I wish that I was Jesse ...

Meant to post this earlier this week, but got sidetracked...

The Jesse of whom I speak is the one and only Jesse Lumsden, the former Canadian university standout still trying to get his rep as a fulltime NFL running back.

For whatever reason, Lumsden's attention in the Canadian media is so grossly outweighing his potential and ability — as it translates to NFL competition — it's further from reality than Whitney Houston.

Listen, it's a nice thought to ponder a Canadian university-bred player, in one of the skill positions — and not, say, on the offensive line or special teams — taking the NFL by storm, but that's a pipe dream and everyone knows it. What Lumsden's goals are in the NFL, they're probably modest and likely no one knows better than he the major mountain he has to climb to make that lofty goal a reality.

But the national media — I'm looking at you TSN and Sportsnet — can't get enough of the Disney script to the point where they've painted Lumsden as a legitimate NFL hopeful each of the past two seasons he's tried to crack a roster down south.

When Lumsden became eligible for the CFL draft, and the Hamilton Tiger Cats subsequently picked the hometown boy, the ever obtuse "experts" who cover the CFL openly questioned the logic of picking a guy who had his sights firmly set on making the NFL. Never mind that Lumsden was the most talented Canadian coming out of the draft of CIS athletes (by far) or that keeping a local makes PR sense, the experts had fooled themselves into believing that the Ticats had wasted a pick for, as they reasoned, Lumsden wasn't long for the CFL with NFL glory surely awaiting him.

Yeah, right.

Sportsnet covered Lumsden's brief foray with the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 training camp with all the vigour they'd muster if Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore opened a coffee shop together on Richards St. (That is to say, with a lot of it.)

If Lumsden broke the line of scrimmage, Sportsnet was there with blanket coverage and this year has been no different as Lumsden tries to make it with the Washington Redskins. TSN has continued the unwarranted fervour with the same type of attention as last year.

Wanna know when that excitement should be toned down a notch? When the guy isn't even listed on the team's depth chart.

Look for yourself.

There's a major difference between a Canadian — and there have been quite a few of them — making an NFL roster and a Canadian attempting to be a running back on an NFL roster. I don't care how many yards Lumsden ran for in the CIS, he could have run for 10 grand in a single season, it still doesn't put him in the NFL elite. An article on Redskins.com highlighted Lumsden's 344-yard performance in a 2004 game. Impressive no doubt, but let's remember this was against the Waterloo Warriors, not the Texas Longhorns. The two-win Waterloo Warriors, I might add.

This is not to say I wouldn't pull for him to earn a place down there, for sure I would, I would just like the media to check their Lumsden for President signs at the door and scale back what is so utterly over the top it's embarassing. After all, what are the expectations for him down there? It can't be to earn a spot as the feature back, that's preposterous. So then what? To spell Clinton Portis? Not a chance. To be realistic, Lumsden's best hopes are to somehow weasel into a role as a third-down back, which would be a tremendous, (read: TREMENDOUS) accomplishment, all things considered. But even if he does, one day, earn that status would that alone be enough to garner the abundance of media attention he's been privy too already? I say no.

I know we as Canadians love to boast about and cheer for our own when they branch out into the big-time of the U.S. but while we're giving all this attention to every one of Lumsden's insignificant moves, it's also forgetting that there are in fact Canadians throughout the NFL.

Israel Idonije is on an NFL roster. Mitch Berger is on an NFL roster. J.P. Darche is on an NFL roster. So too is Jerome Pathon, O.J. Santiago and Brett Romberg.

Jon Ryan just beat out B.J. Sander, the incumbent, for the punting job in Green Bay despite the fact Sander was a former third-round draft pick and the Packers had once upon a time invested a handsome sum in the Ohio State product. That's not a story of note? Instead it has slid under the radar while we're all told what hand Lumsden used to try and high-five Antwaan Randle-El.

Maybe it's because Ryan's a punter, maybe it's because he's from Regina and Regina's not in Ontario. Whatever the case his story is significantly more... well, significant... than that of Lumsden who is bound to return to Canada.

In the meantime, TSN can champion Lumsden all it wants, I'll quietly wish well to those Canadians who will actually play a game this year.

Oh, Big Red

Things aren't always grand in the land of the Cornhusker.

Sophomore quarterback Harrison Beck, touted as one of the best QBs from his recruiting class, has quit the team apparently disgruntled over the number of reps he was getting during Nebraska summer camp.

The loss of Beck isn't so much significant this season — senior starter Zac Taylor is the locked-in No.1 and the Big Red faithful are excited about this season with Taylor — but I think many people were anxious to see what Beck could do if the keys to the car were handed over to him.

Beck burned his red shirt last season and stepped in for an injured Taylor in a win over Kansas State in November and was less than impressive. Still, he is widely regarded as one of the better passers in pro-style, west-coast offences and it's too bad he's moved on.

What's more interesting though is what this does for him as a college QB. Having burned that red shirt and appeared in NCAA games, Beck won't be elligible to play for anyone until at least November, the liklihood of that happening being very slim. The reality is that Beck now has to find himself a place to play — likely back in his home state of Florida where he was heavily recruited by the Big 3 there — learn a new system, work his way up a depth chart and then eventually, he hopes, get himself in as the No.1.

The alternative? Suck it up and take your lumps at Nebraska and battle your ass off for a chance to be No.2 behind Taylor and the favourite to step in for 2007.

Instead, Beck backed down while his mother of all people chirped about how he wasn't getting enough reps behind Joe Ganz, the guy on whom Nebraska future hopes now rest. But all this goes to show a bit of Beck's mentality and far be it for someone to crucify the decision-making of a guy not even out of his teenage years. Lord knows, we all wouldn't want to be held up to that light.

But maybe it stands to reason — through his actions and the observations of teammates — that the competitive juices just aren't there the way they need to be. Would a true competitor slink off because he wasn't happy about his reps, leave town, skip meetings and not tell anyone? Especially when things for the 2006 season haven't even been decided.

And Mom? Stay out of it. Evelyn Beck-Bothwell, Harrison's mother, was quoted in the Lincoln Journal Star as saying maybe her son should have stayed in Florida.

"Maybe if he would have stayed in the SEC, he would've been playing," Beck-Bothwell said. "Maybe he made the wrong decision. He knows that playbook. It's just an issue of not getting respect from the older players."

She then went on to take a shot at Taylor saying her son would beat him out for the starting job if the coaches devoted more time to him.

"It'd be different if he was sitting behind Matt Leinart or Brady Quinn," she said.

Really Ev? Just so happens that QB is a senior, has a full year of live action in that complex offence under his belt. That guy, who isn't Notre Dame's Quinn or USC's Leinart, led the team to a bowl game and a win in that bowl game. And during that game, Ev, while Nebraska's offensive line was struggling and Michigan's defence was unloading on him all night long, Taylor showed the poise and grit you want in your starter, a guy who takes all the beatings, injuries and knocks and still gets back up.

Beck, meanwhile, quit before a real pass had even been thrown. Sounds to me like a player who's been babied at home, pampered as the star quarterback all his life and now everyone in his camp expects the same from the world of Division 1. This is a guy, after all, who has his own web site devoted to all that is Harrison Beck.

You think for a second Evelyn is chiding her son for making a poor life decision right now? Doesn't sound like it to me. In fact, if her public remarks are any indication then she's very likely telling him it was everyone else's fault, when Harrison needs to own up to the fact that things were handled poorly from his standpoint.

Beck will be 19 in September and often times in the world of competitive sports — whether its NCAA or WHL — you have to remember you're still dealing with teenagers and the fanaticism that comes with following your teams very often clouds — if not completely blacks out — that fact. Further, it's a crapshoot when recruiting and drafting kids. In the WHL you're trying to draft 14- and 15-year-olds in anticipation of what they'll be like as 19- and 20-year-olds, a difficult task to say the least. Guess work at best.

Beck will find himself another spot on another roster in another state somewhere down the line. The Huskers will move on and perhaps are fortunate they found out now the character of the kid they thought was the jewel of Bill Callahan's 2004-05 recruiting class.

After all, in a few years when you're searching for a guy who will go to war, I wouldn't be too exhilarated to be lead by the guy who didn't want to enlist in the first place.

