Well, for the time being the Toronto Argonauts belong to David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski, but that could change any day.

It’s no secret that the two men who have owned the boatmen since 2003 are looking to sell, and that David Braley is looking to buy. The problem in many people’s eyes is that Mr. Braley is also the owner of the B.C. Lions. The league has no rule against owning multiple teams, nor does it outlaw one team loaning money to another.

Braley helped Cynamon and Sokolowski pay half of their purchase price, half of their losses. In return, he was repaid with profits from a successful 2007 Grey Cup hosted in Toronto.

TSN’s Dave Naylor reports that the Argos are projected to lose close to $6 million this upcoming season. The reason for this comes from the mediocre product on the field. The team was a miserable 3-15 last season, and has no head coach in place after Bart Andrus was fired in December.

The team has a glorious opportunity to win back disgruntled fans this summer. The Blue Jays were marred by a brutal winter in terms of public relations. They dealt their best player (I know it was the sensible business/baseball decision to make, but the fact is it won’t get the average fan to the ballpark) and raised some season ticket prices by over 50%.

The CFL is the easiest league in which to rebound after a terrible season, what with 75% of its teams qualifying for the playoffs. My take on this is that although the $6 million mark is rather staggering — and I’m by no means a business major — it might be best to hold on for one more season. I don’t think that if Cynamon and Sokolowski wait for one more year Braley would lose interest, unless his goal is to buy low.

***

In other CFL news, commissioner Mark Cohon announced that he will once again be taking suggestions from fans on rule changes. Whereas last year he kept the floor open to all changes (thank God the single remained untouched!!), his only question to fans this winter is whether the overtime format needs to be changed.

The current format sees teams alternate possessions from the opponents’ 35-yard line. The team that scores the most points in a round wins. If after two rounds there is still no winner, the game ends in a tie.

To change this would be ridiculous. NFL fans moan and groan about how their sudden-death format is often decided by the filp of a coin. The current “shootout” overtime the CFL has is one of the reasons why three-down football is the most exciting around. I love the fairness, and it often turns into a great chess match between the coaches. If you go first, do you put the points on the board and hope your defence can hold, or do you go for the gusto?

The CFL would be nuts to change this system. The 2005 Grey Cup between Edmonton and Montreal went to double overtime, and it’s one of the most exciting games I’ve ever seen. Please Commissioner Cohon, don’t mess with a good thing.

- Marc Tessier

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

There’s no baseball game tonight. In the NHL there are no Canadian teams in action. The NFL leaves Friday night for high school and college football. So what does that leave us with….CFL Friday night football. More importantly they’re rivalry games which are always more fun to watch. The early game has the Hamilton Ti-Cats making the trip down the QEW to take on the Toronto Argonauts. In the past this series has been lop-sided in the Argos favor, but this season the Argos are absolutely terrible. Since bringing in former Tennessee Titan offensive assistant Bart Andrus and allowed the first time CFL-er to call his own plays the teams offence has been – offensive. Not having a reliable quarterback or core of receivers do not help the matter. The defence has played well, but they spend far too much time on the field and in that situation it’s only a matter of time before the opposing team scores. On the other hand the Ti-Cats have gotten better. Granted they’ve lost four in a row, but they’re 6-9 on the season and tied for second with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East. You also have to remember the Steel-town Tabbies haven’t sniffed the playoffs in five years.

In the late game it’s another provincial showdown as the Edmonton Eskimos battle the Stampeders in Calgary. Calgary sits in second place in the West with an 8-6 record. Edmonton (7-8)  is only three points behind, but are currently occupying the bottom spot in the conference. A win today for the Stamps and they clinch a post-season spot. This will be the fourth team these teams have met this season and so far Calgary has won two of three games. Both teams feature potent offences. Eskimo’s QB Ricky Ray is second in the league with 4097 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. Calgary’s Henry Burris is right behind him. Burris has thrown for just under 4000 yards and 19 touchdowns. On defence, Calgary has the clear advantage. The Stampeders are second in the league in points allowed (25.3) and turnover differential (+7).

I am sorry but, when I read that the Toronto Argonauts have been eliminated from playoff contention tonight only one thought came to mind:

On the heels of Saturday’s 29-24 loss at Winnipeg, one question must be asked: Can it get any worse for the Toronto Argonauts?

At 3-9, their winning percentage is worse than Vernon Wells’ batting average (.262). On Saturday night, they showed less discipline than Dennis the Menace. They face another quarterback controversy after Kerry Joseph’s decent play coming off the bench. But it’s also the way they lose games.

