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A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
0915martinjpg2 300x198 A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Josh Freeman

TAMPA, Fla. — There is nothing better than a long weekend. You don’t have to go to bed early, you don’t have to get up early and there is usually enough sports on the tube that there isn’t one dull moment.

This weekend here in sunny Florida, the Houston Texans take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, but don’t worry, there’s more. Lots more.

In fact, there’s a load of NFL games on TV, more than enough college football to fill your boots, plus hockey and fighting — both boxing and MMA. The CFL playoffs begin, Tiger is hot in Australia while John Daly is off in Oz playing Kevin Costner’s character in Tin Cup.

While we remember our fathers and grandfathers and all the people who fought to keep Canada free, we can also take comfort in the fact they left us a nation that loves sports — and really loves to argue about it.

So with that in mind, here are five outstanding sporting events taking place this Remembrance Day weekend.

Let’s have an argument.

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Tiger Woods

1. Tiger Woods Heats Up in Australia:

I know, the world is full of Tiger haters, but I’m afraid I’m not one of them. I hope Tiger shoots 62 every time he tees it up just to piss off the people who hate his guts. I also can’t watch golf on TV unless Tiger is in contention. Televised golf these days would put hyperactive children to sleep if Tiger isn’t playing.

So heading into the weekend, Tiger has gone 68-67 at the Lakes Country Club in Sydney and at nine under, he holds a one-shot lead over Peter O’Malley.

He talked after Round 2 as if he was ready to win again.

“I think experience comes with managing myself and my game,” Woods told reporters at the post-round news conference. “I’ve been there a few times and I understand how to do it. All the things that can happen, I’ve experienced a lot of it.”

Go get ‘em Tiger.

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Anthony Calvillo

2. The CFL Playoffs Start:

The Winnipeg Bombers don’t play again until Sunday, Nov. 20 when they play host to the CFL’s Eastern final at Canad Inns Stadium. More than 27,000 tickets have already been sold for that game and no doubt, it will be a sellout. Bomber fans have waited since 20o1 to cheer for a first place and this year they’ll be at the stadium screaming themselves horse.

Buck Pierce says he’ll be ready to start at quarterback when the Bombers face the winner of this Sunday’s Eastern Conference semifinal between the Montreal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Alouettes are favored by 5.5 points. Game time is 12 Noon. Meanwhile, in the Western semifinal Calgary will play at Edmonton at 3:30. The Eskimos are favored by 2.5.

It says here that Montreal and Edmonton will emerge victorious this weekend, but both teams will lose in the Conference finals. That means we’re looking at a Winnipeg-B.C. Grey Cup on Nov. 27 at B.C. Place Stadium.

You heard it here first.

3. Two Gigantic Saturday Night Fights:

This Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines returns to the ring for a re-match against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez and it will be a dandy. It’s being billed as Pacquiao-Marquez III at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and it’s the rubber match at 144 pounds for Pacquiao and Marquez.

Manny Pacquiao 219x300 A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Manny Pacquiao

The first time Pacquiao fought Marquez in 2004, he knocked him down three times and settled for a draw. The second time, in 2008, Pacquiao won by split decision. There are some who think Marquez is a better fighter. Both Big Will Prince and I picked Pacquaio to win by a unanimous decision. This will be a long, hard, wonderful fight by two of the best pound-for-pound warriors on the planet.

Meanwhile, on the MMA side of the ledger, the UFC heavyweight title will be up for grabs on Saturday night in the first UFC on Fox main event with champion Cain Velasquez taking on top contender Junior Dos Santos. There will be nine preliminary bouts but only one main event – that’s for Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight title and on Streetz 104.7 this week both Big Will and I picked the veteran warrior, Cain Velasquez, to defend his belt,

However, our fight expert, Marc-Andre Drolet from The Fight Network, said he was ready to place a bet on Dos Santos in an upset.

The fight is free on Fox on Saturday, live from the Honda Centre in Anaheim, Cal.

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Claude Noel

4. The Jets Play in Columbus:

The 5-8-3 Winnipeg Jets, coming off a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime loss in Buffalo on Tuesday night and a dud — a 5-2 loss to Florida — at home on Thursday, take to the road to face the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

The Jets can’t afford to sleep walk through this one like they did against Florida on Thursday.

After all, they get one game on the road and then return to Winnipeg to face Tampa on Monday, Washington on Thursday and Philly next Saturday. The road game will be the easiest of the next four.

After Thursday’s loss head coach Claude Noel said: “We were not good from the goaltender out, what do you want me to say?”

Thank you, coach, for the thoughtful, candid, honest response. I watched the game at Buffalo Wild Wings in Orlando on Thursday night and the locals laughed at my favorite hockey team. They had better be better on Saturday or a desperate Columbus team will rip them.

