Anderson Fined/Simon Sits Again

Defensive back Dwight Anderson was fined for objectionable conduct Wednesday by the CFL.

The league fined Anderson for making a "throat slashing" gesture towards the Edmonton bench in Saskatchewan's 39-18 season-opening win Saturday.

Anderson was also penalized for being abusive towards officials during the game.

He received two objectionable conduct penalties in the contest for his actions.

As per league policy, the CFL didn't divulge the amount of the fine.

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Riders head coach Corey Chamblin has ended the speculation early. Even though he said he would be ready to go by Friday, receiver Geroy Simon will not play against Calgary on Friday night. Simon continues to recover from a leg injury suffered two weeks ago.

CFL POTW WK 1/ Rider Transacction

Ricky Ray, Charleston Hughes, Lindsey Lamar and Jon Cornish were named the Gibson’s Finest Players of the Week for Week 1 of the 2013 Canadian Football League season.

The four players were chosen by a panel of judges including: former Canadian Football League players Matt Dunigan and Duane Forde of TSN, and Pierre Vercheval of RDS.

Ray earns top offensive honours afterthrowing for 368 yards and four touchdowns, while completing 24 of his 34 pass attempts in Toronto’s 39-34 home opener win against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

With Toronto trailing Hamilton at halftime, Ray led a second half comeback by throwing two touchdowns, including a 10-yard TD to Dontrelle Inman late in the fourth quarter to help guide the Argonauts victory

Hughes started off his season with a bang, registering a total of four tackles, including three quarterback sacks, in Calgary’s 44-32 victory against the BC Lions.

The veteran rush end's presence on the defensive line helped hold the Lions to just 72 yards rushing in the game.

Joining Hughes as the second Stampeder to be honoured this week, Cornish runs away with the top Canadian award after rushing for 172 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in the Stamps win over the Lions. The native of New Westminster, British Columbia also caught one pass for 20 yards.

Prior to the game, Cornish announced he would donate $10 for every yard he gained against BC for the flood victims in Alberta.

Finally, Lamar wins top special teams player after an electric start to his CFL career. Lamar returned his very first kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown, finishing the game with six kickoff returns for 224 yards and four punt returns for 18 yards.

The product of the University of South Florida also had a punt return touchdown in each of the Ticats pre-season games.

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The Riders have released receiver Greg Carr. He caught one pass for 5 yards in the win over Edmonton.

Lions Sign Wally and Skulsky To Extension

The BC Lions Football Club is pleased to announce that team president and CEO Dennis Skulsky along with VP of football operations and GM Wally Buono have signed contract extensions through end of the 2016 season.

“The foundation of any successful organization comes from its ability to preserve continuity among its leadership,” said Lions owner David Braley. “The efforts of Dennis and Wally have not only created a winning culture, they have also enabled our organization to expand its role in the community. Under their leadership, the BC Lions brand is stronger and I’m pleased to have them leading the way in years to come.”

Skulsky, who had been a founding member of the Waterboys business ambassadors group a decade ago, became the club’s 29th president in 2010. In just the past three seasons, the former CEO of Canwest Publishing has overseen the Lions’ return to a refurbished BC Place as well as staging the very successful 2011 Grey Cup which the Lions won to claim their sixth championship. This past offseason, Dennis took a lead role in the CFL’s negotiation of a historic television deal with TSN and secured the rights to host the 2014 Grey Cup.

“It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside David, Wally, Mike and our entire staff,” said Skulsky. “As we enter our club’s historic 60th season, I continue to be amazed at our loyal and supportive fan base and when you combine that with David’s 17 years of inspiring ownership and Wally’s expertise on the football end, I believe the future of the BC Lions and the Canadian Football League has never been brighter.”

For Wally Buono, his extension comes after one of his most active winters as GM, signing quarterback Travis Lulay and linebacker Adam Bighill to contract extensions while re-securing the services of Most Outstanding Lineman Jovan Olafioye, linebacker Solomon Elimimian and receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux to name just a few.

“Wally’s ability to keep our team among the very best in the league is a testament to his expertise, experience and passion.” said Skulsky. “It’s our goal to be the Pride of All BC and that is something that I know Wally takes to heart. Over the past 10 years, he and his family have embraced this community and made it their home. His passion for football and building championship teams is unmatched, and I am thrilled to have Wally leading our efforts on the field.”

Buono, now in his 11th season with the Lions, has stocked the club with talented and dynamic players who have propelled the Leos to 10 straight playoff appearances, seven Western Final appearances, three trips to the Grey Cup and two championship titles.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to work with coach Mike Benevides to build teams we can be proud of and our fans can be excited about supporting,” said Buono. “David and Dennis have been tremendously supportive and I am very excited to continue doing what I love to do each day.”