It’s hard to tell what’s worse: losing games they led only to give them away in the final minute (BC in Week 7, Calgary two weeks later), or being absolutely terrible for most of the game and still fall just short. They did manage to win the fourth quarter 15-0, but it was a case of too little, too late.

Running back Jamal Robertson was less than convincing, with only 42 yards on 11 carries, which included a lost fumble on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. The defence couldn’t make key stops on second down when it mattered, and two of their best players — Rob Murphy and Zeke Moreno — lost their cool and were ejected in the fourth quarter.

I’ll never call a game “a must-win” until we get to the point of mathematical elimination, but the Basement Bowl was the closest thing. Toronto is stuck at three wins, two games behind BC for the final Eastern playoff spot. Furthermore, they lost both of their matchups against the Lions this season. Winnipeg is in a decent spot. One game behind BC, they play four of their six remaining games at home, including a tilt against Wally Buono and company on October 18th.

On top of that, the Bombers, for once this season, have to be pleased with the play of their starting quarterback. Michael Bishop was very efficient, completing 23 of 32 passes with two touchdowns, but the best part of his game was between the ears. He knew when to stretch the field and when to check it down to Fred Reid, who himself was productive, with 86 total yards on 17 touches.

Before the game, I was walking through Canad Inns Stadium and saw one fan with a paper bag over his head, with black writing that read “Coach Kelly makes me drink”. Another fan came equipped with a sign that said “Gretzky can coach the Bombers”. Funny how after the game, the very same fans likely shared in the collective optimism that surrounds the city of Winnipeg.

Now it’s Toronto that faces all the questions. Could Bart Andrus start Kerry Joseph for the remainder of the season and claim that he’s looking towards 2010? Some might call that naive, seeing how Andrus should be more worried about his job security, but we’ll see how it unfolds.

So can it get worse for the Argos. Yeah, they could get shutout by Montreal next week. That would be rough…

-Marc Tessier

On the surface, there is no reason to tune into Saturday’s matchup between the Argonauts and Blue Bombers. Yes, it’s simply a clash of two 3-8 teams. Yes, the teams might well duplicate the 13-12 snoozer they played earlier this year. Yes, the winner will only slightly improve its chances of making the playoffs. But what about the loser?

In a season that has been disastrous for each team on and off the field, a loss would not only solidify their spot in the CFL’s cellar, but also further question each team’s off-season hirings.

Toronto faced many questions after firing Rich Stubler in early September of last season. Their 0-8 record with Don Matthews — then the winningest coach in CFL history — left them with even more. Enter Bart Andrus. Having spent five seasons as an offensive assistant with the Tennessee Titans, he was given the task of igniting the fire under 2008’s worst offence. The Argos reached the 30 point plateau in their first two games, but haven’t hit it since.

New Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly is a reporter’s dream, a funny and honest man who will tell you exactly what he thinks. Though with his team at 3-8, he hasn’t had much positive to say. He entered his first CFL head coaching gig with a fine resume of positions on the offensive side of the ball as well. He had been an offensive coordinator with the Bombers, in the XFL, and at small colleges in the States. The Bombers have only scored 200 points this season (fewest in the league), and granted he hasn’t exactly had Joe Montana and Steve Young on his bench to choose from, his reputation for offensive craftiness has taken a hit.

But for each man, the main critique hasn’t come from their teams’ inability to score, but from handling of fragile situations. Former All-Star receiver Derick Armstrong refused to play for the Bombers in Week 2 unless he started, so Kelly released him. Bart Andrus had a few run-ins with his best playmaker, Arland Bruce, which caused Bruce to be shipped to Hamilton, and create havoc in the Argos’ secondary on Labour Day. Winnipeg’s best player, linebacker Barrin Simpson, was insulted that Kelly would ask him to take a reduced role a few weeks ago, and hasn’t played since.

So will a win on Saturday completely exonerate the winning coach from his mediocre season? Not likely, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the loser is shown a pink slip on the field as the final whistle sounds.

Now that would be must-see TV.

-Marc Tessier

What do you call a beat writer who isn’t on the beat?