Meanwhile, there is still talk in Jets circles about moving Dustin Byfuglien from defense to forward, but head coach Claude Noel doesn’t want to make the move because Byfuglien “Doesn’t want to play forward,” and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff doesn’t want to make the move because he likes Byfuglien on the ice 22-24 minutes a night on defense while he’d only play 15-17 minutes at forward. Which, of course, didn’t matter much in Buffalo after two of Byfuglien’s mistakes cost the Jets a pair of goals.

This debate will continue for awhile.

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Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings

5. Indy to 0-10, Green Bay to 9-0:

I’m not convinced the Jacksonville Jaguars are any good, but I am convinced they’re better than the 0-9 Indianapolis Colts. However, the Colts aren’t going to go 0-16 this season (my Lions have already EARNED that notoriety) and if they’re going to win a game this year, this is it. It goes Sunday at Noon (CST) and yet if they were playing it in my back yard, I wouldn’t open the drapes to watch it. This might be one of the worst NFL games this season.

Meanwhile, on Monday night, the Green Bay Packers play host to the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay will win because Aaron Rodgers will throw a pantload of TD passes against that dreadful Vikings defensive secondary. How about 48-36 Green Bay?

The Packers will improve to 9-0 and will only have two semi-difficult games in their final seven. We could be witnessing another 16-0 season.

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Things We’ve Learned This Week. Already.

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

It’s only Monday and yet, since Saturday, we’ve either learned a whole load of new stuff or had a pile of things we already knew, confirmed.

Three days of football, hockey and baseball on TV and one NHL game in downtown Winnipeg will do that for us.

To review:

058 ron rarling 300x300 Things Weve Learned This Week. Already.

Instant Mute Button: Ron Darling.

1) Instant mute button: Brian Anderson, Ron Darling and John Smoltz calling the playoffs on FOX. They aren’t as bad doing the Milwaukee-St. Louis series as they were doing the Yankees-Detroit series, but most of what they say is still nonsense.

Of course, nonsense beats the cheerleading that trio did for the Yankees in the ALDS. You know, I like the Yankees. I’ve interviewed Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, C.C. Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera on many occasions. They’re all decent guys and great ballplayers.

But the cheerleading from the national announcers is quite simply, sickening and that’s the biggest reason why I’m glad the Yankees were eliminated from the post-season. When you have to cheerlead on television for a $203 million payroll, something just isn’t right.

By the way, as a baseball broadcaster, Terry Francona makes a great manager.

2) The best part about the movie Moneyball is the reason so many American sportswriters hate it. It rips baseball scouts, the dumbest people in sports.

ESPN’s Keith Law, who once worked in the Blue Jays front office, wrote that the movie sucks because: ”The baseball stuff is not good. For starters, the lampooning of scouts, which draws from the book, isn’t any more welcome on screen than it was on the page; they are set up as dim-witted bowling pins for Beane and Brand to knock down with their spreadsheets.”

That’s exactly why I loved it. Moneyball is a great movie.

I have watched baseball scouts up close for 18 seasons. Not one of them would know a good ballplayer from a bad one. It’s why baseball spends so much money on so many failures. Only weather forecasters have a lower percentage of success than baseball scouts.

Of course, mainstream media people like baseball scouts because not one of them can keep a secret.

3) Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos speaks no known language.

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Anthony Calvillo

4) I’m a huge fan of Anthony Calvillo. Interviewed him a dozen times and a piece I wrote about Anthony and his wife was just published in SEVEN Magazine.

Like most CFL fans, I was thrilled that he broke Damon Allen’s record of 72,381 career passing yards on Monday. However, TSN’s suggestion that Calvillo is among the five greatest professional quarterbacks of all time is nonsense (there’s that word again).

Sorry, you simply cannot compare the CFL to the NFL. They are two completely different games. If you want to call Anthony Calvillo the greatest CFL quarterback off all time, knock yourself out. But to compare Calvillo to any quarterback in the NFL is like comparing a baseball pitcher to a cricket bowler — two completely different games.

5) The picture below, from Sunday’s Titans-Steelers game, is a classic example of why I do not believe that anyone can referee anything properly, anywhere at anytime. They’re all guessing:

refs are very confused 640x388 Things Weve Learned This Week. Already.

Nice call gentlemen.

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LaPolice Can Relax (A LIttle). Seems like Swaggerville Works

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

All of last week, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice was a little worried about Swaggerville. There was just something about the karma.

