Redemption Day for Ricky Ray!

In one of the most memorable days in Grey Cup History, one statistic tells it all, Ricky Ray played a complete game when it counted. The Edmonton Eskimo quarterback, who had been pulled in two previous playoff games this year, went the distance and led his Edmonton Eskimos to Canada’s Holy Grail of Football. In a thrilling finale to the CFL season, Ray’s Eskimos prevailed over the Montreal Alouettes 38-35 in a game that went deep into the CFL’s unique overtime format.

Ray took charge of his Eskimo offence and put points on the board in overtime to claim the victory. While the first half was a rather humdrum affair, the second half more than made up for it. With end to end excitement and big plays galore, both Ray and the Alouettes Anthony Calvillo traded offensive weapons in their bid to claim the Cup.

Ray was named the games MVP and was most deserving of the honour, having put aside the controversy generated the last two weeks. He went to work and methodically put his game plan into effect. Short hitch passes, long bombs, crushing runs he used the majority of his line up to move the Eskimos down the field, even taking the ball in himself to answer Montreal scores almost point by point.

By the end of Ray’s work day he had a remarkable 359 yards in passing, completing 35 of 45 passes. In fact his stats would have been even more impressive, if a few of his first half passes had been caught by the normally sure handed Eskimo receivers. The Eskimos day was aided by a spectacular record breaking 96 yard, kick off return by Tony Tompkins, (and something he actually predicted on Saturday) picking up important points when it looked like Montreal was planning a replay of last weeks Eastern final comeback.

From the second half kick off on, the viewer was on the edge of their seat wondering which of the gunslingers would be the last to lay down their arms. In the end, it was double shot by Calvillo that proved to be costly. In a mental error, Calvillo rethrew a ball that he caught off of a rebound; a violation of the rule book providing a costly penalty that seemed to put the Als on their heels for good. Calvillo's move resulted in a few Als fans painting him as the goat of the game, but in reality it was only with Calvillo's stable hand on the offense that the Als were close.

From that point in Overtime though, it was time for the Edmonton defence to shut down the Alouettes offence, which it did quite successfully in the last gasp moments of the overtime.

Once again the CFL delivered on its usual spectacular finish to the regular season. It would be hard to think of a more exciting finish to a championship game, than that provided by Ray, Calvillo and their team mates on Sunday afternoon.

For Ray it marks a final exclamation point on any questions of his ability to put away the big win. His stats tell the story of this one, passing yardage, ball control and points on the board. All will go a long way to making Sunday the day that the Eskimos finally became Ray’s team, his MVP trophy a testimony to his place in the CFL history books and in the every growing library of Eskimo lore.

It's yellow and black with Maas as the Quarterback

The word is leaking out, Jason Maas is about to roll out of the pocket and take the ball all the way to Hamilton. League officials who insisted on anonymity say that after Sunday's Grey Cup game, Maas will be traded to the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

This is not exactly a huge surprise, people have been waiting for the other cleat to drop ever since the Cats and Eskies made the deal to send Troy Davis to Edmonton. The name of Maas immediately was placed into the rumour mill and all the pieces seemed to fit, the only blip on the road to Hamilton was Maas' late game heroics in the Western Semi Final game and one week later in the Western final.

As they complete the deal, the Eskimos are apparently going to welcome Danny McManus back into the green and gold fold, as well as another former Eskie offensive lineman Tim Bakker.

Maas will make for a welcome addition to a Tiger Cat team that took a few steps backwards in 2005, expected to challenge for the CFL east, the Cats found themselves out of the running early on in the season and out of the playoffs by the time the season ended.

Putting Maas into Black and Gold in 2006 would give the Tiger Cat fans a sign that the last year was a blip on the road back to respectability. The CFL will instantly become a much closer division should Maas be moved after Sunday.

And The Winners Were!

The CFL handed out it's prized possessions on Thursday night as the league celebrated excellence with a gala presentation at Vancouver's Performing Arts Centre. The Rogers CFL Players Awards recognized outstanding performances from a memorable 2005.

The man of the night by far was Toronto Argonaut Quarterback, Damon Allen. The 21 year veteran of the CFL was a double winner on Thursday, taking home the Rogers fans choice award and the award for Most Valuable Player for 2005. It was Allen's first win of the MVP trophy in his storied career, an oversight that should have been corrected many years ago but finally was and to universal acclaim.

Another long serving Quarterback, Danny McManus of the Hamilton Tiger Cats picked up the Tom Pate Award, an award presented by the CFLPA to recognize community involvement. And judging by McManus' qualifications it might take a St. Theresa to wrest the trophy from his grasp. McManus has raised over 200,000 dollars for the McMaster Children's Foundation, a testimony to his dedication to the children of South Western Ontario.

Cory Holmes did not go home empty handed either. Up against Damon Allen for outstanding player even Holmes must have known that was not going to happen this year. But his work on special teams certainly qualified him for recognition. Holmes not only starred on the Saskatchewan Roughriders special teams but dominated in the running game this season as well. A versatile and talented back who can break a play with a change of direction. By the end of the night Holmes was on winners row with the John Agro trophy.

One of the few rays of hope in Winnipeg came from Defensive End Gavin Wells, who pulled more than his share of work in a horrid season for the Blue and Gold. Wells was in on 12 quarterback sacks in 2005. Not a bad beginning for a guy in his rookie year, good enough to win him the title of Rookie of the Year.

The top lineman of the year award went to Gene Makowsky, his second year in a row in collecting trophies from the CFL. Makowski's presence on the Saskatchewan Offensive Line provided a great amount of protection for Saskatchewans QB's and opened up those holes that allowed Cory Holmes to run the wide open prairie.

Top Defensive honours went to Calgary's John Grace, part of the fast tracked rebuilding program in the Stampede City. Grace is the anchor of the Stampeders linebacker department and was a major reason that Calgary's defence has come on so strong in the last year.

The Top Canadian this year is BC Lion Brent Johnson, the Leos linebacker had a record 16 sacks and came into his own in 2005.

The Commissioner's Award went to the local Vancouver group that organized this years Grey Cup Week events. Known locally as the waterboys, the group was formed by Bobby Ackles in 2003 to rebuild the base of football support that once was a mainstay in BC. Two short years later the Leos are one of the lynch pins of the CFL, a stable and model franchise that contends year in and year out.

For Commissioner Tom Wright the CFL Awards always present an opportunity to celebrate what is so right about the CFL. Thursday night proved once again that the league continues to showcase the kind of talent and citizenship which should help continue the leagues growth for years to come.

Enjoy your Turkey!

To the Twelve Men on the Field browsers from below the 49th and to the upper left hand side of the map as well, a Very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

American Thanksgiving is truly one of those amazing holidays where Americans travel some great distances to share turkey, football, parades and friends and family. Think Planes, Trains and Automobiles to understand the length that some Americans go to in order to be home for Thanksgiving.
If you have a friend in the USA perhaps send them a card to celebrate the big day, but don't expect a reply until the days of sloth die down.

May the family be well, the Turkey well done and the football entertaining.

The above item first appeared on my A Town Called Podunk blog, my general interest blog check it out for a wide variety of topics.

Try and run the ball through this line!

Now if the BC Lions had put this defensive weapon to work last Sunday, then Bobby Ackles would be celebrating Grey Cup Week in a whole different way!

With a naval escort from Victoria and a Coyote ride to the Coach's press conference, one could say that the Grey Cup was in good hands.

HMCS Vancouver made the journey from CFB Esquimalt on Wednesday, proudly displaying Lord Grey's Drinking cup on the frigates helicopter deck as it passed under the Lions Gate Bridge and headed for Canada Place. Once there the crew of the Vancouver turned over to the Cup to the Army who stood on guard for Grey and got the trophy to the conference on time. The military will continue to be involved in Grey Cup week right up until the big game on Sunday.

