Gridiron Meaning

Tough day for CFL supporters, this is.

How do they explain away the full house, or close to full house, at the Rogers Centre for the Bills and Redskins on Sunday, an enthusiastic full house, at that? Even if you accept the general wisdom that the house is papered, you still have to get the people to go, and there is no way on earth the Argonauts could ever dream of attracting an audience like that for a regular season match.

If you believe the customer is always right, and if you believe that the actual bodies in seats at Argo games have been dipping below five figures, then there's some rather direct messages being sent here.

One, the public doesn't like what the Argos are selling (who would?). Two, they will buy (at astronomical prices) tickets for a non-Toronto NFL team. Three, there's a larger football appetite in the city ready to be serviced if somebody - the CFL, the NFL, the Argos, the Bills - can figure a way to service it.

The Argos, ever since David Braley bought the team, have faded into near irrelevance. It's almost as if once it appeared the Bills in Toronto Series was unlikely to be a direct and damaging threat to the CFL in southern Ontario, the Argos stopped trying, or at least trying as hard as they had during the David Cynamon/Howard Sokolowski/Keith Pelley years.

That doesn't mean there isn't an appetite for the Argos out there., however. It was interesting that my 13-year-old son went with his friend to the game and had a blast. They found the whole NFL atmosphere in a packed stadium thrilling. But what souvenir did they buy and bring home? Argo caps. I'm not precisely sure what that means, other than predicting the consumer habits of 13-year-old boys is pointless, but it suggests they haven't ruled out in their minds the possibility that the Argos and CFL might be a product that interests them.

So again, there's an appetite for football out there in the GTA. On Sunday, it was fed by the NFL and the Bills. Theoretically, the Argos could do the same, or something similar, but they would have to work a lot harder to make it happen, certainly a lot harder than they're working now.

A great deal of faith seems to have been placed in the notion that the 100th Grey Cup game in Toronto next season will heal all wounds, or at least make Toronto CFL-centric long enough for Braley to cash in on the big game for a second straight year. And maybe the 2012 Grey Cup will be a huge success. 

Next year, however, it will be juxtaposed more directly with the final game of the Bills in Toronto Series. That's a comparison the CFL will want to ensure shines a favourable light on its product or the football market in these parts could change for good.

 

 

 

Quick End to A Coach

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Looking back, it's peculiar just how outraged the Argonaut owners were last January when their recruitment of Bart Andrus as head coach was met with some criticism.

They thought they'd hit a home run, made a brilliant hire.

The idea, from Toronto's point of view, was that in Andrus they had a football mind the equal of Marc Trestman in Montreal, or at least a reasonable facsimile.

Well, as it turns out, not even close. Twinning an American with little or no knowledge of the three-down game with a talent depleted Argo roster turned out to be a lethal combination. Having no quarterback in a quarterback-driven league wasn't compensated by the fact Andrus had once coached the position in the NFL, and the suggestion that Andrus would bring order and discipline to a chaotic Toronto dressing room turned out to be a laughable suggestion.

All it did, really, was cost the team the services of playmaker Arland Bruce III when he ran afoul of Andrus.

The Argos as a group have had a lot of big decisions go bad in recent seasons, including the addition of Ricky Williams, the disastrous trade for Kerry Joseph, the return of Don Matthews and the hiring of Andrus. Andrus was just the latest U.S. coach to come north preaching “football is football,” which is exactly the opposite of what Trestman did when he was hired by Montreal and immediately sought to adapt his ideas to the Canadian game.

At the same time Andrus was failing, just down the highway Canadian-born Marcel Bellefeuille was doing a nice job under Bob O'Billovich in Hamilton, suggesting the Argos, when it came to hiring a head coach, zigged when they should have zagged.

Really, from Rich Stubler to Matthews to Andrus, the Argos have made three consecutive boffo errors when it came to filling the head coaching position.

Is that Adam Rita? Or owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski?

Dumping Andrus was, however, the right thing to do, and you have to give the Argo braintrust some credit for not stubbornly sticking by Andrus in the absence of convincing evidence he was going to be able to turn the football team around.

So now what? With a possible move to BMO Field in the offing, the Argos need to return in June with a decidedly more competitive operation. Perhaps Pinball Clemons might be interested in coming back, but that's doubtful. There will be the usual speculation on CFL assistants – Mike Benevides of B.C, who almost took the job last time, George Cortez in Calgary, maybe even offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice in Saskatchewan – and names with CFL connections like Matt Dunigan and Mike Riley and Tom Clements.

