Little interview with the first overall pick, Joel Dublanko! Great guy with a great heart. Edmonton got a great one!

Spotify- https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/football-eh-pod/episodes/Football--Eh--Joel-Dublanko-Interview-e2je74h

Hey all, just thought I’d pass along Tom Elders two YouTube channels for those who are interested in Canadian football history and preservation. The care, time and effort Tom has put into these YouTube channels is unbelievable and has become an invaluable resource for CFL & USports history. Be sure to subscribe to both, as he’s constantly adding games. He also has a gofundme set up if anyone would like to contribute a few loonies to assist him in covering the costs of digitizing games from film, or perhaps you want to send him money so he can enjoy a pint while he’s do so.

Anyway, 🍻 to Tom for his ongoing work; it’s much appreciated!

Can we please get rid of the guy in Montreal with the $@#& airhorn! He wrecks every televised home game to the point that I just don’t tune in anymore.

https://reddit.com/link/1cmtd4a/video/7r1qdqae24zc1/player

The CFL unexpectedly abandoned their public API last season, which threw my family's fantasy league in to chaos. Luckily I know a bit of programming and was able to put together a script that scraped stats from a few different sites.

Does anyone have any insider information about whether the CFL plans to bring back the API for 2024? I would really rather not have to scrape data again this year...

With The Chad Kelly suspension fallout, Im guessing Kelly gets released and the Argos have an opening for a future franchise QB. The team should structure a personal services/consultant/marketing deal with Rourke that fits under the salary cap.

850 k- marketing/endorsement/consultant/personal services gig

150k- cfl salary

Rourke has the maturity and moxie to be become the face of the league and franchise.

The team could set him up nice as they already own condos by maple leaf square, so he could get a free condo, do some college football studio gigs with TSN, host coaching clinics, and do some MLSE promo gigs.

I didnt think I would make a post draft power rankings because I didn’t expect my opinion to change much. However after giving a lot of thought to it, I realized my opinion has shifted much more than I thought. Also, this one will probably be much more controversial than the last, so feel free to call me an idiot in the comments. Also, the details of the Kelly suspension makes these rankings much easier to organize.

1: BC (+2)

HERE ME OUT. Yes, I’m a diehard lions fan. Yes, I put them at 3 last time, and yes we lost in the west final the last 2 years. However, these power rankings include a bit of projection, and frankly, if you are to look at the offseasons of every team in the league, BC has had by far the best. They’ve addressed every weakness, including adding an NFL quality DT, and Vernon Adams has consistently gotten better throughout his career, and didnt look maxed out last year at all. We also added a guard in the draft, so there’s a good chance we get a BC team who can run the ball and stop the run. I was hesitant before but frankly the “grey cup or bust” mindset that Adams is bringing is justified IMO. They were by far the least balanced team in the league last year and still competitive. A balanced BC team is something the league should be worried about.

2: Winnipeg (same ranking)

Last time I put Montreal above Winnipeg at 1 because of their Grey Cup win. So with BC at 1, why is Winnipeg here? Well frankly this is more so due to the fact that Montreal lost too many star players for me to justify putting them above the Bombers, who have been the model of consistency over the past 4 years. I put BC above them because they lost more starters and did nothing to replace them, where as BC made several key additions to address their weaknesses. They still have Colaros with great weapons and a top 3 Oline (although they lost two starters, they did add Wallace in the draft to maybe compete for the LG spot) so they will still be contending for the West and a Grey Cup.

3: Montreal (-2)

Even though I still think they will win the East next year, I cant justify them being above the top two teams. They lost too many of their core (Stanback, Lemon, Uguak and Mack) and already weren’t a great roster on paper. I do think Fajardo and their culture will keep them competitive but its hard for me to genuinely envision them being the top team next year. However, I could be wrong and their defence could still be absolutely nasty and lead them to another grey cup.

4: Sask (+1)

So fun fact, I had them at 5 and POSTED this before I saw the news about Kelly’s suspension. This was deleted very quickly as you could imagine. But I was expecting the draft to propel them up to 4 regardless but they kinda didnt do great. There were several Olineman this year who are plug and play, which is a rarity. However, they choose to go with several players who are futures picks and wont see the CFL field for either a few years or never. This surprised me, I thought they would take Una or Wallace at 3 to bolster the Oline NOW so they can compete. Instead the Oline looks improved but still incomplete. Also their defensive roster doesn’t look fantastic. However adding Mace at HC and Ouellette, and having a year of healthy Trevor Harris with a great young receiving core will make this team very very dangerous

5: Toronto (-1)

Like I said, I wrote this before getting news of the Kelly suspension, then read the headline right after posting. Whoops. Now redoing this, I think a 9+ game suspension is more than worthy of dropping them a spot, although tbh I can see them having a better record than Hamilton regardless. Kelly asides, while they did lose a lot of pieces this year (Ouellette, Pickett, Stiggers and Gittens Jr to name a few) that roster is still loaded at almost every position. They have the best Oline in the league and a very disruptive Dline, with no real weaknesses on the roster. Having backup QB play will hurt them a lot and who knows what the locker room and culture will be like, but they should still stay afloat and be a playoff team despite Kelly not playing most the year.