Sweet merciful crap!

What the hell was that?

Well I guess I got too big for my britches by predicting the Bombers defence would not allow a 100-yard rusher this season. I knew it was a bet that was bound to fail, I just couldn't have predicted how soon after it would fall.

Nor, to whom would make that prediction fail.

Seriously, Josh Ranek?

Credit the Hamilton Tiger Cats, they absolutely smacked the Blue Bombers in the mouth on Friday night. And watching that debacle at Winnipeg Stadium gave me flashbacks — horrible, life-altering, mind-numbing flashbacks — to the atrocity that was the 2005 season.

Winnipeg fans could make excuses that our star slotback wasn't dressed and that our starting quarterback was knocked out of the game, but none of that would address the putrid effort the defensive dozen put up. It was like watching 2005 all over again, when no one on the defensive side of the ball could wrap up a man and Ron Lancaster's daughter could break through the tackles.

Going back to the offence, watching the Bombers try to move the ball without Kanye West in the lineup should serve as a swift wake-up call to all those who still don't believe they should get behind KG and an even sharper slap in the face to those who were convinced we should have stuck with Russ Michna as our No.1.

Michna and Banks were atrocious, at best. Michna fumbled twice — some slack granted because he hasn't thrown a meaningful pass in weeks — and Banks once again showed he's far from deserving of all the accolades that have been heaped upon him for his potential. Again, I understand the idea that a guy needs to get his reps and his experience in a system, but when are we supposed to finally see that potential come to fruition? Banks flat out missed wide-open men and, I don't care what anyone says, that has nothing to do with the "system" and just "getting it." At some point there has to be some confidence that if No.1 goes down, then the team has someone, anyone, to turn to and pick things up in stride.

Winnipeg surely doesn't have that.

Or maybe it does. If Mike Quinn is healthy, and all accounts say he will be next week, then he's likely to start against the B.C. Lions and he has been the most sure of the three back-ups. In fact, with Quinn potentially starting next week, I don't have a sense of dread that it will be an undeniable failure.

I think the loss to Hamilton also shows clearly that the Bombers still aren't good enough. Championship teams don't lose games in that way, even when being decimated by injuries. Some of the ugly scars were revealed and you can bet that anything short of a win next week against one of the league's best will put the Bombers back in that "are they really for real?" conversation.

---

Caught Dave Chappelle's Block Party the other night.

Warning: To some, this next section will likely appear to be overblown, hyperbolic and over-exaggerated. Those people are wrong.

The idea behind Block Party, and the eventual final product, is deserving of status among the most important concert movies of all time. It's not wrong to suggest that this was an utterly significant piece of work in the history of the genre.

For Chappelle to have the idea in the first place — essentially gather as many random people for a street concert in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant district and keep the star-studded list of talent, as well as the show itself, a secret — is a beautiful thing. That he assembled the kind of hip hop greatness that he did is nothing short of remarkable. And that's to say nothing about the fact that he did what even The Fugees couldn't do: Get The Fugees back together.

Assembling Pras, Clef and Lauryn Hill for their first appearance together in God-knows-how-long, was one of the best things I've seen since I started listening to hip hop. (Alongside seeing Ice-T wearing a Blue Bombers shirt at a 1991 show at the Winnipeg Convention Centre).

But more accurately, Block Party is easily among the best gatherings of hip hop talent and at the very least, the artists are among the most important, influential and significant hip hop voices of any era. From Common, to Talib Kweli to Mos Def — with the undeniable tones of Erykah Badu and Jill Scott mixed in — Block Party is the soundtrack to the true hip hop head's daydreams. Sure, you could have gotten others with equal or more clout; others with longer track records of greatness, but if this group is not at least a part of the roster you'd assemble for the dream hip hop show, then you need to rethink your allegiances to the genre, because you're entirely misguided.

But Block Party's charm also stems from the willingness to assemble people of all creeds and bring a day of good music and happiness to an area and its people who could stand to use more such goodwill.

And when Lauryn Hill belts out "Killing Me Softly", it's nothing short of mesmerizing, a rendition utterly worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as its classic original.

What makes Block Party even more effective is the touch Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) puts on it as director. The film breaks away from the traditional "hip hop guy makes a movie" and allows the thick-accented Frenchman Gondry — a true outsider — to provide a unique angle that likely wouldn't have come across if Chappelle had gone for a director more typical of the genre.

Where Block Party stands out more than any other concert film is it serves as a lesson of what great hip hop music is. The Roots play their own instruments and show their power as a live act, drummer
"?uestlove" (pron. Questlove) works with all the musical acts, showing his versatility, Scott and Badu team up for the first time ever and put new twists and turns on the other acts' classics, and Dead Prez perform to prove that protest music isn't dead and that the voice of hip hop is still a relevant one.

It's more than a collection of great hip hop artists, there's a human element as well and Chappelle comes off as genuine — of course genuinely funny as well — and his interactions with Joe and Jane Blow are worth the viewing time. His idea to bring a black college marching band into the proceedings just elevated what was already a fantastic musical mixture. And when the band performs with Kanye West on "Jesus Walks", forget about it. It's a brilliant new twist and sound to what became a heavy-rotated single.

One final note: Cody Chesnutt makes brief appearances in the film and very simply is an artist worthy of keeping tabs. (Check some of his work out here.) You could call him the next John Legend if you mixed Legend with Bootsy Collins, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Lenny Kravitz (and probably 50 others of varying sounds). He accentuates the penultimate scene singing his acapella ballad "Parting Ways" over a montage of the everyday folks who joined in on the journey.

The song is striking and the images that accompany it serve as a reminder of how enjoyable the two-hour journey was. And utterly memorable to boot.

Steel terrible

Well the Hamilton Spectator took some shots at the Blue Bombers and the city of Winnipeg last week — all in the spirit of competition and rivalries no doubt — and, as I mentioned in here before, vibe around the Steel City weeks ago was that Hamilton fans felt the team's best chance for a win was going to come against the beloved Big Blue.

Really?

Well, lo and behod, the Bombers go and pull a blank job on the lowly Cats, move their record to 5-2 and make those who get paid to be experts on the CFL look ridiculous for their pre-season picks.

If you just joined us, the Bombers were picked by many (read: all) experts to:

A) Miss the playoffs
B) Win no more than five games
C) Both.

If you listened to enough of them, you'd probably have heard some suggest the Bombers put corks on the end of their dinner forks for fear that a group so incompetent couldn't possibly eat without poking an eye out with the pronged utensils.

After all, that's what was being said right?

The Bombers still have a ways to go, but second place is almost all but sewn up for them what with Hamilton being egregiously awful and Toronto right there with them. Sure, 5-2 (with Hamilton at home on Friday) is a nice spot to be in but hopefully it doesn't overshadow the fact that there are still glitches.

A few other randoms:

• A Canadian Press article suggested earlier this week that it appeared B.C. was getting back on its horse with back-to-back convincing wins over the Argonauts and Stampeders. I'm not convinced.

Contrary to the scoreboard, the Lions did not look overly sharp against a Toronto team that was downright awful (more on them in a minute). They left a lot of points on the field, started most of their possessions near centrefield and yet left the Argos hanging around until midway through the second half before finally putting the foot down (thanks largely to Toronto's incompetence.)

• The Stampeders have fallen from grace, meaning they are not the media darlings of the league anymore. Seems the consensus was, after a 3-0 start, that the Stamps were giant killers but now, since losing their last four, it would appear that's a joke too. Very simply, how can you trust a team led by Henry Burris? Undoubtedly he has the athletic ability oft coveted in a CFL quaterback, but it's hard for me to imagine a team winning a Cup with him in charge, especially considering he really doesn't have that many weapons around him. Yes, I know Joffrey Reynolds — who I think is the best all-around player in the CFL — and I know Jeremaine Copeland and Nik Lewis, too. I'd just think you need more, especiallyl when Mr. Two Face is at the helm.

• Toronto is in bad shape. That offensive line might be the worst in the history of the league. If you didn't see that when Ricky Williams was having troubles just getting out of the backfield, then it was evident, too, last week when Damon Allen returned to the lineup and was chased out of the pocket nearly every time he dropped back.

