The U.S. audience gets another game from BMO Field as the Lions cross the country to Toronto on ESPN2. ESPNews has the debut of the new Mosaic Stadium in a pre-Banjo Bowl game on Canada Day. My DVR still has Saturday's game on ESPN2 so be prepared. We will update as needed.
The Grey Cup re-rematch starts out the week. The teams will play in Calgary this week. Unlike in Ottawa, one team should actually win this week. The Montréal Alouettes head to Edmonton in the Saturday nightcap.
Hamilton gets to enjoy extra time on the Canada Day long weekend.
ESPN2
Friday
BC @ Toronto, 7p
ESPNews
Saturday
Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan, 9p
TSN
Thursday
Ottawa @ Calgary, 9p
Friday
BC @ Toronto, 7p
Montréal @ Edmonton, 10p
Saturday
Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan, 9p
Bye week: Hamilton
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The CFL new review policy is a glob of uncertainty and incompetence. The premise is that if the reviews take too long (like 3 minutes), they won’t take the time to get the call right. If the call can be determined in the first minute or two, then the call might be correct.
The Bakari Grant touchdown that really wasn’t became the poster child in Week 1 but was not the only play where review was a bust.
Since scoring plays are automatically reviewed, there is no wait time to start the process. Some of that time stems from coaches waiting to see if they should appeal. The pressure is paramount since a losing challenge costs you half of your team’s timeouts for the game.
Get the call right; people will wait. Find other ways to reduce time, such as the time for coaches to decide to challenge.
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The CFL studio team was on site for all 3 of the games in the east. In the on-site studio setup, Matt Dunigan set up in the second chair reserved for the Milt Stegall/Jock Climie duo. On Saturday, back at the TSN studio in Toronto, Dunigan was back to his familiar third spot on the panel.
Speaking of Climie, he was very good on the sidelines in Ottawa as a sideline analyst. Climie specifically called out Calgary for declining penalty so 3rd and 7 became 2nd and 12. Ottawa eventually scored a touchdown on that drive. Climie said the Stamps might regret that call and he was spot on.
The CFL opener was in Montréal, the most bilingual city in the league with Ottawa a close second. Still, referee Dave Foxcroft sounded like he read off what was a holding call in French early in the second quarter. Retenue doesn't translate to holding but restraint is one of the definitions. The official did pronounce Montréal the way you hear it in Montréal (don’t pronounce the t). The rest of the calls were in English.
The beauty of non-verbal gestures for penalties is that they don’t need translating. Of course, this also applies in hockey where penalties are called only in English even in Montréal. If your French is better than mine, let us know in the comments. Merci.
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Ricky Ray has had a long and stellar career. His first game with Marc Trestman resulted in a career day for the quarterback with 32-41 for 506 yards. The totals could have been better but for a couple of dropped TD passes.
Yet only 13,583 showed up, including a few thousand Hamilton Tiger-Cats fans. The season ticket base actually fell in the offseason from about 7,000 to 3,500.
Winning creates its own magic but the Argos haven't been interesting to watch. Sunday was different thanks in part to the return of S.J. Green. An exciting team will create more magic at BMO Field.
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Vince Young did make the cover of Sports Illustrated. While that would have been more fun if Young were on the Saskatchewan Roughriders, his CFL comeback story and a peak into life in training camp in Saskatoon is worth the read. Sometimes, the Cinderella story finishes with a torn hamstring.
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The Cirque Éloize was a wonderful highlight of the halftime show in the opener in Montréal. TSN and ESPNews carried the halftime show with an amazing balancing act. A nice bit of culture thanks to being in Montréal for the league kickoff.
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Greg Jones of the Saskatchewan Roughriders got an ESPN spotlight in the commercial break. The other CFL content in the breaks were past videos, one explaining the basic rules and the other a montage of CFL stars, including the retired Henry Burris (more on him later).
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The opening game had a review on pass interference with Saskatchewan's Duron Carter. There was also an objectionable conduct penalty on the same play. We heard the penalty might be on Caleb Holley but Cuthbert and Suitor thought maybe the number was wrong. Even with time waiting for the challenge, we never got an answer as to what Holley (or Carter) did to warrant the penalty. Their lack of curiosity made me even more curious.
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We knew 2016 Grey Cup MVP Henry Burris retired from the CFL and got permanent residence in Canada. What we didn’t know is that Burris is a co-host on CTV Morning Live in Ottawa. There aren’t that many broadcasting opportunities in the CFL so Burris has taken his charm and personality into a morning show setting.
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photo credit: TSN
video credit: TSN via ESPNews
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