Grey Cup festivities have begun to pick up in Vancouver, as the locals shake off the disappointment of the Leos not taking part in the final game of the 2005 Canadian Football season. The Alouettes and Eskimos are in town preparing their game plans to try and lay claim to the championship of Canadian football.

BC Place was sold out a number of months ago for the Grey Cup finale and surprisngly few of the tickets purchased by Lions fans have been dumped on the open market. Perhaps BC's football fans have finally figured out that Montreal and Edmonton having participated in more than their share of Grey Cup games, these two teams might actually put on an entertaining affair this Sunday.

With a week full of activities this is possibly the closest Canada gets to a Mardi Gras and one can't let a little thing like the home team's absence get in the way of a good time.

As for the military escort, Ackles may wish to give Wally Buono the Coyote units home phone number. It could go a long way to solving any further controversies in the Lions Den in 2006!

(photo credits Canoe/DND)

The Final Snaps of November

A collection of our Final snap quotes for November

Nov 29 "This one really hurts"
Nov 28 "That was wild"
Nov 25 "I remember early on in my career I was very superstitious"
Nov 24 "All's well that ends well"
Nov 23 "There's something a little bit special every time I play the Eskimos"
Nov 22 "I Wasn't planning on coming up here"

Opening kickoffs for November

A compilation of the Opening kickoffs for Npvember

Nov 29 Welcome Home
Nov 29 Waiting for Jason
Nov 29 The game is still the thing
Nov 28 A Fitting end
Nov 28 One pass too many
Nov 28 Day belonged to Ray
Nov 25 The three amigos
Nov 25 A final day for Lapointe's hobby
Nov 25 The state of the CFL
Nov 24 A Familiar Foe
Nov 24 A most outstanding player
Nov 24 Mitchell back for seconds
Nov 23 Eskies listed as Favourites
Nov 23 Stegall to return for 12th season
Nov 23 The Don and Danny Show
Nov 22 Higgins gets an extension
Nov 22 Lions QB's ponder their future
Nov 22 Austin in Demand

We're here for the party!

Stories from Vancouver as the week of celebration carries on.

Nov 25 The Commish gives out some dish
Nov 22 Toronto is not amused at missing the flight
Nov 22 Tickets Tickets take our tickets
Nov 22 Gizmo the Greatest

Montreal Mania

Following development with the Alouettes as they prepare to face the Eskimos in the Grey Cup.

Nov 25 Als defence adjusting to new role
Nov 25 Lapointe to start on Sunday
Nov 24 Als feel at home
Nov 24 Edwards long trek back
Nov 23 Something to prove
Nov 23 The Delivery guys
Nov 23 It's reunion time
Nov 23 History lessons
Nov 21 A confident Calvillo
Nov 21 Saving the best for last
Nov 21 Als confident as they head west
Nov 21 The back ups big day
Nov 21 Als D took charge

Everything Eskie

A compilation of all the news from the Eskimo camp as they prepare for the Grey Cup on Sunday.

Nov 25 Tompkin's talks up touchdowns
Nov 25 50 years later, same teams, same place
Nov 24 The Legend and the Kid
Nov 24 Memory lane
Nov 24 Maas tries to keep his mind on the game
Nov 24 Mitchell thrilled to be back in Grey Cup
Nov 23 A Number one fan
Nov 23 Don't go changing, to try to please me
Nov 23 The Bertrand decision
Nov 22 Just another game
Nov 22 Back where he belongs
Nov 22 Back on the scene
Nov 22 All for the good of the team
Nov 22 Sticking with Ricky
Nov 21 A week like no other
Nov 21 Now about that call coach
Nov 21 Eskies ruin that BC Party
Nov 21 The Maas Chronicles
Nov 21 The magical Maas
Nov 21 The Legend of Jason Maas
Nov 21 Ray watched with mixed emotions
Nov 21 Walking wounded
Nov 21 The O line held the line
Nov 21 Joe Montford with the sack
Nov 21 The Rookie
Nov 21 Esks run over Lions

Printers packs his bags

With the BC Lions quest for a Grey Cup at an end by Sunday night, could it be that the season long controversy over quarterbacking has come to an end as well.

It was an emotional Casey Printers who addressed the media following the Lions elimination from the CFL playoffs, a frustrated quarterback who vented about how he gave it his all this season, but that this team was never really his. And while his tenure this season in the Lions den has been a roller coaster ride of emotion, he probably spoke more than a bit of truth that will need to be examined by the Lions management.

Printers was unfairly tossed into the Western Final with only three minutes to play, expected to pull off a last minute miracle to salvage a Lions season that was filled with high expectations but ended with a free fall of major proportions.

Many an arm chair coach and GM will be questioning Wally Buono’s hesitation in going to Printers earlier in the fourth quarter or even in the third. As Printers’ rightly pointed out, this has always been Dave Dickenson’s team and on Sunday Buono kept it that way til almost the very last minute.

At the start of the season the Lions were the envy of every franchise in the CFL, two capable exciting quarterbacks each possessing the skills to lead a well stocked offense on to victory. It was the dream of any GM to have such depth at the most vital position on a team, but by the end of the season that gift had become a curse. As the season went on and the Lions began to stumble the reticence to move Printers into the lineup seemed to split this team, players unsure who their QB would be, no one seemingly on the same page as Buono.

With the early exit one week before a Grey Cup Game hosted by the Lions management, the Lions will need to address the situation once and for all. Printers was saying all the right things that he wants to come back to BC, but underlying his words is a sense that he only wants to come back if he becomes the go to guy in the Lions den. However, if his agent is to be believed (and hyperbole was created to describe this guy) then Printers may very well be NFL bound by January. Printer’s agent says that Casey is scheduled in for up to 21 show and tell sessions with NFL franchises once the New Year beckons. Considering the kind of money that Printers wants (the same kind of cash as Ricky Ray) there’s every chance that he’ll end up holding a clipboard and biding his time below the 49th.

Then again, the Lions could swing a deal to send Printers off to a new CFL destination. There’s a need for a starting quarterback in Hamilton, Saskatchewan and (hot rumour of the week) Winnipeg and who knows what the Toronto needs will be, Damon Allen needs to make a decision now that his remarkable year has come up one game short from what could have been a story tale retirement story.

And with the circus in Ottawa one wonders if Kerry Joseph is even safe from the mercurial nature of the Gliebermen. That’s five of the nine teams in the league that would probably give their right arm for a quarterback with the potential of Printers.

Somehow, unless Wally Buono has a major change in his mindset, you get the idea that Printers will be wearing somebody else’s colours next year, whether they are NFL or CFL, they most likely won’t be BC Lions orange and white.

Lapointe carries the load

The Don is going back to the big game, and the CFL's most cantankerous coach can thank a young Quebeccer by the name of Eric Lapointe for his tickets to Vancouver. Lapointe who spends a fair amount of time on the special teams component of the Als, got a chance to run from the backfield during the Eastern final, and when given the chance took that ball and ran and ran and ran with it.

Placed into the game when starting running back Robert Edwards was injured, Lapointe provided an instructional video on how to be a power back. He bashed his way to over 100 yards in less than a half of football, knocking Argo linemen and Safety's alike to the side as he single handedly brought the Als back from the dead. Lapointe scored three touchdowns in his thirty minutes of fame, knocking the Argos back on their heels and silencing a huge Argo crowd of 44,000 who couldn't believe what they were seeing. Mistake after mistake, gave the Alouettes new life and they took advantage of everything the Argos offered up.