Wasn't it just last year when Kent Austin was being praised as an offensive genius? Yet with Allen returning from his broken finger, Austin and the Argos decided to pick up where they left off and start throwing the ball all over the field. Allen, as veteran as he is, doesn't need a bit of time to get to game speed and into the motions? They talk about how great a back-up RB Jeff Johnson is but in the first half he might as well have had ebola, because Allen certainly didn't go anywhere near him.

So back to Guru Austin. Is it not the most basic of football principles that the run sets up the pass, and the pass feeds off the run? Yet here are the Argos, with a rusty quarterback, avoiding the run like the plague and deciding to live and die in the air. It made no sense and it doesn't seem like the decisions that an offensive genius would make. Good thing he didn't come to Winnipeg after all.

• I hate Montreal more than any team I've ever despised. The Cleveland Browns, Sacramento Kings and New York Yankees could assemble a team in the CFL, have Elvira Kurt coaching them, and come out to music by 50 Cent and I still wouldn't hate them as much as I hate Montreal.

Further to that, tell me one person — other than people in the city he works in — that actually LIKES Don Matthews. He's the biggest puke in the history of Canadian football. In fact, I'm getting on the horn tomorrow to track down Lawrence Phillips to see if he wouldn't mind taking a drive into Matthews yard. If he coached the Bombers, I'd honestly have to re-think a lot of things in my life. Perhaps that would be the straw that would make me leave Canada.

• Saskatchewan still stinks, despite winning on Saturday. What a gawd-awful game that was. I will keep to my assertion that so long as Shivers and Barrett are at the helm there, nothing good will come to the Roughriders. Why no one can see that is beyond me.

• I made Bold Prediction No. 3 today. In case you hadn't seen before, I predicted that Ricky Williams would not run for 100 yards against the Bombers (check) and the Bombers would finish 11-7 (pending). So that leads to:

Bold Prediction No. 3:
• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will not give up a 100-yard rusher this season.

So that's random, completely uninteresting musings from the week that was.

Here, I'll give you my picks too: Montreal (10.5); Winnipeg (6.5); Edmonton (1.5) and Calgary (3.5)

Hidden Dragon

A few random notes from the end of the CFL week:

• Somewhat surprisingly, Eric Crouch got to take a meaningful snap in a CFL game when he was forced into the game following the injury to Spergon Wynn.

I'm partial to Crouch enjoying some level of success in the CFL. After all, Crouch is Big Red. Nebraska Heisman. The guy who did this, and this and then punked this guy.

He did himself well in his first action since 2001 and let's be real here, can the Argos be any worse off with Crouch in at QB than Wynn? Wynn has been entirely ineffective and has been way too slow in decision making and even if he is good to go next week, I'm not so sure he's necessarily the right choice. In fact, I know he isn't. When in doubt, never gloss over the Nebraska guy to get to someone who went to Southwest Texas State.

• So let's get this straight: Last week, CBC studio analyst Sean Millington steps up and speaks out on the CFL refereeing. CFL head ref — and resident "nothing is wrong" guy — George Black lashes back at Millington. Result? The CBC broadcast team practically falls over itself trying desperately not to say anything that could be deemed inflammatory during the Toronto-Saskatchewan game. In fact, colour man Darren Flutie set the all-time record for "the refs made a good call on that one" proclamations, shattering the previously untouchable mark shared by Glen Suitor and Leif Petterson. Pathetic.

Look, we know the CFL never wants anything negative to come out in public and we're well aware that Black will never, ever, EVER admit when his crews mess up, but openly capitulating on national television with all the backbone of a snitch whose getting squeezed by the Don was embarassing to watch.

Two instances. First, Millington's assertion during the halftime that the league needs to crack down on helmet-to-helmet hits. As Millington was in mid rant, Greg Frers butted in and said something akin to "hey this is a tough league and it's unfortunate when a guy gets hurt, but let's talk about Toronto's defence..."

Astonishing. Millington might as well have been castrated on sight or just had his mic cut by production control. It would have been less obvious.

Have a look at what led to Millington's speech:

Any question that this is a helmet-to-helmet hit? I'm not sure what's worse: The fact there was an official right there who didn't make the call (I guess his helmet shooting off his head wasn't enough of an indication) or the fact that no one on the CBC crew deemed it necessary to call it as it was. Sure, they dabbled in it, but the severity of that hit deserved more than a once-over.

For years broadcasters have shied away from lambasting poor officiating in this league, as if the hidden agreement between the league and networks is "we're trying to promote the league, don't call us out."

It's astonishing to me that someone can't step up and call the CFL officials what they are: At best, a 50-50 crap shoot. At worst, a gathering of low-paid full-time 9 to 5ers who are lucky to get the calls right.

• Tough on Ricky Williams. Have to get my sister in on this one to prognosticate the length of time out of action from a fractured forearm. I didn't want to see Ricky go out like that.

• How is Danny Barrett still employed? Ask Roy Shivers who insists on hanging with DB regardless of results: See sub-.500 record in eight seasons and nary a Grey Cup appearance in the mix. Shiv won't make a move to fire his boy even though the writing is on the wall that this organization is better off without the both of them.

• One last note on the officials, just because I want to: Kerry Joseph's touchdown in the second quarter was an example of why I was moderately against the league going to instant replay.

Despite the replay showing Joseph's foot touching out of bounds, they still awarded him the touchdown, just going to show that the only thing more infuriating than watching a CFL ref blow a call, is watching a CFL ref blow a call after he's had 90 seconds of replay time to watch it over and over.

Oh, and add this to my conspiracy theory list. The video review is being used to further the CFL's agenda that the refs get a large part of the calls right. The league has been quick to trumpet the percentages of calls that have been overturned vs. calls that have stayed as originally ruled on the field (largely in favour of the latter). You don't think it's in the best interest of the league to use this as their marketing tool?

"Look, you can't argue the refs are bad now, the stats show the rulings on the field are standing."

Please. The Internet doesn't provide me with enough space to adequately argue that.

• Tell me again, what is there to like about the Montreal Alouettes? Their coach is a puke, they have the dirtiest and most overrated player in the league (Ed Philion), the most obscenely atrocious uniforms in the league, their constantly being lauded for their sellout streak even though the place only seats 20 grand and their fans need those obnoxious thundersticks to generate noise. I don't believe I've ever hated a team like this.

I can think of only one thing good...

They once had a guy who went to Nebraska.

Go Big Red.

The band is on the field!

Well, with all due respect to the play that has actually become "The Play" — the historic Stanford-Cal ending from 1982 — what happened in Edmonton on Thursday night is my equivalent.

In fact this"The Play" was arguably the best thing I've ever watched my beloved Blue Bombers do. Big enough for ESPN to think it worthy of a little air time.

My colleague Swatter — the famous Barney to my Fred on local basketball broadcasts — called it the Immaculate Reception and ironic that I, as devout Steeler fan, didn't even think of that reference originally. Instead, I thought of Stanford-Cal. Of course, I thought of Nebraska-Michigan from the 2005 Alamo Bowl.

What the ramifications of pulling that win out of the jaws of defeat will be, however, remains to be seen but as we sit here six games into the Blue Bombers season, it looks pretty pivotal. Think about it, you go from having a game in your grasp, yours for the taking before a shocking fumble sways everything madly in the other direction. Now you're looking at having an L hung on you in a game you shouldn't have lost; A deflating defeat that sends you to 3-3 and puts the term mediocre suddenly on a season that had started promisingly.

There's a big difference in 4-2 and 3-3.

So instead of stinging, life-draining loss you get envigorating, thirst-quenching victory. And I, my friends, come to work with a little extra hop in my step today.

Consistency issues offensively are still lingering, however, for the Bombers. An inability to sustain drives really makes watching this team a nerve-wracking experience. There hasn't been — save for the thrashing of Edmonton a few weeks back — a time this season that Winnipeg has taken advantage of a lead and put the foot down. And teams are hanging around and hanging around and then ... well let's just say those kinds of Thursdays don't show up very often.

