First-half hardware

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have the best record in the CFL, but the Edmonton Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes would be runaway winners of the individual awards if voting were conducted at the halfway point of the season.

Competing for the outstanding-player awards would be Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray and Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo.

The top coaches have also been in Edmonton and Montreal.

Danny Maciocia, who came oh-so-close to being fired last season after the Esks could only win five games and finished out of the playoffs, has his team playing first-rate football this season.

And Marc Trestman, who took over the Als without any CFL experience whatsoever, led his team to a dominating first half in the Eastern Division.

Meanwhile, most of the other quarterbacks and coaches in the CFL haven’t come close to meeting expectations.

The Calgary Stampeders have been holding their own, although I expected a more potent offence under rookie coach John Hufnagel and QB Henry Burris.

Wally Buono, the most successful of the active coaches in the CFL, hasn’t been able to get consistency from his B.C. Lions and so they’re below .500. Neither of the Lions’ QBs, Jarious Jackson and Buck Pierce, have been able to get their act together for long enough periods.

The Eastern teams have been ridiculously horrible. The Toronto Argonauts are 4-5 but irascible coach Rich Stubler doesn’t seem to have what it takes, while his counterparts with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers – Charlie Taaffe and Doug Berry – are iffy to make it through the season.

Toronto QB Kerry Joseph, the CFL’s premier player last season in Saskatchewan, has only been so-so, while Casey Printers and Kevin Glenn haven’t come close to resembling their old selves as QBs of Hamilton and Winnipeg, respectively.

Reaching into the past… again

• I’m hearing Marcus Crandell will be signing soon with the Stamps to back up Burris.

Crandell, who once led the Stamps to a Grey Cup championship, was recently released by the Riders, after the team obtained Michael Bishop from Toronto.

The Stamps need to upgrade their quarterbacking now that they’ve learned that future Hall of Famer Dave Dickenson has probably played his final game. Dickenson is out for the season after suffering another concussion on Monday during his first game off the bench since rejoining Calgary before this season.

The Stamps have Ben Sankey and Barrick Nealy in their QB corps, but they understandably wouldn’t be comfortable with only those two behind Burris, who has had his share of injuries.

The turf toe Burris suffered against the Esks on Monday, however, won’t keep him out of the rematch in Edmonton Friday night.

Blue Bombers’ new green thumb

• Winnipeg tried to shake up things this week by trading running back Charles Roberts to the Lions for running back Joe Smith, a move Berry clearly sought.

“Roberts is not the same running back he was three years ago when I came to Winnipeg,” Berry said, “nor is he the same from the three years before that.”

So did B.C. get ripped off on this trade?

Well, no, because Buono had given up on Smith and would have traded him for a box of cookies.

At the same time, though, you wonder if the Lions are asking for trouble. Roberts has had a history of causing trouble. He would criticize his teammates often. He openly questioned how he was used by his coaches. He demanded to be traded several times. He missed many team meetings and flights.

And he took so long to show up to B.C. after the trade this week that the Lions had to cancel a news conference they planned to have to introduce him.

• In Smith’s case, Buono and the Lions began to question his desire earlier this season and replaced him with Stefan Logan.

Buono was irked when Smith admitted that, while he was on the injury list, he didn’t watch a B.C.-Winnipeg game on television because he was busy gardening.

This week, Smith told Winnipeg reporters that his garden is dying.

“The only things that’re growing right now,” Smith said, “are the beans and the limes. That’s about it.”

Shame.

Smith also perplexed Winnipeg reporters by telling them that he:

A) Likes to sell jewelry online.

B) Picks up pop bottles and cans to recycle them for cash.

Boo-ring

• As I wrote in my Friday York Report, too bad Arland Bruce III couldn’t come up with something a tad more entertaining the other night.

Slipping on a Spider-Man mask to celebrate a touchdown for the Toronto Argonauts just didn’t cut it. I mean, I don’t want to come off like Simon Cowell or some other television show judge, but Bruce’s performance lacked creativity, imagination and was well below acceptable showboating standards.

That act was hardly worth the $500 AB3 got fined by the CFL.

What the CFL needs again, seriously, is some of those choreographed dances or performances that the receivers with the Stamps and Lions used to do after touchdowns.

Players such as Geroy Simon and Nik Lewis truly made CFL games more entertaining with their post-TD celebrations.

This year, for some reason, CFLers have mostly abandoned these celebrations, and it’s making the league look an awful lot like the NFL. You know, the No Fun League.

Odds and ends

• Speaking of Simon, he uncharacteristically lost his cool at practice this week and exchanged punches with defensive lineman Tyrone Williams, who’s considerably bigger than him. . .Saskatchewan’s terrific punter, Jamie Boreham, has a sprained ankle and could miss the Riders’ rematch in Winnipeg on Sunday. If he can’t play, place-kicker Luca Congi would do double duty. Or at least try to do double duty. . .The Argos are looking for a new running back to share time with Dominique Dorsey and they’re preparing an offer for former Saskatchewan star Kenton Keith, who was cut recently by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

WEEKLY PICKS

Every week during the CFL season, I make my traditional picks against the spread at the bottom of this column. I went 3-1 last week and am bouncing back with a 17-19 record on the season. Week 11:

FRIDAY – Calgary at Edmonton

The Eskimos are favoured by 3.5 points. The Esks dominated in the Labour Day Battle of Alberta and so, logically, you’d think they’d do the same at home in this one. But wait. This is the CFL. And it’s illogical. TAKE CALGARY PLUS THE 3.5 POINTS.

SATURDAY – B.C. at Hamilton

The Lions are favoured by 4.5 points. Feeble felines, these two. But the Ticats are toast. This team should be so much better than it is but Charlie Taaffe has done nothing to change the losing culture and these guys are in dire need of a coaching change. TAKE HAMILTON PLUS THE 4.5 POINTS.

SUNDAY – Toronto at Montreal

The Alouettes are favoured by 6.5 points. The Als are so much better than their Eastern counterparts that it’s not even debatable any more. The Als win this in a rout. TAKE MONTREAL MINUS THE 6.5 POINTS.

SUNDAY – Saskatchewan at Winnipeg

The Roughriders are favoured by 1.5 points. Michael Bishop has never had much success in Winnipeg and if the Bombers can’t win this game, Berry is a goner and general manager Brendan Taman might not be far behind. TAKE WINNIPEG MINUS THE 1.5 POINTS.

Marty York is Metro’s national sports columnist as well as an
instructor at the College of Sports Media in Toronto. You can also read
his columns at www.freemyteam.com.

He
can be heard each Wednesday night on Vancouver radio station CKNW with
Sportstalk host Dan Russell.

Contact Marty at marty.york@metronews.ca