THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. WHY WPG CHOSE COLLAROS: Zach went 4 for 4 in big games at the end of last season but also built a relationship with Blue Bomber assistant Buck Pierce, whose career paralleled Zach’s with many concussions near the end. With Paul LaPolice leaving for Ottawa, Buck is the new offensive coordinator in Winnipeg. He and Collaros have felt each other’s pain. Once Buck was inserted into this promotion, choosing Zach over Matt Nichols was a fait accompli.  

2. ODDS OF MATT MATT NICHOLS NOT JOINING ARGOS: Damn near zero. Could you seriously imagine the Boatmen entering another season with McLeod Bethel-Thompson starting and Matt Nichols at home or backing up somewhere else? The Argos couldn’t possibly be dumb enough to allow this to happen, could they?

3. CAMERON JUDGE: This is the most important Canadian free agent re-signing by a country mile. Critical, not because Canadians are all that good, but because most Canadian players aren’t very good at all. Judge is an exception to that rule. This gives them a competitive advantage.

4. SUPER BOWL VS GREY CUP RATINGS: An average of 9.5 million Canadian viewers saw the Super Bowl compared to just 3.6 million for the Grey Cup but it’s not a fair fight. Not even close. Bell Media shows the Super Bowl on network television, CTV, while they restrict the Grey Cup to cable channel, TSN. If Bell Media really cared all that much about the CFL, as they say they do, than they would show the Grey Cup on CTV and get much better ratings, comparable to the Super Bowl. And that’s a fact.  

5. WHY THE NFL SIGNED CHRIS STREVELER: Arizona Cardinals Head coach Kliff Kingsbury feels a kinship for anyone who’s ever been a backup quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a Grey Cup game. I cannot come up with any other explanation as to why the NFL has been so interested in this guy.

6. KAVIS REED: I’ve always had great respect for the man, especially after he took the blame for the 13^thman fiasco in Grey Cup 2009. I still blame Jason Armstead for not counting from the end zone but that’s beside the point. Kavis was one helluva a defensive back, a good assistant coach, a good head coach, and as we saw with his assembly in Montreal last year, not such a bad General Manager either. Most are viewing his hire as offensive coordinator with the Prairie Football Conference’s Edmonton Wildcats as a demotion. I view it as one of the few with his resume willing to take on such a role and still humble enough to not treat it as beneath him.

7. SUPER BOWL: Jimmy G sure disappointed. It will be fascinating to see how he bounces back next season. Kyle Shanahan has now blown not one but TWO late 4^th quarter double-digit leads in Super Bowls. For all the talk we heard about Andy Reid never winning the big one, I can’t help but wonder if Shanahan has taken over that mantle after Sunday.  

8. CO-OP REFINERY LABOUR DISPUTE: I’ve picked a side on this and it’s not with Unifor. But let me point something else out, too. While it’s hard for most of us to imagine getting the pension these workers have been getting, (my pension and anyone else my age who has ever worked at CIBC had a virtually non-existent pension) those of us not as fortunate also weren’t promised the gravy train these refinery workers were promised when they started the job. Having something like that taken away would feel like a swift kick in the junk for anyone. I don’t support Unifor’s tactics and I don’t particularly care much for some of the workers complaining the loudest, either. But I don’t have a pickle up my keister, like some, for workers being pissed off over having something taken from them. They’re mad as hell and they ought to be.

9. DID YOU KNOW: The post-Kawhi Toronto Raptors have the 2^nd best record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference? Everybody says it’s no big deal because they would get stomped in the finals anyway. Didn’t they say that last year, too?

10. FILM OF THE WEEK: ‘Deion’s Double Play’ is the 30 for 30 that takes us all back to the end of the pre-internet athlete. Being 10 years old when it happened just days before Deion’s Atlanta Braves lost the 1992 World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays, I recall what a magical story it was for Prime Time to play both and NFL game and major league baseball playoff game in the same day. A better 30 for 30, you will not find.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)