Franklin’s return to Commonwealth ‘like a home game’
Before Friday’s game, the only other time James Franklin set foot inside the visitors locker-room at Commonwealth Stadium involved holding a cup.
The Toronto Argonauts quarterback was back in his old stomping grounds after being promoted to the starting role due to an injury to Ricky Ray, which happened just in time for Franklin to face his former Edmonton Eskimos teammates in a home-and-away series.
“Strangely, it kind of feels like a home game,” the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Missouri product said outside of the locker-room he called home for three seasons. “It’s nice to be back. Everyone keeps giving me a hard time: ‘James, you’re home.’
“No, I’m from Texas.” Home or not, he was working out of the visitors locker-room on Friday.
“I think the only (previous) time I went in it was for a drug test last year,” Franklin said.
GOT MILK?
Playing his second game in as many weeks since being called back by the Eskimos, Mark Mackie is proving he can be relied on to deliver.
Which is fitting for someone given the nickname Milk Truck in training camp last year after being drafted by the Eskimos in the eighth round (67th overall).
“It stuck,” Mackie said of the moniker given to him by former Eskimos defensive lineman Odell Willis. “I came back and everyone kept it going, so Odell kind of set up a chain reaction there.”
The 6-foot-1, 255-pound defensive lineman out of McMaster University in Hamilton, where he returned to play a final season last year, was listed among the 20 names cut following this year’s camp.
But mounting injuries along the D -line prompted a call back ahead of the home-and-away series against the Argos, and he recorded his first career sack in his CFL debut at BMO Field in Toronto.
“It was a really crazy week for me,” said Mackie, a native of London, Ont. “On Monday, I was literally sitting on the couch, thinking about life post-football and what am I going to do? And then on Saturday, I was getting a sack in front of all my friends and family in Toronto.
“It’s crazy how fast life can hit you sometimes.”
MIC IT OR NOT ...
There were no unicycles nor was there juggling on the Eskimos sideline Friday, but head coach Jason Maas was geared up for Edmonton’s first TSN live-mic broadcast of the season.
“It doesn’t matter. They ’re making us do it four times this year,” Maas said of the broadcaster’s gimmick he refused to take part in when it was introduced in 2015, a move that ended up costing him $15,000.
“I’m not going to change my game plan or the stuff that we do four times this year.
“It is what it is. TSN, the fans, everybody will see what they’re going to see, and we’re not going to change anything. I’m not going to let it affect what we do.
“We’ll just do what we do, and if it becomes an advantage for someone else, so be it. And if we have to adapt and change and overcome, we’ll do it. That’s all I’ll say about it.”
BYE THE WAY
Kenny Stafford, for one, doesn’t know exactly what he’ll be doing during Edmonton’s bye in the CFL schedule next week.
He just knows his girlfriend has taken care of their plans.
“I’m excited, just for us to get away and refocus ... an 18-game season is long,” the receiver said.
“So just to be able to see your family and get that quick refresh, restart, and then let’s get back into it, because once we get back, we’re in a slew of games with (Saskatchewan) twice and we’ve got Montreal right after the bye.
“I’m not looking ahead of time, but I just know that’s going to be the meat of our schedule and we need to come out successful in that.”
HALF-TIME HYPE
It’s not out of the realm of possibility for 62-year-old Argonauts head coach Marc Trestman to count himself among the fans of Friday’s halftime performer, rapper and actor Ludacris.
Is it?
He said he is a fan. “Anything they can do to bring people in and create a great environment for the fans, I think it’s great,” said Trestman.