantee that Favre would sign because the NFL had already spent millions on “Favre No. 4″ jerseys.

So on Tuesday, Favre and his wife Deanna hopped on the Vikings private jet in Hattiesburg, Miss., flew to Holman Airport in St. Paul, Minn., were picked up by Vikings coach Brad Childress and given a police escort to Winter Park where he signed the contract that was always there waiting for him.

This was always a no doubter.

After all, at the age of 40, Brett Favre wasn’t going to room with Sage Rosenfels or T-Jack in the dorm at Mankato State. Was not going to happen.

There was no sense bringing him in to start camp with all the rookies around and have nothing but Cirque du Favre every freakin’ day.

And, what the heck? For two weeks, Rosenfels and Jackson got to pretend they were the co-starters on a team that’s going to play very, very good football this season.

Now he’s here and suddenly my season tickets have a whole new value.

Yesterday, according to my friends in Minneapolis, Favre arrived in Winter Park just after noon and the place “was a zoo!”

There were TV camera crews everywhere, fans trying to get a glimpse of the new quarterback and only one police officer, attempting as best he could, to keep order.

At 12:50, Favre had signed his new contract. At 1:29, he was on the practice field. At 12:02, you could purchase Favre No. 4 jerseys on the NFL website. Coincidence? I think not.

Meanwhile, at about 11 a.m., former Vikings receiver Cris Carter said on espn.com: “And another news flash, Brett Favre is going to be starting for them (the Vikings) this weekend at quarterback.”

Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Metrodome, it’s the Vikings vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. Wonder how many No. 4 jerseys will be in the building?

According the Minnesota Vikings, purple is the new green.

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Favre Says No Thanks. Will the Vikes Actually Start the Season with Jackson or Rosenfels?

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Brett Favre has told the Minnesota Vikings that he won’t return to the National Football League this year or any other year in the future. He’s retired, period.

Wonder what Reebok and the NFL are going to do with all those FAVRE No. 4 Vikings jerseys that are already being sold in places like Shanghai and Hong Kong?

Oh well, that means Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson or maybe even John David Booty will start at quarterback this year for the Vikings. While I, frankly, believe that Jackson was capable of being a winner two years ago, Vikings fans think otherwise so we’ll see what happens. But somehow, I don’t see the Vikes starting the season with any one of those three guys at the helm.

Call me crazy, but if Jackson was good enough last year, there would have no pursuit of Favre in the first place. Or even Rosenfels.

Meanwhile, Rosenfels has shown a great deal of maturity and class. In an interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he said: “I don’t think it’s necessary to give me an explanation because I understand the situation. I’ve been around the league long enough. … I feel no animosity toward players or coaches.”

That’s a solid response to an otherwise difficult scenario. It’s hard not to root for the guy. But somehow, he just doesn’t appear to me to be the starter on a team that has Super Bowl aspirations. Call me crazy. Trent Dilfer of all people, won a Super Bowl in Baltimore, but I’m sure this Vikings team and its three-headed monster of Rosenfels/Jackson/Booty doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of the Bears or Packers.

And that’s why I still believe the Vikings are going to make some news before Sunday, Sept. 13. Whether that news is spelled F-A-V-R-E or V-I-C-K or something else altogether, I just can’t for the life of me see Sage Rosenfels or T-Jack under centre on Opening Sunday in Cleveland.

How about Favre coming in about Week 3 of training camp?

* * *

THE OTHER MICHAEL

No not Michael Vick, Michael Bishop.

On Monday, the replacement for Lefty Lefors went to his first Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice and took nearly every snap. Still, head coach Mike Kelly hinted that (and I’m paraphrasing), “Oh, perhaps Michael won’t be ready to start on Saturday in Toronto and maybe, just maybe, we’ll go with Lefty again this week.”

Kelly is not insane. He was just playing the local rubes. ‘Cause if Bishop doesn’t start on Saturday at Rogers Centre, the Bombers will be down 5-0 before they can blink — and 5-0 oughtta do it with Lefors at QB.

If Michael Bishop isn’t the answer for the Bombers, Lefors still won’t be. If Bishop fails, Casey Printers will be on the next plane. As much as Mike Kelly likes and even admires Lefors, he’s not going to allow the guy to cost him his job.

And if the Lefors experiement isn’t over, it will. Cost Kelly his job, that is.