Other random stuff from the game: Danny Maciocia should have some questions to answer after that loss. It is utterly unimaginable that the Esks would BLITZ on the final play of the game when the opposing team has 100 yards to go to score. If you watch that clip, the Eskimos put seven guys in the box and blitz a corner leaving basically man-on-man coverage on the Bomber receivers. It was a completely brain dead decision — and Friday's Edmonton Journal said as much — that Maciocia should have to answer to. The theory perhaps says that sending a blitz forces Glenn into a quicker read, a faster throw and a shorter pass play. That theory applies when there's eight minutes left in the second quarter, not when there's four seconds left in the fourth. (Don't forget, this is the guy who prematurely celebrated a Grey Cup win last year before the game was over, then realized they still had another play to go — causing national humiliation — and then reacted to the eventual victory in a manner that can only be described as something you'd see in the ballet or an off-Broadway musical. So, let's just say the jury is reconsidering its verdict on him.)

Memo to Coach: I'm officially extending an invitation to you Mr. Maciocia to come visit me and watch me play a game of EA Sports Madden '06 so you can see how it is you should defend a lead on a last-second play. It's called Prevent, Dan, and you will be able to find it in your dime coverages section of your playbook. You see, I tend to drop all my virtual players back in coverage. I know what you're saying: "But then they can complete a 20-yard pass!" That's true, they can. But 20 is not enough yards when they need 100. Get it? Oh look who I'm talking to! You're a professional football coach, I don't need to tell you this. After all, you get paid to strategize football. Ah forget it, send the house. Nothing bad could possibly come from that.

Winnipeg still hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher and now has back-to-backs with a frisky Hamilton Tiger-Cats team. While the Ticats sport the league's worst record I'm not assuming two wins here. Looking ahead, however, to the very real possibility of being 6-2 is a nice thought. Side note: My "source" in Hamilton tells me that the vibe around the Steel City before the Cats finally got off the schnide was that Hamilton's first win would come against Winnipeg. See, that's the perverted logic that makes Hamilton fans so loathsome and, well, so utterly stupid.

Side note No.2: While discussing the Tiger-Cats woeful situation with a die-hard fan a couple of weeks ago, I suggested Hamilton and the Saskatchewan Roughriders just put together their two pathetic franchises. After all, each of their recipes of middling success mixed with abject failure have only produced a melange of dreadful sucking. What, you ask, will that team be called?

The Saskatchilton Tiger Riders.

In the words of the anonymous sportscaster on an episode of Seinfeld: "You gotta love sports!"

Winnipeg 24, Toronto 17

Williams put Toronto in position to go for it with a stellar seven-yard reception. He took a swing pass from Wynn, delivered a brilliant stiff-arm on Winnipeg's Kelly Malveaux, then hurdled cornerback William Fields before being pushed out of bounds.

That's enough already.

I've never heard of a stiff-arm being brilliant and it's a rarity that a seven-yard screen pass is worthy of being deemed "stellar."

Again, I like Ricky Williams. Got nothing against the guy. Think he marches to the beat of his own drum and that's something you can say about very, very few athletes, which I find refreshing. However, that paragraph appeared in the Canadian Press account of the Bombers latest victory, exalting Williams for his lone highlight in another fruitless effort against the CFL's top defence. Undoubtedly, he stuck Malveaux good with a solid right, but just pump your breaks for a few seconds here. In the scheme of things, that play barely warranted mentioning, let alone puffed up with words like "stellar" and "brilliant."

That said, I'm starting to get absolutely giddy over this defence, which I'm trying to suppress if only because I don't want to get caught up in things too early just to watch the team break my heart. Case in point, just when things are going along smoothly DT Ron Warner goes down with an injury and is likely out of next week's game against Montreal.

I'm also remaining in the category of cautiously optimistic in regards to Kevin Glenn. Although it's hard to argue with what he's done in the last two weeks. He hasn't thrown a pick in those two games, has thrown for three TDs and Sunday went 24-for-36 for 261 yards while running the offence efficiently and picking his spots of when to stretch the field. (Side note: Winnipeg's play-action to Roberts was effective all game long and it was almost dumbfounding how the Argonauts never found a way to control it. What they ran was close to a QB waggle: A fake to Roberts with the offensive line pulling one way while Kanye roles out the opposite way in a naked bootleg. It was good for eight yards on average, I'd guess, and they must have run it 20 times in the game.)

So, for those keeping score, Williams has now run 17 times for 22 yards in two games against the Bombers and i honestly feel sorry for the guy. His offensive line is a joke right now and in the games against Winnipeg he has been rendered useless because the front line can't help out enough for him to get much more than a yard or two on first down. First-down production is critical in the CFL and Williams' sightings on the T.O. sidelines will become all the more frequent if they can't muster some assistance for him. That said, in the two games I've watched the Argos, their play calling has been very vanilla (save for the botched reverse between Ricky and Arland Bruce) and clearly running in between the tackles hasn't done the job.

So Saturday will roll around and the Bombers will host the Alouettes in what is already a critical game and a chance for the Bombers to shove it down all the "experts" throats by winning and going into first place in the division. There's no way I'm NOT going to be at the Stadium for that game.

In my uneducated, unsolicited opinion, the biggest thing the Bombers need to change is how they handle the inevitable Montreal blitz. Speaking of not making adjustments! In Week 1 it was as predictable as a Jenna Jameson screenplay: On second and long, loaded up the box and blitzed the edge leaving Kanye little to no time to make a decision. Whether it's KG needing to recognize blitzes better or Winnipeg needing to bring another man in on protection, something has to be better. Montreal mustered six sacks and forced Glenn into two ill-advised throws that became interceptions. There's nothing surprising defensively from Montreal, you know the Als are putting an extra guy in the box in their "all or nothing" attack.

---

RANDOMNESS: ESPN.com has a great feature,George Solomon, Ombudsman, in which the public's concerns, complaints and queries are aired publicly and answered by Solomon. Now, for all that TSN has stolen from ESPN (yes, I know, they're "partners"), this isn't something that silly network could think to incorporate? I know I have a few questions regarding Jennifer Hedger and her phony sports' guy voice. Honestly, does she HAVE to talk like that?

Aerial Assault?

People know I'm the eternal optimist with my teams and that giddyness over the start of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers season wasn't tempered slightly by the fact every so-called "expert" around the Canadian Football League was picking on my beloved Blue.

That said, I'm playing the role of cautious optimist with the Bombers latest spanking, a 46-10 rumbling over the Grey-Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday night, specifically as it relates to this man ...


The teaser on the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press on Monday proclaimed "Everyone Loves Glenn" while the main hed on the sports front screamed "Glenn shutting up doubters." After the embattled quarterback had shouldered the brunt of naysayers through the first two weeks of the regular season — as well as all preseason — Glenn stepped up with his best performance as a Bomber on Saturday with this line:

15-24-368-3-0

That three is for touchdowns and the zero? Interceptions. That's over the course of three quarters, to boot.

To be sure it was a nice little effort from Glenn who finally got the memo that Chris Brazzell plays on this team and the deep threat caught two of those three TD strikes.

Still, it's unbelievable to me that one game has all of a sudden made Glenn Public Hero No. 1 when everyone and their sister was rushing to burn his likeness in effigy right up until kickoff on Saturday.

This is where my hesitance comes in. Listen, I'm by far the biggest Glenn hater on the block, in fact this season I'd arguably be considered one of his supporters — sometimes a reluctant one, but a supporter nonetheless. My theory is you dance with the one that brung ya and so long as Kanye is leading this team as its starting quarterback, I live and die with him. In my book, it's fan sacrilege to boo the starter and cheer for the reliever especially in situations where you likely won't be significantly better a team by going to the back-up.

But I digress. It's just to say that I'm excited about the Bombers again but Glenn still needs to back it up with a few more like performances in the coming weeks for me to be completely on board. And Bomber fans are being hypocritical to being rah-rah over Glenn after the Edmonton win when most of them know damn well they'll boo him the first chance they get.

But you know, I documented the lunacy of the Winnipeg football fan in July of last year and how it makes no matter what is actually going on on the field, Bomber fans will always hate their quarterback. Trust me, this honeymoon phase is over as soon as Winnipeg loses another game and Kanye has a subpar performance.