The Argos couldn't stop Lapointe and couldn't score on their own as they blew a first half lead eventually ending up on the short end of a 33-17 defeat. Montreal's defence finally got back on track in the second half shutting down the Argo attack and putting pressure on Argo QB Damon Allen for the remainder of the game.

On the offensive side of the game, when he wasn't dishing the ball off to Lapointe, Al's QB Anthony Calvillo was sitting in his pocket taking his time to find receiver after receiver. The Als offensive line rose to the occasion in this Eastern Final, making the room for Lapointe to bash through the line and giving Calvillo time to pick apart the Argonaut secondary.

The win marks the third time in four years that the Alouettes will head for a Grey Cup Sunday appearance and it wouldn't be a Montreal Grey Cup without their old nemesis the Edmonton Eskimos.

Edmonton's defence is one of the most respected units in the CFL but they could get a work out next Sunday back at BC Place. If Edwards is ready they have to deal with a rusher who was number three in the CFL this year with 1,199 yards to his credit. If he can't suit up, then Lapointe gets the ball and as the Argos learned to their regret, once he gets up a head of steam he can't be stopped.

Many we're expecting a Toronto/BC showdown the last Sunday in November, turns out the consolation prize may be more entertaining than that main event would have been.

No More Mighty Lions roar, get your tickets at the door!

We can here the cry up Robson Street and down Granville right now, Tickets; Tickets get your tickets…….Please!

After a season which started full of promise, the BC Lions 2005 campaign came to a sudden and unexpected end. The Leos came out flat in the first half of their Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Eskimos, taking too many penalties and giving away too many footballs at key points of the game. That combined with yet another unscheduled relief performance by Eskie Jason Maas, led the Eskimos to a 28-23 victory over the Defending Western Champions. A loss that sent thousands of Leo’s fans home to vent, many of whom called up the post game shows to suggest some changes are needed in the Lions den.

The quarterback controversy that has dogged this team since the start of the season, played out probably its final act on Sunday afternoon at BC Place. As Wally Buono turned the ball over to Casey Printers late in the fourth quarter hoping the spark would lead to a last minute comeback and a chance to star in their own homefiled Grey Cup game. But in the end it wasn’t meant to be, some last second excitement only served to bring the fans up high, only to drop them down hard by the games completion.

The final minutes of play were as exciting as a CFL game can give you, but like many a CFL game calls by the officiating crew were a tad hard to follow. A drive by the Leos, was kept alive on a pass interference call as time ticked down, but another play which featured a pass route diversion by a hit was left as is, running out the clock and the Lions season. Consistency never seems to be gold standard in CFL officiating at times.

Regardless, the Lions have no one to blame but themselves for their predicament. They never seemed to get untracked until the mid part of the second quarter, falling behind by a score of 21- 3 and then coming back to tie the game at 21 before falling behind for good. Dickenson analyzed his game in the dressing afterwards and declared that the effort was not his best game, and how you want to perform in the big games and he didn’t get the job done.

An emotional Casey Printers proclaimed how he gave it all for this club this year and was quite frustrated at not being able to pull the Western Final out of the fire. The timing of his insertion into the game will be the thing of debate for much of the off season, at least until either he or Dickenson find themselves with a new home in 2006. The uncomfortable situation between the two determined quarterbacks seemed to sap this team of its energy as the season went along, culminating in last gasp grab for the home playoff date, only to lose that advantage by half time, leaving the team to scramble to keep things hopeful til the end.

For Vancouver itself, a Lion less Grey Cup might put a bit of a damper on many of the Grey Cup activities, as the normally fickle Lions fans lose their zeal to Party on the Pacific. A smart Edmonton football fan is already placing his or her ad in the Vancouver Sun or Province for Monday morning. The game already announced as a sell out may find some serious re-allocation of football colours in the stands by next Sunday.

The Orange and Black sweaters, flags and fingers will be making way for the Green and Gold of the Eskimos, with a smaller section of red white and Blue Alouette material.

It’s not the way it was supposed to be this Grey Cup Week, in Bob Ackles and Wally Buono’s world this was the week to climb that final mountain and claim the Grey Cup in their home city.

Instead, the Eskimos and Als will battle it out on the field, while the Lions clean it out in the dressing room!

Yes, I know what am I doing here.

With the Grey Cup only one week away now it's probably a little late of me to get back into the Twelve Men groove, but I figured I should at least make mention of the finals and try and recapture my readership with some Grey Cup material.

As expressed earlier, this poor little blog has suffered from my neglect and that's too bad, as I enjoy the CFL it's wild and wooly finishes and colorful characters. So I'll try to be a tad more consistent over the next week.

We'll look at the two finals first and then as the week progresses take a look at what's ahead for the Party on the Pacific.

Hope you stick around for the ride!

I'm a bad, bad blogger!

Perhaps I took on too much for my plate, not one, not two, but three and sometimes more blogs at the same time. As regular readers of Podunk know I have over the last year had a number of sibling blogs to accompany my musings from Podunk. There's my HockeyNation blog, which with the return of hockey finally had a reason to be kept up to date, and has rewarded me with a terrific return of viewers over the last month.

Over the last year I've had a blog called boondoggle which was dedicated to the silly shenanigans of our ruling class, while there was no shortage of material from our federal, provincial and municipal officials, I found that it was getting a short shrift and sent it to Blog heaven a few months ago. The scandals however continue unabated, with such a wealth of material I just lump them into the Podunk blog now.

There was another little effort called the Podunkian politico, which had a very short shelf life, kind of a clearing house of all my political blogs, I deep sixed it as well, figuring it was a tad redundant, since most of the material had been created on the Podunk blog. I felt like I was just wasting blog space for some other deserving blogger, so bye bye politico it was.

Which brings me to my final blog, a little project I put together due to my enjoyment of the Canadian Football League. I had noticed over the years that the NFL and even Arena Football (good God who watches that) had numerous blogs out there for their sports, but hardly anything was there for the CFL, so I created Twelve Men on the Field. It got off to a great start, I was rather dedicated in my posts and tried to keep it up to date as best as possible.

However, it soon became apparent that the hits for it were nowhere near the volume that the HockeyNation would gain, or even Podunk for that matter. As the summer waned and the hockey season began I found I spent less and less time on the twelve men front. In fact I haven't added to it or maintained the thing since the 11th of September, I'm not proud of that fact, but it just didn't seem to hold my attention the last little while.

It's interesting this little diversion we call blogging, some days you can rattle off a dozen items for your creation and others when you couldn't come up with an idea to save your soul. There are days when you receive a landslide of attention and some days you wonder if anybody is reading at all.

You can of course create some excitement to add to your numbers. Sean at seanincognito recently posted an item that by simply suggesting porn on his site, his numbers would multiply exponentially. Britney's boobs it would seem are a big attraction on the wired universe. I recently did a story that merely mentioned the name Enron and watched my counter flip over and over for a steady couple of hours, disgraced stock listings like porn are also apparently a draw to the blogsphere. I even had a little local excitement on this blog when I did a blurb on our local election campaign here in Podunk, I suddenly discovered I had been found out in my own little town, when my site meter showed numerous hits from the home of Podunk and I hadn't even logged on to correct or update an article in hours.

Which all leads me back to my football blog, as the CFL season winds down I wonder if I should even bother trying to play catch up on it. I wouldn't mind keeping it alive til the end of the season, especially as we get closer and closer to the Grey Cup. Then I can try and figure out if there really is an interest for a blog about the CFL. I kept it going this far because of a love for the CFL, but with a counter tally of less than 20 hits on a given day it seemed like a lot of work for little return, time spent on it could be better spent on Podunk and HockeyNation which at least have a core of regular viewers.