It’s fine if fans want to start something like “Swaggerville.” That’s fun. But when it starts with the players — and it actually started back in 2009 — bad things can happen. LaPolice was worried that his hard-working, humble football team might start believing in their own headlines.

lions jpg 1302980cl 3 LaPolice Can Relax (A LIttle). Seems like Swaggerville Works

Another Frightened QB

Maybe these young, talented kids on defense saw themselves as unbeatable. He had no reason to worry about his offensive veterans, guys such as Buck Pierce, Terrence Edwards, Fred Reid or that steadily improving offensive line. These guys were old pros. But that hard-hitting, ball-hawking, fast, aggressive, young defense might wake up one morning thinking they were invincible. That’s about the time bad things happen.

So this week, LaPolice made sure his team got the message. Stay humble, work hard at practice and do not, under any circumstances, take the B.C. Lions lightly on Saturday night.

Turns out, he had nothing to worry about.

The Bombers proved how good they really were on Saturday. Playing without starting defensive tackles Doug Brown and Dorian Smith, the Bombers used Jason Vega, Don Oramasionwu, Bryant Turner and Deji Oduwole in those two spots up front and demolished the B.C. Lions offence en route to a 30-17 win at Empire Field.

With the victory the Bombers improved to 6-1, first in the East with the bye week coming this week. It’s the first time the Bombers have been 6-1 since 1984 and the first time they’ve been 3-0 on the road since 1982.

It was an impressive performance and once again, LaPolice’s defense drove the Bombers bandwagon. B.C. quarterback Travis Lulay had no time to throw and when he did release his passes, the Bombers defensive secondary shut down the receivers. Before the game ended, Lulay was replaced by Jarious Jackson who had even less success than the starter.

In the end, the Bombers ball-hawking defense forced one interception and four fumbles (special teams were sensational, too) and while the team’s offence wasn’t spectacular, it was good enough to ride the D’s coat-tails to its sixth win in seven games. That’s impressive.

This defense is amazing. In fact, the first seven games of the 2011 Bomber season have belonged, solely, to the defense. It leads the league in fewest points allowed (18.6 per game), fewest yards allowed (277.6 per game), most sacks (25), most interceptions (11) and most turnovers (26) created and it is primarily responsible for the team’s 6-1 record. There are those who would suggest a little “swagger” never hurt anybody.

As an old timer, I have to admit I have not seen a defense this good in Winnipeg since the days of Tyrone Jones, Rod Hill, James West. Paul Randolph, Michael Gray and Greg Battle. Jonathan Hefney, Jovon Johnson, Kenny Mainor, Joe Lobendahn, Marcellus Bowman, Clint Kent, Ian Logan, Alex Suber and Odell Willis are right up there with the Bombers greats.

At 6-1, they have every right to enjoy Swaggerville. At least ,until they have to prove they can demolish Henry Burris and Anthony Calvillo, like they’ve demolished Kevin Glenn, Cleo Lemon, Ricky Ray, Travis Lulay, Quinton Porter, Dalton Bell and Jarious Jackson.

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Things That Make Me Smile

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

James Reimer came up to the Shaw TV booth on Friday night during our telecast of the Goldeyes and Sioux Falls.

The Toronto Maple Leafs netminder is one of those terrific young men you just cheer for. Even if you hate the damn Leafs, you can’t help but want the best for a happy, respectful, intelligent Christian young man like Reimer.

He’s one of the people, places and things that made me smile this week. In fact, without getting too gushy, it’s really been a great week here in Winnipeg and a week that reminded me that life in the summer in this town is pretty darn nice.

Here’s a list of the things that made me smile this week. Visit me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001559147071) and tell me the things that made you smile:

1) The Winnipeg Goldeyes were outstanding this week. It all started with a complete-game, two-hour-and-24-minute, eight-hit grinder by Ace Walker and finished with a complete-game, two-hour-and 39 minute, six-hit grinder by Ace Walker.

The Goldeyes won 7-2 in Fargo this past Sunday as Walker was terrific, and then they went into St. Paul and emerged as the No. 1 team in the American Association’s North Division. They won a doubleheader, 5-4 and 3-2 on Monday, won 6-1 on Tuesday and 10-4 on Wednesday to take a three-game lead in the race for first.

After losing 17-7 in their return to Winnipeg on Thursday, the Goldeyes rode Walker’s right arm — and the bats of Jon Weber and Brian Myrow — to an 18-1 shlellacking of a good hitting team from Sioux Falls. The Fish almost scored as many runs on Friday as the Bombers scored points on Thursday.

Sunday afternoon, Chris Salamida (7-1, 2.71 ERA) will face former Goldeyes starter Ben Moore (8-2, 2.40 ERA) of Sioux Falls in what should be one of the best pitching match-ups of the year. I’m smiling just thinking about it.