I just hope it's not forthcoming anytime soon.

---

Other notes from Winnipeg through Week 3: The Bombers haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher yet this season despite facing three of the best in the league to start the season — Robert Edwards, Ricky Williams and Troy Davis. ... Doesn't that just go to show how solid this front seven is? So why, then, did every expert granted a voice have the Bombers finishing somewhere between the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles and the Orlando Breakers? Because of one guy (Glenn) they didn't think could get the job done? Or because we had a dreadful defence last year? ... Glenn's not being asked to do much in the offence and that's a good thing. Charles Roberts was quoted in the FreeP on Monday saying "look at the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger. He doesn't put up big-time numbers every week but he wins games and people respect him." Good quote. The similarities should be similar. Roethlisberger shines because the offence — specifically in his rookie year — was simplified to make his life in a tough spot that much easier. So it should be for Glenn and then when he is asked to make a play, he can do it. ... Along those lines, Glenn's best play was his touchdown to Stegall who got open in broken coverage. While the cynic will say all he had to do was throw it to a wide-open man, the reality is Glenn made a nice play by staying in the pocket, checking receivers before rolling out into space and finding Stegall. In order for that play to ever happen, he had to let it happen and that's not something he's always done in the past.

Doctor, heal thyself

Editor's note: This is a column that I contemplated submitting for the Tuesday edition of The Brandon Sun but decided better of it and am instead using it just for this space. My reasoning being that I feel the high road is the best to travel in this instance and saving it for my small little space on the Internet best accomplishes that.

Brandon University announced its newest women's basketball coach Monday holding a press conference to unveil Jaime Hickson as the fourth coach of the past five years for the losingest basketball program in the history of Canadian university basketball.

With Brandon's volleyball teams set to begin a promising second year of play in the fall and the men's basketball team again among the more talented in the Canada West conference, it is safe to say that BU athletics is in a reasonably happy place. That is save for the woeful women's team that is undoubtedly poised to repeat its unseemly losing tradition for at least one more year.

For all of Hickson's chutzpah and eagerness to coach this BU team to success on and off the court, there appears to be little thought that the Bobcats have a focus on being competitive right away and without a major overhaul — which is not forthcoming — it's naive to think they'd have a chance at doing so.

So this team that has gone 0-40 in the conference the past two seasons and has won just four of its past 100 conference games is back on the path to dirtying up that abysmal record while the higher ups at BU shrug with nary an interest in seeing these players put in a successful athletics atmosphere.

At Monday's press conference, BU president Dr. Louis Visentin used his time at the podium — meant to be an introductory speech — to lash out repeatedly with thinly-veiled insults towards the sports writer who regularly covers BU athletics for the city's lone daily newspaper. Anyone in the room knew what — and whom — he was getting at, yet the supposed esteemed president could not pump his breaks to avoid embarassing himself, the school he represents and his newest employee.

Hickson hadn't even been introduced to the media gathering yet Visentin proceeded on a rambling tirade in which he clearly stated that winning and losing is not everything when it comes to university sports; that academic success trumps any and all misfortune on the court and that "what sports writers don't understand" is that universities are for learning first and that wins aren't what marks a success. He opened his condescending address by insulting a reporter's comprehension of the english language — passed off poorly, it should be added, as a joke — and followed that by suggesting that turnover in employment at the university level is a common thing (more on this later), even going so far as to call out the Brandon Sun by name and equate BU's coaching changes to the Sun's changeover at the managing editor position.

Apples to oranges indeed.

Visentine's lecture continued for the better part of 10 minutes and a lion's share of it was devoted to jabs, barbs and all in all topics completely unbefitting of the event.

Printing the facts of the Bobcats losing ways has routinely been a source of angst for some involved with the women's program of late. Apparently that goes for Visentin who almost fell over himself in his desperate attempt to put a spin on the university's most athletically unsuccessful group. Listen, everyone knows that student-athletes are at university to gain their education and no one is going to argue the merits of having a strong academic lineage. Yet if a student is adding the "athlete" designation, then it goes to suggest that the university should be in the business of making that aspect of their school life equally as rewarding as the one spent in the classroom. BU's indifference to doing that over the past two decades speaks for itself and it is highly hypocritical to preach about the quality of the education when its actions towards athletics have clearly undercut that.

No one in this industry, least of all anyone from the paper I am employed by, is in the business of intentionally burying the BU women's basketball team just for the sake of making scandal. What we are more than willing to do, however, is do our job of printing the unalienable truths that present themselves. Until I'm assigned to report on BU's first-year Intro to Psychology class, my job will be to report on what happens within the lines of that court and these are the facts: Four coaches, five years. Four wins for the last 100 tries.

What I would like is for Dr. Visentin to inform the public what other school in this country — and even this continent — has the unfortunate track record of coaching turnover that BU does. While he's busy espousing the apparent regularity of turnover in the university ranks, he'll find he's going to be hard-pressed to find any school remotely close to BU in that area.

What I would also like is for Visentin to inform the public what the benefits of such instability are to the school and to the players who work hard to wear the BU uniform.

Mostly, though, what I would like is for Visentin to represent himself properly as the prominent community figure he is supposed to be rather than choosing precisely the worst time and worst venue to serve as his misguided soapbox.

Unfortunately the president, as its figurehead, went and spoke for all of Brandon University on Monday and what he chose to say did more to the detriment of the school than 96 losses in five years ever could.

Glenn and now

Let's get this straight: Kevin Glenn blew it in the fourth quarter Friday night.

But get this straight, too: He was better for three quarters than Anthony Calvillo and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — AGAIN — have other things to worry about other than their quarterback.

The issue — or concerns — with Kanye is that his clutch-time decisions and performances are not up to par and that was certainly the case in the Bombers loss to Montreal on Friday. He threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter and put his team up against the wall, in a virtually impossible situation. In the end, the Bomber defence that was utterly outstanding through three quarters finally broke when faced with having to defend its goal line on a suddenly shortened field.

Glenn's problem, it would appear, is his patience in the offence he's surrounded by and that translates into his decision-making. This is — capital letters IS — his pivotal season. The Bombers have surrounded Kanye with the perfect storm of talent and protection and if he doesn't at least show signs that he's capable of being among the elite.

Now, that said, TSN's pre-game coverage of the game was a joke. A graphic, accompanied by Jock Climie's analysis, showed in one column seven CFL starting quarterbacks Climie described as the elite of the league and, in the other column, ... Glenn. Climie insinuated that Glenn was the only quarterback in the CFL not worthy of acknowledgement among the "greats" of the current three-down era. Including, I might add, Kerry Joseph who is the most overrated entity since the McDLT.

Get off the topic already. It's ignorant. It's ignorant to suggest that Glenn is whole-heartedly to blame for that loss. It's ignorant to be oblivious to the atrocious performance of the revamped offensive line. It's ignorant to not count into the equation the excessive penalties the Bombers taken. And the list goes on.

Glenn made a terrible couple of throws and that's what's easy to pick out. And, of course, Bomber fans are going to start screaming for his head, even if that's not what's best because, after all, that's what Bomber fans do because they're not smart enough to watch other aspects of the game.

Glenn needs to get better. But, let's not forget, every other player on that team needs to join together to do the same thing.

---

On another note, since Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident, odds of the Steelers repeating as Super Bowl champions (those last three words are still fun to type) have gone in some books from 8-1 to 20-1. That, allow me to point out, could put them as underdogs to the likes of the Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers, Washington Redskins and Kansas City Chiefs.

I don't think the Steelers were the best team in the NFL last season but don't undercut them. They are, and have been consistently, among the elite of the league but now their star QB suffers injuries not even close to being career-altering and they take a slide down the prognostication totem pole?

Hey, who cares? It's not even training camp yet, but it's of interest. My thoughts? If I've got a unit to put down in Vegas, I'll take the 20-1 and love every minute of it.

Limb and a prayer

I am nothing if not bold.

And not bold in the corporate advertising sense when they use the word to describe a new steaksauce's taste alongside the word "zesty." Because, let's be honest: I may be bold, but I am far from zesty.

