Ticats Stuff

Drew Edwards had a good article about Obie's future moves. Probably the most interesting part of the article for me was the possibility that the Cats would start eight Canadians rather than the mandated seven. Whenever I've done posted about the Ticats game day depth chart, they have always used only seven, while a few teams would use eight or sometimes nine regularly (Montreal). Starting the bare seven always is generally indicative of a poor team (Argos), which the Cats until this year were for quite some time. Last year the Canadian starters were the four on the line, plus Stala and Bauman plus Beveridge on defence. I'm curious to see who the Cats end up going with for eight.

The Argos in the new Braley era have started to make some moves, shipping Canadian receivers Andre Talbot and Brad Smith for import defensive tackle Eric Taylor and a 2011 draft pick. Talbot I can see, because he was injured and caught one pass last year, so now the Argos won't have him to not play for them this year. Smith turned out to be not too bad on a rather feeble offense. Not sure why the Argos moved two Canadian receivers when injuries hit them hard there last year, but I'm sure there is some washed out former first round NFL draft pick receivers available this year, just like the Argos every year.

Tying these two paragraphs together, if the Cats are looking at maybe starting an eighth Canadian, that must mean the teams are assuming that the number of Canadian starters will stay at seven with a new agreement with the players. Conceivably Cynammon and the other Argo owner whose name I now and will probably forever more forget were probably the main proponents of the reduction in the number of Canadian starters and with them gone and their vote taken by Braley may mean it is a dead issue. I hope so.

CFL Schedule, Non-Ticat Teams East

I already analyzed the Ticats schedule in a previous post so I'll go over the East teams in this post.

Montreal starts with three road games due to McGill stadium renovation. Montreal was a decent road team last year (6 and 3) so this may not matter. Some Thursday home games in the summer. Since sellouts are guaranteed for the Alouettes this helps the league since TSN seems to want some Thursday games in the summer and it is probably a negative for most other teams (the Cats for sure). Montreal gets a Thanksgiving Day game at home, which doesn't really make sense from an attendance optimization across the league standpoint (assuming a Thanksgiving Monday game would raise attendance), but probably helps for a big combined TSN/RDS television audience. Almost all Sunday home games after Labour Day, which probably matters less for the Quebec television audience competing against NFL games.

Toronto begins with their first home game on a Wednesday. Weird and maybe Jay related. Two Fridays and a Saturday the rest of the summer. I have no idea what days and times are best for the Argos, although I'm sure Wednesday is not one of them. Some Sundays after Labour Day, including their late September game against Edmonton at Moncton, which is the only noon start of the season. Good choice of opponent from a drawing standpoint, and probably a reasonable date. Plus the fans in Moncton seem enthusiastic and hopefully will bump the television ratings, although the Argos may well be horrible and out of it by that point. The one issue I do take with the Argos home schedule is the fact their home game in early October is one week after the Riders play the Ticats at Ivor Wynne. That seems particularly moronic, as the Riders are a huge draw for both teams. Putting these games consecutively wastes a lot of potential tickets sold to Rider fans in the Golden Horseshoe who may not want to go to consecutive games, but might go to both if one was in the summer and the other was in the fall (especially if the fall game meant something like the game near the end of the season in Hamilton last year).

For Winnipeg nothing really jumps out at me. We'll see how many fans show up for their home opener against Hamilton, but canning Mike Kelly over the offseason has to help. Week 2 at home against the Argos gives them a shot at an early victory if they lose in week 1. Not sure how all the Hamilton games in the first half of the season will help either team attendance wise. Certainly moving one of those games into the second half of the year would have made sense. Winnipeg at least gets a Thanksgiving Monday game against BC and the Banjo Bowl against the Riders in September should be successful attendance wise.

Argos Sale

Perry Lefko has a good article explaining what's going on with the Argos sale and why someone could actually want to pay some money for it. Boiled down, the 2012 Grey Cup in Toronto will be worth some decent cash to the future Argo owner. I think most would agree that just getting it sold to Braley as soon as possible would be best for the CFL.

Interesting fact also mentioned in Lefko's article is the league gets from 3 to 3.5 million per year from the host Grey Cup team. Makes one wonder how much money the league office runs on and just how efficient an operation it is.

Rider Baggs Signs with Arizona Cardinals

The exodus of CFL defensive ends continues with Stevie Baggs signing a one year deal with the Cardinals. Baggs had 12 sacks last year, tied with probably gone Ricky Foley. It is interesting, with Rider John Chick also signing with an NFL team this offseason in how defensive ends seem to more likely than other positions to go south. Since most of them, if they stay are destined as situational pass rushers in the NFL, probably the fact that the CFL is almost an every passing down league that breeds this type of specialist. Conversely, you never hear of run stoppers in the middle of the defensive line going south. The anonymous Cat line is looking better and better next year and perhaps we'll end up with the sack leader this year (McIntrye?). Maybe that's the new secret in the CFL, good import players that aren't quite good enough to warrant a sniff in the NFL. Or maybe forcing desparate imports to sign two or three years plus an option contracts.