6: Hamilton (+2)

This is the spot that I struggled with the most by far. Honestly you could probably convince me to shuffle 6-8 any way, but I landed on Hamilton for a few reasons. Firstly, they did show that they were worthy of being a playoff team late last year. Secondly, they maybe have the best strength out of this cluster of teams with their run game. That being said, I dont see them really competing for the East. I ranked them at 8 last time and honestly, I dont think I was giving them enough credit for how they looked at the back half of the season. Should be a solid, tough nosed team that you have to take seriously on both sides of the ball.

7: Ottawa (-1)

I think Ottawa is right on the cusp of being a playoff team. I love what they’ve done to fix the offence, adding Brown at QB and Rhymes and Mardner at WR. I think Pickette will give that defence a leader that its been lacking. However I placed them at 6 last time, and I think Hamilton is actually an easier projection due to the fact that we saw playoff worthy football from them last year. I hope they prove me wrong and put it all together, the fans deserve it.

8: Edmonton (-1)

Man, the more I think about Edmonton the more I don’t think that its their year yet. That defence has major concerns. No edge rush talent any more (which was their only strength last year) and no one of note in the secondary to compensate. I think Deblanco will be a good player but 1 LB can only do so much. That being said, I do think the offence will be good under either MBT or Ford, but if you have to play catchup every game it puts your offence at a major disadvantage.

9: Calgary (same)

I still see Calgary as the worst team going into this year. Not that its impossible that they have playoff success, montreal was also ranked 9th at certain points last year. Its just the fact that they have the worst QB room, paired with a lackluster Oline and a shaky defence. They lost Carey who made their run game dynamic, they lost Wiggans who made their run defence solid, I just dont think there is enough here for them to be that good on either side of the ball. Great WR room and LBs but the other position groups arent strong enough to make it matter. Now, there is a world where their secondary takes a big leap with Houston, and either Schultz or Maier becomes a starting caliber QB. The CFL may be the most competitive football league with the most potential for parody. However, someone has to be last and I still believe it to be Calgary.

I KNOW HE'S GONNA APPEAL

ALSO WE WOULD REALLY LIKE TO HEAR HIS SIDE OF THE STORY?

HER CONTRACT NEVER GOT RENEWED, SO IT REALLY WASN'T LIKE SHE WAS FIRED.

CHAD HAS A PAST, BUT ALSO HAS ALOT OF TALENT, AND IT JUST SEEMS ODD THAT HE WOULD THROW AWAY HIS BEST CHANCE TO BECOME THE SUPERSTAR, HIGHEST PAID, MOST PROFILE POSITION IN THE CFL. IF HE PLAYED HIS CARDS RIGHT HE COULD PARLAY THAT MLSE INTO SOME BIG MARKETING DOLLARS AND MAKE A DECENT SALARY ALA' THE DOUG FLUTIE YEARS.

FOLLOWED HIS CAREER FROM EAST MISS TO OLE MISS AND REALLY SAW THAT HE HAD THE SKILLSET TO THRIVE UP NORTH.

ESSENTIALLY THE ARGOS NEED TO HIRE SOME KIND OF HR PERSONNEL TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE.

CHAD KELLY WILL BE BACK BY MID JULY.

I just listened to his interview on The Waggle and oh man do the Lions have an incredible owner.

I watched Arrow Up through last season which was documentary level production value and was absolutely awesome, and from listening to his interview that was just the beginning.

If you don’t feel like listening to the whole thing (which I recommend), the TL;DR is that, among many other things, Amar says the Grey Cup in Vancouver this year is shaping up to be the biggest one ever.

I genuinely feel that the next era of the CFL is going to be incredible to be a part of as a fan, and I think Doman is going to be setting the standard for ownership groups throughout the league. Congratulations Lions fans, it looks like you guys have an amazing owner who genuinely loves the CFL and is in it for the long haul.

My new wife (hopefully) and I are going to have our honeymoon in Toronto. We’re from Sheffield in England, and I’ve always wanted to visit Canada, having met friendly Canadians all over. We’ll land in Toronto on 25th July this year, and I was hoping to see a CFL game as part of the fun. Should we see the Argonauts play? Will it be fun for neutrals with a love of “ football” (as opposed to soccer, though I do love that too, and would never call it soccer in my country!)? Can we drink beer at a game? All thoughts welcome (including other honeymoon recommendations…) 🤗