CFL Week 6 wrap-up, with Excitement Rankings!

Websites and other news organizations often compile statistics to determine how good a team is and call them 'Power Rankings'. These rankings are completely meaningless since the only true indicator of how good a team is is by its win-loss record, which is the same way that the league determines it.

These rankings are not totally useless, however, since they've given the 'Eh' Factor an idea into compiling statistics to determine how exciting the team is in played games. While close defensive battles may be a signature of the game of football, we all know that long bombs and high scores put butts in the seats and close games keep you tuned in on the couch.

Call these what you will. 'Excitement Rankings' suffice for us.

1: Toronto Argonauts

Cleo Lemon responds to his coach's challenge, per sé, and throws for 292 yards, gets the win on the road, and Toronto take the top spot in the Excitement Rankings. This isn't based on a whole tonne of factors, but I'd be lying if I said that the games the Argos play in don't keep me interested through the full sixty minutes. They've gained and lost the lead a total of 13 times (a league high) and each game they've played have had the winning points scored in the fourth quarter. Taking the lead on your last offensive play from scrimmage doesn't hurt either.

2: Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Marcus Thigpen hasn't returned for a touchdown since Week 2, but the Ti-Cats still lead the league in return TDs, though I'm not entirely sure what accounts for their 5-spot jump in the Excitement Rankings. Perhaps it has something to do that Kevin Glenn has thrown for just under 800 yards in the past couple of weeks, a distance longer than some Western European countries. The Ti-Cats played to a close finish this week at home to Winnipeg, and it took a clutch tackle by Garrett McIntyre a disastrous step by Steven Jyles to climb to 2-4.

3: Montreal Alouettes

The Alouettes did not learn from their Week 1 mistakes, and blew another big lead to Saskatchewan in hopes of preserving a close victory. They drop out of a Top 2 spot for the first time this year, based on a so-so passing game, they didn't score a touchdown in the second half, and, along with Saskatchewan, have seen the fewest lead changes in the league, just one per game.

4: Edmonton Eskimos

It's about this time in the year, where two of the spots in the top half are taken up by the Toronto Argonauts and the Edmonton Eskimos, and I realize I need to reconsider my ranking formula. In fairness, they fought admirably against a way better team. Arkee Whitlock looked dangerous for the first time all year, Ricky Ray looked competent and an adorable attempt to win the game on laterals.

5: Calgary Stampeders

No team plays in closer games, on average, than Calgary, (7.67 point difference each game), and they see a lot of lead changes. However, Henry Burris is a shadow of his former dominant, and less interesting where turnovers are concerned, self, and they don't see a lot of points on the field. At 5-1, the best battles they fight are on the Internet.

6: Saskatchewan Roughriders

Darian Durant may be the first person on the planet to be interecepted on a shovel pass against the Alouettes. That's gotta count for something.

7: BC Lions

It wasn't enough for Nik Lewis to criticize the Lions' defensive backs for hitting low, but now he has to go after the weather in Vancouver? On the two worst venues in the CFL, Empire Fields in the rain is on par with BC Place in mid-summer heat, and slightly above Ivor Wynne.

Early reports suggest that Jarious Jackson is going to become the third Lions starting QB this year. The one problem is that the Lions are going to run out of quarterbacks to call on by Week 10.

8: Winnipeg Blue Bombers

First, Adarius Bowman sees one pop out of his mitts on third down, and then the team fails to convert with no time on the clock to tie the game. Luckily, the CFL schedulers give them a break and will let them play the Ti-Cats in Week 7, which comes at a beneficial time, when you need to get your team as many different looks as possible.

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This is the only week on the schedule this year that will see every game played on a different day, allowing the average Joe to watch each one. Don't get complacent, because they're also using four different time slots, although the games are being played in just three time zones. Be careful when setting your PVRs, being sure to record over the Lions offense.

The weekend in Blue Jays

Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the trade

Toronto somehow managed to sweep the American League Wild Card leading Tampa Bay Rays this week, pulling themselves to within a not insurmountable, yet distant, eight games out of a playoff berth.

That doesn't really matter anymore. The Jays have won consecutive games on the backs of two dominant individual performances.