2) The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defense. They’re fast, aggressive, angry, swarming and opportunistic. The best in the CFL. This group reminds me of the late 80s-early 90s Bomber defenses with James West, Tyrone Jones, Paul Randolph, Mike Gray, Rod Hill, and the great Greg Battle.

Too bad the offense has to come out on the field, I could watch that defense all night.

3) Anthony Calvillo makes me smile. It’s amazing, but the guy had cancer last fall. He might be a better quarterback now than he was before the cancer was removed.

Friday night, he completed 29-of-43 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns as he became the career leader in touchdown passes in the CFL with 395.

Meanwhile, he led the Alouettes to a 40-17 drubbing of the Toronto Argonauts as Montreal improved to 3-0. We’re three games into the 2011 season and a guy who has come back from cancer surgery is already on pace to be the CFL’s player of the year.

4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 in IMAX 3D at Silver City Polo Park made me happy.

5) The end of the NFL lockout.

The news just gets better every day for NFL fans. My insiders tell me that an agreement between the owners and players is done and will be ratified this week. Free agency will start the Week of the 25th and training camps should open in early August. The Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, is preparing for its Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 7 as if there is no glitch in the schedule. The NFL itself has confirmed that no games — pre-season or otherwise have been cancelled.

I can’t wait. In the meantime, the more I learn about the deal, the wider my smile.

 

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Dr. Football and The Coach Deal Out Their 2011 CFL Predictions

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

WINNIPEG — Vegas oddsmakers have made the Calgary Stampeders, at 11-4, the favorites to win the 2011 Grey Cup. No doubt Calgary has a good team, but are they better than Montreal? Are they even better than Hamilton?

Montreal is next on the Futures line at Vegas at 3-1. Saskatchewan is third at 11-2 followed by B.C. at 6-1, Edmonton and Hamilton at 7-1, Toronto at 8-1 and Winnipeg at 10-1.

The 2011 Canadian Football League season is upon us and it’s time to look into our crystal balls to see who will still be standing when the Grey Cup game kicks off in Vancouver on Nov. 27. My pal Dr. Football will pick first (he’s so confident, he even offers up the records of each team) and then I’ll take my shot.

DR. FOOTBALL

THE EAST

Montreal Alouettes 11-7: With a strong offensive line and a talented group of receivers, Anthony Calvillo should once again lead his team to first place in the East.

Toronto Argonauts 10-8: Expect the Argos to slightly improve from last year’s 9-9 under Jim Barker. There was less turmoil in the off season and stability in the coaching staff; something the team hasn’t seen since Pinball Clemons stepped down as head coach. Expect sophomore QB Cleo Lemon to continue to develop and the defense which gave up 25.1 points a game last season to be better.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats 9-9: Don’t expect to see anything from the Ti-Cats offence with Khari Jones calling the shots. Another mediocre season awaits in 2011. This team has the talent to win, but with the questionable coaching staff I can’t seeing anything but a .500 season and another quick exit from the playoffs. Close your eyes Angelo Mosca.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7-11:  A healthy Buck Pierce can make a difference in that, but when was the last time he was healthy for more than a few games? He has only been able to complete 17 out of his 27 starts in the CFL. The big void left by the departure of Phillip Hunt will hurt the most. When does hockey season start?

THE WEST

British Columbia Lions 11-7: The Lions are the team to watch in the West. BC began the 2010 season with a 1-7 record before figuring it out and posting a 7-3 mark over their last 10 games. QB Travis Lulay (2,602 yards, 9 TD’s) became the starting quarterback after the horrible start, and showed why he is the new face of the franchise.

Calgary Stampeders 11-7: Smiling Hank is getting long in the tooth. Opening the season with two rookies on the offensive line is not going to make it easier on him either.

Saskatchewan Roughriders 8-10: The Riders have gone from having the best Canadian receiving corps in the league to a very average one. Replacing Andy Fantuz and Rob Bagg won’t be easy. We will also find out why Greg Marshall has been constantly passed over for a head coaching job too.

Edmonton Eskimos 5-13: Kavis Reed? See Paul LaPolice 2010. It’s not gonna be a fun year in Edmonton.

THE GREY CUP: Montreal vs B.C.

THE COACH

THE EAST

1. Montreal Alouettes: Take a close look at the Montreal Alouettes and the first thing you notice are the players who are gone – Ben Cahoon, Avon Cobourne, Mathieu Proulx and Damon Duval. Then, you realize quarterback Anthony Calvillo and head coach Marc Trestman are still there and that means the Alouettes are still a threat to win every game. The two-time defending Grey Cup champions are favored to win the East and with players such as runningbacks Kerry Carter, Dahrran Diedrick and Emmanuel Marc and wideouts Dallas Baker, Brandon London and Brian Bratton, Calvillo has plenty of talent at his side. His offensive line is pretty good, too. If Calvillo dishes for 4,221 passing yards he’ll pass Damon Allen’s unpassable passing record. It’s possible.

