2012 CFL running thread

Just turned on the Eskimos game expecting to find them trailing by at least a touchdown or two and so far they are beating the Argos in Ricky Rays' return 13-0. Craziness.

 

And Eskimos some how pull one out. Jyles sucks donkey balls. Maybe not as much as Prefontaine, his misses saved Eskimos' skin. Green and Gold defence was also terrific.

 

No way Toronto should have lost the game. They took 17 penalties, most of them of the brain dead variety and as you said, Beef, Prefontaine sucked. Almost as much as the Argos O-line.

And yes, Jyles sucks.

 

Two punt returns for TDs on back-to-back possessions and a 95-yard screen pass for a TD earlier in the game in the Hamilton/BC game. Glad I stayed up late, although BC has pretty much flexed its muscle ever since.

Head-scratcher when Hamilton went to Dan LeFevoeur for one play (who was great at Central Michigan and had a cup of coffee with the Colts). He threw an interception that got run back to the 1, and that was it.

 

Just saw the highlights on TSN. That was a track meet, not a football game. Some guys need to take a tackling refresher course.

My Cats start the season 0-2. Shit

 

What happened to Cavillo against Winnipeg? Only 4 attempts. Did he get hurt?

 

The tackling looked like tackling in the 2nd game of the year, both both teams have some real open-field burners (and the "no yards" rule really gives the returning team a huge advantage).

If I'm a TiCat fan, falling by 3 in a game that they did everything they could to give away against the defending champs on the road would encourage me. Clean the sloppy tackling and the turnovers up and they'll be pretty solid.

 

Argos host Calgary in their home opener this afternoon and they are honouring the 1971 team that lost the Grey Cup to the Stamps in Vancouver.

My old man was a hardcore Argo fan and season ticketholder and some of my earliest sports memories involve that team (I was six). My old man, also a degenerate gambler, went to his grave firmly believing that Leon McQuay had fumbled on purpose to cost the Argos the Cup. Like all Scotsman he had a theory and ratioonale for everything: "Watch the goddamn fucking tape!!!!" he'd thunder in his thick accent. "He fumbles the fucking thing to fuck me out of my fucking bet!!!" The wet ground and ball cut no ice with the old man who refused to allow logic or any kind of common sense to come between him and his conspiracies.

Impossible for any Argo fan who wasn't alive then to realize how huge they were at that time (the Gretzky-Candy-Ismail-Dunigan era was probably as close as the Boatmen have got to replicating that) and I'd go to the odd game with the old man, sit outside the Quarterback Club at the Ex with the other kids while the dads were getting their pre-game drink on. Stashing a mickey of cherry brandy in my hood (everybody had one at the games in those days - as JR will recall - the old man knew they'd never search me for his spare) and God help any asshole Ti-Cat (hi JR!!!), Ottawa or Montreal fan who pissed him off.

Ever since they moved into the 'dome Argo football has lacked atmosphere and the passion that it used to have. I believe a move to a smaller, outdoor venue would have the same effect here it had in Montreal but sadly I don't think we'll ever see that.

 

JR, has Terry Grant done anything for Hamilton yet? He was a helluva high school back from down this way. Signed with Alabama and had one decent season in 2007, then spent the rest of his time at Bama battling injuries and was generally out of favor with Saban.

 

Too early to tell. He only played four games last year and then got injured near the end.

Don't even know if he dressed for last night's game.

 

They were expecting 40,000 at the SkyDome today (I refuse to ever call it by its corporate name) and they got 20,000.

Which is a shame, because the ones who didn't show up seem to have missed a really exciting game, with the ARRRRRRRRGOOOOOOOOS beating the Stamps 39-36 on a field goal with no time remaining.

Looks like the game shouldn't have been anywhere near that close, with Toronto dominating Calgary on offence, 518-257 in total yards. Ray threw for 407.