Hi folks! Just a quick update on some CFL pick ’em options… the CFL’s official league runs a pick’ em contest with numerous prizes including two tickets to this year’s Grey Cup; however, it’s unfortunately only open to Canadian residents. Not to be deterred, I’ve started up a pick ’em pool of my own that’s open worldwide to anyone interested… this is a straight pick ’em option, without spreads being factored in. Picks for each game are due before the kickoff of each game. To join, click the link below!

http://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=138425 

And with that, onto this year’s East Division team previews!

HAMILTON TIGER-CATS

Founded: 1950 (the Hamilton Tigers, est. 1869, and Hamilton Wildcats, est. 1941, merged to create the current franchise)

Home Stadium: Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton (24,000)

Grey Cups: 8 (1953, 1957, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1972, 1986, 1999)

2016 Record: 7-11, second in East Division; lost East Semifinal

GM: Eric Tillman

Head Coach: Kent Austin

Starting QB: Zach Collaros

Famous Alumni:

• Angelo Mosca, DT (won 5 Grey Cups, was a pro wrestler in the WWF known as both King Kong Mosca and The Mighty Hercules; famously got in a fight with BC Lions QB Joe Kapp over a hit in the 1963 Grey Cup, where he hit him several times with his cane… check out the video here!)
• Matt Dunigan, QB (2-time Grey Cup champion and current studio analyst for Canadian sports network TSN)
• Bernie Faloney, QB (3-time Grey Cup champion who chose the CFL over the San Francisco 49ers in 1954 because the Canadian dollar was worth more… kind of a shocker!)

Fun Facts: Tim Hortons, the quintessential Canadian coffee joint, is headquartered in Hamilton, and thus the stadium takes the naming rights from them; for whatever reason, there seems to be a major wind tunnel effect, and the new stadium, which replaced the ancient Ivor Wynne Stadium, is hellish for kickers. The TiCats were also owned by insane Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard in the 1980s, who claimed at one point he was losing “a million dollars a year” on the team despite their on-field success. The TiCats are the only CFL team to ever beat an NFL team, when they topped the Buffalo Bills on August 8, 1961. Every year, the TiCats and archrival Argos play the Labour Day Classic at Hamilton’s home stadium, with a 31-15 advantage all-time in the series.

The Training Camp Scuttlebutt: The injury bug hit the TiCats hard last season. Starting quarterback Zach Collaros missed 8 games last season due to a combination of rehabbing from a torn ACL in 2015 as well as a concussion sustained in Week 13 against the Stampeders. With Jeremiah Masoli playing in his absence, the Hamilton offence lacked the “wow” factor that it had in the 2014 season when they faced off in the Grey Cup against Calgary. With Collaros now returning to the fold fully healthy, Hamilton is hoping on a big year that can see them finally make a deep playoff run once again. Where one player gets healthy, others get injured, though – top receiver Andy Fantuz tore his ACL in the final game of the 2016 regular season and most likely won’t play at all this year, and the running back depth chart isn’t clear right now either. The TiCats also have a new defensive coordinator in Jeff Reinebold, and it’s likely that they’ll make a switch to more schemes involving man coverage and pressure from the secondary – which ties in well with their signing of DB Abdul Kanneh from Ottawa, who excelled in that role last year. The loss of former kicker Brett Maher to the Cleveland Browns also shakes things up for special teams too. There’s a lot of questions right now, but so long as Zach Collaros stays healthy, he makes the entire team around him infinitely better.

Key Additions: DB Abdul Kanneh (FA), QB Everett Golson (FA), DB Ethan Davis (trade)

Key Subtractions: OT Jake Olson (retired), K Brett Maher (released to NFL), WR Spencer Watt (released), WR Andy Fantuz (retired), OG Peter Dyakowski (FA), OL Brian Simmons (trade)

2017 Record Prediction: 10-8

MONTREAL ALOUETTES

Founded: 1996 (Original franchise 1946-1987)

Home Stadium: Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, McGill University, Montreal (25,012)

Grey Cups: 4 (1995 as the Baltimore Stallions, 2002, 2009, 2010) (Original franchise won 4 – 1949, 1970, 1974, 1977)

2016 Record: 7-11, third in East Division; missed playoffs

GM: Kavis Reed

Head Coach: Jacques Chapdelaine

Starting QB: Darian Durant (most likely)

Famous Alumni: 

• Anthony Calvillo, QB (football’s all-time passing yards leader, beating even Favre and Peyton, with 79,816)
• Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, WR
• Mike Pringle, RB (all-time CFL rushing yards leader – 16,425 on 2960 carries, averaging 5.6 YPC)

Fun Facts: Percival Molson Stadium is the only one in the CFL that doesn’t contain perfectly square endzones due to a running track surrounding the field. Nobody seems to care, funny enough. Legendary QB Anthony Calvillo is also currently serving as the team’s offensive coordinator. The Als’ 2009 Grey Cup win against the Saskatchewan Roughriders ( which saw them win on a last-second field goal, their second attempt after Saskatchewan had successfully blocked the first one, but were penalized for too many men) is considered one of the greatest CFL championship games in the history of the league. The current franchise relocated from Baltimore in 1996, after the Stallions captured the 1995 Grey Cup, the only American team to ever do so.

