This And That

John Hufnagel, what were you thinking? The Calgary Stampeders coach and general manager not embarasssed himself and his team, but the entire Canadian Football League by walking out on the Coach Of the Year luncheon just before Scott Milanovich was to be presented with the award.  I have never had a real problem with Hufnagel, but I just can't defend him here. What he did was wrong. There is no other way to put it. You just don't do what he did. The CFL needs to react. Hufnagel needs to be fined---not the Stampeders organization, but Hufnagel. The sad thing is I've never had a problem with John and have found him to be very co-operative. This really surprises me.

I can only wonder what their new president who has only been on the job for a couple of days thought of this little stunt that had to have left him red-faced.

Good on Scott Milanovich for making the most of the situation by asking if John had had the chicken or the beef at the luncheon. Deep down though, you know he had to be insulted and it will certainly create some great fodder when the two teams meet for a Grey Cup rematch. There is obviously some bad blood there as far as Hufnagel is concerned over the fact that Chris Jones went to Toronto much to the surprise of everyone in Calgary.

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The CFL congress would have been interesting to witness as teams discussed making this league better not only on the field, but off of it as well. What was also great is the fact that they we didn't have to hear about the league propping up this team or that team or that they were trying to put out this fire or that fire as we have heard in the past. All seems to be rosy in the CFL and it would seem as if will be that way for a while. As a football fan in this country, you have to like that.

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I think a lot of people are still shocked over what Marc Cohon did at the Press Box Sports Bar on Wednesday night. The CFL commissioner proved he is the coolest commissioner in all of sports by not only walking into the bar to mix and mingle with Rider fans and get their thoughts on the league, but to buy everyone a round. How much did that cost? To tell you the truth, I thought it would cost more. When Cohon tweeted what his plans for Wednesday were, I thought it would be standing room only and that some people might be turned away. After finishing co-hosting duties with Rod on the Sportscage Wednesday, I wondered  if I would be able to cram myself inside because of the crowd that I knew would be there. When I pulled in, I couldn't believe there wasn't a lineup outside the door. After all, not only was Cohon going to be there, but so was Global's Tom Vernon! Did some think there was no way they could get inside so they stayed home? I'm thinking that might have been the case.

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I had a good chat with CFL director of officiating Tom Higgins about a long time pet peeve of mine when it comes to the CFL. Going back to the days of when Jim Daley was the officiating director, I wondered why there was no segment in which officials could discuss controversial calls and tell us why this call was and wasn't made. The NFL did that with Mike Pereira before he went to FOX. I think it would be great for TSN to do that on Friday Night Football. Lets just say I was surprised with the answer Higgins gave me. Speaking of Higgins, do yourself a favour if you haven't done it and go to Rod's blog and listen to the podcast of the interview that was done between  Higgins, Rod and Kelly Remple. Its outstanding on a variety of levels.

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If the CFL allows players to "tweet' during games, they are opening a can of worms that they don't want to. I am 100 percent against this.

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I know its going to be a part of common-day life in Saskatchewan from now on, but I gotta tell you that I'm not a fan of this 10 digit dialing for calls made within Regina. How many times have you gotten that message?

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Congratulations to Regina Pats play-by-play man, co-worker and all around good schmuck Phil Andrews. Phil and his wife are parents for the first time having given birth to a baby girl on Wednesday night. Life will never be the same Phil. Enjoy each moment as it happens!  I was going to call Warriors play-by-play man James Gallo and tell him to buy a Warriors onesie for me for the newest member of the Andrews clan so that she could spit up, pee and poop all over it as only a little Pats fan can. However, I thought that might be what Phil would do so I never made the call.

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Is Tim Tebow in the running to be the new Pope? Did Pope Benedict put some kind of blessing on the Cubs to win the World Series before going into retirement?

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Someone needs to explain to me how a guy that is drinking and driving and kills four young men doesn't even get a year per life. How a judge in Grande Prairie, Alberta could give a sentence of three years for a crime that will haunt that city forever is just another example as to how soft our justice system is. This guy doesn't deserve any freedom for years. He will be driving again when he is 30. Is that right?

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Graham DeLaet is showing last year was no fluke. The Weyburn native was the clubhouse leader for much of the afternoon at the first round of the Honda Classic and finished just one shot back of the leader. Here's hoping he gets another solid couple of rounds in and some TV time as well.

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I heard some hockey chatter the other night with the topic being "What's the best rivalry in the game right now?". At no time did the answer Pittsburgh-Philly which is the best come up. OhhhhhhhhK!
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The Extreme Hockey Regina Capitals and Traveland RV Storm renew their intense Prairie Junior Hockey League rivalry in the second round of league playoffs this week. The series begins Friday night in Pilot Butte. The series moves to the Ritchie Arena on Saturday night for game 2. The rest of the series is as follows:
Wednesday March 6, Pilot Butte
Thursday March 7 Ritchie
Saturday March 9, Pilot Butte
Tuesday March 12 Ritchie
Wednesday March 13 Pilot Butte

All games have a 7:30 start.

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I'm really looking forward to the World Baseball Classic. I hope my Canada jersey comes before the first pitch is thrown

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Speaking of Team Canada jerseys, the national womens hockey team is wearing a one time only black and gold uniform for an upcoming event. As TSN"s Darren Dutchyshen said when talking about this on Sportscentre, sorry, but my Canada is red and white. YUP! Said the same thing when the Canadian juniors wore green and white at the World Juniors in Saskatchewan. It wasn't right!

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I love the idea of NHL re-alignment except for two things which is really one. Columbus should stay in the Western Conference and replace Winnipeg who would move into the Pacific Division with Canadian rivals Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. I think not having a Canadian rival in their division will hurt the Jets.
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Heard a great discussion on "The Dan Patrick Show" about an openly gay athlete in a professional league and how sadly, we aren't ready for that. While no one would come out and say Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o is the player that is being spoken about, it is becoming obvious by all the negative chatter that all of a sudden surrounds him that teams are looking to use any excuse they can find to not draft the young man who was a Heisman finalist when really we all know the real reason why. I don't think Te'o will have much of an NFL career unless this campaign against him that started with the baffling "dead girlfriend" story is turned around in a big hurry.
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The Edmonton Oilers  beat the Dallas Stars???
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The Cougar womens basketball team goes after a much sought after conference banner this weekend in Calgary. The Cougars have gotten to many a conference final only to see them ending up second best. I hope that changes this weekend starting tomorrow against Fraser Valley. You can watch the game by going
right here
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That's all I got. Have a great weekend!