Monday Morning Sentimonies: Draft Day Approaches

Drafting is the hot topic in football right now. The NFL Draft was last week and the CFL Canadian College Draft goes this Sunday. For those of you that follow both leagues you have no doubt observed a few minor differences in the two drafts. The NFL Draft is a star-studded primetime media event spanning 3 days featuring a myriad of media coverage and expert analysis. The CFL Draft is a brief conference call between CFL GMs early on a Sunday. The results of that call are relayed to viewers by a figure skating commentator and analyzed by the only man in the world who seems to know anything about the Canadian Draft… Duane Ford. You also won’t find the formality and class of the NFL Draft in the CFL Draft… we Canadians prefer a much more relaxed and informal affair where GMs are free to make their selections from the bathroom (as Don Matthews has done). Lastly, unlike the NFL, you won’t find any live video of recently drafted players… the CFL stopped that practice a few years back after they awkwardly ended up airing video coverage of a grave after Ottawa drafted its occupant.

Other than these minor differences though, both drafts are pretty much the same.

As usual, I will be providing live draft coverage so join me for my 3^rd Annual Live Draft Day Blogging. Follow along with the Prophet’s uncensored, unedited, largely incoherent commentary and arbitrary player endorsements taking you from the 1st pick right up until I change the channel to a station featuring infomercials and randomly segue into live blogging about those.

Some draft boards may have been rearranged a bit in the wake of the NFL Draft. While no Canadian prospects were drafted a number of top prospects did sign NFL deals: OL Joel Reinders (signed with Cleveland), OL Kristian Matte (signed with Texas), WR Jordan Sisco (invited to camp with Indy), WR Shawn Gore (invited to camp with Green Bay), DL Chima Ihekwoaba (invited to camp with Detroit) WR Steven Turner (invited to camp with Chicago) and LB Cory Greenwood is apparently in negotiations with Kansas City. While all of these players will still be drafted on Sunday they may slip down a few spots as a result. I’ll have more pre-draft analysis later in the week.

In Rider news…

- A newspaper article in the Wall Street Journal featured a story that indicated that our own Tad Kornegay says that half his teammates smoke marijuana. Kornegay has since clarified that what he actually said was that half of athletes in general smoke pot. My concern over this is not that Riders may be smoking pot but rather that the Wall Street Journal (one of the more pre-eminent papers) actually considers this news. Seriously have they been living under a rock?

- With Graham Harrell out of the picture, the Riders are looking to sign another QB. One name that keeps popping up is Ryan “James Johnson ruined my life” Dinwiddie… seriously. What Dinwiddie lacks in important areas such as skill and experience, he more than makes up for in the “was once a Blue Bomber” area that our GM highly values. My running theory was that Taman made the mistake of looking into Dinwiddie’s eyes and had his soul stolen

and Dinwiddie would only return it in exchange for a contract. But then I reasoned that if he did somehow come to possess Taman’s soul it probably would have just inadvertently ended up in James Johnson’s possession, so that theory was out the window.

CFL Ins and Outs

Hamilton

In: RB Jhamal Fluellen (free agent signing)

Never heard of the guy but the fact that he randomly inserts an unneeded H in his first name has already given me concerns about him.

Calgary

Out: OL Jeff Pilon (retired)

A big loss for a Calgary O-line that has already lost Dmitri Tsoumpas to the NFL. But for the rest of us this could be a good thing as it could spell the end of the patented Stampeder O-line side boob parade. Tsoumpas and Pilon were major proponents of the side boob. With their departure and the uncertainty surrounding fellow prominent side boob displayer Rob Lazeo (due to age and injuries) this could mark a return to normal (non vomit educing) jerseys along the O-line. I know it’s not likely but we can always hope.