There’s something I don’t understand.
Well, okay, there’s plenty I don’t understand. Like the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I couldn’t name one of her songs, so why should I care if Travis Kelce is taking her to the prom?
But that’s not what this is about.
I’m here to discuss Rouge Football and, specifically, the B.C. Leos.
During the past week, you see, I kept reading and hearing that the Toronto Argos-Winnipeg Blue Bombers skirmish at the Ballyard in Fort Garry on Friday night was a “battle of the best” featuring “the top two teams” in the Canadian Football League.
Never mind that Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie chose to keep his starting quarterback, Chad Kelly, out of harm’s way and allow neophytes Cameron Dukes and third-stringer Bryan Scott to collect bumps and bruises in his stead. And, hey, he also instructed QB-menacing defenders Shawn Oakman, Wynton McManis and Jamal Peters to find something better to do than chase Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros around a football field.
Didn’t matter. If the pundits were saying the Boatmen and Bombers were the “top two teams” it must be true, right?
Except for this: What part of the Leos 10-4 record did they not understand?
That 10-4 log was upgraded to 11-4 on the merits of a 33-26 victory over the Saskatchewan Flatlanders on Friday night at B.C. Place, and it leaves the Leos precisely where they were in advance of the Argos-Bombers “top two” joust—in lockstep with Winnipeg FC atop the West Division table.
So why no love for the Leos?
Is it because they’re tucked away out here on the Other Side Of The Rocks and 11-4 on the laid-back shores of the Pacific Ocean isn’t as noticeable as 11-4 on prairie farmland?
Look, they’ve met twice, both skirmishes in Winnipeg, and they split. The Leos opened with a 30-6 W, and the Bombers handed the Leos a 50-points burger in the rematch. Both starting QBs, Vernon Adams and Collaros, are in the Most Outstanding Player Award discussion. Adams has flung the football for more yards and Collaros has two more TD tosses. Brady Oliveira gives the Bombers a superior ground game. B.C. has two 1,000-yard pass-catchers, the Bombers one. B.C. sack master Mathieu Betts has been hunting down QBs the way Matt Dillon chased bad guys on Gunsmoke, with a league-leading 15 notches on his belt. As a group, B.C.’s defensive dozen has caught its QB quarry 48 times, Winnipeg 40. On special teams, the numbers tell us B.C. is better at kick returns, field goals and punting.
So why are the Leos an afterthought?
Seems to me that this orange-and-black-clad B.C. outfit should be shouting “What about us?” because it appears the Leos are every ounce the equal of the large lads in blue-and-gold livery.
We’ll know for certain next Friday when the two sides collide in their rubber match, only this time the Leos will have the benefit of home-cooked meals and (hopefully) about 30,000 of their friends to cheer and chow down at B.C. Place Stadium.
They’re billing it as the inaugural Gravy Bowl, a freshly minted Thanksgiving tradition that includes turkey din-din (hand-carved gobbler, mashed taters, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie), the Washington Huskies marching band and, of course, each team’s star players will be present and accounted for when roll call is taken. Which is to say neither head coach will do a Dinwiddie. It will be the true marquee match of this CFL crusade.
The pundits might not see it that way, but what do they know? I mean, talk about turkeys.
Let’s be clear: Dinwiddie had every right to jerk around with his starting 24 on Friday. Hell, he could have put Taylor Swift behind centre (if she wasn’t too busy pitching woo with Travis Kelce) vs. the Bombers, and the impact on the pecking order in the eastern precinct of Rouge Football would have been zero. Same applies for the final four skirmishes of their schedule. The Boatmen are in the catbird seat, with a gap the size of Deion Sanders’ ego between them and also-rans in Montreal, Hamilton and Ottawa. So, sure, give Kelly a bit of down time. Ditto Oakman, McManis and Peters. But having the right to do it doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do in the grand scheme of things. I mean, I’ve yet to hear anyone call it load management, but I guarantee you that it was a load of something or other. There were 32,343 souls sitting in the blue chairs at the Ballyard In Fort Garry, and I’m guessing a few thousand were there to gawk at Kelly and the Argos varsity squad, not the JV. So the Argos cheated paying customers on the south side of Winnipeg, and those of us with eyes glued to our flatscreens. They also cheated the Leos by sending a substandard troupe to River City with western bragging rights at stake. And they cheated the league.
Interesting, also contrasting, commentary from Winnipeg Sun scribes Paul Friesen and Ted Wyman in advance of Friday’s skirmish in Pegtown. Wyman described it as “the travesty that is the matchup between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts.” Freezer was having none of that. “Geez, the way the headlines read and the bloggers blog, you’d think the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are hosting a rag-tag, semi-pro outfit sponsored by Jimmy’s Meats somewhere in One Horse Town, Ontario,” he wrote. Any pooh-poohing of the game was “nonsense” and “horsecrap.” Headline writers and bloggers are “blowhards,” and “blaming the Argos for resting their breakout quarterback makes as much sense as blaming the ball boy for the knee injury that put (Andrew) Harris on the shelf.” Hoo boy. Freezer was on a roll. Love it. Except for this: It was Dinwiddie’s call (perhaps with input from GM Pinball Clemons but not the ball boy). Who else should we point an accusing finger at?
