First and goal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2010 (5843 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines that jumped out while observing the past week of Canadian Football League action:

1 Some Monday headlines from the Edmonton newspapers to begin our discussion this week…

"And the beating goes on for the Eskimos"

"Esks implode in 56-15 loss"

"Esks free fallin’ into a sinkhole"

"Massacre at McMahon"

And so it goes for the Eskimos following an embarrassing 56-15 loss to the Calgary Stampeders that drops a squad some picked as Grey Cup contenders to a woeful 1-6. All of this, of course, continues to make following the Eskimos the most compelling soap opera in the entire CFL.

Really, if they whacked GM Danny Maciocia after their only win of the season, what do they do now? And can they still salvage something this year with QB Ricky Ray possibly out with a shoulder injury and with the Grey Cup game in the Alberta capital on the last Sunday in November?

We think not. And it’s hard to imagine the Esks being able to sell the rest of the season without some significant changes following their bye this week.

"We got our asses kicked, excuse my language," head coach Richie Hall told reporters after the game. "There’s nothing we can do about the first third of the season other than a lack of performance, a pitiful performance. Then when they come back, they have to think about what kind of player, what kind of team they want to be."

2 It’s not fair and the timing is all wrong, but disgruntled Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans are starting to ask this question out loud:

Given the impressive turnaround by the Toronto Argonauts, the continued solid work of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defence and the impressive play of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, did the Bombers board err in selecting the current Joe Mack-Paul LaPolice combo over Brendan Taman, Jim Barker and Greg Marshall?

A suggestion: Let’s all take a step back and look at this whole thing at season’s end before making a snap judgment. As they say, there’s nothing more embarrassing than a premature evaluation. That said, another stink-bomb home performance by the Bombers will considerably drain the goodwill bank.

3Love Jumbotrons, mascots, cheerleaders and all the fun peripheral stuff that makes going to any sporting event — especially football — such a blast. But choreographed TD celebrations like the bogus rowing stunt led by Argos receiver Chad Owens is worth the excessive-celebration penalty they received. Hey, spike the ball, do a crazy dance and go nuts. But when it involves more than three guys and/or props, it’s way too over the top. Thumbs up to spontaneity; thumbs down to something that looks like it belongs on beer-and-skits night.

"I got penalized, I hurt the team, but you are in the moment," Owens said after the game. "You are out here to enjoy yourself and the game and that is all I was doing. I was trying to get back to Hawaii (his home state), but I hit some current, hit some waves."

"That’s not us and I don’t think you will ever see it happen again," said Argos boss Jim Barker. "That shocked me. They might have been doing it in (Jeremaine Copeland’s) honour because Cope (who was injured in the game) was the one who originally did it. That’s not what we do."

4A week doesn’t go by without a pile of emails from readers/CFL fans complaining about the sorry state of CFL officiating. Usually, it just draws a shrug because it’s hard to discern a drop-off in the work of the men in the striped shirts from one year to the next. But the last couple of weeks — from the inconsistent pass-interference and horse-collar penalties to the missed TD by Brock Ralph the other night — have been particularly iffy. Same old, same old problem, though: How do you fix it?

5 And, finally, what happened to all the hype — not to mention all the doomsayers — who predicted the Buffalo Bills series of games in Toronto was going to mark the end of the Argonauts in the centre of the universe?

Just FYI, the Bills and Indianapolis Colts play a pre-season game this week in Toronto and the buzz surrounding the game both locally and nationally is nil. Sure, it helps that the Argos are entertaining and the surprise of the early CFL season. But maybe it’s time those who doubted the CFL’s tradition in all parts of this country learned to appreciate its allure.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca