Friday Roundup

Well the weekend is upon us once again and you’re probably off to go stock up on supplies for the weekend…liquor, smokes, prostitutes, fireworks, Victoria Secret catalogue, Sears catalogue, or whatever is it you need to have a good time (I don’t judge). But before you get to your weekend tomfoolery and chicanery allow me to get you up to speed on what’s been happening in the CFL this week.

- The Riders’ search for a new GM continues. Apparently John Murphy has added his name into the mix of potential candidates. Murphy is currently the Bombers’ Director of Player Personnel and has previously worked as a scout for the Stampeders. Though he’s young (37) and relatively inexperienced compared to other candidates, he has a pretty good track record when it comes to recruiting… plus he has that whole “not being Brendan Taman” thing going for him, which I see as a huge plus.

- On the player front, the team announced that they have re-signed Hugh Charles and Chris Getzlaf… though the Getzlaf extension has been public knowledge for close to a month now. I wonder if Charles did a celebratory flip when the contract was signed.

- It was a good week for Mike Kelly. He reached a financial settlement with the Bombers over his dismissal and had the assault charges he was facing dropped, provided he attends anger management training and stays away from his ex-girlfriend for 3 months. As good a week as Kelly had, I’d say the Bombers and his ex-girlfriend had even better weeks by virtue of not having to deal with Kelly again for the foreseeable future.

- Adrian McPherson is apparently sick of Anthony Calvillo’s Damon Allen impersonation. He is tired of being stuck behind Calvillo and has requested a trade from the Als in the hopes of getting a chance to compete for a starting job elsewhere. I can see McPherson’s concern. I mean at the rate AC is going, by the time he finally retires and gives McPherson his shot, all the talented Als will either be retired or dead… including McPherson.

- To be fair, McPherson may be younger and more athletic than AC but the aged Calvillo’s mental sharpness is still miles ahead of McPherson. You’d never see AC make this mistake…

- McPherson isn’t the only Alouette looking to get out of town. Damon Duval has a workout with the Atlanta Falcons in the hopes of catching on down south. While I’m sure an NFL contract would constitute a pay increase for Duval, I would be reluctant to give up what he has in Montreal. He’s playing the least physically demanding job in football, for one of the top teams in the league and just happens to be boinking the Team President’s daughter. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

CFL Ins and Out

Calgary

In: Joffrey Reynolds (contract extension)

Reynolds is the best and most consistent RB in the league so it’s no surprise to see the Stamps lock him up before he hits free agency. That said I’ve always wanted to see the day were Reynolds finally flips and puts Burris through a table before walking out the door for good.

Winnipeg

Out: LB Derrick Doggett (signed with Pittsburgh Steelers)

Much like Dudley Guice, I had to look up who this Doggett fellow was… I assume that if someone is good enough for the NFL I should at least have heard of them. Turns out he was 4th in the league in special teams tackles. Who knew? At first I was somewhat impressed then I realized that nobody punted more than the Bombers last season (no doubt completely unrelated to starting Bishop at QB) so his impressive stats are probably more just a product of having a ridiculous amount of chances than they are of Doggett’s talent.