I'm thinking of taking a page out of seanincognito's book and tying in the Minnesota Vikings recent scandal into my CFL blog, something like "CFL players read the papers with interest as tales of ribald behavior on a Viking cruise turned into a sex scandal". It would be cheap and a tad deceptive, but I bet on that day my "hits" would fly through the roof.

Scandal can sell, as can sex, sadly for the CFL I guess there's not much of either to bring in the trollers to the blog. Sometimes just showcasing the football isn't enough it seems. Something I have to think about as I try to figure out if I want to keep the Twelve men on the field on the blog.

The above posting first appeared on my A Town Called Podunk, blog my general interest blog.

No Money back today

It was like money in the bank for the Argonauts. At least that must have been the thought in the front office earlier this week when Argo management made an offer to the Tiger Cat faithful that they could not resist. "Back to Back and you get your money back!" That was the sales job to boost attendance at the rematch of the Labour Day classic between Toronto and Hamilton.

On Monday the Cats surprised the Argos by picking up only their second win of the season at the expense of Pinball Clemons and his double blue roster. So confident were the bean counters at the Rogers Centre that they were ready to send money back down the 401 should Greg Marshall's lads pick up win number three on Saturday afternoon.

As it turned out, the money trucks will remain parked as Damon Allen helped decimate the Tiger Cat secondary making Arlan Bruce III his favourite target as the Argos strolled to a 48-0 victory over a terribly over matched Tiger Cat team.

Saturday's game reminded many of the early season travails of the Cats who seemed to be on different pages of the playbooks and ready to point the finger at each other after every play. Monday Danny Mac did everything right, no interceptions, lots of yardage and a tough defensive squad to keep the Argos at bay. Either the Argos were quick studies and managed to fix all those holes or the Cats were just plain lucky to take a win.

The Argo win solidifies their hold on first place in the East giving them a bit of breathing room over the rejuvenated Montreal Alouettes. For Hamilton it was a sudden stop to some impressive progress of the last couple of weeks, a period of time that saw them start to claw their way out the deep early season hole and ponder the possibility of catching Ottawa for the third and final playoff spot in the East. With Hamilton returning to it's ugly ways and Ottawa starting to implode on itself as well, the Western crossover contenders must be feeling a bit more confident as the season heads towards the drive for November and the playoffs.

With Ottawa giving up 61 points on Friday night and the Cats shedding 48 on Saturday, post season action may be slipping further and further away for both. One thing is certain the next seven days will be very busy for Joe Paopao and Greg Marshall, things are definitely broken in both cities and changes need to be made quickly before an entire season becomes lost.

Perhaps the Unis should go back into storage

The Edmonton Eskimos unveiled there new third jersey on Friday night, and as Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor pointed out, perhaps they might have wanted to change back into the green ones at half time. An Eskimo team in yellow just couldn't put the points on the board, nor could they control the Stampeder attack in the featured game for TSN's Friday Night football.

The Calgary Stampeders still smarting from the Labour Day hit at McMahon came up to Edmonton and decided to show the Esks and their fans that Calgary still knew how to hit, how to catch and how to score.

Ricky Ray struggled for the Esks as he uncharacteristically tossed interceptions to willing Stampeder defenders. The Stamp front line managed to keep pressure on Ray for most of the game and the Stampeder special teams played inspiring football as well, shutting down the Eskimo return game. The Stamps did a remarkable job of holding off the Esks on the way to a 16-11 victory at Commonwealth.


Calgary's major did not come off of the hand of QB Henry Burris however, as Burris was on the sidelines having his hand taped, Jason Gesser the rookie QB for the Stamps took the controls for a brief Burris intermission and promptly manufactured the only Stampeder TD of the game a nice little hitch pass to KenYo Rambo, who rambled for the thirty yard touchdown play.

After that it was a Stampeder defensive effort that controlled the play. The Stamps kept the sluggish Esks out of the endzone until the last thirty seconds when Ricky Ray finally found an Eskimo receiver that would pull in the difficult pass for a touchdown. Without that last minute TD, the Esks were destined to go down to a 16-3 defeat, so the extra eight points while helpful for the stat sheets still weren't enough to secure an Eskie win.

The Stamps take the victory and keep pace with the Esks for second place overall in the West Division and add some breathing room between themselves and the Saskatchewan Roughriders who still have designs on a second place finish in the West. The victory provided coach Tom Higgins with a nice present as he returned back to Commonwealth for the first time since being dismissed by the Green and Gold last year. The win on Friday night was one of those pivotal results that will certainly spur the Stamps on down to the final weeks of the season.

With another win under their belt the Stamps are still in the race in the West and in a worst case scenario sit in pretty good shape for any possible crossover possibilities in the suddenly back down to earth Eastern Division.

For Edmonton it's a week of fixing some problems and resting some weary and beat up bones. The back to back games between these two Alberta rivals take their toll over the years and this one is no different than many others. With the BC Lions putting more and more distance between themselves and the pretenders for the West this year, Edmonton had best start thinking of holding on to second place, Calgary served notice that they plan on fighting the good fight through until November!

Renovations needed for Rens?

There's nothing like a shellacking to start the chatter about major changes needed and need fast. The Ottawa Renegades who have seen the wheels fall off of their previously successful cart, suffered a rather severe spanking at the hands of the undefeated BC Lions on Thursday night.

The Lions started early on the foot of Duncan O'Mahony and didn't stop until the final gun as they cleaned the Rens clock by a 61-27 margin. The Lions looked every bit the best in the league as Dave Dickenson picked apart the Ottawa secondary at will in the third quarter, picking up fourteen points in a matter of minutes. Dickenson was given a rest after the points explosion, leaving the rest of the game to the clean up tandem of Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson.

For Ottawa the loss capped off a rather tumultuous week in Rensland as Forrest Gregg lowered the hammer on Joe Paopao's hand picked talent assessor Chris McRobbie, a sure sign that some of his authority is being whittled away from under him.

As if that wasn't enough controversy for the Rens, the Gliebermans decided to think aloud this week about how they could trade with Montreal for the rights of recently released Giants QB Jesse Palmer, a hometown boy, who has spent three years on the Giants taxi squad while seeing little to no action on the field. Imagine how current QB Kerry Joseph must have been thinking with that bit of news buzzing around Frank Clair Stadium.

However, after Thursday nights massacre Joseph probably had best get used to the soon to be loud rumblings of a Palmer landing, with an anemic offensive display, the Rens did no favours for their QB or their coaching staff. If the Rens are looking for someone to point a finger at, there may be no better target than Freddie Moore, the Rens tackle who offered up some pretty good bulletin board quotes for the Lions to read! 61 points later Wally probably has soothed his fragile feelings sufficiently.

The Glieberman's seem to attract controversy and while things started off somewhat smoothly it seems that the entire season in Ottawa is about to implode, not a good thing for the long suffering football fan in the capital.

Over on the West Coast the Leos continue to convert the doubtful, the attendance numbers have been steadily rising the last year and with a 10-0 record this year the planning of the Grey Cup parade route is probably underway. Though don't mention that kind of stuff to Wally Buono, even with a convincing 61-27 victory Buono says there's lots of work still to be done for the Lions to be a true champion.

After Thursday you can probably expect the Renegades to be thankful that they won't be available for any more tune up sessions this year.

Als hold aces from NFL cut list

The final cuts from the NFL could stock the Alouettes for years to come. With the NFL rosters about to be set for the start of the season teams made their final cuts of training camp. On the short end of the list were four Canadians, three of whom find themselves on the Montreal negotiating list.

The Alouettes may find that Jesse Palmer's name jumps out at them, the Als who have never really been able to find a suitable insurance policy for Anthony Calvillo, now find Palmer available as the New York Giants let the fourth year Canadian go on Saturday. If ever there is a city that the "bachelor" might find appealing it would be Montreal, perhaps the Als should send him an invitation for a night on the town.