(I have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Bold in the sense of predictions. Understanding whole-heartedly that even if I can brag about boldness in my predictions, I rarely get to brag about success in my predictions. That's the thing, if you step far enough out on a limb, you rarely get a chance to come back and talk gleefully about it.

But here's a few I have entertained in the past few days.

Bold Prediction No.1: Ricky Williams will not lead the CFL in rushing this season.
Bold Prediction No.2: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will finish 11-7 this season.
Bold Prediction No.3: On June 23, 2006, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, in their regular-season home debut, will hold Ricky Williams to under 100 yards rushing.

Now, the latter of the first two is decidedly less bold than the former, but not all that lacking in brashness when you consider how immersed in suckitude the Bombers were in 2005. I think 11-7 has a nice ring to it and I'd certainly be pleased with that mark. I will be seeing the Blue in their first regular-season action on Friday night at Winnipeg Stadium (we don't have to use the corporate name, you know), and I will form a report on first glimpse from that. In the meantime, I'll reserve judgment on Nos.2 and 3 except to say that I'm encouraged by what is in camp this season.

But as for No.1, it's a prognostication that many people would utterly disagree with, evidenced by the lambasting I took when I shook hands on a 10-dollar bet of the like.

So here is my theory.

Ricky Williams is indeed a tremendous talent and would likely be Pro Bowl material in the NFL this season all things being equal. Let the rest of this argument not go on without understanding that I acknowledge the aforementioned's potential to completely annihilate this league in his one kick at it.

I just don't think it's going to happen that way.

I'll fully acknowledge that perhaps 50 per cent of my logic stems from my just-now-devised Theorem of Mass Hysteria that says, paraphrased: If the entire population is convinced it's going to happen, be prepared that it won't. The most recent proof of this came in the NFL Draft (re: Bush, Reggie).

Are we not underestimating the talent of the defensive players in the CFL? And are we not overlooking the very different styles of play from what Ricky has gotten used to and what he'll experience in the CFL?

The CFL has always had this air of inferiority hanging over it whenever an NFL star comes north. And you know what happens when they get here? Usually not much.

Jim Zorn, who's on the Seattle Seahawks wall of fame for God-sake, was a complete bust; Albert Connell breezed through with hardly anyone noticing, Dexter Manley was as expected (old and useless) and, Lawrence Phillips — with arguably the same athletic pedigree as Williams — had a measure of success but was far from becoming the historical back he hastily christened himself when he arrived.

This is where I see Ricky fitting in, somewhere in the middle.

First off, linebackers in this league aren't just pylons. They're athletic, very quick and they're damn sure not going to be comically diving and missing by five feet as he sprints untouched down the field like some poorly-produced sitcom scene. This isn't Rudy "Sweet Feet" Huxtable people.

I can't back up my gut feeling with statistics, except to suggest that the Argonauts are the pass-happiest team in the pass-happy CFL. Hence, Ricky won't be getting 30 carries a game, likely. That said, I don't even really believe that to be a strong argument. After all, you'd be a fool to not use your most dangerous weapon repeatedly.

No, I can't and don't feel the need to back up my gut reactions with these things called facts. Just suffice it to say, I'm confident that Ricky won't get off like everyone and their mother is predicting. Leading me to...

Still, the Argos are suddenly loaded at the RB and we're just to expect that incumbent John Avery and young gun Jeff Johnson, who the team was in love with late last season in a relief role, are suddenly not getting the ball ever?

I just think we need to tone it down a bit before we go predicting a 2,000-yard season with 36 TDs or something ridiculous. He's very good. I get it.

Bold Prediction, No.3:

If I'm way off base on either of Nos.1-2, I will delete records of this blog and deny any and all existence of the words stated herein.

But I'm predicting that won't be necessary.

Go Blue.

I'd know that face anywhere...

You know the theory.

The one that says you can go your entire life without ever hearing a word, a name, a person, a place or whatever it may be. Then, once you hear it once, you hear it at least three more times in the next week, month. You can't avoid it.

That's how I feel about Lordi.

To save the long story about how I ever found about out this... uhhh ... unique Scandinavian band, suffice to say that I've heard repeatedly about the fearsome Finns over the past couple of weeks, culminating in ...

This story.

As it relates to my blog, this story and this band and the fact I'm putting it on my little space has nothing to do with anything. I simply thought it was quite funny and it makes my point...

Finnish people are crazy.

A place to stand, a place to grow....

Onterri-erri-erri-o!

With a tip of the hat to the catchy old propagandist Ontario tourism board song, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers inked NFL castoff Onterrio Smith to a reported one-year-with-option deal while he serves a suspension down south.

Current Bombers running back Charles Roberts did his expected routine of raising hell about the much-anticipated deal and even reportedly demanded a trade in the process. Roberts is pretty much the boy crying wolf on the Bombers, a guy who has stomped his feet and gone public with his beefs in the past to the point where no one even really bats an eye when he throws out another idle threat. Now, that comment isn't said with any malignancy, it's just that Roberts has made a habit in the past of rocking the boat but with very little muscle behind his punch. Roberts is in a great situation in Winnipeg, he knows it — we all know it — and the Bombers aren't stupid enough to compromise the abilities of arguably the best RB in the league by putting him on the backburner.

However, it will be interesting to see how the Bombers use Smith and still get Roberts the number of touches he needs and should garner. One media outlet suggested he'd be used in a Keith Stokes-esque capacity, which would mean lining up in a slot, returning kicks and occasionally coming out of the backfield.

Whatever. Just get it done.

The Bombers have made, thus far, the biggest splash in the CFL off-season by signing — to date — the biggest name of the spring free agency period (statement subject to change; Re: Williams, Ricky). In fact, you could make an argument that the 25-year-old is the most marquis of signings since Dexter Manley signed on with the old Ottawa Roughriders. Or Andre Rison with the Toronto Argonauts? Albert Connell to the Calgary Stampeders? Big statement? Sure, but off the top of your head name a guy who's come up here from the NFL with such pedigree, pomp and circumstance.

Smith, if he ever gets his stuff together, is a bonafide NFL back who the Vikings were elated about having when he came out of Oregon. (Side note: He was also good enough to crack my fantasy football team as a rookie. Very impressive.)

What accompanies Smith's arrival in the Peg City is the expected condescension of those who say the CFL shouldn't be welcoming players like Smith and Williams who have each had much-publicized drug run-ins that have stalled promising, even all-star, careers in the NFL.

Get over yourself and look at what the CFL is. The Bombers could have an "Original Whizzinator" promotional night for all I care, as long as the guy packing the prosthesis helps put W's in the standings. This is also a league that houses the Hamilton Tiger Cats who, once upon a time, put steroid-addled sprinter Ben Johnson on its negotiation list just because he was fast.

No one in that league should be able to look themselves in the mirror and keep a straight face when they suggest that the league itself would even consider not bringing these guys in. The CFL is not only highly reliant on ticket sales and walk-up crowds but also constantly champing at the bit to get any kind of marquis name in its ranks, which is why Rison, Manley, Connell et. al. have found a home here if only for a brief time.

Now, this will come off as some hypocrisy on my part because I've always bragged about the Pittsburgh Steelers being a class organization that drafts and sign only class act athletes and coaches, and that that is one of the great things about being a fan of them. Terrell Owens, for example, would never be signed by the Steelers nor, for that matter, would Onterrio Smith quite likely. In fact, I found the Dallas Cowboys signing of Owens not only embarassing, but about as predictable as the sunrise. America's Team, if you haven't seen it before, is a mess with a nice track record of complete jackasses. But I digress.

Yet, the difference being — and it's a big one — is that that's the NFL, where you have your pick of the litter of talented players by the thousands waiting to play. Guys like Onterrio Smith and Ricky Williams don't come the CFL's way every day and any organization in this league would be insane to pass up the chance. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers aren't the Pittsburgh Steelers and that's fine with me.

Regardless, Smith is good. Very good. If I were running the Bombers and you had told me a few years ago, when he was at Oregon, that he would be a Bomber some day, I'd have jumped up, said "when" and then began printing his jerseys. And I'm not the only one.

This is professional sports folks, and in this particular case talent trumps all.

The Whale

I'm sitting at work watching the Carolina Hurricanes roar back on the Montreal Canadiens and, I'll be honest, it sickens me.

