Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli (8) throws during first half CFL football game action against the Montreal Alouettes in Hamilton, Ont. on Friday, June 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Power
Because the great majority of Medicine Hat CFL fans support western teams, my focus is naturally on them. The East gets short shrift although I do follow the careers of Crescent Heights grads Connor McGough and Aaron Crawford with great interest. Today I take a look at the other division of he CFL.
The opening decade of this century wasn’t kind to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They finished last five times and didn’t win a single playoff game. In 2013 quarterback Henry Burris led them to the Grey Cup in Regina where they lost 45-23 to the Roughriders. The following year, Zach Collaros was at the helm when they lost the Grey Cup to Calgary, 20-16. They would have won it not for a punt return touchdown late in the game being nullified by an illegal block. It was the right call. That moment has typified the Ti-Cats. They look powerful, play well but end up shooting themselves in the paw or being the victim of fate.
They lost the East final to an expansion team, the Redblacks in 2015 and the semifinal to the crossover Eskimos the following year. They missed post-season play in 2017 and lost out to Ottawa in the final last season.
But they’ve added free agents and have quarterback Jeremiah Masoli in the prime of his career. Brandon Banks has been so good he is an early candidate for Most Outstanding Player honours. The Cats have scored 128 points in three games, 64 came against Toronto and 42 versus Montreal who they play again on Thursday. How good are they? Some questions will be answered July 13 in Ottawa.
When the CFL conducted a national media poll before the season began, I believe I was the only one to pick the Redblacks to finish atop the East Division. Everyone else had Hamilton. I liked Ottawa, not only because of Hamilton’s recent post-season struggles but also because general manager Marcel Desjardins and head coach Rick Campbell usually find a way to win. They are undefeated in the early going with a showdown against 2-0 Winnipeg this Friday.
Despite losing quarterback Trevor Harris, and all-Canadians like receiver Greg Ellingson and running back William Powell, they scored over 30 points against Calgary and Saskatchewan. Backup quarterback Dominique Davis looks like a keeper.
A few days before their first regular season game on June 14 in Edmonton, Montreal GM Kavis Reed fired head coach Mike Sherman, replacing him with offensive coordinator Khari Jones.
There was precedent. In 1976 president Ralph Sazio appointed Bob Shaw GM of the Ti-Cats. Shaw hired George Dickson to coach. He fired his coach halfway through the season and assumed the position himself. The following year after finishing last, Shaw replaced himself with Tom Dimitroff. He then fired Dimitroff at the end of the pre-season.
Shaw, by the way, coached Saskatchewan in 1963-64. Said George Reed: “My first pro coach was Bob Shaw. I would have quit football if he had stayed.” But I digress.
Jones was the all-Canadian quarterback in 2001 winning the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award, leading his Bombers to a Grey Cup appearance against Calgary, losing 27-19. He and others were unhappy with Sherman’s inability or unwillingness to adapt to the Canadian game. He believed that the coach prepared the playbook and the quarterback executed it whether he be Tom Brady or Billy Bob Bumblehead. He put a grand total of three plays in the offensive scheme designed for Johnny Manziel. Reed’s decision to make a change at the 12th hour was shocking but necessary. Khari Jones has a fine football mind. When they find a quarterback and start winning the crowds will return.
Not so in Toronto.
Last week I mentioned training camps once were five or six weeks long with four pre-season games. I didn’t mentioned that players used that time to get into shape. Now if a player can’t pass his physical or isn’t in tip-top shape, he is cut immediately. That’s why it is so strange in this day and age to learn that Toronto Argo coach Corey Chamblin is concerned about his athletes’ conditioning.
This is another indication that there is no credible captain sailing the bad ship Argonaut.
Graham Kelly has covered the CFL for the Medicine Hat News for 47 years. Feedback for this column can be emailed to sports@medicinehatnews.com.