It started Saturday with the call-up J.P. Arencibia. It's a tough name to spell, but he had one of those debuts that would have found its way into a movie script if Apollo Creed pitched for the Rays. Arencibia went 4-for-5, with two home runs, including one on his first big-league pitch.

Arencibia didn't just explode onto the scene. As Dustin Parkes of DrunkJaysFans mentioned via Twitter on Wednesday after John Buck's injury, "Trying to imagine what Twitter would look like if the Yankees had just called up a catcher hitting .303/.360/.639/.998 with 31 bombs in AAA."

Call To The Pen has a great breakdown of where Arencibia came from, what his numbers look like and where he can go from here.

Anybody who made the trip down to Toronto to catch a couple of ball games certainly got their money's worth, because Arencibia's debut probably wasn't even the best performances of the weekend.

Brandon Morrow (also known as the guy traded for Brandon League as part of the elaborate Roy Halladay trade) came within one batter of a no-hitter on Sunday, with Joe Carter in attendance.

The Jays knocked off the Rays 1-0. It was admirable (for lack of better adjective in this instance) of manager Cito Gaston to keep Morrow in with two runners on in the ninth up by just one, to allow Morrow to finish off his first complete game, and his first complete game shutout.

More amazing than the no-hit bid were the 17 strikeouts, which is the most by a Blue Jay in history not named Roger Clemens. Many people have, thus, been talking about Morrow's trade from Seattle, in an, 'oh, you shouldn't have done that,' sort of fashion. Most notably of these, Bill Simmons.

So can we evaluate where the Blue Jays stand with 'The Doc Deal' looming less than a year behind us? No, but just for a weekend, it became cool to talk about the Blue Jays and not get all teary-eyed about Doc at the same time.

White beats Red at junior camp intrasquad game

That's a shame. I'm a Red fan.

Highlights can be found At the TSN site, of course. Right at the start of the package, we see Jeff Skinner twirl around before taking a faceoff. Between that and falling over at a breakaway in practice, a lucky guess might be that he doesn't even tie his own skates.

Scores a tonne, "slightly above average skater" and undersized? Jordan Eberle 2.0?

Aah... *swoons*... Jordan Eberle...

This was the last chance for the juniors to perform before the team is created, except for the entire first half of the hockey season and December team-selection camp.

Meanwhile, the NHL is looking at some possible rule changes

A presser from the NHL came out today offering some suggestions for rule changes, and announcing a training camp towards the end of August where the league will work it out.

Two veteran NHL coaches -- Ken Hitchcock and Dave King -- will take part in the camp and will be challenging the prospects with strategies which emphasize offensive play and creating scoring chances.

Right off the bat, I can tell you that something about Hitchcock's involvement makes me think they're doing it wrong.

Here is a list of potential rule changes:

Wednesday August 18 (all times ET; subject to change)

10:00 a.m. – Noon
* Hybrid icing rule;
* No line change for team committing an offside;
* Crease reset rule;
* Face-off variation (face-off controlled by whistle in place of traditional puck drop);
* Overtime: three minutes of 4-on-4; three minutes of 3-on-3; three minutes of 2-on- 2 followed by shootout (5 players per team).

2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
* Bigger crease;
* Verification goal line (additional line situated behind the goal line);
* Wider blue lines;
* Line changes zone in front of each bench;
* Face-off variations (infringement results in the offending player moving back further, three face-off dots down the middle of the ice);
* No icing the puck while shorthanded;
* OT – three minutes of 4-on-4; three minutes of 3-on-3; three minutes of 2-on-2 with long line changes; followed by three shooters per team shootout (if tied after three shots then players who have shot previously can shoot again).

Thursday August 19 (all times ET; subject to change)

9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
* No touch icing;
* Team that commits an offside infraction cannot make a line change and face-off is in offending team zone;
* Face-off variation: after a face-off violation, opposition center may choose his face-off opponent;
* Second referee located off the playing surface;
* Delayed penalty rule
* No icing the puck while shorthanded;
* OT – 4-on-4 (with long line change) followed by a shootout with five players.

1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
* Variations of special teams play;
* OT – 4-on-4 (with long line change).

