Playoffs not only thing at stake
Lions in a post-season dogfight with ownership change on horizon
In honour of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight, here’s something else that won’t be as bad as you’d think: The Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports:
There is suddenly much at stake for the B.C. Lions.
Following their loss in Ottawa on Saturday, the Lions find themselves in a dogfight for fourth place in the West and what figures to be the crossover berth in the playoffs. They’re 5-5 and in the throes of a three-game losing streak. Saskatchewan is 4-4 and coming off two straight wins. The Leos had more ambitious designs on this season, but making the CFL playoffs — which isn’t exactly the most arduous task — has now become their sole focus.
Still, there’s so much else in play for the Leos in 2017 and when you take out the wide-angle lens, you begin to understand this is a pivotal moment in the history of the franchise.
The franchise, in case you’ve forgotten, is for sale and the sense is the new owners will be announced at the end of this season. Who those new owners will be is the next question, but in talking with sources close to the talks, it appears to be down to two buyers: The Aquilinis and a consortium we’ll call The Waterboys because of their ties to the Lions’ support group.
Both parties would seem to satisfy the criteria set down by Lions owner David Braley. They’re local. They have a background in sports. True, The Waterboys have been closer to the Lions over the years, but the Aquilinis, through the Canucks, have resources at their disposal that could strengthen the Lions on and off the field.
But whoever ends up with the team, change is needed. Under the absentee ownership of Braley, the Lions have a tired, shopworn feel to them that has affected their brand. They need new leadership. They need a new vision for the franchise. They need fresh energy.
This is also presumed to be coach/ GM Wally Buono’s last year with the team and his departure creates its own set of issues. Add it all up and right now there is too much uncertainty with this team and it’s impacting virtually every facet of its operation. New owners won’t fix all those problems, but at least they’d be a start. As for the story on the field, it was interesting to watch and listen to Travis Lulay in the Lions’ locker-room after the loss to the Ottawa Redblacks. Lulay has deferred to Jonathon Jennings while the younger man held down the starting quarterback job, but that all changed Saturday when Lulay almost brought the Lions back from a 31-3 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Barring the unforeseen, he’ll be the Lions’ QB down the stretch. With everything else that’s going on with this club, Lulay’s experience and character will be indispensable for a team that needs leadership.
“Obviously there’s a great sense of urgency,” he said in the Lions’ room after the loss to Ottawa. “It’s going to be a battle.
“There are eight regular-season games left, but there’s still hope. If there’s no hope and there’s no care in the locker-room, then I’m scared for how the next eight games go. I believe we’ll regroup in bye (week) and come back a better team.”
The Lions’ bye week also coincides with the NFL’s roster cutdown. This year, the NFL’s final cuts will be made Sept. 4 when teams pare their 90-man pre-season roster down to 53. That means there will be in excess of 1,000 players out of work by next week.
The Lions will be bringing in some bodies and the offensive line figures to be one of their target areas. There will be imports in the mix, but remember the name Brett Boyko, the offensive guard from Saskatoon who the Lions took in the 2015 draft. Boyko has been in the NFL for two years, but may be running out of options.
Don’t look now, but since a 4-0 drubbing in Chicago on July 1, the Whitecaps are 5-2-2 in their last nine games, have crawled up to fourth place in the West and are now looking at four straight home games in September, three of which are against teams currently below the playoff bar.
The playoffs are right there for the Caps, but they’re also poised to deliver their most successful regular season since joining MLS seven years ago. Don’t want to put too much pressure on the lads, but we could use some good news in this market.
And finally, not sure what lasting truths can be extracted from the Mayweather-McGregor fight, but perhaps the most articulate summation of the event came via Twitter: “For once boxing didn’t suck.”
No, it didn’t suck. And for everything that was at stake, this was the best both boxing and MMA could have hoped for. The mere fact McGregor, in his first pro bout, could go 10 rounds with one of the greatest boxers of all-time was an astonishing feat. As it is, Mayweather leaves the game with a 50-0 record and his legacy intact, while McGregor has only enhanced his brand, which is saying something.
I mean, who else shows up at the post-fight presser with his own brand of Irish whiskey?
McGregor’s schnoz might have a different opinion, but there really wasn’t a loser in this fight. This one could have gone about 28 different ways and 27 of them would have been bad. You just hope this concept doesn’t catch on because the odds of it delivering again aren’t great.