Pass catching could also be a strong suit for the Als as Jerome Paython was issued his release by the Seattle Seahawks, making him the second Canadian released by the Hawks who earlier in camp terminated Jesse Lumsdens NFL experience early.

The purge of Canadians continued in Seattle as Ken Carter a running back from Toronto was informed that the end had come. Carter was mostly used on special teams in Seattle and did not see much action in the backfield. He now can contemplate his football future and should his thoughts turn to Canada he will have to think Montreal, the Als hold his rights as well.

The exodus of Canadians from the NFL camps this week makes Als GM Jim Popp probably the most prescient GM in the CFL today!

One other Canadian got his pink on Saturday Brett Romberg a centre with Jacksonville cleaned out his locker and is looking for further football projects, somehow Montreal missed his name as his CFL rights belong to the BC Lions.

Perhaps Wally could give Jim a call and work something out.

The final snaps of September

Tracking our final snaps for September.

Sep 9 "It was probably as ugly as it could get"
Sep 8 "Wally is an a-hole"
Sep 3 "I don't think that there's anybody in Alberta who knows these two teams better than myself"

Opening Kickoffs of September

The items from the opening kickoff

Sep 10 Late Night Horror shows for Paopao
Sep 10 Ned Flanders' revenge
Sep 10 A defensive stand just in time
Sep 9 Admiring Greatness
Sep 9 Joseph shoulders the blame
Sep 9 Allen wants to play better
Sep 8 Lumsden to growl for the Cats
Sep 8 Taking snaps in Leoland
Sep 8 Rens look to acquire a Jesse
Sep 3 Stegall nears record
Sep 3 Singing a Tough song
Sep 3 Rens dog days prove costly

Buckin' the Odds, the Leos stay undefeated

A guy named Buck, proved to be worth his weight in gold Saturday night as the BC Lions relied on third string Quarterback Buck Pierce to engineer a two touchdown late fourth quarter drive to secure undefeated status for another week.

Pierce was pressed into service when Casey Printers found himself sidelined with recurring shoulder problems in the third quarter. Pierce took a bit of time to get used to the Taylor Field surroundings but looked rather comfortable as the fourth quarter began to wind down and the Lions began to wind up.

Spurred on by a Saskatchewan defensive collapse and some untimely (and rider fans and players suggest unbelievable) calls, the Lions charged back down the field twice in the waning moments of the game to take the lead 19-15 and remain the CFL's only undefeated squad this year.

The Riders looked to be in control of this one only to let the Lions back into the game, Saskatchewan seemed unable to control Pierce's attack and he frequently found the right receiver, at the right time with just the right amount of yardage to keep a drive alive.

It was a sloppy looking game for the first thirty minutes as neither side seemed able to get untracked and generate anything resembling offense. As the third quarter got underway Nealon Greene managed to turn on the jets a bit and get the Riders on the board and into the lead as the third quarter was winding down . After that Pierce took charge of the Lions offense and looked impressive as he led the Lions onto the attack.

The strength of the Lions the last two years has been a rather successful and entertaining tandem of Quarterbacks, now it's a trio of Leos that Wally Buono can call upon to conduct his offense. Not a bad situation for a head coach to have as he takes his undefeated squad into the last eight weeks of the season.

Winless No More!

They aren't quite ready to celebrate a Grey Cup parade around downtown Hamilton, but at least a monkey is off their backs. The Ti Cats leave week number nine with a W in the column, the first win of the 2005 campaign, a 41-39 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Blombers.

Danny McManus was back at the controls of the Ti Cat offense and finally found the range and the sure hands of D J Flick, the combination tore apart the Bomber deep backs as the Cats finally found a way not to beat themselves on the field, though it was close.

As time was winding down the Bombers were still very much in the hunt for their first road win of the year, with two minutes left in the game the Bombers were still within a field goal of taking away a W from victory starved Ivor Wynne faithful. Kevin Glenn had control of the play for the final minutes but an untimely interception snuffed out a final gasp drive for field goal position and gave the Cats the win.

For Winnipeg it's a minor setback on the comeback, the Bombers had been on a bit of a roll the last few weeks after overcoming their own shaky start and a quest for a wild card berth was not out of the question, with the loss there's a bit of breathing room for Calgary, Saskatchewan and the eastern crossover contenders.

As for Hamilton the win will be a welcome relief to the steady drum of the faithful that things have got to change drastically, immediately. And while no one is boldly predicting a Grey Cup run now, the team may be able to battle its way back to respectability and if a playoff spot should fall into their lap then the season will have been salvaged.

For now though they should savor their first win of the year and make plans to add to the math as the Labour Day showdown with Toronto beckons.

Marshall's Misery

Prior to Saturday night's battle of the bottom feeders, it was said that one team was going to at least begin to turn its season around by the end of the game. If that's true then the Bombers are on turn around watch, while the Ti Cats may be on suicide watch.

For Hamilton fans it was another long night as the Blue Bombers thumped the Steeltown lads 44-14. Hamilton never seemed to get things in gear at Canad Inn stadium, as Marcus Brady started but could not finish, let alone stem the tide of Bomber scoring.

Brady's day was cut short by an ankle injury late in the first half, Head Coach Greg Marshall, inserted newly arrived Khari Jones into the game with hopes of Ti Cat revival. Jones who is still working on his timing and learning the Ti Cat playbook returned to the scene of many of his past glories, but on this night history would not be repeating itself.

Saturday was all Blue, as Charles Roberts and Keith Stokes accounted for the bulk of the Blue Bomber scoring. Roberts rushing for 99 yards and three touchdowns, while Stokes hauled in five Kevin Glenn passes, for 139 yards and one touchdown. Stokes yardage increased with 256 all purpose yards amassed by the time the final gun had gone off.

Jim Daley was a looking a little more relaxed as the Bombers dominated the game from start to finish and seemed to shake off some of the unfortunate mistakes from past games. The win improves their record to 2-6 which is still a fair ways short of the third place Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders, but it's at least an indication that all is not quite lost this year.

Over at the Hamilton dressing room one wonders what must be going through the mind of Greg Marshall, last years coach of the year is suffering a team meltdown of epic proportions. Considered a favourite to contend with Montreal and Toronto this year, the Cats have been frustrated all season long, with nary a win for the season thus far, the playoffs may be but a rumour by Labour Day. Indeed it's very much almost next year country for the Cats who have seen some changes in the front office in the last week, many a player must be wondering if there will be more changes on the field as well.

The Cats are staying in Winnipeg to prepare for next weeks match up in Vancouver against the Lions. Two teams going in completely different directions the Leos are undefeated, the Cats winless. One suspects that if a wager was to be made on the outcome of the next game, the Lions will still be perfect where the Cats will be petrified. Greg Marshall's annus horribilis is about to get even more discouraging.

Half a game of Damon not enough

Michael Bishop gave it his best shot, but in the end the Argos needed the wily veteran Damon Allen back on the field to try and mount a come back against an aggressive Montreal Alouettes squad Friday night. The Als took advantage of Allen's on field absence to direct defensive schemes at Bishop that bogged down the Argo offence and gave Anthony Calvillo some excellent field position to launch his attacks. Calvillo took advantage of the solid defensive play to put up a 14-0 lead at half time.

Bishop received the start Friday night as Allen nursed injuries on the bench, but with the Argos stagnating and the Alouettes starting to run away with the game, Pinball Clemons had no choice but to put Allen into the game to start the second half.

Allen threw his wonky ankle into the action and managed to put a few points on the board, but after sixty minutes the Als had taken an 18-10 decision over the Argos and moved into a tie for second place in the east with Toronto, both squads trail the surprising Ottawa Renegades in the CFL East.

