This Week in the CFL
Lumsden among big names to test market
Since arriving to the CFL in 2006 running back Jesse Lumsden hasn’t really had the chance to do much, but can you blame him?
Plagued by injuries since his debut with the Tiger-Cats, the McMaster legend has yet to establish himself among the elite group of CFL tailbacks. He’s been close, but just can’t quite make it.
Perhaps a change of scenery will change his fortunes.
Hamilton general manager Bob O’Billovich is prepared for his popular back to test the waters.
”I think Jesse wants to wait and see how people evaluate his value,” O’Billovich said. ”We’d definitely like to have him back but we’ll have to wait and see how it all works out,” reads TSN.ca.
”The fact is Jesse’s been injured the last couple of years and that’s something you’re going to have to deal with,” he said. ”There’s no question.”
Should Lumsden find himself in another uniform come next June, the Tiger-Cats need not worry as their backfield is certainly not in crisis mode.
Kenton Keith, Terry Cauley and Tre Smith provide a reasonable amount of offensive output last season.
”If Jesse comes back, what needs to be established is his role on our team,” O’Billovich said. ”We do have a number of assets back there.”
Other running backs who could potentially test the free agent market include: Alouette Mike Imoh, Toronto back/kick returner Dominique Dorsey and Winnipeg’s Fred Reid.
This week in the NFL
All eyes on Tampa – Super Bowl XXX
Any way you spin it, football is ultimately a simple numbers game. It’s a game of ones and twos, X’s and O’s, and the two teams vying for the Vince Lombardi trophy this Sunday at Tampa Bay, pay homage to the above theory in a different fashion.
Two teams, two completely different historical backgrounds, two stories.
The Pittsburgh Steelers march into Raymond James Stadium as the seasoned vet of the two teams. With five championships out of their six big-game appearances, no one does it better on Super Sunday than the big bad Steelers.
A major threat on both sides of the field, Pittsburgh boasts an elite group of talent that represents the true ideals behind the game. Coach Mike Tomlin enforces a smash-mouth, hard hitting, simple, yet very effective and ball game that holds the power to change the pace of the game at any given moment.
It’s mind boggling how some refuse to acknowledge the greatness behind Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Undoubtedly one of the great winners in recent football history, he just knows how to win games.
With the Steelers’ conference championship win over the Baltimore Ravens two weeks ago, Roethlisberger passed Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman for second-most playoff wins in a pivot’s first five years as a pro and trails only Tom Brady for the record. With a win this Sunday, Brady will have impressive company in Big Ben.
More importantly however, with a victory in Tampa, Roethlisberger will forever be known as the quarterback who led the Steelers to a league-record sixth Super Bowl championship.
Not even Brady can show off that accomplishment.
On the other side of the field, the Arizona Cardinals somehow find themselves in the big game, but they know exactly how they got there.
Not since 1947 when the Cardinals featured the “Million-Dollar backfield” has the franchise been able to have a shot to be league’s best.
Who would have thought that the ageless Kurt Warner could do what he has done or that Larry Fitzgerald was this good?
Arizona hasn’t had this much attention placed on them since Cameron Crow released Jerry McGuire in 1996, and they look to add another trophy that isn’t an Oscar.
Though this may not be the dream matchup the NFL could have had with the Battle of Pennsylvania – a dream that the Cardinals ruined with a dream of their own, but this one should be as entertaining as it gets.