The Training Camp Scuttlebutt: The Alouettes fired longtime GM Jim Popp, who’d been with the team since 1996, after Montreal failed to make the playoffs for the third consecutive season. In a summer of big changes, they chose to take the “interim” tag off head coach Jacques Chapdelaine, the team’s first-ever French-Canadian head coach, and brought in former Edmonton Eskimos head coach and All-Star DB Kavis Reed to serve as Popp’s replacement as GM. Reed made an immediate splash, trading for the negotiation rights of former Roughriders QB Darian Durant and signing him to a three-year contract extension worth a total of $1.25 million. There’s been some more housecleaning since last season, with the Als also parting ways with top receivers Duron Carter and Kenny Stafford last October, as well as top tackler Bear Woods, who was cut on the first day of training camp. Losing Woods is a perplexing move, as Montreal had plenty of cap space to accomodate his estimated $140,000 salary, but Montreal should be returning most of what was a very strong defense last year. With a more steady hand at QB this year under Durant, plus the return of WR Nik Lewis and the addition of WR Ernest Jackson, who helped Ottawa win the Grey Cup last season, should provide a notable boost to what was a rather anemic offense last year. Should Durant, who has a notable injury history, falter at all for any reason, Vernon Adams Jr., the former Oregon pivot, will be ready to step in and play, looking extremely strong in both his late-season starts back in 2016.

Key Additions: QB Darian Durant (trade), Jacory Harris (FA), WR Ernest Jackson (FA), DT Jabar Westerman (FA)

Key Subtractions: QB Kevin Glenn (trade), WR Duron Carter, Kenny Stafford (released), SJ Green (trade), LB Winston Venable (FA), DT Bear Woods (released)

2017 Record Prediction: 9-9

OTTAWA REDBLACKS

Founded: 2013 (Original Rough Riders franchise lasted 1876-1996; Renegades 2002-2005)

Home Stadium: TD Place Stadium, Ottawa (24,000)

Grey Cups: 1 (2016) (9 as the Rough Riders – 1925, 1926, 1940, 1951, 1960, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1976)

2016 Record: 8-9-1, first in East Division; won Grey Cup

GM: Marcel Desjardins

Head Coach: Rick Campbell

Starting QB: Trevor Harris

Famous Alumni: 

• Russ Jackson, QB ( 3-time Most Outstanding Player, 4-time Most Outstanding Canadian, 6-time All-Star, one of the greatest Canadian QBs in the history of the game)
• Tony Gabriel, TE (scored the game-winning touchdown in the 1976 Grey Cup)
• Rohan Marley, LB (the bastard son of Bob Marley, was also married to singer Lauryn Hill)
• Dexter Manley, LB (he of the lifetime NFL ban for cocaine problems)

Fun Facts: if you say the name “Glieberman” in Ottawa, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get stabbed by someone. The financial mismanagement of this father & son team killed not only the historic Rough Riders in ’96, but the 2000s expansion Renegades as well. They are fucking idiots. (I am still hurt by the loss of the Rough Riders.) Fans in the stands also constantly talk shit about each other – “North Side Sucks!” and “South Side Sucks!” have been staples for decades at home games. Also, the team insists on spelling REDBLACKS in all capitals, and I honestly have no fucking idea why.

The Training Camp Scuttlebutt: In only three seasons, Ottawa went from expansion team punching bag to Grey Cup champions, due to a number of factors – some exceptional quarterbacking by the legendary Henry Burris (yes, Bears fans, stop laughing, dammit) and later, his eventual replacement, Trevor Harris, not to mention some excellent receivers, a secondary known for producing big plays at key times, and most of all, some fantastic drafting and scouting by the front office. With Burris retiring on top after winning Grey Cup MVP, and after losing a lot of their secondary to NFL free-agent deals, the REDBLACKS will have a lot of work to do if they want to return the championship game for the third consecutive year. However, with this year’s final being hosted in Ottawa, GM Marcel Desjardins got the green light to go out and make a splash in free agency, bringing in a ton of former Argonauts in receivers Shaw, Spencer and Gurley as well as CB AJ Jefferson; with the Argos entering a rebuild, these were some of the most sought-after pieces of what is sure to be a very dysfunctional team for the coming season. With a quarterback succession plan in place here in Ottawa, along with another strong corps of receivers and a three-headed monster in running backs William Powell (the team’s 2015 starter who was hurt all of last year), Mossis Madu (Powell’s 2016 replacement) and Shakir Bell (former starter in Edmonton), expect the offense to hum along as it has for the past two years. The real question will be whether the defense and special teams will be able to deal with the high number of personnel changes they experienced in the offseason, although the hope is that almost all of the schemes will remain the same. Expect a lot of this team. I fully expect them to win the East for the third year in a row.

Key Additions: WR Kenny Shaw, Diontae Spencer, Tori Gurley (FA), CB AJ Jefferson (FA), RB Shakir Bell (FA), QB Ryan Lindley (FA), Drew Tate (trade)

Key Subtractions: DB Abdul Kanneh (FA), K Chris Milo (FA), LB Damaso Munoz (FA), RB Kienan Lafrace (FA), WR Chris Williams, Ernest Jackson, Khalil Paden (FA), QB Henry Burris (retired), DB Forrest Hightower, Mitchell White, Jeff Richards (released to NFL), DT Moton Hopkins (retired)

2017 Record Prediction: 11-7

TORONTO ARGONAUTS

Founded: 1873

Home Stadium: BMO Field, Toronto (26,500 for football crowds)

Grey Cups: 16 (1914, 1921, 1933, 1937, 1938, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1952, 1983, 1991, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2012)

2016 Record: 5-13, fourth in East Division; missed playoffs

GM: Jim Popp

Head Coach: MARC TRESTMAN, Y’ALL! FREE CANDY FOR ALL THE CHILDREN WOOOOOOO

Starting QB: God only knows.

Famous Alumni:

• Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, RB (largest contract in CFL history and MOP of the 1991 Grey Cup, one of the most exciting ever)
• Ricky Williams, RB (scampered north when the NFL suspended him in 2006 for weed. Gave no fucks about it.)
• Michael “Pinball” Clemons, RB (won 4 Grey Cups with the Argos and holds the CFL record for most all-purpose yards with 25,396)
• Damon Allen, QB (retired at age 44 in 2008, holds the record for combined passing and rushing yards in all of pro football, with 84,301)
• Doug Flutie, QB (6-time CFL MOP and QB for the NFL Bears, Patriots, Bills and Chargers)

Fun Facts: John Candy, Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall owned the Argos in the early ’90s; they also offered a CFL-record contract to Rocket Ismail ($18.2 million over four years – an absolutely unheard-of amount which has not come close to being equalled – QBs, which make the most money on average of all players in the league today, typically have contracts between $200-500,000 at the very most.

The Training Camp Scuttlebutt: This team is gonna be baaaaaad. Like, really bad. But that’s partly by design. After starting QB Ricky Ray got hurt yet again midway through last season, former GM Jim Barker tried to find Ray’s eventual replacement, bringing in underperforming Bombers signal-caller Drew Willy in exchange for DB TJ Heath, who tied for the league lead in interceptions last year, as well as Toronto’s 2017 1st-round pick and a 2018 3rd-rounder. Willy proceeded to stink up the joint, having been thrown into the fire without nearly enough time to master an entire new playbook, and the Argos suffered badly for it. After missing the playoffs last year, the team blew up. Before eventually getting fired, Jim Barker cut essentially everyone who was of any value whatsoever to the team – virtually all the receivers left, not to mention much of the secondary, though Ricky Ray, curiously, still remains on the roster. With Barker fired, head coach Scott Milanovich also chose to take an NFL opportunity and became the quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Argos went into free agency with no GM, no coach, and it showed… now, the front office is staffed with former Alouettes in Jim Popp, who was also fired in the offseason, as well as everyone’s favourite windowless van driver returning to the CFL in a head coaching role. Still, even with some new blood in, this is going to be a long, long year for Argos fans. This is not a good thing, by the way – the CFL needs to be much stronger than it currently is in Toronto in order for the league to be strong overall – and with so much competition in the sports marketplace between the Maple Leafs, Blue Jays, Raptors, TFC, and other pro teams, it’s going to be a difficult thing for fans to be patient and sit through a rebuild without impacting the team’s bottom line.

Key Additions: WR SJ Green, Armanti Edwards (trade), Khalil Paden (FA), QB Jeff Mathews (FA), LB Winston Venable (FA)

Key Subtractions: WR Kenny Shaw, Diontae Spencer (FA), Tori Gurley, Vidal Hazelton, Kevin Elliott (released), CB AJ Jefferson (FA), RB Kendall Hunter (retired), OG Peter Dyakowski (trade)

2017 Record Prediction: 4-14

That’s it for this week – check back next week when we preview the five West division teams!