No, it’s not a joke. It is the reality of the world we live in 2009. At least that’s the word on the street as it pertains to one Howard Berger. I am told from a few different sources that when the good ship Maple Leaf takes to the road this year they will be doing so less one usually argyle sweater wearing reporter. No Berger isn’t going to be always left at home. He just won’t be on every or most road trips as he has in the past. At least that is what we are told is being contemplated by the owners of the Toronto Blue Jays, Rogers Communications. So while we have heard of American media outlets cutting back on hockey coverage costs, it appears that perhaps hell hath frozen over here and that despite the rabid appetite for Maple Leaf coverage, the Fan 590 is, off the time of this writing, planning on forgoing some Maple Leaf road trips. It is hard to contemplate and believe. Let me clear, if this is indeed true, the disappointment is more about the reality than it is the work of the reporter in question. If Berger is the best Roger’s can do, then he should be on road trips, plain and simple. Together with colleagues I always laughed when I heard Mike Wilner covering Jays games from the studios in Toronto when the team was on the road. Granted 81 games on the road is a ton compared to 41, one can’t compare the Jays to the Maple Leafs in terms of interest and demand for information. So whether he is writing brutal articles about parties into the wee hours at Cliff Fletcher’s party in Phoenix or some other odd story from road trip, if this is his gig, he should be there.

On the topic of rumblings, I have a question for you all. Let’s say, hypothetically that an executive from a sports team goes to lengths to ensure that a former member of that executives team does not appear on the radio station which owns the broadcast rights to that hypothetical teams games. Hypothetically speaking, the executive was concerned about potentially damning comments this imaginary former employee may say on the same very radio station where games could hypothetically be heard. So, here’s the question. If you were the hypothetical radio station, would you give in to that hypothetical request/demand??? So, this isn’t the case, but let’s assume that the radio station that broadcasts the Chicago Blackhawks games was about to have Dale Talon on the air after he hypothetically joined another team and upon hearing this, Stan Bowman (again, I am making this specific scenario up) called the radio station and asked/demanded that the station not conduct the interview. If you were a Blackhawks fan, how would you feel? If it were a Toronto team, would you be pissed? What do you as a fan think the station should do? Where is the line drawn?

When I lived in Detroit, the old all sports radio station WDFN, used to promote itself as “the only station not bought and paid for by the home team” before it was a rights holder of a professional team. The implication of the pronouncement was that they would be more fair and balanced because they wouldn’t be pressured by the almighty dollar. Cash, is, more than ever king these days. One can imagine the immense pressure on any media outlet who pays a small fortune for the rights and in turns sells advertising based upon having those rights should that call ever come. I think it’s easy for us to jump to the conclusion that the outlet shouldn’t cave to the pressure. Easier, I think we all can agree, said than done. 640 Toronto is the radio rights holder for your Toronto Maple Leafs. Do you think there is should be added pressure on Brian Burke to tip them off on transactions simply due to the cash that 640 pays the Maple Leafs for those rights? Should he have leaked the info to 640 on the Kessel deal? is he obligated to go on 640 first as a result of the radio rights? In my opinion the answer is no. That shouldn’t be what the rights get you. I think there are certain intrinsic benefits to being the right holder. Access to players and management immediately before during and after games would be one of them for sure. Weekly coaches shows, ability to call themselves the official station of…, I get all of those. Where, I ask you is the line drawn?

I have no definitive proof that these things happen here. I get the sense that there are immense pressures on both the teams and the media outlets right now. I am curious as to what you think. I would hope, and perhaps it’s way too altruistic, that the good of the fan is what wins out. My hope is that no matter how much they want to win, both the media and the teams operate with honour and integrity. Thoughts?

Here are the lineups for the shows at noon:

On Baseball Show:

WILNER

BRIAN BUTTERFIELD
JOE SHEEHAN

On Leafs Lunch:

Brady Hosting

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Tiger Woods shot a bogey-free 67 in the opening round of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine to lead the tournament by one stroke over last year’s winner Padraig Harrington. In fact the last time Woods broke 70 in the first round of a major was the 2007 British Open. He was near perfect on the day hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation. For anyone wondering when Tiger has the lead in a major going into the second round he’s won four out of six times. Harrington who was paired with Woods and 2002 champion Rich Beem kept base with the leader and even edged him in average driving distance 316 to 315. These two are very familiar with each other. They played together in the final group of last weekend’s WGC-Firestone, which Tiger eventually won. Two other Tour veterans are not far behind the lead as well. Vijay Singh and David Toms trail the leader by two strokes at three under par. Phil Mickelson on the other hand struggled throughout the day and finished with a two over 74. He’ll have to pull it together if he wants to make the cut. Today is cut down day and we’ll have to see if Woods can remain on top of the leader board.

For all you CFL fans, Friday Night Football goes tonight at the Rogers Centre as the 2-4 BC Lions are in town to battle the 2-4 Toronto Argonauts. It’s pretty safe to say that both teams have been disappointed with their seasons thus far. Cody Pickett gets his first start under centre for the Boatmen.

