Lions by how many?

Some things from the weekend you might have missed while you were tearing up those "Run Ricky Run" signs:

From dome sweet dome to Winnipeg's great outdoors for next Sunday's Grey Cup, it's B.C. and Montreal. Lions should be clear favourites - let's see what's posted, but I make it 9 points. Arland Bruce, meantime, won't be there.

MLS - better start boning up - has enacted the "Beckham Rule" to allow teams to go over their salary cap to sign foreign stars, while Manchester United have called young  Freddy Adu in for a trial training session: "MLS — which owns his registration, as it does for all US-based players — it seems to be annoyed by the whole thing. One league official, quoted anonymously in the US, said: 'This is the same old Freddy bulls***.'"

Oh yes, Houston Dynamo won Sunday's MLS Cup on penalties with former Canadian international Pat Onstad making the winning save and a couple of Canucks - Dwayne De Rosario and Adrian Serioux - converting their spot kicks.

Brazil wins the beach soccer World Cup (at least a couple of fans found a way to jump the queue to get in), and are into the semifinals and strong favourites to win it all at the women's world volleyball championship. That'll sure ease the pain of Germany '06.

Followups from the Friday file: The U of T Blues men's ballers, whose battles with four-peat national champion Carleton this season will be must-see, will get a boost in the rankings after home-opening with a 34-point mauling of No. 7 McMaster on Saturday. And courtesy of Neate, here's your CIS football semifinal matchups: Acadia vs Laval, Saskatchewan vs Ottawa.

From the good reads department:

Jason Whitlock has something to say to all you ref-baiting David Stern haters:

Stern took the appropriate step to eliminate the problem. He acted in the best interest of his players. Not surprisingly, the players have reacted like Stern stripped them of some constitutional right or outlawed tattoos and strip-club visits. The players union considered suing the league. NBA player groupies in the media blasted Stern, and some even suggested that Stern is an old white man who can’t relate to his predominantly young black players.
Hmm. Young people in general, and young black men in particular, don’t need leaders who can relate to them. They need leaders who see their unlimited potential and have the courage to demand that they reach it.

Charlie Pierce in Slate on the Awfulness of NFL contracts (thanks to Peter for the link):

All football players are in some ways constantly in rebellion against the teams for which they play. The team makes the player play when he shouldn't and then ruthlessly disposes of him when the consequences of that coercion become obvious on the field. One of the great diplomatic triumphs Tom Brady has is that he has managed to become the public face of the Patriots without becoming perceived as a management mouthpiece among his primary constituency in the locker room.

Comments

[coach]

boo to stern haters . stern is always right !
like in last night game featuring the nets vs. wizards , vince's last shot in regulation tied the game when the new nba ball 'dropped' to the basket like magic . the nets won in o.t. !
vince is one of those who hates the new nba ball of stern.
this new ball was supposedly introduced to 'increase' shooting percentage in the nba by doing just that.
wonder if vince still hates the new nba ball ?

[John Richardson]

First of all, full disclosure about the CIS Football final four. My son plays for Acadia.

Laval soundly trounced the Axemen in regular season but I'd like to point out (or make excuses, take your pick) that: it was Acadia's worst game of the season; their usually steady QB Chris Judd had an off day and. I think they were slightly unnerved by the large Laval home crowd.

If Acadia can play anywhere like they played against St. Mary's on Saturday and if they get a lucky bounce here and there, they can pull it off.

And you can be certain that the dumbass RDS reporter's statement (as reported on Neate's blog "to QB Benoît Groulx that playing Acadia in the Uteck Bowl "should be a good practice for the Vanier Cup." will be incentive.

I spoke with my son last night and trust me, they've taken that to heart.