Scott Schultz Calling It A Career

I'm sure you have all heard the story by now. If not, here it is courtesy The Canadian Press

A CFL source requesting anonymity told The Canadian Press on Monday that Riders veteran defensive tackle Scott Schultz will announce his retirement Tuesday.
An official with the Saskatchewan football club declined comment when contacted Monday night.
The six-foot-two, 292-pound Schultz is in his ninth CFL season, all with Saskatchewan. Schultz, a native of Moose Jaw, Sask., has 178 career tackles and 35 sacks during his tenure with the Riders.
In five regular-season games this season, Schultz has three tackles for the Riders (3-2), who are tied with Edmonton (3-2) atop the West Division standings.
Schultz has been a durable player for the Riders, having missed just one game the past three years.
The Roughriders originally drafted Schultz, 31, first overall in the 2001 CFL Canadian college draft out of North Dakota. Schultz was a four-year starter at nose guard for the Fighting Sioux and served as team captain in 2000.
At North Dakota, Schultz had 11.5 sacks and 146 tackles in 39 regular-season games. He was twice named a first-team conference all-star (1999-2000) and made the all-academic team in 2000.
Schultz signed as an undrafted free agent with San Diego in 2001, then joined the Riders to appear in eight games, starting four at defensive tackle. But he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2002, only to return to Saskatchewan and suit up in the 11th week of the CFL season.
Schultz has become a mainstay of the Riders' defence since then, anchoring a unit that has traditionally been among the CFL's best. A rugged force on the defensive line, Schultz's physical play and tenacity forced rival offences to often have men block him, leaving other Saskatchewan defensive lineman in one-on-one situations.
A career highlight came in 2007 when Schultz helped the Roughriders beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19 in the Grey Cup at Rogers Centre in Toronto. It was only the third CFL title in franchise history and the club's first since 1989.
Schultz had a tackle and fumble recovery in the Grey Cup contest.
Schultz recorded a career-high 32 tackles in 2003 and two years later had a career-best nine sacks.

Schultz did not practice with the team on Monday. After practice, coach Ken Miller said Scott was attending to some personal matters. It is expected Schultz will speak later today.

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Has the CFL season already hit the one month mark?? It just seemed like yesterday we were itching for the 2009 campaign to get underway, and we are already almost to the one third mark. What have we learned over the first month of the season? All teams have certainly given us something to talk about.

B.C LIONS

Everyone knew that one of these seasons would be one in which the Lions took a tumble, and it appears to be finally happening. The losses of players like Cam Wake and Rob Murphy have taken its toll on the team. While many good players like Brent Johnson and Geroy Simon remain, the Lions are struggling and Wally Buono is having a hard time finding the answers for the questions he has.

CALGARY STAMPEDERS

After an 0-2 start to the season, the defending Grey Cup champs rebounded to even their record at 2-2. Saturday’s tough last second loss to the Riders had to be a slap in the face to the confident and cocky Calgarians. They don’t seem to be as cohesive in year two of the John Hufnagel regime as they were in year one. Could the release of linebacker Ja Juan Armour be one of the reasons for the 2-3 start.

EDMONTON ESKIMOS

Something happened to this team during the 2nd quarter of their win at Mosaic Stadium. A team that looked to be terrible found a way in game to turn the page and they have looked great over the past game and a half. Talk of Ricky Ray being washed up have stopped, Arkee Whitlock has rebounded after a miserable game in Montreal to combine with Calvin McCarty to give Edmonton the run game it needed after Jesse Lumsden went down, and a defence led by Mo Lloyd looks like it needed a couple of more games to get used to the system.

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS

The Ti-Cats were arguably the story of July in the CFL. This team that has struggled to find wins over the past few years have shown signs that they are once again ready to become a contending team. Quinton Porter continues to learn on the job, but he has made more good decisions than bad. Running back Deandra Cobb has been a godsend for a team that lost Kenton Keith, Terry Caulley and Tre Smith to injury. Veterans Otis Floyd and Jamaal Johnson have helped a young defence mature. Marcel Bellefeuille deserves a lot of praise for what is happening in Hamilton at this time.

