First and Goal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/08/2010 (5538 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 A tough question that should be asked in the wake of the B.C. Lions’ 1-4 start and sloppy 28-25 loss to the previously winless Edmonton Eskimos last week: is GM and head coach Wally Buono getting a free pass because of his juicy resume?

Hey look, you have to be careful calling out a guy with more wins than any other coach in CFL history, but these Lions have looked de-clawed for a while. Get this: including last year’s playoffs and dating back to last October, B.C. is 2-8 in its last 10.

Said Buono after the loss in Edmonton: "It’s the same old stuff, right? You’ve got to not make mistakes … whether it’s a holding call, a missed audible, hanging on to the football too long. These are all things in a close game that eventually catch up to you.

"The quarterback is too inconsistent and, until that corrects itself, it’s going to be tough… I guess you pay the price for inexperience."

Fair comment. But in examining the QB position alone, Buono hitched his wagon to Casey Printers — and his career has been more down than up over the last few years — cut Buck Pierce to keep an injured Jarious Jackson and is now suffering through the growing pains that come with starting the talented-but-untested Travis Lulay.

And those decisions are on the boss.

2 A whole pile of names are being tossed around as possible GM candidates in Edmonton after Danny Maciocia was fired on the weekend. Longtime CFLer Eric Tillman, Montreal assistant GM Marcel Desjardins, Neil McEvoy of the Lions, the Stamps’ John Murphy, current Esk staffers Ed Hervey, Paul Jones and Dan McKinnon — who’ll run the team by committee in the interim — along with ex-Eskimo boss Tom Higgins and former Roughrider GM Roy Shivers have all been mentioned.

But one of the most-intriguing candidates could be former CFLer/turned TSN analyst Duane Forde. Listen, nobody knows the CFL draft better than Forde and the Esks’ recent history in finding Canadians has been awful. He played the game, knows the league and was said to be on the radar screen of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats a couple years ago.

3 Hate to see anybody lose their job, particularly a Canadian management type in the CFL like Maciocia. But this quote from the former Eskimos GM — "I didn’t see it coming, not now" — is a real head-scratcher. What, did he think he was safe when president Rick LeLacheur called out the whole organization after the loss here in Winnipeg?

Attendance is down in northern Alberta, there was a hate-on for the GM and Richie Hall — the head coach — also doubles as the defensive co-ordinator and still has the support of the clubhouse. That said, the public contempt for Maciocia — from afar — did seem harsh.

"I don’t go out to bars," he said. "I’m not a womanizer. I’ve never embarrassed the organization. Then this dislike? I don’t understand it."

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4 Nobody asked me, but here’s my compromise to Ottawa’s return to the league but Saskatchewan’s veto of the use of the Roughrider nickname: the expansion side should trot out their old black and red colours, including the black helmet featuring the classic capital ‘R.’ All that’s left then is coming up with a name that starts with ‘R.’ Raiders? Rovers? Renegades? Ramblers? (Just not Ruff Ryders, OK?)

And here’s hoping the CFL puts some meat on the expansion draft so that the team won’t be referred to as the ‘Replacements’ or ‘Rejects.’

5 And, finally, a tip of the hat to Ike Charlton, released by the Bombers on Monday. A respected teammate, solid leader and a go-to quote for yours truly, the 32-year-old Charlton fell victim to the harshest reality of pro football after getting chewed up by Nik Lewis on the weekend. As the players in this league often say, ‘Great game, brutal business.’

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca