ESPN2 has a pair of CFL games this week. You have to stay up late for the first game however.
The Friday Night Football doubleheader starts with the Ottawa RedBlacks in Winnipeg. ESPN2 will have the nightcap with the Tiger-Cats in Vancouver. The 11 pm Eastern start is the latest we've seen. Depending on how late the early game goes, the U.S. audience could catch the end of that game.
The Toronto Argonauts welcome back Montréal Saturday night for the Argos' next to last division game.
ESPN2 has the Sunday afternoon contest as the Saskatchewan Roughriders host Calgary.
Edmonton will nurse its 5-game losing streak into the week off but probably doesn't want the break.
ESPN2
Friday
Hamilton @ BC, 11p
Sunday
Calgary @ Saskatchewan, 4p
TSN
Friday
Ottawa @ Winnipeg, 8p
Hamilton @ BC, 11p
Saturday
Montréal @ Toronto, 7p
Sunday
Calgary @ Saskatchewan, 4p
Bye week: Edmonton
The U.S. audience was set to having a CFL game on their TV. Ottawa with a new quarterback and Montréal with a new, well, almost everything. Beautiful weather in Montréal and loud fans cheering for the visitors. You even had Gord Miller and Matt Dunigan calling the game.
TSN seems to have quite a bit of technical problems at a higher frequency than you would expect. During the first drive, the video and audio went out. ESPN2 went to a commercial and joined the TSN studio in progress. Rod Smith along with Jock Climie and Milt Stegall had to fill time. Smith did his best to keep the audience informed. The RedBlacks were on such a long drive you might have thought the information wasn't getting to them.
The studio crew provided fine analysis but were frustrated that there wasn't even video. After a considerable period of time, the feed briefly came back, and then disappeared quickly. More studio time. If you stayed through that live, you are a true CFL fan. But you can't ask Americans to be that patient.
The saving grace came when TSN picked up the RDS video feed. Smith, who has called a few CFL games, did really well in calling the game off the monitor. He even translated the info graphics en Francaise for the primarily English-speaking audience. Climie and Stegall traded off analysis. Stellar work from the studio and we did have pictures.
On the plus side, I got to practice my French. I would love to have Canadian television to get better at French between RDS, Ici Radio-Canada, Ici RDI (equivalent to CBC News Network), TVA, and so much more.
Feeds will crash every so often. TSN was fortunate to call up the RDS feed but should have done so sooner (TSN and RDS are sister networks). RDS does cover the Als and RedBlacks but doesn't cover every game. But TSN needs to be more consistent.
We followed the trend of CFL almost ignoring the Canadian quarterback. They don't care about colour, which is good. But they don't want you to be Canadian.
Brandon Bridge got a chance to start for the Saskatchewan Roughriders with Kevin Glenn being out due to injury. Bridge had started one previous game when he was with Montréal. Hamilton was on a 2-game winning streak even if the Tiger-Cats were the worst team in the league.
Bridge has one other thing going for him: the nickname Air Canada. Canadian quarterbacks usually can run but their passing arms and overall efficiency are usually the concern. Bridge has a good arm.
Bridge threw for 3 TD passes in the Roughriders win. Here is the significance:
- first Canadian QB to start and win a game since 1985.
- first Canadian QB to throw 3 TD passes in a game since 1984.
- first Canadian-born QB to start for Saskatchewan since 1977.
Greg Vavra held the distinction for the first 2 marks. Eric Guthrie of Vancouver was the last Canadian-born Roughrider with a start.
Vavra led the Calgary Stampeders to a 28-17 win over the Toronto Argonauts on Oct. 14, 1985. That was in the middle of a 3-13 season for the Stampeders.
Bridge, a Mississauga native, and Andrew Buckley for Calgary are the only current Canadian-born QBs. They and other Canadian QBs to come can only change minds if they win. To win, you need a chance to play.
The Ottawa RedBlacks love having Brad Sinopoli as one of their wide receivers after posting back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons the last 2 years. Sinopoli played the first 2 years as a 3rd-string quarterback with Calgary. He finally switched to wide receiver and played 2 seasons before moving on to Ottawa following the 2014 season.
As good a quarterback as Sinopoli was at university, his best shot at CFL stardom was at another position.
CFL rules allow an exception for quarterbacks in determining the national/international ratio. Carrying a Canadian quarterback won't help your ratio. If the teams could count a Canadian QB, then that person would only play in emergencies. Right now, teams have no incentive to play a Canadian QB. And they don't think a Canadian QB can help them.
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The Calgary NEXT plan in the West Village was for a new stadium for the Calgary Stampeders, a fieldhouse, and a new arena for the Calgary Flames. The owners own all the major franchises so putting them together made a lot of sense. There were issues in the West Village with a lack of public transportation and extensive costs to clean up the land in that area.
Since then, the discussion has been about an arena for the Flames in Victoria Park near the Saddledome. But we haven't heard anything about a replacement stadium for the Stampeders.
Calgary is considering a 2026 Winter Olympics bid. A new arena and stadium would be crucial to make that happen. McMahon Stadium was the site for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1988 Winter Olympics.
We'll leave the NHL part for later but the CFL in Calgary has been pushed off to the side.
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A pair of missed FGs returned for a touchdown. Hall of Fame weekend with the inductions that included Anthony Calvillo and Geroy Simon. Mike Reilly getting hit in the helmet for the second game in a row where the call wasn't made. Alex Singleton of Calgary setting a CFL mark with at least 10 tackles in 3 straight games.
Ryan Lindley coming in for Drew Tate in Ottawa so the RedBlacks try to keep pace with the 3rd string quarterback. Lindley's first pass was an interception, but Ottawa got 2 points because the defender stepped across the goal line and back.
If we had more time and space, these stories would get extra coverage.
Edmonton, Hamilton, and Calgary have the fewest winning and losing streaks in the CFL. The Esks have 2 streaks: 7 winning, then 5 losing. The Tiger-Cats went 8 losing, 2 winning, and now 1 losing. The Stampeders went 1 tie, 2 winning, 1 losing, 8 winning.
The Esks are only 2 points ahead of the Roughriders and Lions. 2 of those 3 teams will almost certainly make the playoffs. The break comes at a tough time for the Esks. They have talent but need to remember how to win again.
Gord Miller and Matt Dunigan will work the game in Winnipeg this week. We wondered where they had been all summer but this will be the 3rd straight week. Each time has come at the expense of Rod Black and Duane Forde only doing a single game in those weeks. Maybe Forde can help out in the studio since the crew is still missing Chris Schultz.
If Black and Forde only do the Saturday game this week, this will mark 2 weeks in a row where they never leave Toronto.
photos credit: RDS/TSN/ESPN2/CFL
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