CFL SHOULD ACT TO ADDRESS RIDICULOUS RATIO RULE AT QB
Bridge’s fine work in Hamilton underlines how Canadian pivots face discrimination
Confidential memo to the CFL: ■
Somehow, some way, amend the roster rules so that a team can be rewarded for starting
(or even playing) a Canadian quarterback. The flaws in the system were underlined Friday, when Toronto-born Brandon Bridge was behind centre for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Roughriders started a Canadian at football’s most important position without deriving any ratio-related benefits from having done so — the reason being that CFL teams are allowed to dress three quarterbacks of any nationality. Addressing a situation that is discriminatory toward Canadian quarterbacks should be high on commissioner Randy Ambrosie’s priority list.
Ambrosie has made several applaudable moves in his first few months as the league’s supremo, so we trust he will approach the Canadian-quarterbacking issue with his trademark effectiveness and decisiveness.
Memo to the Roughriders: Stop
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removing the starting quarterback during a promising drive! All too often, the temporary change of signal-caller leads to a field-goal attempt.
This season, the Roughriders
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have posted their first victory in a stadium in both their games against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Roughriders’ first win at new Mosaic Stadium was on July 8, when they downed the visiting Tiger-Cats 37-20. On Friday, Saskatchewan broke the ice at Tim Hortons Field, downing the Tiger-Cats 27-19. The Roughriders had lost their first three games at Tim Hortons Field by a combined score of 111-25.
Menu suggestion for Tim
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Hortons Field: Tommy Joe Coffee. Tommy Joe Coffey (please note correct spelling) had some interesting stats during a Hall of Fame career. As a member of the 1965 Edmonton Eskimos, he made 81 receptions but only two of them went for touchdowns. Yet, he scored eight TDs on only 27 catches with the 1972 TigerCats.
It is sad to see Darian Durant
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flounder with the feckless Montreal Alouettes. The former Roughriders star was mercifully removed from Sunday’s home game against the Ottawa Redblacks after going 0-for-6. Montreal went on to lose 29-11. It is painfully obvious that Durant is struggling, and that description of his play may be charitable, but you have to wonder whether anyone could excel at quarterback for that smouldering wreck of a team.
Item: Academy Award-winning
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director James Cameron has invested in a Vanscoy-based organic pea-processing plant. Will the employees be working in pods?
As one who directed Titanic,
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Cameron is eminently qualified for an upper-management position with the Alouettes.
A mere 2,300 spectators visited
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gleaming new Mosaic Stadium to watch the University of Regina Rams defeat the University of Alberta Golden Bears 28-18 on Saturday. Why is it that the Rams cannot attract significantly larger crowds in a supposedly football-crazed city? The Rams’ roster includes the reigning Hec Crighton Trophy winner, quarterback Noah Picton. The team’s aerial game is something to see. (Reminder: The Rams return to action Saturday, 2 p.m., at home against the University of Manitoba Bisons.)
Hold on. Shouldn’t the nickname
■ be “Bison?”
Like the Rams, the Regina
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Thunder deserves more fan support. Slightly fewer than 1,000 spectators watched the Thunder register a 29-24 comeback victory over the Winnipeg Rifles at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday. Thunder quarterback Sawyer Buettner’s bombs-away approach is highly entertaining. Ditto for the spectacular leaping catches that have become routine for Thunder receiver Levi Paul.
Tony Romo, a rookie in the
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CBS booth, is already the best football analyst since Ron Lancaster. Romo routinely tells the viewers what will happen before it takes place.
Note to self: Ask Romo to select
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my lottery numbers.
Pet peeve: Incessant references
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to the football as “the rock.”
The Calgary Flames’ ownership
■ group has more than enough money to build a new arena without any funding from taxpayers. Calgary actually needs a new football stadium more than a replacement for a 34-year-old arena. When McMahon Stadium (b. 1960) was in its 34th year, Doug Flutie was the Calgary Stampeders quarterback.
Nice people who deserve a
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plug: Gordon Staseson, Kevin Curran, Jessica Furlan, Garth Murray, Jamie Nye, Mitch Picton, Evan Bray, Mitchell Blair, Michael Ball, Mike McCullough, Chris Best, Bev Novenski, Trent Ferguson, Jeff Livingstone, Shelley Marshall, Mervyn Norton, Aaron Anderson, and all 36 students in the aforementioned
Mr. Anderson’s Period 3 Grade 9 English class at Campbell Collegiate.