That "fans" in Raleigh, N.C. even get an NHL team is infuriating enough, that the NHL pillaged the good people of Hartford, Conn. in order to put another squad in NASCARland and, in so doing, ridded professional sports of the greatest team logo in the world of athletics, was a downright tragedy.

I, my friends, remain a Hartford Whalers fan. Ron Francis was the first non-Winnipeg Jet professional athlete to give me an autograph and that had me hooked. I bought a Whalers jersey for my hockey practises, watched the team religiously tease me with first-round playoff exits that were littered with so-close-but-oh-so-far efforts and then eventually swore off the bastard league that took away my two beloved teams.

Hartford Whalers, we hardly knew ye.

In honour of the harpooned Whale, I give you this, the most catchy of catchy tunes, The Hartford Whalers Victory March (nee: The Brass Bonanza), played after every goal by Kevin Dineen, Ray Ferraro, Terry Yake, Pat Verbeek or even Randy Ladouceur. Back in the days when the NHL wasn't playing the latest techno/trance song to pump up its team, when organs were regulars in the rafters of old barns, when divisions were named after great men like Adams, Smythe and Norris, and the closest the deep south got to having a team was trying to remember what that "Flames" team was that played somewhere in Georgia.

March on Whalers.

Here's to an early Carolina exit so the people of Raleigh can go back to cheering for what they actually know something about:

Purge and binge

My talking about the topic of the dismantling of the Ottawa Renegades wouldn't just be overkill, it would be completely frivolous as well. No one needs to read another person espousing on the mess that is the capital city's former football team. Needless to say, I feel bad for the people of Ottawa but am absolutely taxing my brain to figure out why the CFL would allow the Gliebermans anywhere within 1,000 feet of a franchise.

I did, however, see in one of the number of visual obituaries that aired on TV a small group of fans holding a black flag at a game that said "Renegade Nation." Seriously? I have to put some sort of moratorium on the use of " Nation" in sports. Leaf Nation, Raider Nation, Rider Nation... Enough. When the biggest laughingstock franchise in the history of the CFL gets to have a "Nation" — as if to insinuate this is some sort of storied franchise with legions of fans across the continent — then we've gone too far. Personally, I think it's time Ottawa is gone for good. The CFL — and the city of Ottawa — loses credibility everytime it tries to resurrect a team in the capital and the past two decades have shown that, for many and varying reasons, it's just not going to happen. Take that horse to the glue factory.

That said, the dispersal draft was a fun time, wasn't it? I mean, this was the equivalent of some old, rich coot — who never really was successful, just rich — filing Chapter 11 and then being forced to have a yard sale where everything was selling for 11 cents and under. Like the Enron guys comping that big Crooked E for a couple bucks.

Some experts have pegged the Bombers as the big winner in the draft and no doubt they've done well with their picks. Ibrahim Khan was arguably the most coveted player and Val St. Germain brings more veteran leadership to the O-line. More importantly, the Bombers now have two Canadians on the line allowing them to use some non-import spots in skill positions. Brad Banks is a guy everyone is very excited about but I think the jury is still out on him. He's athletic as hell, a former Heisman candidate at Iowa and has shown signs of being someone with a bright future, but you could dike the Red River with the bodies of the QBs who have been reported to have big upside and then never materialized.

The most curious move to me was the Saskatchewan Roughriders perhaps throwing their franchise under the bus for Kerry Joseph. I'm still not remotely sold on Joseph even though everyone has druelled over his potential since he came in the league. In the CFL, every team has a chance to be competitive every season and the Renegades never matured into much more than a team that scored a couple upset wins, scared a few people early on and then fell back into the "wait til next year" mode. Despite how badly CFL talking heads wanted them to succeed — after all it's their job to constantly hide the Emperor's nudity — the Renegades were a chump team that never made the playoffs and Joseph has to take a chunk of the responsibility for that.

In 2003, he had one of his best seasons and even then he threw for 19 TDs against 20 INTs. There's no doubting his athletic ability, although the Riders giving away Corey Holmes — perhaps the most versatile and dangerous player in the league — to get a guy who fits the mold of every Saskatchewan quarterback of the past decade is curious to say the least.

Marcus Crandell, Nealon Greene, Rocky Butler, Kevin Glenn, Henry Burris and now Kerry Joseph. Anyone seeing a connection between all these guys and the degree of suck the Riders have displayed? Kerry Joseph could be the guy to take them over the top, but I'm not betting on it. To franchise one of the best players in the league just to obtain a carbon copy of all the other failing QBs you've had is bone-headed at best. But we wouldn't expect much else out of the Gappers, now would we?

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How I didn't lead with this item is beyond me but, brace yourself people, Saturday was Nebraska's Spring Game meaning there is just 141 days until the season starts against Louisiana Tech at old Memorial.

Some 57,000 people showed up to see the Red-White game, which is little more than the final scrimmage of spring practice but nonetheless a golden chance to have a look at what might be for 2006-07.

To say I'm excited about this season is an understatement. For the first time in the Bill Callahan/West Coast-era, the Huskers have expectations on them. A three-game win streak that included a road win at Colorado and an Alamo Bowl-victory over Michigan capped off last season and got Big Red fans jazzed about the team again. Well, not like the fans ever went anywhere, but the last few seasons have been the most taxing in Husker history.

Zac Taylor is back to lead the offence, the backfield could be a three-headed monster with Cody Glenn, Marlon Lucky and Leon Jackson all lining up to take the departed Cory Ross' place, the defence will be as good as ever and kicker Jordan Congdon enters his sophomore season after one of the best freshman year's in the Big 12.

For the first time since Callahan took over, the Huskers are once again at least being mentioned as a potential North Division winner, although they'll have Iowa State it would appear to jump over.

This year's Canadians for Nebraska roady takes place Oct. 19-22 when we head down to Lincoln to see the defending national champion Texas Longhorns. This trip will top everything I've ever done in my life. That's how successful I've been.

Anyway, one time before we break for the summer ... GO BIG RED!

The Final Countdown

The demolition of the Winnipeg Arena made national news and was captured with great commitment to detail by this site.

So the Old Barn, as it was affectionately called, was eulogized over the past couple of days despite the fact the demolition had been occuring over a number of months and Sunday morning's implosion was just the death blow that — eventually — brought it officially to ruin.

The Arena was forgotten about rather quickly after it was officially made a relic when the ritzy downtown MTS Centre was opened in 2004 and the main tenants, the Manitoba Moose, switched homes. Winnipeg is a city not big enough for the both of them, after all.

With the cookie-cutter variety of arenas in North America popping up in virtually every city of any repute, I always enjoyed the fact the Winnipeg Arena had its quirks and was proud of those quirks. I think that's a statement about most Winnipeggers, too: We're usually proud of our idiosyncrasies.

The Arena held a number of memories for me and I was far from pleased to see it destroyed. When the Eaton's building downtown was demolished to put up the MTS Centre, I hardly shed a tear because I had no emotional connection to that structure, what with it having been constructed and long through its heyday decades before I came around.

But the Arena, I realize now, was the first building anywhere that I held an affinity towards and — now that it no longer exists — I too know now that I had some sort of odd emotional investment in it. Folks who had been in Winnipeg for decades were sad to see the Eaton's building fall because it had been a part of their upbringing, a significant figure throughout their lives and the loss of it was taking away something they directly identified with for a large part of their existence. So then, suggesting that a faceless framework of steel and bricks has a familial feel to it isn't so crazy.

That's how Winnipeg Arena was to me.

I watched from the cheap seats my first Jets games when I was in Grade 1 and my brother got some tickets through school for being a patrol guard. I saw the Calgary Flames — Hakan Loob, Lanny McDonald and Kent Nilsson — and the Boston Bruins — Rick Middleton and Ray Bourque — that year. As years went on I got to see the Hartford Whalers (my beloved other team), Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers at their peak, Denis Savard and the Chicago Blackhawks. In essence, I saw some of the greatest NHLers ever come to my city, something significant now in hindsight as Winnipeg yearns to bring a team back. From the low rows in 1993, I watched the Toronto Maple Leafs with my dad.