But they can't get it wrong for a fourth time in a row. This time, whether it's Rita or the owners, there is a desperate need to hit a home run. A real one this time.

It Couldn't End Fast Enough

What a nightmare that Argo season was.

Who would have thought the highlight was a Labour Day victory over Hamilton?

And then nothing. No more wins, a defence that crumbled and a lot of talk from management and coaching about supposed improvements that were virtually undetectable to the outside eye.

This season was Willie Wood bad.

So what happens now?

The Argos can at least take solace in the fact that crowds, surprisingly, didn't wilt as the year went on, although they clearly started playing with attendance numbers, making it sound even better than it was.

But next season could be different. For starters, if December's NFL game between Buffalo and Miami at the dome turns out to be a major hit, it's not hard to imagine that the Argos might seem like a poor entertainment investment in an eroding economy.

Owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski could wait, let the ruination of this season slowly evaporate, then begin planning for next year.

That would be risky. The Argos are still at least in the spotlight to some extent. This is football season, after all.

Cynamon and Sokolowski need to make some sort of public statement with their management/coaching group to indicate to their fans that they are as disgusted with this season as anyone.

It seems clear the structure currently in place, with Michael Clemons and Brad Watters at the top, and the football operation headed by Adam Rita below that, isn't functioning as effectively any more. The coaching staff now led by Don (0-fer-8) Matthews is in turmoil.

Seeing Clemons having to publicly deny meddling in Rita's sandbox isn't great P.R. for the team. Moreover, it's a fact that Clemons and Rita haven't seen eye-to-eye on a number of issues, and the precise job description of each within the team seems to have been muddled.

There's also the perception that Rita, Matthews and offensive co-ordinator Steve Burratto are a little too tight, forming a club within a club, as it were.

Clearly, Matthews shouldn't come back. His third stint as Argo head coach has been an unmitigated disaster, and all his loyalists who once played for him and now occupy media analyst positions have little solid evidence to prove otherwise.

Last night's fake punt debacle was just the icing on the cake.

Down the road, Hamilton has confirmed Marcel Bellefeuille as their coach for next season and has invested in a new franchise player - Kenton Keith - and a new quarterback, Quintin Porter.

People around the league believe that the Cats are ahead of the Argos in terms of developing a competitive team, and may be close to turning the proverbial corner after years of struggling.

It's bad enough for the Argos to be the second worst team in the east. Being the worst behind Hamilton would be nightmarish.

So next season begins now. Ownership needs to make at least one splashy announcement/decision to make the public understand that they view this season as unacceptable.

The status quo won't sell a ticket.

 

The Kids Have Taken Over

The only quarterback anybody wanted to talk about in the weeks preceding the NFL season was 38-year-old Brett Favre, and for good reason. Favre's been a star in the league for a long-time, his divorce from the Green Bay Packers was messy and moving to the New York Jets put him squarely in North America's biggest media market.

But here's the funny thing. The NFL is really No League For Old Men any more, at least when it comes to the quarterback position.

Sure, there's Favre, now 1-1 as the Jets' starter, and 37-year-old Kurt Warner, who passed for 361 yards as 2-0 Arizona beat dreadful Miami on Sunday.

But watching Philip Rivers of San Diego and Denver's Jay Cutler - two men who apparently dislike each other intensely, by the way - battle on Sunday afternoon in a shootout in the Mile High City cemented the impression that a new generation of appealing new quarterbacks have taken over the NFL. Seeing Cutler going for the two-point conversion - and the win - in the dying moments was a welcome sight in the often conservative league, and reinforced the notion that the young gunslingers are in charge.

Rivers is 26, and Cutler is 25. Elswhere around the NFL, Ben Roethlisberger is just 26, although it already seems like he's been around forever, and reigning Super Bowl champion Eli Manning is 27 years old.

Favre's successor, 24-year-old Aaron Rodgers, has been brilliant so far for the Packers. Buffalo-Toronto Bills QB Trent Edwards is only 24, Cleveland starter Derek Anderson is 25, Washington quarterback Jason Campbell is 26 and Tom Brady-substitute Matt Cassell is 26.