2. Hamilton Tiger-Cats: If there is a team capable of unseating the Alouettes at the top of the CFL, it’s Kevin Glenn and the Ticats. Glenn has an array of talented players to throw to: Arland Bruce III, Maurice Mann, Aaron Kelly and Dave Stala. He also has a couple of great backs – Terry Grant and Avon Cobourne (who really wants to kick Montreal’s butt – and an improving offensive line. If Hamilton’s defense can hold the opposition to 25 points or less, the Ticats will win a lot of games.

3. Toronto Argonauts: Cleo Lemon will be just fine as quarterback until Steven Jyles’ shoulder heals. Then again, Lemon just might keep the job after Jyles comes back. The former NFLer is much improved over last year and he looks like he’s ready to be a star in the CFL. Meanwhile, the Argos might have unearthed the CFL’s next superstar runningback in Chad Kackert. The 5-foot-8, 200-pound speedster from New Hampshire made quite an impression in Toronto’s final pre-season game and if he gets the ball on a regular basis, look out. With receivers such as D.J. Boldin, Brandon Rideau and Djems Kouame, the Argos could be a very interesting team.

4. Winnipeg Blue Bombers: This deal is simple. If quarterback Buck Pierce stays healthy and plays 14-15 games, the Bombers can be 9-9 and in the playoffs. If he gets hurt again (and history says he’ll get hurt), the Bombers could easily suffer through another 4-14 season. Although, in fairness, give backup QB Joey Elliott some credit. He played at Purdue, he looks comfortable under centre (at least, during his limited snaps, he’s looked comfortable) and he has a great arm. He also has Greg Carr (when he’s healthy), Terrence Jeffers-Harris and Terrence Edwards to throw to. The league’s leading rusher in 2010, Fred Reid is back and if the offensive line can get the job done, Reid could have another great year. If the defense does anything at all, the Bombers will be good enough to compete this season, but it’s going to be tough.

THE WEST

1. Calgary Stampeders: Smilin’ Hank Burris gives the Stamps the best signal caller in the Western Conference. Three years removed from his finest season as a pro and only an off-season following his Most Outstanding Player Award, Burris is still the best QB in the West, but his team still doesn’t have what they believe is a legitimate backup. Raw Canadian Brad Sinopoli is No. 2 with Drew Tate injured, and they’re deciding whether or not to sign veteran Michael Bishop (who doesn’t have a valid passport right now), but right now, the Stamps are no different than the Blue Bombers – if No. 1 goes down, they’ll have stress. However, if Burris remains upright, this is a great offensive team. With Joffrey Reynolds carrying the mail and four great receivers, it’s a team that averaged 34 points a game, the most in the CFL, last year. There really isn’t a weak spot on the Stamps – on offense or defense.

2. B.C. Lions: Travis Lulay will get an entire season at quarterback and we’ll learn quite quickly if he’s as good as Wally Buono believes he is. It doesn’t hurt that Jarious Jackson is the backup. He’s still a very good quarterback. With Geroy Simon to throw to and with veteran talent such as Brent Johnson, Korey Banks, Davis Sanchez and two-time all-star Ben Archibald, the Lions will be a real threat in the West. Fact is, this team could have the best collection of young talent in the CFL.

3. Saskatchewan Roughriders: One always has to remember, “Pre-season is just practice.” If it wasn’t just practice, the Saskatchewan Roughriders would be horrible. They were absolutely awful in a 34-6 loss to the Lions in the final “practice” game. However, with Greg Marshall getting his first shot as a head coach in the CFL, it’s hard to imagine this will be a bad team. With receivers Andy Fantuz (off to the NFL) and Rob Bagg (injured) gone, the question will be, can Darian Durant be as effective? My answer is no, but the Riders can always surprise.

4. Edmonton Eskimos: It’s hard to imagine that a team with Ricky Ray at quarterback could be so horrendous, but ladies and gentlemen, meet the Edmonton Eskimos. Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive co-ordinator Kavis Reed is the team’s new head coach and he’s really got his work cut out for him. However, this once-lousy defence should improve. Back in 2007, Reed and his new defensive co-ordinator this year, former Argos head coach Rich Stubler, worked together in Toronto and turned an average defense into a great defense (from 27.1 points per game to 15.8 points per game). If they can do that again this year, the Eskimos will no longer be horrible.