While Bishop may have taken the rap for the poor performance, the Argo defence stepped up and admitted that they did not have one of their finer hours. Letting the Als dominate the play for the better part of the game, gave Calvillo and company the time to put the points on the board and shut down Allen when he entered the play.

The Montreal win tightens up the CFL east quite a bit, with only Hamilton staggering around in search of a win let alone a playoff spot. With Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa all seemingly firing quite nicely at the moment, the long season may get even longer in Hamilton. For Montreal the win is reminder for the rest of the league that the Als troubles of early in the season may not have been as dire as many suggested. They're back in the hunt and a Don Matthews team with a scent of the Grey Cup is a scary thing to be dealing with.

Leos Liking first

Wally Buono's boys continue on along their winning ways, with Dave Dickenson back in the play the Lions picked up where they left off last week and rattled off another CFL win in the CFL 2005 season. With week seven done, the Leos remain the only undefeated team in the CFL with a 7-0 record far and away the most effective of CFL squads this year.

Friday night's game started out as a blow out as the Lions rolled on down the field and scored seemingly at will as Dickenson mixed his plays masterfully, leaving the Stamps defence looking confused and overwhelmed.

By half time the Calgary faithful had started to express their displeasure with the Stamps, as the defence struggled and the offense declined to get untracked. Henry Burris had a horrid start to the game with dropped passes, missed assignments and turnovers causing much misery on the Calgary offensive corps. The mental lapses early on set the stage for a frustrating night for the Stamps.

But with the half time rest the Stamps managed to cobble together an effective rebuttal to the 31-10 lead, it was an impressive reply for the Stamps, but in the end not enough and the score flattered the Stamps as the Lions did appear to dominate the affair for most of the game. The score of 39-31 flattering the Calgarians, as they game did not appear to be as close as this score indicates.

Once he got untracked, Burris did begin to generate some offense and help his shaken teammates regain some of their confidence. But Dave Dickenson controlled the play to his liking and the Lions offence repsonded in kind to his steady and effective pace.

As they sit atop the CFL West and the CFL as a whole going 8-0 is a strong possibility, the Hamilton Tiger Cats are the next opponent at BC Place. Still winless and injury riddled the Tabbies are at possibly their lowest ebb of the last few years. With so much expected of them at the start of the season, this has truly been the season from hell. It may get a little bit hotter over the next seven days as Greg Marshall tries to put together a game plan to take on the high riding Lions.

Renegades Rendez-vous

First place in the East at week seven. Very few in Ottawa and around the CFL probably thought that the Renegades would hold bragging rights on August 12th, but there it is right on the top of your CFL statistic package. The Renegades with a record of 5-3, hold down the first spot in the CFL east, thanks to an exciting 22-17 victory over a struggling Saskatchewan Roughrider squad. They're uncontested hold on the top spot will be tested tonight as the Argos and Als do battle in Toronto.

The Rens who continue to amaze and entertain game in and game out, can thank their steady defense for the victory, the Renegade secondary kept both Saskatchewan QB's Nealon Green and Marcus Crandell frustrated all night long, as turnovers and interceptions were the battle orders for the team in black.

Kerry Joseph took charge on offense once again, scoring two touchdowns on his own and throwing for another as the Renegades did an excellent job of ball control. From the very first scrimmage they seemed to be a team with an eye on the standings, as Joseph led them down the field and in for a touchdown on their first possession. A drive that put the 20,000 plus crowd into a festive mood for the rest of the game, the largest crowd of the year had hardly sat in their seats when the Rens were putting seven points on the board.

It rocked the Riders for a while, who went three and out on the following set of downs, unable to generate any offense early on in the game. Nealon Green was relieved of his duties at half time and looked like a guy not too happy about the decision. Marcus Crandell took over for quarter three and had mild success as the game progressed, but the punishing play of the Ottawa defensive line and the stingy attitude of the secondary kept the Riders off balance for the night.

As the fourth quarter was winding down the Riders had taken a lead, but the calm and collected ways of Joesph led the Rens back down the field to take the lead for good. The last minute of play in true CFL tradition had its excitement as Saskatchewan took the ball down the field and then launched a few missiles in the direction of the Ottawa endzone, but in the end a spectacular defensive play by Greg Moss salted away another Ottawa victory.

It's uncharted territory these days for the Rens, Joe Paopao's squad enjoying life at the top of the CFL pack in the east and building confidence with each game. As Joseph put it after the game, "It's a huge win for us, but we can play better." Words to give Rens fans a bit of a swagger as they support their team these days.

Wright obituary well done at Post

The National Post did a pretty impressive job of detailing the career and horrible death of Chris Wright. The former CFLer was murdered in Atlanta last week, an apparent victim of a robbery or car jacking.

The story has been covered by many media outlets in the last few days, but the article by Joe O'Connor seems to have captured the guys life quite nicely. The Post pieced together his time in college football, his introduction to the CFL via the Baltimore Stallions and the end of his career to a blown knee in the BC training camp in 2002.

Wrights career highlight was of course a mad gallop down the field in the 1995 Grey Cup a punt return that helped the Stallions take the Grey Cup off of Canadian soil for the first and only time.

A CFL All star he was denied the rookie of the year award in 95, but played his anger out on the field in that remarkable game against the Stamps.

His time in the CFL was rather short, injuries of course can shorten anyone's career but leave the fans wanting but never getting to see more.

Wright returned to Georgia where he was putting his post football life into order and looking forwards rather than backwards and old glories. The posts obit is one of the better efforts you will see, it gives us a great sketch of a life lived and tragically cut short far too early.

Race for the Bottom

While many CFL observers ponder the week 7 schedule and highlight the BC at Calgary match up as possibly a pivotal game, one needs to look a little further east for the game that may define the season.

Hamilton travels to Winnipeg on Saturday night as the two struggling franchises meet to decide who possibly is the worst in the league this year. Neither Winnipeg nor Hamilton has been able to put together a strong performance so far this year, though there have been flashes of former Ti Cat glories for Greg Marshall, the Ti Cat coach has had to stand on the sidelines and watch his squad come up short time and time again.

Winnipeg hasn't been able to find very much so far this year to be positive about, though Saturday's performance by third string QB gives the Blue something to at least look forward to. Jim Daley's frustration level must be skyrocketing as his team finds new and inventive ways to let other teams take charge of the game and take the win.

Both teams pass the one third post of the season, with the very real possibility of being nowhere near the playoffs come November, which is why Saturday's game may be the most important of the year for both teams.

Saturday's game will also have the extra drama of the return of Khari Jones, possibly in the role of starting QB for Hamilton. Marcus Brady has struggled of late and the questionable status of Danny McManus has Jones on the speed reading program for the Ti Cat playbook.

So forget about the drama in Cowtown, the rejuvenated form of the Renegades,or the rivalry of Montreal and Toronto on Friday night. The real action is at CanadInn stadium. However, expect the unexpected with these two teams. The way the season has gone, a 0-0 tie, created by an OT missed kick could sum up the season for these two teams.

Roaring along

Unbeaten after six weeks, just the kind of statistic the BC Lions were hoping to have to show for themselves as the hot days of August arrive. Friday night's spectacular at BC Place had everything a football fan could ask for, loads of offence, stellar defensive plays and a surprise twist at starting QB.

The ongoing Quarterback situation in BC gained another chapter as Casey Printers took to the field for Dave Dickenson, Printers was forced into action as Dickenson's back began to suffer spasms early Friday morning. With barely any lead time, Printers took to the field and shook off the rust of inaction, finally getting into a groove about mid way through the second quarter.