I went with my Sir John Franklin Explorers hockey team and cheered wildly from the absolute back of the arena as our head coach miraculously managed to land a paper airplane on the ice. I still remember Andy Van Hellemond pausing the game slightly between face-offs so that he could retrieve it from the ice. A tremendous memory and it happened some 15 years ago.

I skated on that ice, too, which still ranks among the greatest experiences of my life. My brother, when coaching our River Heights Cardinals, got us a practice on the Arena ice and I couldn't get over that I was skating on the same spots that Dale Hawerchuk did when he was the idol of all Winnipeg Jets fans.

In elementary school I competed in the city-wide speedskating championships and even won a few, although I don't remember how many. I do remember, however, that with all the schools bringing supporters it was — even then — an electric feeling of performing on the city's most coveted stretch of ice in front of screaming onlookers.

I was there in 1995 at the premature funeral of the Jets. Don Cherry called Winnipeggers the greatest fans on the planet, Ed Olczyk screamed "when we win the Stanley Cup ... It's coming back to Winnipeg" and, quite conversely Thomas Steen, in his famously shy way, wished aloud for one more year of the NHL in Winnipeg. He, and all of us, surprisingly got our wish to have one final year-long good-bye.

I made it a point to be at the final game ever played at Winnipeg Arena and wrote a column about it for the next day's edition, Nov. 7/2004, and I'm glad I did.

I've barely been back to Winnipeg in the months since the deconstruction of the Arena began and I'm not sure I'm all that enthused to see the blank hole that now exists.

A crowd gathered around in a prolonged state of perverse gawking on Sunday morning to see the Winnipeg Arena, and 50 years of history, implode. Cheers went up with the dust and the smoke. I wasn't there and I'm glad I wasn't.

All the images I need are permanently engrained in me and I'll prefer to leave them that way. After all, that Old Barn housed a lot more than just some steel and bricks.

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NB: For another reminder of Winnipeggers' unique and unmatchable love for their Jets, this is a nice trip down memory lane.

Firing line

This is ridiculous.

By all accounts, Andy Murray's one of the good guys in the NHL and I won't hide the fact that the following has a tinge of bias because the man is a local and he's always made himself available to myself or other reporters at the Sun when a story was in the works. I interviewed him after he led the Canadian team to the world championship gold medal in 2003.

That said, well before Murray was given the axe by the underachieving, if not overly talented, Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, I've ranted about idiot organizations that prove time and again why they are regularly forgotten about when the term "success" is brought up.

With all due respect to the adage that coaches are hired to be fired, it's not hard to figure out why certain teams continue to wallow in mediocrity. What's infuriating, from a fan's standpoint, is the seeming obliviousness of the people who run these teams have to what is going on right beneath their noses.

Sometimes, however, it's not inattention but rather indifference. The Chicago Cubs, save for the Year of Bartman, have regularly been bottom-feeders to the extent they've earned a nickname that characterizes them as such. Curses be damned, this is an organization that has never seen any urgency to make a concerted effort to build a contender knowing full well people will still flock to the Friendly Confines regardless of the bums who are put on the field.

But for those teams that do at least purport to be about getting better, the road to success is often littered with idiocy.

Best case scenario? The Buffalo Sabres fire Ted Nolan following the 1996-97 season, a campaign in which all he did was take his God-awful team to the second round of the playoffs and win the Jack Adams Trophy for coach of the year. Peruse the roster of that Sabres team and you'll find what Nolan did with it was nothing short of remarkable. It's a murderers' row of lame ducks: Donald Audette, Brian Holzinger, Dixon Ward and team-leading scorer Derek Plante (!), who blistered to 53 points in 82 games. (And before you suggest the Late 90s-NHL-as-no-offence-league argument, consider the fact that the top nine scorers in the league had at least 90 points).

Anyway, that's off topic.

Bringing us back to Murray, the Kings are nine games above .500, currently sitting in a tenuous playoff position and have 12 games remaining in the regular season. Top scorers Pavol Demitra and Alexander Frolov have been in and out of the lineup all season with injuries (mostly out) and the Kings have a shaky goaltending situation. Re: Ted Nolan, it's a wonder this team has been successful as it has.

The timing of the decision appears, at the outset, to be atrocious at the very least and shortsighted at best. Now the Kings will go through the drama of a coaching change at the most critical point of their season and, even if they do make the playoffs, are likely fodder for a first-round opponent anyway.

You can run off a laundry list of teams that simply don't get it. A grab bag of organizations run by mental midgets who somehow never notice the difference between themselves and the ones that are regularly, consistently among sports elite.

Put the L.A. Kings in that category.

The only question is: Is it because of inattention or indifference?

Please wipe your feet

The weekly documentary news program CNN Presents discussed the world's oil crisis on Sunday and discovered Canada's oil surplus, investigating what Alberta's land means to the rest of the world... Well, to the U.S.

Not nearly as offensive as most American TV is about Canada, the episode still reaked of the usual jingoism American media is so well known for. Of course, it prompted me to write an email.

My words to CNN:

It would be prudent, I believe, to remind CNN that the network is a global entity and, more specifically, a North American network that needs to remember there are Canadians who turn to it for news as well. While we are indeed honoured that CNN has found a story north of the 49th parallel, let us please not forget that the oil crisis, and Canada's role in assisting, also affects Canadians. So when you raise, on air, the question "how does this affect us?" the attitude plays like the U.S. eating off our plate and saying "oh, were you gonna finish that?" It is a global crisis. The least you could do is portray it as such. And while you're at it, leave out the misguided allusions to my country being some arctic outpost. Americans' views of Canada are already skewed enough as it is.

Parched Madness

If you heard a wooshing sound about ... oh ... around midday Friday, that was the sound of my NCAA bracket going down the drain.

Now, let's be straight here people. I put in more thought, logged more hours and crunched more statistics for this year's draft than any year previous. I printed upwards of 50 pages from bracketologist Pete Tiernan and poured over the minutia of his statistical renderings. I was the Expert of All Experts.

I filled out the bracket with confident pen strokes yet all the while maintaining the same caution a teenager uses to avoid stepping on the creaky parts of the floor when he's sneaking in the house at night. I got through the first round sluggishly and pondered the key games in bracket pools: Figuring out the Nos.10, 11 and even 12 that might play the role of Cinderella.

Well, San Diego State literally (literally)threw the game away against Indiana; Utah State never looked remotely competitive against Washington and Bucknell beat Alabama, making my lone "upset" to come through a mere No.9 over a No.8. Big deal.

On top of all that? Because of Tiernan's overwhelming statistical findings I even went against my gut in games such as Montana v. Nevada, George Mason v. Michigan State, Texas A&M v. Syracuse. Had I gone with the Larkins system, tested and true in a pool victory last season, I would have had three significant upset picks through to the second round.

I almost had to quit my job to cover all of the Tiernan compilation and then almost enrolled in a night course to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

A sample:

The No. 1 seeds that advance to the Final Four tend to be experienced squads, having been to the tourney the previous year. They also boast a preseason Associated Press All-American, beat their opponents by more than 10 points per game and get between 25 and 65 percent of their scoring from the backcourt. Top seeds with these attributes are 31-21 in getting into the semifinals; those without them are 5-27.

Now, it's not biochemistry or thermonuclear dynamics but it's rather involved, nonetheless. Incidentally, I would have fared just as well in a pool on those subjects as I have done on the NCAA. The lesson here? Never read.

Point of the matter?

*turns body to face full-length mirror*

David, believe in yourself. When someone says Zips, you go Zags. When everyone and their mother is banging Boston College for the Final Four, you stick to your guns and remember Villanova was your pick for the championship game a month ago and you're not wavering from it. So when some nerdlinger ad-exec-by-day turns bracketologist and tries to blaspheme your beloved sport by making manno a manno into an exact science and you buy it up like a fat man reaches for his SaunaBelt, you remember, oh Merchant of the Madness, you're the guy who picked Louisville (on a TV appearance no doubt) to be in the Final Four last year and no one can ever replace gut reactions.

Now, everyone, suck up the Iowa's, Tennessee's and Nevada's and move happily into the second round of the greatest tournament in sports. New games await and they are yours for the picking.

Just remember to flip a coin.