THIRD AND LONG

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/07/2010 (5549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines that jumped out while observing the past week of CFL action:

1. Wild few days in Edmonton in the wake of the Eskimos’ 0-4 start and the demand for somebody, anybody, to be whacked. And when team president Rick LeLacheur scheduled a press conference for Monday afternoon, many thought heads would indeed roll. Pick a fall guy, any fall guy.

Instead, LeLacheur said nobody was going to get canned after the franchise’s worst opening since 1965 — both GM Danny Maciocia and head coach Richie Hall are safe, for now — and then the boss proceeded to fire a very loud warning shot through the clubhouse by suggesting the team wasn’t mentally tough enough. “The game on Saturday was a total embarrassment; an embar­rassment to the players, coaches and management. It’s just not acceptable,” LeLacheur said.

Expect minor tinkering for now, but with two home games com­ing up against B.C. and Toronto, the Eskimo soap opera just got a whole lot more compelling.

“I have never been on a team that’s 0-4, so it’s going to be inter­esting to see what the rally is in the locker-room after this,” defen­sive tackle Dario Romero told Edmonton reporters. “You find out a lot about yourself when you lose, but when you go 0-4 your character is tested. It’s just a matter of coming out here and playing your ass off.”

2. Second thought on the Esks… put yourself in LeLacheur’s shoes for a moment and ask what, exactly, is the next move if the losing continues?

Firing Hall not only leaves the team without a head coach, but a defensive co-ordinator as well. And who would fill those spots? Do you let Maciocia go? Many CFL pundits figured the Esks had the personnel to finish first or second in the West and advance to November’s Grey Cup, smack dab in their own backyard.

Callers to the radio shows in Edmonton have also been suggesting if it gets really ugly QB Ricky Ray be replaced by third-stringer Jared Zabransky. And if that happens this season then we can make it of­ficial: The Esks have touched bottom.

3. The other surprise a month into the CFL season — positive surprise — has been the Toronto Argonauts, who are 3-1. We’ll say it again: Jim Barker has done a marvellous job making over a team that was horrific last year in going 3-15. And consider this as the definition of resiliency: In each of the Argos’ three wins this year, they trailed head­ing into the fourth quarter.

But Barker isn’t settling for just making the Argos competitive again. As is the case with the new regime here in Winnipeg, he’s constantly pushing, pushing, pushing the troops to expect more.

“We have turned it over nine times in the past two games and this week we had (75) yards in penalties, and we still won,” Barker said. “Normally you have to lose games to learn lessons. But trust me, it was drummed into our team that the way we are playing is not good enough right now, and we need to improve. We have struggled and scratched and clawed.”

4. Debate among yourselves: Has there become any­thing less dramatic than an Alouette home game? Montreal was 9-0 at home last year — 10-0 if you include the playoffs — and spanked the Ticats 37-14 a week ago in what was supposed to be a preview of the East Division final. For the record, Montreal’s last home loss was a 24-23 setback to the Bombers on Oct. 26, 2008. In their 11 home wins since then, the average margin of victory is 20.4 points. Yawn.

5. And, finally, excuse me while I cut this short today. I’m heading over to the zoo to find some sort of primate to begin making my weekly CFL picks (1-3 last week; 6-10 overall).

Actually, anybody have a number for TSN’s hockey expert, Maggie the Monkey?

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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