Other than the modified overtime rules and no touch icing, this camp reeks of a total overhaul of games that are exciting enough already. Weren't the playoffs a blast? Haven't we decided that, with Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton as starting goalies in the Cup Finals, that the goaltending era in hockey is over?

Sure, the state of the game in 2004 allowed the NHL to take a look at itself and make some overdue rule changes, but the most effective change was enforcing the rules they already had, as in actually calling hooks and holds, (during the regular season anyways).

Back in 2004 there was a tie for the league goal-scoring lead at 41 between Ilya Kovalchuk, Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash. Three players cracked 50 this year, and to possibly show how meaningless rule changes are, keep in mind that neither Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos or Alexander Ovechkin were playing back in '04.

Some things can be tinkered with: the overtime format, the puck-over-glass rule, the two-referee system and touch icing. Hell, when you're worried about head shots and concussions, you may as well also institute shoulder and elbow pad regulations.

But bigger creases? Face-off dots down the middle? How about a coloured zone in front of the net where defensive players aren't allowed to stand? Let's not get into the total insanity of a 'verification goal-line' since physics dictates that a puck can be both fully across the line, but not a full puck's length across the line.

Perhaps the only good that can come of this is Down Goes Brown's inevitable 'other rule changes the NHL attempted.'

Until then, a camp looking at increasing scoring hosted by Ken Hitchcock and Ken King at the Toronto Maple Leafs' practice facility, where goals and dreams go to die.

CFL odds, thoughts and ends headed into Week 6.

All right--I spent a week moving in. What did I miss? Probably nothing. Wait... Danny Macocia fired? Twitter crap? NFL cuts? What's happening?

Saskatchewan @ Montreal - Today at 7:05

The great thing about this game is that it's completely overlooked as a rematch of a Grey Cup game, and instead as a rematch of an earlier regular season game. I will say it's hard to get used to the idea that Saskatchewan are one of the league's elite teams, instead being a well-supported footnote in each CFL season.

What else does this game have? It's being played in front of more drunk Frenchmen than usual, apparently.

The over/under is 60, and the Alouettes are favoured by six. With both teams averaging more than 300 yards passing and at least 58 points in each game, it's unfathomable to think it'll be lower than that. I'd also say Montreal wins by more than a touchdown--keep in mind they were up by 21 points in Week 1 against the Riders.

Toronto @ Edmonton - Today at 10:05

Toronto coach Jim Barker did his best to not create a quarterback issue this week by creating a quarterback issue Wednesday after practice. Barker said a whole bunch of "no, Lemon has won like, 3 of 5 games, so he's good, right?"

Toronto has, been winning games not because Cleo Lemon is 3-2, but because they're good in close games and have a good running back. They have a defense that gives up field goals instead of touchdowns. Hell, just one CFL team has not had a 300+ yard passing game.

Ricky Ray has not fared any better, and his play was bad enough to cost General Manager Danny Maciocia his job.

The Argos actually give up an average of 31 points on the road, but Edmonton has not cracked the 30-point mark so far this year. In a war of mediocre versus terrible, I'll side with mediocre. Take Toronto plus eight points, and under 52.5.

Winnipeg @ Hamilton - Saturday at 7:05

This is the third time these two teams have played each other in six weeks, with another meeting next week. The home team has won by 20-plus points the first two times these teams played. It's apparent that these two teams will likely compete to play against Toronto instead of Calgary or Saskatchewan come playoff time, so it's good to get all the important games out of the way early.

Winnipeg coach Paul Lapolice hasn't said anything about Buck Pierce's possible return, which means it probably won't happen. Meanwhile, Kevin Glenn threw for 425 yards last week. Quarterback advantage?

Hamilton is favoured by four. Take it. Take the over set at 54. But this game could be over quickly. Just once this year have the Blue Bombers seen a lead change in the fourth quarter. That was all the way back in Week 2. Blowout written all over this one. At least the Saturday nightcap game will be close, right?

Calgary @ BC - Saturday at 10:05

NOPE!

Somewhere, deep inside this British Columbian's heart, we can hope that Henry Burris has one of his four interception nights. Or Jamal Robertson runs for 163 yards again. Or the offensive coordinator decides to draw up a play that will send the ball more than 10 yards on 2nd and long.

