From Cork to Toronto

At present, the CFL is broadcast on both TSN and CBC but the Grey Cup Final is shown on CBC. The Grey Cup is billed as a Canadian national institution (the foray into the US notwithstanding) and gets national network coverage as the FA Cup Final does in the UK. Under a new deal, TSN links up with fellow BellGlobemedia stablemate CTV to provide coverage. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it is odd that an outgoing Commissioner would negotiate it and the Globe infers that Argonauts executive and former TSN president Keith Pelley was the one doing the talking . The result was a sole-source bid with the CBC who had planned a bid with Global being shut out. Obviously Keith Pelley's broadcasting experience was a big deal when he joined the Argonauts staff given the dependence on TV revenue by professional sports but one has to wonder whether he really did influence the choice of going sole-source and if this did not form something of a conflict. The CBC's lack of a spo...

Former Toronto Argonaut quarterback and Super Bowl winner Joe Theismann laid into the signing of Ricky Williams . He believes Williams' suspension from the NFL should have been honoured by the CFL and that Williams doesn't deserve to wear the Argo uniform because he's an "addict". I wish that Williams in the spirit of full disclosure told us what the mystery 4th test failure was for (the first three being cannabis). But there are problems with Theismann going off like this. Theismann reflects his ESPN listenership - chuck them out is what they want to hear, just like prison is the sole drug policy of the Republican party. The Canadian fanbase is not quite there yet. The CFL has been a de facto haven for the NFL unwanted a longer day than today and probably was when Theismann graduated Notre Dame and came north. I honestly believe that getting away for his Miami base will be a good opportunity for Williams to reorder his life and that Mike Clemons is serious...