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.