Something To "Mitch" About

--The first weekend without CFL football has come and gone, but people are either A) still dissecting the year that just finished both with just the Riders and the league as a whole or B) looking forward to 2018.

The CFL helped that progress out this week by releasing the list of free agents available for the upcoming season to get the debate going.  Good on the league for doing that as well. I know they have done so in the past, but I don't know if it has been this early.  It keeps the talk going.

There is no doubt when you look at the lengthy list of players who will be available after February 14, the one that sticks out is Eskimos quarterback James Franklin.  Yes, there is a chance Edmonton re-signs him, but that just opens up the Mike Reilly debate.  There is no doubt Franklin's services would be coveted by most all teams.  BC would like him, Edmonton would if they can do something with Reilly and all four Eastern teams would likely want him as well.  We all know the Saskatchewan Roughriders would love nothing more than to see Franklin trade green-and-gold for green-and-white.  3DownNation's Justin Dunk reported last week Franklin is also exploring the NFL so no CFL team may get him----at least not for a while.  This storyline won't be going away for a long time.  When it does, expect the quarterback dominos to start falling.

By the way, if you were to take a list of the free agents available and make a team out of those guys, where do you think they would finish. There is a lot of talent available.  Yes, teams will be working fast and furious to keep their key guys, but it is safe to say mid-February will be an exciting one for all teams as they look to strengthen and remain or become competitive.

--The Seahawks showed the NFL they aren't dead yet despite what some are saying. Their defense also said they are more than Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman. Other thoughts from an NFL Sunday

• What has happened to the Chiefs? They get it together offensively and then are putrid defensively.
• The Denver Broncos could be the worst team in the NFL. Oh yeah, I forgot about Cleveland. 
• With Aaron Rodgers coming back, Green Bay may have saved their season
•  I might put the Saints ahead of both the Vikings and Rams right now.  Of course, they will have no shot against Seattle!!  :)
• Rob Gronkowski should get a one game suspension for what he did. What was the rationale behind that anyway?

--While it is better than what it used to be, there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to determining what teams make the College Football playoff south of the border.  Alabama did not get to its conference championship game, yet they make the final four. How? Records mean nothing, but conference championships do.  The four teams who should be in are those who won their conference titles. Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma.  How Alabama gets in despite not winning the SEC much less being in the title game astounds me.  The same thing happened last year only it was Ohio State getting in. Winning your conference title doesn't mean a lot it would seem, but not playing in the conference title game means a lot for some. Perhaps the committee should look at making it 8 teams.


--With the NHL celebrating 100 years, they are asking you what is the best uniform. The choices are so many.  There have been a lot of great unis from the iconic original six ones to some of the newer ones like the Vegas Golden Knights. This is one of those where there really is no winner, but it is a great debate.  The question is what one would be the ugliest and no, the Vancouver Canucks yellow "V" is not a part of the discussion!!


--As the Oilers continue to flounder in the standings, people continue to seek answers as to why.  Can one look at Leon Draisiatl.  He of the brand new contract which was far too extravagant for this Oilers fan and blogger has not produced.  Does he have a power-play goal this year? The answer is no.  In fact, Draisiatl doesn't even have a power-play point.  Still with the Oilers, good on head coach Todd McLellan for coming out and defending Kris Russell for his own goal against the Leafs the other night.  You don't often see that.  You sure didn't see Dave Dickenson or many members of the Calgary Stampeders do that with Kamar Jorden did you?

--On the first Monday of December, the Winnipeg Jets are one of the top teams in the NHL. Will the Jets do what the Bombers do and fizzle out as the season moves on.  I think the answer is no on that one. I still think Winnipeg could have had a long run last year had they gotten in. Remember, they won their last seven and fell just short.  They have a good young team with not a lot of holes. 

--Seeing the Blue Jays need a new sidekick for Jamie Campbell this year, can the housecleaning continue with Dan Shulman taking over for Buck Martinez?  Shulman isn't doing Sunday Night Baseball so he can be closer to home which is Toronto.  He did many games last year, so why not do them all?  Here's hopin!

--If you saw UFC 218 from Detroit on Saturday, yes I thought for a moment you had seen a death in the ring. You can't knock a man's head off with a punch, but Francis Ngannou came as close as you can

 

 I'm guessing everyone watching that fight cringed somewhat when they saw that haymaker.  That wasn't even the fight of the night as Yancy Medeiros and Alex Oliveira may have had the fight of the year in a match where "wild" doesn't even start to describe what went down.


--At the end of the day Tiger Woods showed us he can still play, but he still has some work to do.  I don't know if Tiger has it to win a 72 hole event on a consistent basis anymore, but one would think he has to be pretty happy with his performance.  Some still debate if Tiger is the PGA Tour still and I say no with the likes of Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and some of the other young guns in the sport.  He will bring increased viewership to the sport though with his return.

--As a Cubs fan, I am not enamoured with word of a possible Giancarlo Stanton trade to St. Louis.  If he should end up a Cardinal, the big scoreboard in left center and those sitting in the rooftops in left will be seeing a lot of baseballs.  Yikes!

--That's all I got.  Have a great week everyone!