ESPN2 does its part for the Canada Day long weekend with a Friday Night Football doubleheader. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers serve as Hamilton's home opener opponent. In the late game, the BC Lions are in Edmonton.
The festivities start Thursday with Ottawa traveling to Calgary. The key to that game is whether they will pull off one of their ties or will one of the teams actually win. The Alouettes look for their first win when they go back out west to visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Toronto gets to relax on Canada Day weekend.
ESPN2
Friday
Winnipeg @ Hamilton, 7p
BC @ Edmonton, 10p
TSN
Thursday
Ottawa @ Calgary, 9p
Friday
Winnipeg @ Hamilton, 7p
BC @ Edmonton, 10p
Saturday
Montréal @ Saskatchewan, 9p
Bye week: Toronto
Toronto brought back Ricky Ray but also made sure the Argos were set with Jeremiah Franklin. Ray's horrible neck injury means the veteran quarterback "will miss significant time this season." Doctors told him he shouldn't play again this season. Here is hoping for a full recovery. Franklin may share playing time with McLeod Bethel-Thompson. Both quarterbacks will have extra prep time given that Toronto has a bye this week.
The Argos had 2 tough games to start the season. If Franklin gets the start next week, that will come against his old team.
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Ray's former teammate Zach Collaros has been placed on the 6-game injured list. Brandon Bridge aka Air Canada will get the start for Saskatchewan this week.
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In 9 of the past 13 seasons, Hamilton has started 0-2. 2018 will not be one of those seasons. The Tiger-Cats pulled off a strong road win in Edmonton, a difficult place to pull off a win. We didn't expect them to start 0-8 again, but a good start for Hamilton would be an improvement.
Speaking of the Steel City, if you are attending the Hamilton home opener, you might want to spend some extra time at the refurbished Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum in the club level at Tim Hortons Field. The Hall of Fame had been in Hamilton in the downtown area near City Hall. Moving the location should increase interest among even casual CFL fans.
The Touchdown Statue has been relocated to Gate 3 on Melrose Avenue.
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Duron Carter played the whole game at cornerback for Saskatchewan. Carter got a Pick 6 off of Trevor Harris. Carter has 2 interceptions and both returned for a touchdown. Carter also got burned on a TD by Diontae Spencer in Ottawa.
Carter will remain at cornerback for the Roughriders.
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Beautiful Saturday night. Replica Grey Cup rings for the fans. Grey Cup rematch with Calgary in town: 16,450 in attendance. The Toronto Argonauts have closed off the upper deck on the north side of the stadium, so that 16,450 mark is close to a sellout. The Argos came off of a Grey Cup championship and drew 16,450. The Montréal Alouettes haven't won in almost a year and drew 19,498 for their home opener.
There are a lot of entertainment options in Canada's largest city. The sports fans tend to do better with a league where the Toronto team plays U.S. teams. Given that a lot of people in Toronto have come from other parts of Canada, you would think they could draw simply from fans of other cities.
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Hamilton announced late in camp that the team would trade quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., likely either to Edmonton or Montréal. Well, Adams never got traded but the Tiger-Cats did release the quarterback.
Hamilton got Charleston Hughes in the offseason as Calgary pulled off a salary dump. The Tiger-Cats quickly traded Hughes to Saskatchewan straight up for Adams.
At the time, Johnny Manziel hadn't signed with Hamilton. But now, Hamilton traded a rather good pass rusher and have nothing to show for the trade.
Montréal signed Adams on Wednesday night. The Alouettes need a lot of help on offence; a scrambling quarterback won't solve all their troubles, but Adams will help.
CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage
We got our first true Thursday Night Football experience. Kate Beirness was with the panel. Rod Smith was in the booth with Duane Forde in Ottawa. Brodie Lawson hung out with fans in Ottawa. All of them did just fine. The U.S. audience got to hear the music at halftime.
As for ESPN+, the service was so far so good. Felt like ESPN3. Used the ESPN app on my phone and tablet to pull up ESPN+. Hate the idea of paying for what I got for free. If you only pay for the service for the CFL season, the cost might run $25. The NHL games might make me keep the service but that feels a long way away.
photo credit: CFL.ca
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