The Lions rolled up a sizeable lead into the half time as the Eskimos seemed unable to change their game plane to account for a running QB as opposed to the drop back stylings of Dave Dickenson. Printers pushed his Leos to a 20 point lead at half time as the Eskimo squad neglected to show up for the first thirty minutes of football. Head coach Danny Maciocia was relieved at his teams re-appearance in the third quarter but cryptically referred observers to view some tape of the first half for answers to the Eskimo struggles, a not so subtle dig at CFL officiating one is to surmise.

But with a change of the defensive assignments in the third quarter the Eskimos began to climb back into the game, though a hole that size against an undefeated team is not going to be filled easily. By the end of the game it took a defensive play Dante Marsh in the last minute of play to salt away the victory as Ricky Ray launched a Hail Mary pass with time winding down, with Marsh taking the ball away the 25-19 victory was assured.

It was the most anticipated game of the young season as both the Lions and Esks had been playing fairly steady and winning ball prior to Friday. The largest crowd of the year in BC at over 35,000 were primed for the fireworks and despite the absence of Dickenson the game more than filled the bill, all be it broken up into two different games it seemed.

For Edmonton questions about composure will dog the bye week as the Esks ponder why their tempers get them into such penalty trouble. Over on the other side of the Rockies the Lions now once again have to talk about their QB situation as Wally Buono sits back to decide who should get the start on Friday against the Stamps at McMahon.

While the QB "controversy" is good for the Vancouver newspaper sports wars it's one of those problems many a coach wishes he had. Start the talented veteran or last years Player of the Year, you think Greg Marshall or Jim Daley wish they had that "problem" today?

The Final Snaps of August

A list of the Final snap items for the month of August.

Aug 31 "He's my best buddy. All the time. I'm like MacKenzie King"
Aug 29 "As It is, there's three teams right in a fight for that playoff spot"
Aug 27 "They've got a feel for each other"
Aug 25 "At the end of the day, it's really what the people of Ottawa want"
Aug 20 "What can I do better? Can I slow myself down"
Aug 13 "I was kind of a historian, so I had heard of Calgary"
Aug 12 " He's a very passionate person with a bad haircut"
Aug 10 "He's not even on my radar this week"
Aug 7 "I feel it's destiny that I'm here right now"
Aug 3 "I think we're in a pretty good position at 5-1"
Aug 2 "We were the ones who came out and looked lethargic"

Opening Kickoffs for August

We track our opening kickoff features for the month of August.

Aug 31 A line he can't get through
Aug 31 Pictures for Printers
Aug 31 An eye on the game, and eye on the storm recovery
Aug 29 Brock's Back in Green and Gold
Aug 29 Rison on the Rideau?
Aug 29 The Lion sleeps this week
Aug 27 Andre hopes to be rising in another city soon
Aug 27 Room for improvement at the CBC
Aug 27 An Eskimo connection
Aug 25 Lumsden explores his options
Aug 25 CBC to stay silent on Saturday
Aug 25 Bashir's Back
Aug 20 8-0 and looking for more!
Aug 20 Silent movie night at the CBC
Aug 20 Pay Pao Pao promtly please and thank you!
Aug 13 Stamps succeeding in 2005
Aug 13 CFL alumni enshrined in US College Hall of Fame
Aug 13 Renegades secondary is second to none
Aug 12 Curious times in Hamilton
Aug 12 Bottom feeding bowl?
Aug 12 Noisemaking on the Rideau
Aug 10 Changes in Steel town
Aug 10 Brazzell in Blue
Aug 10 Rison's star about to rise?
Aug 7 Break Up the Renegades!
Aug 7 Burris Takes Control
Aug 7 Cahoon lost to the Als for six weeks
Aug 3 Look at the Details
Aug 3 Jones to take over?
Aug 3 Rens Banks ready to shine
Aug 2 The Bishop Makes a Save
Aug 2 Rens find themselves in a Strange position
Aug 2 Westwood for the Record Books

Rens on a Roll

The Ottawa Renegades are starting to make believers among the CFL aficionado, the Rens who got off to a horrible start Friday night, turned things around in the second half and took two points out of Taylor Field, something that hasn't happened for an Ottawa football club for a number of years.

Korey Banks made a timely interception as time was winding down in the first half to deny the Roughriders a touchdown, setting the stage for the Ottawa comeback of the second half. A frustrated Rider team went into the dressing room at half time in complete control of the football game in every facet but the scoreboard. Ball control the Riders ruled, yards gained the Riders dominated, score on the board well seven points does not a steamroller make.

The Renegades came out in the second half and turned on their offence and got things in gear, helped along by a number of Saskatchewan miscues the Renegades began to put some points on the board. Kerry Joseph put the Rens first TD on the board with a 20 yard run to take an 11-9 lead, that was expanded to 18-9 with a remarkable interception return that featured a lateral from Anthony Collier to Kyries Hebert who took the ball into the endzone for the major.

Marcus Crandell replaced the frustrated Nealon Greene in the fourth quarter and took the Rider downfield for a touchdown as the clock was winding down, but in the end the Riders came up a tad short as the Renegades took the victory 21-16.

The game was very much lost by Saskatchewan who seemed to find different ways to give the ball away or blow key drives all night long. Last week an irate Danny Barrett cancelled the Riders day off and sent them back to the basics in practice. It would appear the lessons were lost and the Riders can expect more of the same as August gets under way. For the Rens a 3-3 record keeps them high in the hunt in the CFL East as they continue to find ways to win key games. The Rens sit tied for first place in the Eastern Division with the Toronto Argonauts, a situation not many would have pondered at the start of the season.

It will be interesting to see if the Renegades newfound success on the field will finally translate into some increased attendance at Frank Clair Stadium. The Renegades are showing that they play for the whole sixty minutes, it would be nice to see some more fans show up to go for the ride!

.500 not charted territory for Montreal

The Montreal Alouettes don't know what to make of this, for the first time since 1996 they sport only a .500 record five weeks into a CFL season. The Als who are used to dominating the competition in the regular season have sputtered so far this season, surprising (for Als fans anyways) losses to Ottawa and Winnipeg and a close call to the Ti Cats have the Als faithful wondering if the wonder years may be done.

Thursday night Damon Allen brought his injury riddled Argonaut squad into Molson stadium and took the first regular season win for a Toronto team in Montreal in five years. Allen threw for four touchdown passes on the way to the Argos 36-24 victory over the Als. Tony Miles, John Avery, Robert Baker and Byron Parker stepped over the goal line after an Allen pass as the Argos took sole possession of the CFL's east with the win.

The Als attempted a rally of sorts in the fourth quarter as running back Eric Lapointe took the ball into the endzone for the Als first TD of the game, shortly after that Lapointe would leave the game with a suspected hamstring injury. Injuries continued to take their toll on the Als through the game, defensively Darren Crutchfield left the field injured as did Reggie Durden giving Don Matthews cause to scramble to fill positions late in the game.

While no one is panicking yet in Montreal, the locals are not used to their team having to struggle early on in a season, normally the Als have a playoff spot sewn up by the Labour Day weekend and spend the last half of the season re-tooling, the way things seem to be going this year they'll be scratching and clawing their way for a playoff spot all season long.

Khari joins the Cats

Five weeks into the new CFL season and Khari Jones finally has a place to rest his helmet. The one time CFL star who had his most memorable years as a Blue Bomber signed on with the Hamilton Tiger Cats on Tuesday, as the struggling 0-4 Cats try to spark a fire under their under performing squad.

Jones became the odd man out in Edmonton this year when Ricky Ray returned to the CFL and Edmonton chose to keep the Ray/Maas tandem that led them to a Grey Cup a few years ago. So Khari packed his bags and headed back home to Calgary, to regroup, watch some football on TV and wait for a phone call.