THE GREY CUP: Montreal vs. Calgary

 

 

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Fans: You Just Have to Love ‘em. Too many of ‘em just don’t want to admit the ugly truth…

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

FARGO, N.D. — After spending two days watching the Minnesota Vikings work out, it’s nice just to sit in the press box at Fargo’s quaint little Newman Outdoor Field and watch baseball.

It’s a beautiful night, the place is full (it’s Fan Appreciation Night) and you can smell the hot dogs and hamburgers all the way up here on the suite level. Goldeyes-RedHawks games are always fun and while it appears Winnipeg is going to have to mount a comeback if they don’t want to fall below .500, it’s still great baseball.

Meanwhile, earlier this afternoon, I had a chance to watch Thursday night’s Bomber game and then read the comments at winnipegfreepress.com and winnipegsun.com. Some of them are quite insightful. Others are just laughable. Only a few of them seem to have the heart or the cojones to admit the truth: It’s a bad team, playing bad football.

While plenty of fans (surprisingly, dozens) want to blame the officials (the score was 39-17, that’s not the officials fault) and a couple of boneheads wanted to blame Fred Reid (Fred Reid?) who carried 13 times for 103 yards, there were a few who actually knew the ugly, unpopular truth: It’s official. Eight weeks into the season and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers under head coach Paul LaPolice are worse than they were under the hated Mike Kelly.

In Thursday night’s game at Molson Stadium in Montreal, the Montreal Alouettes lost quarterback Anthony Calvillo to a  bruised sternum in the first half and yet Montreal still whipped the Bombers by three touchdowns. Winnipeg is now 2-6 on the season. Last year, with Kelly at the helm, they were 3-5 after eight weeks. It’s a mess and it doesn’t appear as if it will get any better anytime soon.

In fact, the thought that this year’s version of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers could be 2-11 by the end of September is now legitimate. Thursday night, Bombers quarterback Steven Jyles could muster very little offence. He completed only 11-of-22 passes for 123 yards, watched his receivers drop balls and could put only 10 offensive points on the board. To be fair, Reid was solid and Jovon Johnson was sensational, but….

The Bombers are bad. Real bad. And it’s hard to see this team getting better fast enough to stop a sweep by Saskatchewan in early September, then losses to Toronto, Montreal again and B.C.

And how ugly would 2-11 really be?

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Alouettes Win 97th Grey Cup. Riders Blow 27-11 lead with Only 10 Minutes to Play.

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The Saskatchewan Roughriders must not have slept very well on Sunday night. Probably won’t sleep well on Monday night, either. After all, they had the 97th Grey Cup game in the bag and then gave it away.

As Montreal’s Damon Duval was missing a 43-yard field goal — a miss that that would have given Saskatchewan a thrilling 27-25 victory –  the Roughriders were found to have had 13 men on the field, penalty flags flew and with no time left on the clock, Duval kicked a 33-yard field goal to win the game 28-27 for an Alouettes team that erased a 16-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to steal their second Grey Cup title in seven appearances since 2000.

Als runningback Avon Cobourne (bad choice) was named most outstanding player while Als receiver Ben Cahoon was the most outstanding Canadian.

In the end, Anthony Calvillo (who was dreadful for three quarters) finished 26-for-39 for 319 yards and two touchdowns, but that wasn’t enough to get him most outstanding player (it would be amazing if it wasn’t for the fact Canadian sportswriters choose the award winners). My gawd, he’s the only quarterback in the CFL capable of bringing a team back from a 27-11 deficit in 10 minutes to win.

On Monday, while many people wanted to pick out one play — especially the old 13th-man play — as a cause for Saskatchewan’s demise, the fact is, when you lead by 16 with 10 minutes to go and you’re outplaying your opponent by a wide margin, you should have won and you just didn’t have the jam to seal the deal.

In fairness, Saskatchewan probably shouldn’t have been in this game at all. In fact, they should be given credit for playing a wonderful game. Meanwhile, the Alouettes became the first team in professional football history to win a championship game without having the lead once until the clock struck 0:00 to play.

The 97th wasn’t a great Grey Cup, but the final three minutes — which actually took 31 minutes to play in real time — was worth the 3 1/2-hour TV marathon.

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Another Week in the Trenches. Als to Win 97th Grey Cup.

Posted on November 28, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

This was going to be a simple little post.

We were going to talk about how the Montreal Alouettes’ offensive line would protect Anthony Calvillo long enough for the CFL’s most outstanding player to throw five or six touchdown passes and lead the Als to a 45-10 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in tomorrow’s Grey Cup.

We were going to talk about the healthy Montreal defence, their almost perfect special teams, the well-designed offence of Marc Trestman and how all of that would work together to give Montreal a third straight impressive, lopsided win (48-13 over Winnipeg on Nov. 1 and 56-18 over B.C. on Nov. 22).