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

Delayed due to Blue Jays Baseball

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

450 Aaron Ellis, Assignment Editor-NBC Louisville affiliate (on the
Pitino scandal)
540 Adriano Belli, Toronto Argonauts
610 Peter Kostys, CBS Golf Analyst

TSM Take: Quiet night in the sports world and quiet night on radio. Good stuff coming tonight. TSM

The first game of the post-Arland Bruce III era takes place Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre when the Argonauts host the Blue Bombers. While some might say that in reality that title belongs to last week’s game when Bruce was sent home, the reality is that the distraction is gone and the team can focus on football again. But are the Argos better for it?

In exchange for Bruce, the Argos acquired a third-round pick in the 2010 CFL Canadian Draft, a conditional pick in the 2011 draft and the rights to non-import defensive end Corey Mace. Mace had spent the past two seasons on the Buffalo Bills’ practice roster, dressing for one game and recording one tackle. However, TSN reported on Friday that he has signed with the Bills, meaning that though his rights still belong to Toronto, he’s a write-off for this CFL season.

So apart from the locker room distraction being out of the way, the 2009 Argonauts are not better as a result of the trade where it matters most: on the field. (Furthermore, from TSN’s Duane Forde: “Bruce clearly had his followers in the Argo room. Don’t be surprised to see one or more of them continue to follow him [out of town] in the coming weeks.”) For the record, I trust Forde’s insight…

The Argos are quickly finding out that this season won’t be like most of this decade, where they could play the season blindfolded and still coast to a second place finish behind Montreal and enjoy a home playoff game. Hamilton has clearly shown itself capable, and that’s even before Bruce makes his Ti-cat debut tonight at Ivor Wynne against BC. It’s also the understatement of the year to say that a loss tomorrow to Winnipeg wouldn’t be all too endearing to fans.

Nevertheless, I’ve always been a Kerry Joseph backer, and I think that even though the Argo receiving corps reeks of inexperience, Joseph is capable of patching up a less-than-desirable situation. I’ve always maintained that he’s a top-four quarterback in the CFL along with Ricky Ray, Anthony Calvillo and Henry Burris, and if he can lead the Argos to a few wins (especially with the Alouettes on the docket next Friday) there will start to be believers that the 2007 Kerry Joseph is back.

Find out tomorrow at 1:00, and if you can’t make it to the game, follow my updates on Twitter @YYZsportsmedia.

-Marc Tessier

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, the CFL season doesn’t really start until Labour Day. There are too many weeks in the eight team league for any mid-summer game to carry extra weight in the standings. But tonight’s game against the Blue Bombers is more important than the win or the loss.

By this point, we all know that Toronto’s number one receiver Arland Bruce was sent home from Winnipeg for — among other things — failing to attend special teams meetings, forgetting his playbook on a flight to Calgary, and let’s not forget him playing his music too loud in the locker room.

When I first saw the Argos’ media guide for this season with new head coach Bart Andrus on the cover as opposed to, say, former league and Grey Cup Most Outstanding Player Kerry Joseph, I knew that the team was determined to turn the page from last year’s disaster with a new attitude, and that Andrus was the man to lead the change. He certainly made his presence felt with the Bruce benching.

He took part of the blame for Bruce’s outrageous tribute to Michael Jackson in the season opener by saying: “I made the mistake of telling him in camp that once he got to the end zone I didn’t care what he did, but he’s straight with it now and I think next time around he will celebrate in an appropriate manner.”

Bruce wasn’t too pleased when he heard he wouldn’t dress in Winnipeg, and took the chance to speak his mind to The Globe and Mail’s Dave Naylor, who even offered him the chance to go off the record with his comments.

“For him to inactivate me because he says you’re not being a pro and fine me on top of that [...] this is the second time he’s told me he could get rid of me. Instead of worrying about me, he needs to worry about getting the quarterback right and getting on his ass. I didn’t wait six months to sit on my ass because I know I can contribute to this team whether it has an all-star quarterback or a mediocre quarterback. I’m the wrong one to set an example with,” he said.

The Argos’ situation is ironically similar to the predicament that Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly found himself in with Derick Armstrong (also a former All-Star receiver), where the first year coach ended up releasing Armstrong. Winnipeg went out two days later and upset Calgary.

Bruce and his agent have received permission from the club to explore trade possibilities, but it would be unlikely that Toronto could get an equally explosive offensive weapon in return. It’s certainly in each party’s best interests to bury the hatchets in time for next Saturday’s rematch at the Rogers Centre, especially if you are one of those standings observing people, because tonight’s loser will be alone in the East division cellar.

-Marc Tessier