This And That

-Welcome to Friday and the usual assortment of things running through my muddled mind.   As always, these come in no particular order.

--Danny Maciocia is back in the CFL,  That really isn't surprising.  What's great about Maciocia being back is we can see him thinking his team had won the Grey Cup when it hadn't back in 2005.  Bring that video back!

--John Chick and Weston Dressler were released by the Riders four years ago this week.  It is a move that cemented the disdain for Chris Jones for many in Rider Nation.  Stephen Safinuk of "The Piffles Podcast"  looked into the releases Jones made and it is a great read.   Guys like Tyron Brackenridge, Weldon Brown and Taj Smith never played again.  It was the start of a rebuild that was needed and it worked.  The Riders would not be where they are today had it not been for the blood-letting Jones had to do.  Yes, Chick and Dressler still had a lot in the tank as we found out, but for the most part, he got it right.

--I get the feeling that both the AFC and NFC Championship games will be duds this weekend.  I can't see Green Bay giving the Niners much of a battle although hopefully it is better than the 37-8 beatdown the Packers got earlier this year while KC is just too good on offence to be stopped.   As we saw last week, once they get rolling they make it look easy.   Many are saying Tennessee needs to win the time of possession.  As we saw last weekend, the Chiefs only need a few seconds to score.

--Love Pete Carroll, but why he decided to punt with 3 minutes left  in last week's loss to Green Bay is a headscratcher.  The Packers were having a tough time stopping Russell Wilson who was the best player on the field last Sunday night.  Why take it out of his hands when you could have given him a chance to convert a 4th and 10.   When its the playoffs, Pete makes some weird decisions.

--As an Oilers fan, I hate the Flames.  As a hockey fan, I want to see Zack Kassian mop the ice with Matthew Tkachuk on January 29.  Most of the hockey community feel Kassian was justified in what he did last weekend in Calgary with many noticing no one really jumped in to stop Tkachuk from getting rag-dolled.  Tkachuk gets everything he deserves.  He's a poor man's Brad Marchand and isn't even close to being at his level.

--I don't understand why the Vegas Knights fired Gerard Gallant and I really don't understand why they replaced him with Peter DeBoer.  It just doesn't make sense.

--The Pacific Division is the best division in the NHL. You can't get much tighter than it is already.  The pressure is on each and every night for the Knights, Coyotes, Canucks, Flames and Oilers,  Its almost playoff time already

--The Houston Astros sign-stealing story became more bizarre with allegations that Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman were wearing buzzers.   The videos in the moments after Altuve's homer won this past year's ALCS over the Yankees on a homer off Aroldis Chapman are very telling.  If this allegation is true, Altuve and Bregman can't play the game again.  It's as simple as that.   I asked this week on Twitter if you thought MLB should take away the titles of the Astros in 17 and Red Sox in 18 and declare them vacated or just leave it..  The response was basically 50-50.

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