But then the CFL’s tall foreheads and the mainstream got all stupid on us and football now takes a back seat to silliness.

1) The Canadian Football League’s 2009 mantra is this: “The Canadian Football League is our league. It’s built on a tradition as proud, staged on a field as broad, and played at a pace as exciting as the country we are proud to call home.”

Which is fine, except for one thing: The CFL is starting to talk once again about adding more Americans to the starting lineups and reducing the number of Canadians in the starting ratio from seven to four.

The CFL already killed its offence when it lowered the starting ratio from 11 to seven (notice how every change to make the CFL more American has destroyed scoring). Now, about 70 per cent of CFL games are duller than dishwater, over in the third quarter. Slowly but surely, all these American coaches and penny-pinching GMs who know that dime-a-dozen U.S. players are cheaper on the market than rare, super-talented Canadians, are going to run the “Canadian” out of the CFL.

In fact, if the league lowers the starting ratio again, you can take the “proud” out of the CFL’s mantra. Or not. After all, you could to call it “Just another proud American minor pro football league.”

Hey UFL, here we come!

2) Here’s a stat that you didn’t read in the local newspapers this year. Not surprising, of course because it’s a stat that makes the hated coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers look good. It also tells you something about how good the Bombers offensive line turned out to be.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were sacked once every 15.6 passing plays in 2009. The Montreal Alouettes were sacked once every 18.3 passing plays and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were sacked once every 22.5 passing plays. With an improved defensive secondary and a collection of great young players under contract, clearly, this Bomber team is just one quarterback away from playing in next year’s Grey Cup game in Edmonton.

3) “Tiger Woods seriously injured in auto accident.”

That headline reverberated around the world yesterday as the mainstream media fell all over its collective hyperbolic ass trying to dig up dirt on a golfer.

By the end of the day, Woods had hit a fire hydrant backing out of his driveway, cut his lip (it’s still unknown whether the blood was a result of the accident or a spat with the wife), went to hospital for a stitch and was home resting, while the mainstream media blamed the absurd headlines on the Florida Highway Patrol.

I sometimes get the sense that the sooner all these money-losing newspapers fold, the smarter we’ll all be. People, you’re reporters, not gossip-mongers. Write the truth or don’t write anything at all. Get it first but get it right.

Guess all these old rules don’t cut it anymore. The new rule appears to be: Make it up, some idiot will believe it.

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Another Week of Craziness. The Business Just Gets Nuttier

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

It would be insane to suggest that anything at all is surprising anymore.

You have the owners of the Toronto Argonauts (a franchise that looked pretty good when they bought it) telling people they might be interested in acquiring the Phoenix Coyotes. Man, how many teams can you kill at once?

You have Kansas City Chiefs runningback Larry Johnson using “a gay slur” to describe newspaper reporters. No wonder gay people are upset.

And you have newspaper people wetting themselves over Mark McGwire’s return to baseball when every, single poll suggests that 65-80 per cent of baseball fans (depending on the poll) don’t care what he may or may not have done in 1997.

Of course, it doesn’t end there. This was another crazy week

1) The Ottawa Sun is at it again. The newspaper that creates more trade rumours than a handful of drunks at a sports bar now has the following on its plate: Brian Burke is actively pursuing a goaltender (who knew?), the Florida Panthers are trying to trade Nathan Horton (the GM has denied it), the Philadelphia Flyers are interested in signing Brendan Shanahan (should be easy, he’s an unemployed free agent) and the Carolina Hurricanes are ready to trade anyone and everyone (really?).

As I’ve always said, “If it’s in a newspaper, believe whatever it is you want to believe.”

2) The officiating in last Sunday’s Minnesota-Pittsburgh game was a complete embarrassment to the NFL. So embarrassing in fact, that it looked like a fix. I wonder which NFL officials had money on that game?

Sadly, all officiating everywhere at every level is awful. We’ve watched the horrible baseball umpiring this fall (how about that non-catch-turned-doubleplay by Ryan Howard on Thursday night?) and we’ve watched CFL, NFL, NBA and NHL officials look either lost or phony.

The biggest problem with sport these days isn’t steroids, it’s lousy officiating.

3) I love how even some Bomber players were sheepish about last Saturday afternoon’s 41-24 win over the Montreal Alouettes. Anthony Calvillo didn’t play and therefore, it wasn’t really a big win.

Baloney. If Calvillo had played last Saturday, the Bombers would have won by 30, not 17. Calvillo can’t run out of trouble like Adrian McPherson did.

