Canada, eh? League gives Manziel OK
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are now on the clock.
The Canadian Football League announced Thursday that it would approve a contract for quarterback Johnny Manziel if one was negotiated with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who have the former Heisman Trophy winner on their negotiation list. The Tiger-Cats now have 10 days to make an offer to Manziel in order to maintain his rights or trade him to another team.
If Manziel doesn’t receive an offer from Hamilton or isn’t dealt by Jan. 7, he’ll become a free agent. But worth noting is Hamilton simply has to make an offer to Manziel and if it’s rejected, he’d remain on the Tiger-Cats’ negotiation list for another year.
Similarly, any team acquiring Manziel’s rights from Hamilton would then have a 10-day window to make him an offer. And as is the case with the Tiger-Cats, if Manziel turned that down, the new club would be able to keep him on its negotiation list for another year.
Erik Burkhardt, Manziel’s agent, didn’t immediately return a telephone message Thursday.
In August, Manziel worked out for the Tiger-Cats, who passed on making him an offer. But Manziel’s camp activated Hamilton’s 10-day window, forcing the CFL club to make a decision on whether to sign or trade him.
The CFL then stepped in and extended the window for further evaluation.
The following month, Manziel met with CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie to discuss a resolution, which included Manziel having to fulfill certain requirements to join the league. Shortly afterwards, the CFL announced the Tiger-Cats would hold Manziel’s rights until Nov. 30 before extending it again into January to continue with its due diligence.
Teams can have up to 45 players on their negotiation list, giving them exclusive CFL rights to those listed. Players can be added, removed or traded from the list at any time.
Secret is out
Phoenix Suns Coach Jay Triano let the world in on a little secret
Tuesday.
With 0.6 seconds remaining and his team tied with the Memphis
Grizzlies, Triano found the perfect opportunity to use a play he’d had up his sleeve for some time. Suns forward Dragan Bender lobbed an inbound pass toward the rim, over the arms of Memphis center Brendan Wright and into the hands of Phoenix center Tyson Chandler, who threw down the game-winning alley-oop dunk with time to spare.
“I was trying to create a play where you could score with like three-tenths of a second or something, and I just thought this was a good time to do it,” Triano told reporters after the game. “I put it in about two or three days after I took over the job here, and it’s a rule a lot of people don’t know. You cannot goal tend a ball that isn’t going to count, so I told our guys, ‘Shoot the ball in the basket, and all Tyson has to do is touch it on the way down or grab the rim and have it hit your knuckle and go in.’
“I asked the officials when they come and do their clinics and seminars with the coaches. I asked them that 15 years ago when I was in Toronto. I asked them about it, and they had to go back and look at it. I’ve tried to keep it a secret, and it’s not a secret anymore.”
The Suns’ victory was Triano’s 100th as an NBA head coach.