Baseball Mid-Year Report

The major league baseball season is at the halfway mark. Its time for teams to start deciding if they are going to make a run for a playoff spot or whether its time to trade away assets as they keep building. Here's a look at what I think are the best and worst of the first half

BEST TEAM: Statistically speaking, the Pittsburgh Pirates might have the best record in baseball, but I think the best team going into July are the Texas Rangers. They lost Josh Hamilton and Michael Young and they haven't suffered one bit. They haven't assured themselves of a playoff position, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are American League champions at the end of the day thanks to a solid lineup 1 thru 9 and a pitching staff that again has no star, but a bunch of guys just getting it done.

MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM: They have Albert Pujols, they have Mike Trout, they have Josh Hamilton and they have a record that is four games below 500. This team should be running away with the American League West. They may have a tough time getting into the playoffs.

MOST SURPRISING TEAM: This really shouldn't come as a surprise since I called it at the start of the season, but the Cleveland Indians are in position for a playoff spot thanks to manager Terry Francona. If the Blue Jays had gotten this guy to manage them, I think Toronto would be well ahead in the AL East right now. Francona gets the best out of his team and it shows. The Indians and Detroit are fighting for an American League Central spot and while the Tigers have a better team on paper, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Indians win the division.

AL CY YOUNG LEADER: When you have a record of 12-0, its hard not to look at Max Scherzer of the Tigers. Scherzer and Justin Verlander might be the best one-two in the game right now. I can't see Scherzer not losing a game before the year is over, but he has to be the front-runner for the award right now.

NL CY YOUNG LEADER: The odds-on favourite right now has to be Matt Harvey of the New York Mets. He is one of the next generation of arms and he has been the best pitcher in the National League this year compiling a win-loss record of 7-1 with a lot of no decisions. He has an ERA of 2.00 which is impressive in this offensive age of baseball and he is striking out more than a batter per inning pitched. He might be the best pitcher in the game right now.

AMERICAN LEAGUE MVP: Its hard not to ignore the first half of the season that Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis has had with 32 homers, but I have to go with Tigers 3rd baseman Miguel Cabrera. He may be the best overall player in the game right now and his numbers are once again going to be monstrous.

NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP: This race won't be decided until someone takes charge in the National League, but right now I would take Giants catcher Buster Posey. He won the award last year and he is having a season like last year. As I said. there is really no one out there that has taken charge and there are a lot of guys you could consider for the award from Posey to Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez to Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen.

CRYSTAL BALL: 

AL DIVISION WINNERS:  Baltimore, Detroit, Texas
AL WILD CARD: Boston, Cleveland
AL CHAMP: Detroit

NL DIVISION WINNERS: Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Francisco
NL WILDCARD: Cincinnati, Washington
NL CHAMP: Cincinnati

WORLD SERIES WINNER: Detroit

Something To "Mitch" About

Happy Canada Day everyone! 2013 is half over. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

I don't understand some of the Rider Nation these days. You would think they'd be ecstatic after stomping on the Eskimos in the season opener, but a 20 plus point win isn't enough. Many are after Coach Chamblin because he didn't throw the challenge flag on the Macho Harris interception or that he seemingly defended Dwight Anderson after the game. Others are on Darian Durant's case even though he threw for 3 TD"s. WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT??

Yeah, I'd be choked had the Riders lost that game because of Anderson's stupidity or Chamblin making a mistake, but they won the game. At the end of the day isn't that what matters? As someone said to me Saturday night, those that are against Anderson should go look in the mirror because they are the first ones to run off the rails when the slightest thing goes wrong with the team and they start looking for a scapegoat.

All I'll say is I'd rather have Corey Chamblin as a head coach over Kavis Reed any day of the week.
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Was the best looking team in Week 1 Calgary or the Riders? I will say Calgary because I think just about everyone expected the Riders to beat Edmonton. The worst team was the Eskimos. They just didn't look ready for the regular season.
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Did you catch these two guys on Friday afternoon?

Lance Frazier and Luc Mullinder scored a touchdown on their first possession as they joined the CKRM "Rider Radio" family with an appearance on "Four Seasons Football Friday" in the Sportscage. I knew the pair would bring some insight to the forefront, but they didn't hold back on anything.  I just sat back, asked the question and let them go. They are tremendous additions.

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As the Riders-Eskimos game was about to start, some kind of ruckus started out on the field. It caused those at Commonwealth to boo the Riders. It made Rod Pedersen say "Thunderous boos greet the Riders as they come out. They don't like us here....that's alright, we don't like them either." WHAT A GREAT LINE!!  I would have listened to more of Rod, but they continued on with the national anthem singer and my ears started to bleed so I checked out Cuthbert and Suitor. I like to sync up the radio broadcast with the telecast, but its tough when I wanted to check out the golf and the baseball to keep from changing the channel.