CFL NOTEBOOK: The Bombers released both DT Tyrone Wlliams and QB Richie Williams yesterday. A lot of Winnipeg newspaper space was wasted on those two clunkers… The Argos dealt Arland Bruce III to Hamilton for the rights to Corey Mace and some draft picks. That Argo outfit still has no offence. Trouble is, with Lefors at QB, six points was enough last week…

* * *

FROM THE READERS:

Got the following note from Jason, a regular reader and listener, on Wednesday:

Mr. Taylor:

With the Goldeyes in first place heading into the final month of regular season Northern League baseball and playing some very exciting baseball these days, it bothers me that they get lost in the mix because of the Blue Bombers.

The Blue Bombers. One of sorriest excuses for a sports franchise, well, ever. Playing out of a building that’s falling apart and should’ve been torn down 10 years ago. A team that hasn’t won a Grey Cup in 19 years (in an 8-team league!). And this season will be no different, as the team stumbles their way through each game. (kind of makes me wonder why every football fan in this city isn’t desperate to see a new owner take over… what’s so great about community ownership again?)

Yet, it’s all the Winnipeg media talks about. The Winnipeg Goldeyes have a real good shot at bringing this city its first championship since 1994. It’s a team with a beautiful venue, rock-solid ownership, and greater value and entertainment for your dollar than a Blue Bombers game. Yet, this city seems to rarely give them the respect they deserve.

Does it frustrate you too?

- Jason

Jason,

The Goldeyes get tremendous support at Shaw TV, 1290 CFRW, Grassroots News, 92-CITI-FM and www.goldeyes.com.

Just make sure you read, watch and listen to what matters and don’t get caught up in the slow, agonizing death of old media.

Thanks for your note, Jason.

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This pounding in my head is starting to hurt. Lots of little things making me crazy these days…

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here’s what’s rattling around in my cranium this weekend:

1) According to nhl.com, The Calgary Flames claimed Winnipeg’s Nigel Dawes, a restricted free agent, off waivers from the Phoenix Coyotes. Another great off-season move by the Flames and a tremendous break for Dawes.

Nigel can score and grind, depending on what a team needs. He also comes cheap and for a club like the Flames with all that high-priced talent — Phaneuf, Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr and Bouwmeester — a good player like Dawes, who isn’t expensive, fits right under the Calgary cap quite nicely.

It’s a great move by the Flames and another loss for Phoenix, one of the worst franchises — on and off the playing surface — in any sport.

2) The loudest message sent by anyone playing in the Canadian Football League on Thursday night was sent by B.C. Lions quarterback Jarious Jackson. After an injury to Buck Pierce, Jackson took over the offence of the 0-2 Lions and essentially told head coach Wally Buono he, not Pierce, was the No. 1 QB in B.C.

Jackson went 19-for-28 for 362 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-22 shellacking of the Eskimos in Edmonton. It’s probably time for a change on the West Coast.

3) Even the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are now saying that the alleged Blue Bombers’ “spy” Ron Trentini, was about as useless as oil on a duck.

This past week’s nonsensical “spygate” was a media-manufactured scandal designed to feed the beast. It had nothing to do with cheating, football or even good reading. It was a waste of time and Bomber head coach Mike Kelly knew that from Day 1.

The mainstream media, meanwhile, just made up a story where one didn’t exist, proving once again that most of them have never played on a slo-pitch team, let alone a football team.

Meanwhile, if the CFL is going to send out missives chiding people for perceived wrongdoing, the note they should send to Mike Kelly is the one that warns the Bomber coach about  scooping good players from Edmonton and B.C. Kelly probably owes the dog-ass Eskimos and Lions more compensation for literally stealing Sideeq Shabazz, Stefan Lefors, Fred Perry, Tyrone Williams and Kelly Bates.

4) It’s the mid-season mark of the 2009 NASCAR campaign and, my  two NASCAR buddies, Camshaft Pierce and Tirehead Campbell, have made their choices for biggest disappointment and biggest surprise of the first half of the season.

The biggest disappointments? No question about it, the consistently poor showing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the failure of Carl Edwards, David Ragan and the Haas Racing team. The most pleasant surprises? Again, no doubt. Tony Stewart, winning and leading the point standings as an owner-driver and Mark Martin winning four times as a 50-year-old

5) Our Headline of the Week:

Tom McGouran pointed this one out at 7:10 a.m. on Friday, during another lively moment on 92-CITI-FM radio’s Tom and Joe Show.

McNair Murder Not Likely To Deter Player Infidelities: Winnipeg Sun.

Now that one doesn’t even pass the “no-shit” test. Wonder which crack AP editor assigned that in-depth, tell-me-something-I-don’t-already-know story?

No wonder young people have stopped reading newspapers.

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