Former No. 1 overall pick Jamarcus Russell is 25, athough he's going to get older fast playing for the Raiders, and Kyle Orton is No. 1 in Chicago at the tender age of 25. Tavaris Jackson, while struggling for Minny, is still starting at the age of 25. With the disgraced Michael Vick, still only 28 and once the brightest of the young quarterbacks, incarcerated for his misbehavior and cruelty to animals, 23-year-old Matt Ryan has become Atlanta's No. 1 signal caller.

Troubled Tennessee quarterback Vince Young is 25, while Carson Palmer and Tony Romo are hardly old men at 28.

The one name we haven't mentioned? That would be former Heismann Trophy winner Matt Leinart, labouring behind Warner with the Cardinals. But the 25-year-old Leinart will get his shot.

Its an invigorating shot in the arm for the NFL, as if it needed one. Quarterbacks get more attention than any other position players, and when so many are so young, it adds a layer of freshness to the entire operation and new intrigue for a Sunday afternoon of couch potato-ness. Morever, its not like these guys are only being trusted with handing the ball off. They're throwing it, often and effectively.

For the CFL, all the quarterbacks tend to be older because they generally try their luck at the NFL or Arena Football before heading north. Darian Durant of Saskatchewan might be the brightest young quarterback in the league, and he's already 26. But so many come through the league without staying very long or getting a meaningful chance - Eric Crouch, Kevin Eakin, Mike McMahon, Shaun King, Jesse Palmer, Ted White, Tee Martin - that the wave of new blood never seems to arrive and the bigger names get moved around and recycled.

Like It Was Scripted

So the Patriots lose Tom Brady. And Brett Favre plays hero in his Jets debut.

And now the Pats and Jets meet next Sunday in the Meadowlands.

Man. Just like somebody wrote it down beforehand to make the NFL season a little more dramatic, as if more drama is required.

So the questions were clear afterwards.

Was the hit on Brady fair or dirty?

Was Favre good or damn lucky?

The Brady hit first. Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard, blocked to the ground, made a hustle play by retrieving his momentum and hurling himself forward.

At Brady's knee, as it turned out, nearly a carbon copy of the play that shredded the knee of Cincinnati QB Carson Palmer in the 2005 playoffs.

A legal play, sure. But if Pollard had leapt in the air and swatted Brady across his well-protected head, there would have been a 15-yard penalty. Maybe a follow-up fine.

The Pollard hit is a play that just can't happen in any league in which quarterbacks are valued, which is every league.

If defensive players can restrain themselves from blows to the head, they can restrain themselves from those types of hits to the knee, even if they are in essence the result of extra effort.

Dirty? No. But something that needs to be legislated against.

Now on to Favre. The blind TD heave was Chansi Stuckey was a total fluke, and Favre admitted afterwards that there were times he "just winged it" in the victory over the Dolphins. After all, he just got his hands on the playbook.

He was 15-22 for 194 yards and two touchdowns, pretty solid, and it was a goofy game at times, with the Jets forced to run plays at different times because their placekicker was injured.

With Favre you just never know what is hastily designed, sandlot stuff, and what's just good karma.

But you throw that ball that he threw to Stuckey in the playoffs, and it gets picked off.

Green Bay can tell you all about that.

So the Pats and Jets play next week, and the jumbled AFC East also includes the interesting Buffalo Bills, very impressive in winning their opener over Seattle. Trent Edwards isn't the name that Brady and Favre are, but then again, he's probably readier to go than Matt Cassell and he's better than Chris Simms, or Daunte Culpepper, or whoever the Patriots turn to now.

Not the Greatest Team, But Maybe the Best Game

No, I haven't seen 'em all. Joe Willie guaranteed before I was watching.

But having seen the last 37 Super Bowls, I'd be prepared to say No. 42 was the best, most dramatic, most taut and unpredictable I've seen.

The best, in other words. The best I've seen. And I got to watch it with all four of my kids, with three of them cheering for New England and me rooting on the Giants.

The two-year-old didn't much care one way or another.

SHAUN BEST/REUTERS Giants’ Reggie Torbor, Amani Toomer and Kevin Dockery jump for joy after New York shocked the Patriots 17-14.

Too low-scoring for some, sure, but for me, every down mattered, every error mattered, and the fact Fox did an absolutely terrific job delivering the Super Bowl last night sure helped. Troy Aikman, to me, just has that Lloyd Robertson-like authority about him.