I’m not so sure that Collaros is the best choice as Most Oustanding Player among the Bombers. Seems to me that running back Brady Oliveira should get the nod, especially if he tops Rouge Football in real estate covered.
Oh dear. The Leos have added Colin Kaepernick to their negotiation list. Ya, that’s just what the CFL needs: A 35-year-old QB who hasn’t taken a snap in seven years, has never played on a field the size of Texas, and throws from a kneeling position. Kaepernick has to be a hard pass and I’m guessing the Leos know it.
Just wondering: Does Kaepernick have anything against our cops and would he take a knee during O Canada?
Rouge Football gets Green Day for the Grey Cup halftime show on Nov. 19. The Super Bowl gets Usher. We win.
Green Day is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Why isn’t the Guess Who?
Carrie Underwood will be performing during Grey Cup week in The Hammer, so please, please, please TSN, do not invite the country diva into the broadcast booth for a natter with Glen Suitor. Based on his teeny-bopper, groupie gushing over Keith Urban a few years back, I fear Carrie would get swept away in his slobber and the Grand Ole Opry will be obliged to send out a search-and-rescue team to locate her.
Cheers & Jeers: Big cheers to Jessica Campbell and Kori Cheveri, first female coaches to work an NHL bench. Jessica, an assistant with the Coachella Firebirds of the AHL, was behind the Seattle Kraken pine in exhibition play last week, while Cheverie was part of the Pittsburgh Penguins cluster of coaches…Cheers to Roberto Luongo, who’s going into the Vancouver Canucks Ring of Honour in December. And you know you’re getting very long in tooth when guys you covered in teenage hockey are being enshined. I remember scribbling a piece about Bobby Lu at the World Junior championship tournament in Winnipeg in 1999…Loud jeers to Curt Schilling, who disclosed that former Boston Red Sox teammate Tim Wakefield and his bride Stacy are battling cancer. He didn’t have their permission to release that very personal info…Cheers to Canada’s national women’s footy team, which qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. One final hurrah for Christine Sinclair, assuming she makes Bev Priestman’s final roster cut…Jeers to Major League Baseball teams that celebrate winning a wild card playoff spot with champagne showers. That’s just stupid…Cheers to TSN’s curling natterbugs Vic Rauter, Cathy Gauthier and Russ Howard. Their voices are the definitive sign that the hurry-hard season is upon us, and they’ve been doing a lot of gum-flapping about Manitoba outfits at the PointsBet Invitational. Three of the four finalists feature ‘Toba teams…Jeers to caddy Joe LaCava, who inserted himself into the Ryder Cup with some very bad manners on the 18th green Saturday.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think Rory McIlroy might have anger issues? I mean, I really like the guy and I don’t blame him for being PO’d at LaCava, but he’s seized the title of Mr. Grumpy Golfer from Phil Mickelson ever since the LIV tour became a thing, and it isn’t a good look. Chill, Rory.
Organizers of next year’s Summer Games held a job fair the other day in Saint-Denis, France, looking for 16,000 temp workers. Included among the needs are 3,000 people with brooms and dust pans to clean up the mess, which is to say all the syringes Russian athletes leave behind.
Thinking of attending the Montana’s Brier in Regina, March 1-10? Here’s the cost:
Preliminary-round single-draw tickets (youth $9.99; adults $24-$57.50)
Full Event Package ($486-$522)
Championship Weekend Package ($234-$252)
Opening Weekend Package ($120-$138)
Weekday Packages ($69-$75)
The Human Hoover, Brooks Robinson, died at age 86 last week, and it’s not common knowledge that Vancouver was his final minor league stop before landing a permanent gig on the hot corner with the Baltimore Orioles in The Show. The man who became the standard by which all Major League Baseball third sackers were measured played 42 games with the Vancouver Mounties in 1959, hitting .331 with six dingers and 20 RBI. In his 1974 book Third Base Is My Home, Brooks described the flight to our West Coast as “the lowest point” of his career. But…“In retrospect that brief tour at Vancouver is one of the bright spots of my baseball career.”
I’ve been root, root, rooting for the Dodgers since I was knee high to Pee Wee Reese, so you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t get all geeked up about the Toronto Blue Jays securing a spot in the American League playoffs. Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn about the Blue Jays.
Further evidence that Postmedia has converted the Winnipeg Sun into the Torontopeg Sun is the headline on today’s sports front: “WE’RE IN!” Just wondering: When did the Blue Jays become a Winnipeg team?
And, finally, the best trade this year (maybe any year) was on The Voice: Blake Shelton out, Reba McEntire in. That’s a serious upgrade in talent, and Reba’s humor is genuine, not hayseed hokum. She makes me laugh, and giggles are always a good thing.
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