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On my way home from doing "Roughrider Gameday" with Michael Ball on Saturday, I stopped to get some gas and lotto tickets from a Co-op. Inside the store, they had a stand-up of Geroy Simon advertising his sour cream potato chips. There was just one problem. They didn't have any of them for sale----or the Dressler chips. They weren't even sold out as they just had the cut-out. Does anyone see something wrong with that?

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After seeing Calgary play the way they did against the Lions and seeing the Riders play the way they did against the Eskimos, I am expecting one helluva football game Friday night, Can the Rider Nation sell out Mosaic on the only Friday night home game of the year. I doubt it, but I hope so. 

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Hafta wonder if Chris Williams was watching the Hamilton-Toronto game and what he thought as Lindsey Lamar took a kickoff back to the house. They aren't missing ya Chris....not one bit.

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That Ti-Cats defense still looks atrocious. Kent Austin has his work cut out for him in getting that side of the ball playing well. Is it just me or has Austin gained a little weight?

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Ricky Ray and Henry Burris looked in mid-season form. That's a scary thought.

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Many names were talked about as trade bait as the NHL draft started Sunday, but only one big name moved and that was Cory Schneider. I laugh at everyone as they talk about this guy going here or this guy going there and in the end, nothing really happens. I will admit though that I didn't see the Canucks trading Schneider and I didn't expect the Devils to be the team they traded them to. I also thought Vancouver would get a lot more than just the number nine draft pick. Mike Gillis blew that one big-time. The team has to mend fences with Roberto Luongo now. It won't be easy. Rumours suggested Edmonton offered the Canucks a much better package for Schneider, but Gillis turned it down. Is it just because they're a division rival?

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Morgan Klimchuk was hoping his hometown team would take him and that's what happened. Good on the Regina Pats forward for being taken by the Calgary Flames. I can see Klimchuk being a 3rd line guy for them in the next couple of years while chipping in 10-13 goals a year.  Congrats to Kyle Burroughs too for getting selected in the 7th round by the Islanders.

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I can't believe Seth Jones fell all the way to #4. Nashville GM David Poile had to be smiling from ear-to-ear when he knew he was going to get the big defenseman.  I can understand Colorado wanting to take the sexy pick by grabbing Nathan McKinnon who will contribute on the scoresheet more than Jones, but what was Florida thinking?

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I loved the Oilers pick of Darnell Nurse at #7. The team had enough young forwards and it was time to add a defenseman to go with Justin Schultz. Former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb is Nurse's uncle. No truth to the rumour that Eskimos GM Ed Hervey has approached the Oilers wondering if McNabb will move to Edmonton to live with Nurse and perhaps revive his football career.

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Sportsnet's John Shannon has said the Flames may be moving to Saskatoon until the Saddledome is ready after the flooding in Calgary. Flames owner Ken King is trying to throw cold water on that idea though. Here's what King had to say when approached on the topic. I can't see the Saddledome being ready, but who knows.

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I wonder what goes through Gary Bettman's mind when he gets booed as lustily as he did while in Boston to present the Stanley Cup and again at the start of the NHL draft. It honestly looks to me as if he is just soaking in the hatred. He seems to love it.

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Who thought the Pittsburgh Pirates would be the best team in Major League Baseball on July 1?

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If you can't beat Boston, Tampa and the Yankees, you're not going anywhere. The Jays need to learn that lesson and learn it quickly. The Jays have to decide very quickly if they are going to be a seller or a buyer at the trade deadline. If they are going to be a buyer, I would ask the Arizona Diamondbacks if they would like to send Aaron Hill back. He would fit nicely in that lineup and be better than Maicer Izturis and the woefully inept Emilio Bonafacio.

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The New York Knicks are actually sending a package of players to the Raptors for Andrea Bargnani? Really??? Some of that package includes first round draft picks in two seasons. Really???

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The person who won the 50-50 at the Stampeders game Friday night gave it all back as donated the 31-thousand to flood relief efforts. Would you do that? I can honestly say I might give 10 percent, but not 100. What a great gesture!

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Another former pro wrestler has bit the dust as the guy who played Doink the Clown in WWE has died at 57. Its sad to see these guys go knowing that they did the damage and likely kept doing the damage till the end to themselves.

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Locker Talk co-host Pete Paczko looks like he's ready to take on all comers...

Nothing more needs to be said! Nothing!

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That's all I got. Have a great Canada Day and remember "Two Beavers are Better than One"



Klimchuk To Flames / Burroughs To Islanders

Regina Pats forward Morgan Klimchuk has been selected in the first round by the Calgary Flames with the 28^th Overall pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft in Newark, New Jersey. 