But most of me knows that probably won't happen. BC are terrible. Calgary has just one loss this year, and it was in the last second. They also have the league's best defense, against its worst offense. In an eight team league, sure, there's about a 25 per cent chance of that happening in any given week.

Calgary's favoured by 4 on the road. I take that. The over/under is 48. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the Lions crack the two touchdown barrier, meaning that Calgary is going to have so score four times to get the over. That sounds reasonable enough.

Shout-out to Boxer Lager for advertising the lowest legal price in Ontario. I bet it doesn't totally taste like moose piss. I think it'd be worth a case for posterity purposes. Just a thought.

A roundup of today's hockey news

-The official press conference for the Heritage Classic, Canada's answer to the Winter Classic, came today at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The Flames will play Montreal in an outdoor battle on February 20th. Check out the sweaters both teams will wear. The Flames sweaters, in particular, are absolutely spectacular, based on the old Western Canadian league Calgary Tigers threads.

Also, to quote Gary Bettman on this event: "The roots of our game emanate from frozen ponds and backyard rinks in Canada. When you have a heritage as proud and as strong as we do, you want to celebrate it."

-Meanwhile, the Team Canadian World Junior development camp kicked off in St. Johns. TSN's angle was that Taylor Hall didn't show up, and he had to be mentioned in all but two of the first eleven paragraphs, even though he was the offensive centrepiece on the first team to not win gold at the Jrs since 2005.

Kitchener Ranger Jeff Skinner, first round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, scored the pretty practice goal that will have everybody talking for a couple of days: [Watch]]

-Move-in almost complete. CFL preview tomorrow, complete with Jim Barker delusion.

CFL Excitement rankings update:

-Today I will simply post the new rankings that my computer is spitting out at me. I am doing this for two reasons:

#1 - I did not watch a single second of football this week. Not at home, where I spent the weekend moving. Not at work, where the gay guy who worked the electronics department at the department store I'm a part-timer at bitterly refuses to show sports on the TV unless it's a corporate-mandated event.

"But Cam, surely you saw some highlights," NOPE! This brings us to reason...

#2 - Without an Internet connection I was lost, and by the time I got a connection last night any video TSN would have on their website would be way out of context, without understanding the flow of the game that was played. In elementary school, we always ran through the hypothetical "what three things do you bring to a deserted island?" question. A similar scenario dished out is likely "what three things do you bring to a house with no Internet [or cable]." Well I'll tell you what: my Nintendo 64, GoldenEye 007 for said N64, and a copy of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".

On the plus side, I'm connected now, and the cable company assured me that the cable guy will be here within the next hour and a bit. I eagerly anticipate when I'll be able to watch Two and a Half Men while eating breakfast.

So... rankings: There was quite a bit of change this week, but not in the top two spots:

#1 - Montreal Alouettes The Als hold top spot despite blowing out two straight opponents. They do have the league's top offense and its top passing offense.

#2 - Toronto Argonauts Yep, still here, despite being punched to the throat 41-10 on Thursday.

#3 - Calgary Stampeders They played in another close game and moved up one spot. Henry Burris managed to not throw an interception.

#4 - Saskatchewan Roughriders Riderville is in a state of shock after discovering they have dropped one spot. Their tendency to play in games already decided after the fourth quarter has caught up to the fact that they play in ridiculously high-scoring games.

#5 - Edmonton Eskimos - BC Lions The two teams are sharing a spot here, both having moved up two spots thanks to an (I can only assume) thrilling game between two anaemic offenses and questionable decisions. This one involved a late fumbled that allegedly went unchallenged. CONTROVERSY!

#7 - Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Ti-Cats average nearly a 16-point difference in each game and wear yellow. Mathematically, that isn't very exciting, but they are one point more interesting to watch than...

#8 - Winnipeg Blue Bombers After a successful couple of starts, the Bombers have dropped down to the last spot in the wake of the Buck Pierce injury. They became a run-focused team that wins 33% of its games as opposed to a pass focused team that wins 33% of its games.

So there you have it. On Friday night we get the rematch of the Week One classic between the Riders and Alouettes. I may even get to watch it.