FIRST AND GOAL

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/10/2010 (5789 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines that jumped out while watching the last week of Canadian Football League action:

1 Nobody asked me, but the Montreal Alouettes clinching first place in the East Division for the third straight season and ninth time in the last 12 years isn’t getting enough play across the country.

Maybe it’s become so commonplace it’s worthy of just a yawn but, from afar, this is an astonishing accomplishment worthy of more praise.

We don’t have the time or the space here to properly outline the secrets behind the Als’ dominance, but while they have changed coaches and owners since returning to Montreal in 1996, one man remains constant: GM Jim Popp.

And a huge component of his blueprint is simple: covet Canadians like they are gold. The Als, for example, have had 31 more draft picks than the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the last 11 years. That’s a lot of homegrown help, people.

2 The CFL can spin this all they want, but they fumbled big time over the last few weeks with the decision not to allow players to wear pink — gloves, toques, towels, arm bands, cleats, whatever — during games in support of breast cancer awareness month.

The reason, according to HQ?

Commissioner Mark Cohon said the issue is one of equity and, get this, because it would violate the league’s dress code. Players like the Bombers Jon Oosterhuis were even fined for wearing pink gloves. That’s ridiculous.

Look, Cohon & Co. have done a lot of good things over the last few years, but this is a public-relations screw-up that could have, should have, been fixed.

3 Here’s why so many in Saskatchewan, particularly listeners to CKRM’s Sports Cage in Regina where he is a regular guest, think that former Roughrider defensive tackle Scott Schultz has a future in TV.

Schultz said this after watching the Calgary Stampeders run right through the heart of the Rider defence last weekend:

“Listen, you can say what you want about coaching. (Defensive coordinator Gary) Etcheverry wants to out-think everybody, out-scheme you and wants to be the smartest guy on the field. There’s a place for that but there’s also a place for lining up and seeing whose balls are bigger, and an individual beating up on the guy across from you, and allowing you to line up one-on-one and kick the s–t out of the guy in front of you. Our players aren’t allowed to do that right now, they’re just cogs in the system. I guarantee if you line (Rider D-linemen Brent) Hawkins, (Luc) Mullinder, (Keith) Shologan and (Marcus) Adams up one-on-one and say ‘here’s your gaps, beat the guy in front of you’, I guarantee they’ll win their share of battles.”

He was on my all-quote team as a player and my only regret now that he has retired is we don’t get to speak to him regularly anymore. TSN should open up a spot for the big man.

4 Memo to Derick Armstrong: love your game, partner, but you still have no clue when it comes to figuring out how the coach-player relationship works. Armstrong, who famously refused to step on the field in the first game of ’09 after then-Bomber head coach Mike Kelly told him he was the designated import and not a starter, returned to B.C. last weekend as a member of the Eskimos.

And he said this about Lions’ boss Wally Buono, who dusted Armstrong off this winter when nobody else wanted him and gave him a shot at extending his career before cutting him in August:

“It’s Wally’s way or no way,” Armstrong is quoted in The Vancouver Sun. “You can explain your opinion, but the only opinion that counts is his. He has total control of that team and he’s not very flexible about anything. I just don’t understand it. I was developing great chemistry with the quarterbacks.”

True that — Armstrong was the Lions’ second-leading receiver when he was cut and popular with his teammates. But he’s 31, has wonky knees and the coaching staff believed his game was showing signs of plateauing. He’s not the first vet to be released mid-season and he won’t be the last.

5 And, finally, can anyone remember a CFL weekend more violent that the one which just passed? Over the course of three days the Esks lost receiver Kamau Peterson (achilles) for the season and Kelly Campbell with a concussion; the Lions lost both Davis Sanchez (elbow) and J.R. LaRose (leg) for the year; Rider kicker Luca Congi and receiver Rob Bagg (knee) are both done for 2010 as is Calgary defensive lineman Mike Labinjo (arm).

Buckle up your chinstraps, boys, and keep your heads on a swivel because it’s only going to get nastier heading into November.