The Riders also suffer, as their offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice is the new coach in the Peg, after an endlessly seeming search. Hamilton defensive coordinator Greg Marshall is yet again the bridesmaid, but the Argo job is still open. Speaking of the Argos, apparently no one wanted to pay 12 to 15 million for them. What would that make the Riders worth? Maybe I'll do a post guessing at what the clubs are worth in a real half assed manner, with almost no research.

Various CFL Stuff, Surly Edition

Here's an article on Elfrid Payton and Tracy Ham ex Baltimore Stallions (Omar Coming!) being inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in the Baltimore Sun.

Looks pretty likely now that BC Lion Rickey Foley will be gone from the CFL in 2010. Still no sniffs for the Ticats ends this offseason.

Argo kicker looking to jump ship. No NFL sniffs for Setta either.

Local columnist excited about Moncton game at small city paper. Wait until they get a team and have back to back 3 and 15 seasons. How excited will they be then?

New Members of the CFL Hall of Fame

Five new members. Geezer Bomber punter Bob Cameron (although he is a local boy), rush crazy quarterback Tracy Ham of various teams, Rider receiver Don Narcisse, sackmaster Elfrid Payton who I will remember primarily as an Alouette and a former president of Football Canada, Joe Pistilli. Didn't notice if they announced whether the Hall of Fame game would be back in Hamilton this year or somewhere else like last year. Judging by the players Montreal might not be a bad location and be guaranteed a sellout, and I'm sure the Riders would do a decent job with Narcisse in there. No real Cat content again this year, but then again the 90's and the past decade were not a good Cat era.

Cats Schedule

We already knew the Cats open in Winnipeg. The home opener the next week is Calgary on Saturday afternoon. Calgary was a pretty crappy draw last year (19448) in a game after Labour Day so it makes sense for the Stamps to be the opponent as the opener is its own draw. If Hamilton can win the week before in the Peg hopefully it will be a decent crowd. I personally will probably try and pick up a few extra tickets for that game and try and get some people out early.

The following week it is Winnipeg at home on a Friday. Do not like back to back home games. Bad for attendance, but maybe the Cats can grab two early from the Bombers. Not sure if Friday night games or weekend day games do better in the summer attendance wise. That's followed by Montreal and then Saskatchewan on the road, probably both tough games and then Winnipeg at home again. Probably no so great for attendance with two Peg games so close together. The Cats then go to Winnipeg. That's a lot of the Peg in the first half. Sadly Mike Kelly is not around for our amusement in 2010.

Next it is Hamilton at Toronto, bye week and then the Labour Day game. I suppose maybe the Argos didn't want the Cats on the following Friday after Labour Day like last year as the Cats only drew 26,421 fans, but are instead travelling to BC. Hopefully the game in Toronto can attract some Cat fans, especially with the bye week following immediately after.

Hamilton then hosts the Alouettes. No doubt the Cats would prefer a road game in between for drawing purposes, but if the Cats are doing well and the Alouettes presumably, it could be a grudge match that draws. If the Cats are really lucky, maybe an aged Anthony Calvillo is out. One can only hope.

This is followed by Hamilton in BC at their crappy temporary stadium and then probably the second biggest draw after Labour Day, the Riders on a Saturday night. An afternoon game would probably be better for the maximum amount of Saskatchewan fans, but should be good for a second half of the season game. We'll see if the Cats can draw a non-Labour Day crowd over 25K.

Hamilton then has a back to back with Edmonton, with the first game being in the city of dirty oil. Probably a crappy draw. That is followed by Hamilton in Toronto, which might not be a bad game to go to. Hamilton then hosts Montreal for hopefully a meaningful late season game.

The season ends with Hamilton in Calgary, with Hamilton inexplicably hosting the Lions at home. Likely not a great draw, especially compared the home closer last year with the Riders.

For the preseason games, Hamilton is on the road the first week against the Double Blue, followed by Winnipeg at home. Good for the totally crazed Cat fans if they want to see both preseason games.

Not a terrible schedule for the Cats both draw wise and standings wise, although I would argue that probably the Cats would like it most from the competitive aspect, especially the first couple of games against Winnipeg. In terms of attendance, there is some good and some bad, the bad being the back to back home games and BC at the end. Hopefully the Cats sell more season tickets this year bumping up their attendance and end up with a better record.

I'll make another post later, commenting on the games not involving the Ticats. There's one in particular that seems flatout moronic.