It also helped that the Eli Manning-to-David Tyree pitch-and-catch that was a critical part of New York's 12 play, 83 drive for the winning score may have been the most incredible single play in Super Bowl history.

How did Manning, not the fleetest afoot, escape the clutches of the savage New England defence that had history and the Giants QB in its grasp?

How did Tyree, not even a starter, manage to control the ball by leaping to catch it at its highest point with Rodney Harrison all over him, then refuse to drop it while falling to the ground, actually using one hand to press it against his helmet?

Incredible.

It was a win for little brothers everywhere, with Eli winning it all a year after Peyton, putting them right there with the Williams sisters and the Richard brothers as the most successful sibling combinations in sports history. Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a little too arrogant for some, was surely Super-arrogant on the day when he stalked off the field with a play still to run. Maybe he was confused or thought the game was over, but when you're opponent has earned a victory like the Giants did yesterday, you stand there until every second is gone.

And so the Giants matched their fellow New York team, the Jets, with the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history. Plaxico Burress, meanwhile, was spot on with his prediction, including his suggestion that the Giants defence would be able to stuff the Tom Brady-led New England attack.

Burress said the Pats would be able to come up with 17 points. They only managed 14, and Burress, rather than blathering about his brilliance, etc, afterwards, broke into tears on national television with the emotion of it all. While "winning it in the trenches" is the most over-used of football clichés, it was true that New York's offensive and defensive lines outplayed their New England counterparts on the day. In particularly, the Patriot offensive line was leakier than it had been all season, with the exception of the near-loss to Baltimore. Nobody had seen Brady hit that often and that hard all year long.

The Patriots, 18-1 rather than 19-0, now go down as one of the best NFL teams ever, but not the best. Not the greatest. Not perfect.

But they did get to play it what to me was the best Super Bowl yet.

A Mighty Fall

If Michael Vick's attorney was really echoing his client's true feelings today after the disgraced NFL quarterback was sentenced to 23 months in prison, then Vick will have a shot at redemption somewhere down the line.

Instead of coming out blasting at authorities today claiming persecution or that his client was the victim of a witch hunt, Vick's attorney, Billy Martin, said after the sentencing that Vick has accepted that he was wrong to finance and operate a dog-fighting ring, and has accepted his prison sentence as an appropriate penalty.

This seemed to be different than Mike Tyson claiming his innocence after being convicted of rape. This was a man, through his lawyer, apparently admitting guilt and accepting the time for doing the crime.

Now maybe, of course, Vick actually feels differently, and perhaps his lawyer is simply making sure the right things are said publicly to begin the process of rehabilitating his image so one day he might be able to return to the NFL and make millions of dollars. Moreover, the judge in this case didn't see Vick as being suitably remorseful and didn't give him a break on sentencing.

The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback has fallen so incredibly far in such a short period of time. The 2007 NFL season isn't even over, which means it was less than a calendar year ago that Vick was competing in the league and drawing an extraordinary paycheque from a 10-year, $130 million deal signed in 2004.

Eighteen months from now - the experience term he'll actually have to serve - he'll probably get a chance to try again. That means he could be free in June or July, 2009, with the chance to rejoin the NFL for the 2009 season at the age of 29. That said, league commissioner Roger Goodell, who placed Vick under indefinite suspension earlier this year, won't rule on any further discipline for Vick until he's out of jail, and could theoretically ban him for the 2009 season as well.

Imagine the impact this man could make on the game and his community if he does return and returns a changed man, if he comes back with honest intentions rather than a bitter snarl.

His fall from grace has been spectacular to watch. His rise back to the top, if he can pull it off and if its done the right way, could be equally spectacular.

A Page From the Past

For one night, at least, it was as though the fabled Monday Night Football of my youth was back, vibrant and thrilling.

Then, it was Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith providing a wonderful verbal overlay to games that were often exciting, if only because they seemed a little more special on Monday night.

Last night, it was the threesome of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser supplying the words while the New England Patriots, in search of a perfect season, banged heads with the Baltimore Ravens.

Tirico and Co. have developed brilliantly this season, so much better than Al Michaels and John Madden on Sunday nights. Kornheiser, in particular, has one of those verbal motors that just never shuts down and keeps tossing out smart, witty stuff. He's a sportswriter, too, and believe me, we never speak too kindly of one another. But in this case, it's unavoidable - Kornheiser is just that good.