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Klimchuk told TSN’s James Duthie after donning his new Flames jersey.  “Going into it, I knew how many picks Calgary had in the first round and I thought I had a pretty good couple interviews with them, but for this to actually come true and for my dreams to become a reality it’s an unbelievable feeling.” 

The Pats’ 5^th Overall selection of the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft finished the season second on the team in scoring with 76 points (36G, 40A) while playing all 72 contests through the WHL Regular Season. 

In addition to the Calgary, AB product’s stellar play in the WHL, Klimchuk had a strong showing on the international stage.  He won a pair of Gold Medals with Canada’s Under-18 program, first at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament as part of the summer program and then the World U-18 Championships where Klimchuk was second in team scoring with eight points in seven games. 

“We are extremely proud of Morgan.  He has been a big part of our organization ever since we were fortunate enough to select him in the first round of the WHL Bantam Draft,” commented Pats Senior VP and General Manager Chad Lang.  “Being selected today in the 2013 NHL Draft is a true reflection of his hard work and dedication both on and off the ice.”

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Regina Pats defenceman Kyle Burroughs has been selected in the Seventh Round (196^th Overall) by the New York Islanders in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft in Newark, New Jersey.

 

“It’s really indescribable,” said Burroughs shortly after being selected.  “It’s a surreal feeling, you know, it’s a dream and it pretty much just came true.”

 

A 3^rd Round selection of the Pats in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft, Burroughs led the Blue and White in scoring from the blue-line with 33 points (5G, 28A) in 70 contests through the WHL Regular Season.

 

For his stellar play in 2012-13, the Langley, B.C. native was presented with the Charles Johnston Memorial Trophy as the Pats Top Defenceman.  Burroughs’ brilliant second half of the season saw him as one of the fastest risers on the Central Scouting Draft Rankings, jumping 73 spots between the Mid-Term and Final Rankings.

 

“Kyle has been a valuable player for us the past two years,” said Pats Senior VP and General Manager Chad Lang.  “His dedication and positive attitude has had an impact both on and off the ice.  As a young player he has great leadership qualities.  Our entire organization is very proud of him and happy to see Kyle rewarded for his efforts.”

Thoughts On The Opener

I'm not going to say I didn't see that coming, but I didn't see the Riders being that dominant at Commonwealth Stadium this afternoon. I felt as if the team had to go out and send a message to a Western Division opponent by walking into their house and slapping them in the mouth and that's what happened. As well as what the Riders played, it just didn't seem as if Edmonton had any energy. However, any energy the Eskimos may have had might have been sucked away on the Riders first drive as Darian Durant led them down the field on an 8 play drive that ended in Kory Sheets' 18 yard TD. Just some thoughts


--It is just one game and we remember that the Riders demolished Hamilton in the season opener last year, but there weren't a lot of negatives that could be found.

--One negative was Dwight Anderson. Yes, he got penalized for doing something that he didn't do, but his actions were simply not what you want to see. Giving up 30 yards in a game that has been decided is one thing, but giving up 30 yards in a close game might be the difference between victory and defeat. Anderson will have to control his temper. The Rider Nation isn't sold on this guy on a whole and that act won't help any.

--Ben Heenan was absolutely fabulous playing right tackle. A lot was made about Heenan and whether or not he would make the adjustment. Did Odell Willis' name even get mentioned during the broadcast?

--It doesn't pain me to see Kavis Reed get it to handed to him whether it be by the Riders or any team.

--I said at the start of the year that this would be a monster year for Keith Shologan. One game in and that prediction is holding true.

--Could the biggest beneficiary of a George Cortez offence be Kory Sheets? With all the attention being paid to Dressler, Getzlaf, Smith and Carr, Sheets can take the ball and rack up some big chunks of yardage.

--If the time comes this year that the Riders are in their own end at the end of the half and they take a knee to end the half, don't boo. Please remember what Mike Reilly did at the end of the first half today. That was when you take a knee. The game was over as soon as Rey Williams went across the goal-line.

--It wouldn't have counted because of a pass interference call, but how exactly did Darian Durant not catch that pass from Weston Dressler. Darian has shown us he has the legs and the arm, but he has no hands.

--I'm not making a big deal out of the no-challenge call on the Macho Harris interception. Like the Anderson situation, if the game was close that might have been a major mistake, but I don't think Chamblin wanted to waste a challenge on a play where there was no guarantee that it would have gone his way. That being said. someone upstairs has to let him know what's going on and that didn't appear to happen.

--All in all, it was a great opener, but as the team will tell you its just one game and they have to do it again next week against a Calgary team that looked pretty good at home against B.C.