CFL Beat: Your 2024 Season Overview

The Maestro - May 16, 2024May 9, 2024

Hello all - after almost six months away, the CFL Beat makes its glorious return this week! I'm looking forward to another year of covering the ridiculous sport of Canadian football for all of you; I have sincerely missed my writing responsibilities this past little while. With the concert calendar

CFL Beat: Your 2023 Season Wrap-Up

The Maestro - November 23, 2023November 22, 2023

Another season, another end-of-year wrapup. As cliché as it is to write this, the CFL genuinely did leave their best for last, with a barn-burner of a Grey Cup game that provided all of us with a thrilling ending! Before the recap, we'll lead off with the final round of

The End: Your 2023 New England Patriots Bye Week Update

The Maestro - November 20, 2023November 20, 2023

[INT. A dark, depressing living room. The curtains are drawn. TAWMMY FROM QUINZEE lies facedown, forlornly, on a couch. The overwhelming stench of Sam Adams, cigarette smoke, and despair lingers all around him. He moans, then, with his face muffled by a pillow, begins to sing.] This is thah end, beautiful

CFL Beat: Playoffs – Grey Cup

The Maestro - November 16, 2023November 14, 2023

It's the final weekend of CFL action. I'll miss Canadian football when it's done, of course - but I have so much to do between now and May 2024 that I feel like I'm barely going to have time to catch my breath. Timing this week's column with my report

CFL Beat: Playoffs – Division Finals

The Maestro - November 9, 2023November 8, 2023

We're down to the final three games of the 2023 CFL season - I certainly hope we have some entertainment left here. I can't think of a better way to celebrate turning 31 this weekend - hope you join me in double-screening your football Sunday! In league news this week: It's

CFL Beat: Playoffs – Division Semifinals

The Maestro - November 2, 2023November 1, 2023

We made it! The playoffs are here! It's one of my favourite times of year for football; one of the only things that I don't like about the tweaks to the new CFL playoff scheduling is that I can't keep dual-screening NFL RedZone and the Canadian playoff games like in

CFL Beat: Week 21

The Maestro - October 26, 2023October 23, 2023

The playoff picture is now finally set! We have one "meaningless" week of football - but I do hope all the same that it's mildly entertaining. Not too much on the news this week, but expect to see a few more notes once the regular season officially concludes and we

CFL Beat: Week 20

The Maestro - October 19, 2023October 18, 2023

We have mostly just the West playoff picture left to settle now that we're down to our final two weeks of the regular season. Thanks to Hamilton's last-minute loss last Friday to BC, Montreal is guaranteed to host the East semifinal, leaving just questions about our West division winner and

CFL Beat: Week 19

The Maestro - October 12, 2023October 11, 2023

With Canadian Thanksgiving now done and dusted, any vestigial remnants of summer are now completely gone, and with it, the grim reminder of no holidays until late December. It's time like these where we need football more than ever to carry us through the beginning of these long, dark nights.

CFL Beat: Week 18

The Maestro - October 5, 2023October 4, 2023

With four weeks left in the regular season, there's still a final playoff spot up for grabs. Will it be the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Probably. Will it be the Stampeders or Elks? Almost definitely not. Will it be the Ottawa REDBLACKS making history and earning the CFL's first-ever East to West