Calvillo would have been killed last Saturday. Frankly, I think the Bombers are very, very pleased that Calvillo is playing this Sunday. I’m sure Phillip Hunt and Odell Willis are salivating at the thought of taking that rush to Montreal’s old man.

4) The publishing company that was going to back a book by former NBA referee Tim Donaghy has pulled the plug on the book, stating:  “After a close legal review of the final manuscript of ‘Blowing the Whistle’ by Tim Donaghy, and our independent evaluation of some of the author’s sources and statements, Triumph Books and Random House have decided not to go forward with the book’s publication. Our decision is wholly our own and was made without consultation with any outside parties or individuals.”

Yeah, right. That just smells like bullshit.

Donaghy was about to tell the truth and a lot of influential people in the United States want no part of the truth. Excerpts I’ve seen include a number of different accusations regarding wagering between officials that are actually handling the NBA games they’re gambling on (not in the least bit surprised), favoritism toward star players (that’s freakin’ obvious), and a desire on the league’s part to make sure playoff series went as long as possible (and that surprises people?).

Donaghy is painted as a rogue and a bad guy by the NBA. He is. But he’s also trying to get the truth off his back. And the truth is ugly. There is no game on the planet that looks as phony as the NBA. Like, whatever happened to travelling? Since when could stars take nine steps to the hoop? The NBA looks more like European team handball than basketball.

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Bombers Win. Kelly Looks Like A Genius. TSN Doesn’t Understand the Playoff Structure. There Are, Officially, 21,000 Bomber fans.

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

Saturday afternoon at Canad Inns Stadium, in front of one of the smallest crowds since Lyle Bauer took over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Bombers drilled the first-place Montreal Alouettes 41-24.

With the win, the Blue Bombers put themselves in a position to finish second in the Eastern Division. In fact, with a victory in the final game of the season, against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Canad Inns Stadium, the Bombers will finish second and play host to the Eastern semifinal on Nov. 15.

Incredibly, TSN had no idea that next week’s games didn’t matter one iota in terms of second-place in the East. Not one clue. They nattered on and on about the importance of next week’s games. Those games might be important in the world of the crossover, but they mean nothing in terms of second place in the East. 9-9 or 8-10, it doesn’t matter. The team that wins on Nov. 8, in the game between Hamilton and Winnipeg, makes the playoffs — guaranteed.

Meanwhile, Bomber fans are an odd lot, aren’t they? They have now clearly stated that they prefer a coach riding a Harley who loses for fun, than a hard-ass, take-no-crap football coach who has re-built a team right before their eyes. They clearly prefer a lovable loser to a guy who refuses to genuflect at the altar of the daily newspaper and even more assertively, refuses to suck up to people who know absolutely nothing about football.

Having said that, the 21,000 who attended Saturday’s game were young, smart, generally un-drunk fans who wanted to watch an improving football team win. They were into the game and didn’t care that the coach doesn’t like telephone calls from faceless, nameless, gutless whiners. They didn’t care that the coach tells the media how it’s going to be rather than vice-versa.

I love this.

The local bird-cage liners, dead trees that devote three-to-six pages almost daily to Blue Bomber coverage, have told their readers that the coach is a jerk and the team is lousy and some of their favourite players have been run-off and therefore people will (read: should) stop going to the games. Our local media is its own self-fullfilling prophecy. It has no sense of humour and believes it should run the local sports teams and when those teams don’t do as they’re told, they should be punished. All the while, they’ll continue to run three-to-six pages of coverage a day for reasons nobody quite understands.

However, to lay blame fairly, the real problem appears to be the growing feeling that the Bombers marketing department doesn’t have a Plan B. If all the free media coverage doesn’t sell tickets for them, they have no plan to sell tickets. If the media isn’t doing the job, the Bombers appear to have nowhere to turn.

Which creates an amazing dynamic for a football team that has won four of its last five, beaten a team that came in 13-2 (albeit without its starting quarterback), almost completely rebuilt itself on the fly and has become a force in the CFL’s Eastern Division.

The Bombers have a good football team. On Saturday, that team probably played well-enough to beat an Alouettes team WITH Anthony Calvillo. And yet crowds keep dwindling because the Bombers themselves don’t know how to sell the positive side of a football team that has had a major falling out with the local media.

Sadly, the world is changing. As the Free Press dumps its Sunday broadsheet and Sunday home delivery and the Sun’s circulation continues to fall, free “advertising” is going the way of the doh-doh. “Publicity” as we know it is changing and sports teams, no matter how popular they are with the media, will eventually have to learn how to actually sell their products.

Granted, the Bombers aren’t there yet and neither is Winnipeg, but the inevitable is coming. Saturday’s tiny, but nonetheless, intelligent crowd, was an example of that.

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