The CFL season is, officially, over now that the BC Lions have defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the Grey Cup. That means the Saskatchewan Roughriders can continue their exhaustive search for a head coach, who may be interested in working under the wings of lame duck General Manager Brendan Taman, who does not have a long term contract and could find himself out on his ear at the end of next year. Of course, that means any new coach could also be out of work if Taman is fired because any new GM would want to bring in his own guy wouldn't he? Logic tells me Taman will hire Corey Chamblin, Hamilton's Defensive Co-ordinator. He wanted to hire Chamblin last year before Ken Miller instructed him to go with Greg Marshall (if you believe Regina media reports). Toronto wasted no time scooping up Scott Milanovich, announcing they had done so mere minutes after the Grey Cup Game was over. I would like to see the Riders hire someone who has been involved in a winning culture. I don't know what Chamblin's background is, but Hamilton isn't exactly rich in championships. It sounds like Milanovich will take a lot of the Montreal staff with him after he served as their Offensive Co-ordinator for the last four years. That can only be a good thing. Winnipeg Defensive Co-ordinator Tim Burke would be looked at closely, if I had any say in the process. He won two Grey Cups with Montreal and was the architect of the Bomber D this past year.
Hopefully, an organization riddled in long stretches of incompetent management over the last 101 years, will get it right and bring stability and a chance to win year in and year out for the Riders.
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger was out of the team's line-up for the last week due to what the team called a virus. On Monday, the club then said Pronger would miss the next month with a knee injury that requires surgery. This form of blatant lying by professional sports teams to fans and media is bush league. On one hand, you can say it's nobody's business but the hockey team's and Pronger's. But, on the other hand, if the NHL wants to be taken seriously they will do away this silly 'upper body' and 'lower body' day to day vagueness. Sports betting is becoming a bigger business with each passing day and fantasy sports is also a very big part of a sport's popularity. Therefore, it's incumbent to have information that is a little more forthcoming than 'a virus', which magically becomes knee surgery a week later.
It's tough for me to criticize broadcasters, seeing as how I, myself, am a failed one; but as I watch some of the provincial newscasts on television, I can't help but think how far we have fallen when it comes to providing viewers with quality on-air talent. Of course, this is not solely the fault of announcers, but the fault of the employers, who don't see the value in paying good ones a fair and just wage. CTV's Dan McIntosh, in my mind, was a national calibre reporter; but he's not at the same level as an anchor. Yet, he's easily that station's best in-house choice to take over the six o'clock news, as he has recently done. It used to be that places like Yorkton were breeding grounds for aspiring professionals to move on to Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver, and so on. Now, Regina's on-air talent is similar to what would you would see in Yorkton fifteen years ago. When one of your sports people refers to a touchdown as a goal, not once but twice, then you know that you are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The next time you see a campaign about 'saving local television', such as the one launched a couple of years ago by stations who were sparring with cable/satellite companies; just brush it off and remember that local television is already done. One of the companies that said they were really big on local tv, didn't even broadcast live election coverage earlier this month. They waited until an hour after the polls closed and only provided an hour worth of coverage before going back to their American based sitcoms, dramas, and reality shows.
I don't understand the hate people have for Nickelback. Is it just jealousy? They are today's version of AC/DC and you won't find many AC/DC haters out there. As Canadians, and in particular prairie people, we should be extremely proud of the success these guys have enjoyed as they've sold about 50 million albums world wide. Count me in as a fan and as soon as I see their tour schedule, I'm going. I don't care if it's Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Fargo, Edmonton, wherever. It's worth it. Pick up their new release.
Nice person mentions this week to Nathan Sirrell, Aaron Kienle, Ed Witherspoon, Jeff Odgers, and Krista Gordon.