MONTREAL ALOUETTES

They may have beaten in Edmonton, but the Alouettes are still the best football team in the CFL at 4-1. Anthony Calvillo continues to drink from the fountain of youth as the defending most outstanding player is still playing at a high level. The offensive line is making life easy for Calvillo as he is hardly touched and the defence is creating havoc with guys like Anwar Stewart, Shea Emry and Chip Cox making big plays.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS

It was a roller-coaster first month for the team as they won their first two, then lost their next two before rebounding to beat Calgary in what was likely the best game of July. Darian Durant is having his ups and downs as quarterback and so is the defence. One would have to say when analyzing the first month that there have been more ups than downs.

TORONTO ARGONAUTS

Bart Andrus is not having the first year success that guys like John Hufnagel and Marc Trestman have had. Kerry Joseph is struggling, but he has not had the help of his receivers who have let him down. Locker-room clashes with guys like Arland Bruce and Adriano Belli have also made the first month of Andrus’ CFL coaching career rough. The light seems to be at the end of the tunnel, but that tunnel is a long one.

WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS

Did Mike Kelly push the panic button? His decision to go with Stefan Lefors as quarterback to start the season blew up in his face. He’s gone out and signed Michael Bishop. In his first game, Bishop showed he is a guy that can look all-world in one series and terrible the next. The Bombers have a good defence led by Barrin Simpson. If they can get their offensive woes sorted out, they could make life difficult for the opposition.


Perhaps the best thing about the first month is we are seeing a lot of parody. There haven’t been many one-sided games and a lot have gone down to the final three minutes before being decided. TV audiences are up, attendance is up and the excitement level is up as we head into August. What will we be saying about the teams as Labour Day hits? That’s a question no one can answer at this time, but it will be fun watching to see who rises and who falls.
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The CFL players of the week for week 5 should come out later today. I don't think the long weekend affects whether or not there is a delay in announcing the top players. My top 3 for offensive player this week are
1)Deandra Cobb-Hamilton
2)Ricky Ray-Edmonton
3)Weston Dressler-Saskatchewan

For top defensive player, I will go with
1)Jamaal Jackson-Hamilton
2)Rey Williams-Saskatchewan
3) Siddeeq Shabazz-Winnipeg

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NFL training camps have started and that means fantasy football drafts have started. Its not a fantasy football league, but it is something that has occupied my Sunday nights for the past decade and then some. If you know what Strat-O-Matic is, you might know what APBA is. Its a tabletop football game in which each player in the NFL who played is assigned a card with a value on it. You play the game calling plays and rolling dice, and see what happens. 15 other good-natured mouthbreathers and myself have been doing this as mentioned for the last number of years and yesterday being the holiday Monday was our traditional draft day. The teams carry over from year to year with 53 man rosters and so on. Draft night is a great night as everyone gets together to yak it up, make some trades and build their teams. In the end, Matt Ryan ended up being the number one pick to no one's surprise. For those who care, I have a team consisting of Aaron Rodgers, Maurice Jones-Drew, Leron McClain, Reggie Wayne, Larry Fitzgerald and Antonio Gates. A powerful team indeed, but one needs some dice rolls to be successful. Here's hopin!!! This is one of the reasons why I immerse myself so much into the NFL.
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Dany Heatley on the Sharks??? Yeah that will get them over the top. If I was San Jose, I'd be running away from this very quickly.
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Did Tiger let one rip at the end of the Buick Open. Have a listen to this around the 13 second mark and then watch him....

EMBED-Tiger Woods Farts - Watch more free videos
Methinks he is guilty folks!!!
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I haven't watched Monday Night RAW yet, but I am planning to as its on the PVR. MNR is in Calgary next week so I wonder who the celebrity host will be. With it being in Calgary next week, I hope its Bret "Hitman" Hart. I know his relationship with Vince MacMahon still isn't that great, but seeing him come down the ramp next Monday and getting saluted by the city that still loves him would be great. The WWE is in Regina on Saturday. I'm sure I speak for all my friends that are coming with me when I say its hoped Michelle McCool is in attendance seeing its the Smackdown stars that will be here. Oh if only Stacy Keibler were still in the WWE. I used to have a connection that would get us tickets in row one---right in the area where you can start jawing at these guys. I'm still close to ringside Saturday, but it won't be the same. OK, I guess I should go watch RAW now. I get the feeling its going to be a busy Tuesday.
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