So you have the personality, the smarts and the information in the booth, and on the field, the Pats and Ravens delivered a marvellously flawed game. Kornheiser kept using the term "tragic inevitability" to describe the sense that while the Ravens led the game into the final minutes, it just always seemed the Patriots would win in the end.

Which they did.

From one angle, it made you think these guys will, in fact, be able to put together the first perfect NFL season since the '72 Dolphins. From another, piled on top of last week's narrow escape against the Eagles, you wondered if the Pats are getting closer and closer to losing, showing a new wart every week.

"I think the "S" has kind of been ripped off their shirts," said Baltimore cornerback Corey Ivy.

Maybe. The Steelers, who blitz almost as much as the Ravens, are next up, followed by the Jets, Dolphins and the New York Giants.

It's hard not to feel that everybody in football, outside the Pats and their fans, want them to lose one of those games. Watching New England defensive back Rodney Harrison taunt Baltimore head coach Brian Billick during last night's game - Billick responded by blowing kisses - just gave a lot of people another reason to dislike the terrific and terrifically arrogant Patriots.

The NFL, to me, just seemed too tough for any team to go unbeaten, but now, even I'm starting to wonder if New England will pull this off.

This much seems true. They're showing a few holes these days, and you have to wonder if there's a possibility that they could be perfect in the regular season, but then exposed in the playoffs.

If only MNF did the post-season.

In Praise of Pinball

Win or lose, let's hope Pinball stays.

Not just in football, although having Michael Clemons part and parcel of the Toronto Argonauts seems good for the sport and good for that team.

But let's hope that no matter what, he stays in Toronto.

That notion came to mind last night while reading the bizarre story of the Minnesota Vikings and receiver Troy Williamson. Williamson, according to reports, missed last week's Vikings game against San Diego - a Vikings win - in order to attend the funeral of his maternal grandmother, who was instrumental in raising him as a child.

He helped arrange the funeral, and aided in arranging travel plans for several dozen of his relatives, some of who are apparently in the military. He's also been dealing for weeks with the serious illness of his brother, who was injured in a September car accident and has been slipping in and out of a coma ever since.

So how did the Vikings handle this very, very personal situation? They docked Williamson a game day pay - about $25,000 - for choosing his family over the team.

Maybe there's some circumstance here that will come to light eventually that will make the Vikings appear more humane.

But on the surface, what a bunch of creeps.

Which brings us back to Pinball. If anything, he's put his reputation on the line by bringing in some dubious characters mostly because he believes in second, third and fourth chances, if necessary.

If one of his receivers were to find themselves in a similar situation? Not only would the player be excused, Pinball would probably help arrange the funeral himself and possibly attend with other members of the team.

I guess when you read a story like this one about the Vikings, a franchise that has disgraced itself repeatedly in recent years, you understand that having a real man, a man who has his priorities straight, is an incredible treasure for GTA sporting scene.

Maybe this is Pinball's last season coaching the Argos.

But let's hope its not his last year as a leader in this city.

Barrelling Headlong into History

It's as though they are stride-for-stride, each pushing the other in what has to be the most spectacular city to be in a sports fan in North America right now.

And,. interestingly, one of the nastiest media towns, as well.

That, of course, would be Boston, which is cheering on the New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox to glory these days. The Patriots are just incredibly good, looking for a fourth title and simply shrugging off all the negative chatter that came with accusations of videotaped cheating earlier this season.

Bill Belichick and his squad are looking at that undefeated season possibility, playing with that type of dominance excuse-makers in sports with salary caps argue just isn't done anymore.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, have to be considered arguably the greatest comeback organization of our time, having charged back from 0-3 and 1-3 deficits in the ALCS over the past four autumns to move into the World Series.

Sure the Colorado Rockies are on a roll. But would you really bet against Terry Francona's group right now?

And here's the final badge of honour for both of these teams.

Boston is a tough, tough media town, and these two teams get most of the attention, the same type of attention that goes to high-profile teams in other markets - say, Toronto and the Maple Leafs - and is used as an excuse as to why those teams aren't successful.

The Boston media, or more specifically, the newspaper writers, hounded Ted Williams for years and years. It's an unrelenting media pressure that Boston applies, yet the Pats and Bosox seem to flourish within it.

So the next time you hear a Leaf player talk about how tough it is to play hockey in a city like Toronto, remember how Boston's baseball and football clubs deal with it and recognize such baloney for what it is.