It really was only a matter of time before he landed another job on a CFL roster, his knowledge of the Canadian game, rifle of an arm and intelligent approach to each game was bound to place him on a roster sooner or later. Rumours of a return to Winnipeg or a trip to Montreal to back up Anthony Calvillo were early favoured possibilities, especially with the horrendous Blue Bomber start and memories of last years playoff disaster in Montreal. But in the end it was the Tiger Cats who made the call, bringing Jones into camp on Tuesday.

It's expected that with the Jones signing, Marcus Brady will find himself looking for a new job shortly. For the time being it's understood that Jones will be backing up incumbent Danny McManus who has been bedeviled by receivers with the dropsies all season long. A situation many observers point out won't change with a new QB. However, as the Cats have struggle so far this season the fans at Ivor Wynne have grown impatient, a few more negative returns in the standings may find Jones starting a game sooner than everyone expects.

He'll stay Wright where he is!

The guessing game is over for another year as CFL Commissioner Tom Wright, signed on for a one year extension to his contract. Having presided over a rather unusual bout of stability for the normally stormy league, Wright chose to accept the terms offered and stay on the job for a little while longer. With his contract set to expire with this years Grey Cup game in Vancouver, Wright decided that he'd like to continue his work on through the 2006 season.

The terms were not particularly as Wright may have wished for, he basically has taken on his job for another year without an increase in pay. But at a reported 400,000 dollars a year it's not like he's going to be selling off old autographed footballs to get by.

Three teams are reported to have been against a longer term deal (originally Wright wanted a two year deal and a pay raise) and that will give him cause for thought. As it stands at the moment 1/3 of his owners group aren't showing complete support for his efforts. Rumored to be Montreal, BC and Hamilton it will be interesting to watch how Wright handles the three malcontents over the next two years. He has big plans he'd like to put in place and enforceable salary cap and expansion eastward with a fifth franchise for the East division. The nine CFL owners rarely can agree on what to have for lunch, so it will take all of his diplomacy to get everyone on the same page on these issues and more.

Since Wright took over the television ratings have rebounded nicely, the marketing of the league seems to have finally found some success and of course troubled franchises have all been placed into the hands of those with a more progressive way of thinking.

But this being the CFL, old habits die hard and Wright can look forward to a few more battles along the way as he carries on with his duties. If nothing else it may be shrewd move by Wright to collect one more year of salary and prepare a soft landing for himself should the band of three grow to a majority of five!

Turnovers take their toll on the Ti-Cats

An inopportune Interception and some sloppy play seemed to spell doom once again for the Hamilton Tiger Cats as they dropped a 32-13 decision to the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Taylor Field Sunday.

The Riders took advantage of their chances including an amazing two man inteception return for 105 yards to seal the Ti-Cats fate. The exciting return took place late in the fourth quarter and pretty well put the exclamation point on the game as Omarr Morgan and David Bush combined to bring the ball in for a touchdown with five minutes to go. More importantly the turnover snuffed out an impressive Tiger Cat drive that had the Tabbies on the verge of cutting down the Rider lead and making a charge for the final minutes.

With the tandem touchdown the air went out of the Tiger Cats and the remaining part of the game went through the motions on the way to the Rider win. Hamilton has struggled through the early portions of the season, with Danny McManus finding himself frequently at the end of the what's wrong with..... sentences. The Cats remain winless thus far and hold down last place in the CFL East.

Saskatchewan finally rewarded coach Danny Barret with some solid play in a third quarter, which has become a period of each game that seems to cause them trouble. Third quarter collapses have caused much distress on the sidelines this year as the Riders try their best to let their opponent back into a game that should be well in hand. Sunday there never seemed to be much doubt that the Riders were going to win, but the fourth quarter stand by the Cats made things interesting until the turning point touchdown interception.

Greg Marshall must be wondering what it is he has to do get his players on the same page. The Ti-Cats return home with hopes for a win on Saturday but that won't be an easy task with the BC Lions coming to town, the Lions are firing on all cylinders this year while the Cats seem to have some serious fuel injection and transmission problems.

Saskatchewan puts their 3-1 record up for scrutiny in Calgary against the Stamps. Should the Riders keep their momentum going from Sunday's effort, their hold on first place in the West should remain strong for another seven days.

The skies parted and the lightning flashed!

Perhaps divine intervention or perhaps just a sense of a football team coming together, but under stormy skies the Ottawa Renegades convincingly dispatched the Calgary Stampeders from Frank Clair Stadium on Saturday night.

The game was delayed by about half an hour as a violent thunderstorm rumbled its way across the Ottawa Valley bringing bursts of lightning, torrents or rain and resonating thunder to Lansdowne Park. Once the players took to the field the energy from the skies seemed to be transferred to the Renegade part of the south side sidelines.

The Renegades led by Kerry Joseph controlled the bulk of the play through the game, Yo Murphy caught two touchdown passes while Josh Ranek ran the Stamps defence up and down the field for 164 yards, as the Renegades stormed their way to a 33-18 victory.

Calgary seemed to come out cold after the delay and could not control Ranek's running, nor Murphy's pass patterns. The Stamps never seemed to be capable of pulling close and continued to stumble at key points in the game. Stamps fans still wait for Henry Burris to get untracked and show some of the magic they thought was on its way before training camp. Tom Higgins was not impressed with his teams performance, stating that there was really only one good football team on the field Saturday and that team was not the Stamps. Ouch, two a days for everyone?

The win gives the Rens a .500 record and puts them into a tie for first place in the Eastern Division. But more importantly the solid play of all components gives the team some added confidence early in the season. Confidence that will gain a major test on Thursday night when the Edmonton Eskimos come into town to play the Rens.

The announced crowd on Saturday was a paltry 16,303 a signal that the team has yet to win back many of the dis-satisfied fans of the last few years. However, another solid effort like Saturdays and the solid work ethic that these Rens are showing should begin to turn those turnstiles a little quicker and a little more often as the season progresses.

This is a team that doesn't seem to have any quit, a trait that should be rewarded by football fans. The Rens are starting to hold up their end of the bargain on the field, the time has come for the Ottawa sports fan to do their part in the stands!

Squeaker for the Green and Gold

It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. That seems to be the approach i Winnipeg, but its much better to win one assumes is the credo in the Eskimo dressing room. The Eskimos handed Winnipeg its fourth loss of the season, but it really shouldn't have been. As it took a last second field goal by Sean Fleming to secure an ugly 14-12 victory for the Eskimos.

Heavily favored going into the game, the Esks came up flat and faced a rather spirited defence from the Blue as Jim Daley's team tried to turn around what so far has been a dreadful season. But once again offensive production was not there and the Bombers could not put sufficient numbers on the board to take away a win at Commonwealth Stadium

Tee Martin continued to struggle at the Bomber controls and the inability to convert a first down late in the game gave the Eskimos enough of a life to steal one away from the frustrated Blue Bomber squad. The panic button apparently hasn't been pushed yet in Winnipeg, but one wonders if Bomber GM, Lyle Bauer has one hand hovering over the control panel while the other one speed dials available quarterbacks. Would the Bombers have the courage to give Khari Jones a call and bring him back to the Peg? Would Khari want to go back? Just how long is it til those NFL camps make their first cuts? So many questions, so few answers, so few wins.

Winnipeg regroups and prepares for next weeks contest a Friday night football feature showcasing the Montreal Alouettes at CanadInn stadium. It's going to be a long week for Coach Daley, who is must be running out of ways to keep his team motivated and optimistic for game day. 0-4 is a huge hole to try and dig yourself out of in the West, a few more weeks of winless football and the entire season may be lost.