It was an exciting week this week, the CFL held their conference in Moncton with Henry Burris and Kevin Glenn. This is a great event, and the Maritimes are certainly deserving of a franchise of their own. I wish I could attend, but work changes prevent me from being able to take the time off. Ah well, I can watch it on the TV I suppose.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders continue to get away with salary cap violations, or rather our Salary Management System. This is a bit of a joke unfortunately, and it looks bad for the Roughriders and the league. The Roughies went over the cap $26,677 and have to pay that amount back in fine. What a punishment. There have only been a few offenders since the SMS went into affect, and the Roughriders have had their third violation. They have amassed $ 190,376.00 in total fines, but no further punishment, because each year they kept the excess under the $99,999 benchmark for tougher fines. Something needs to be done here, the other teams in the league are expected to follow the guidelines, but the Roughriders apparently can get away with it. I don’t care what your excuses are, 3 times in 5 years is too often, and I think the league should consider altering the SMS to have a tougher fine for repeat offenders under the $99,999 amount.

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• Kevin Glenn speaks about his former rival and current offensive coordinator Khari Jones  [The Toronto Sun]

• Greg Marshall returned to Ivor Wynne yesterday, Drew Edwards has the story.  [The Spectator]

• Kevin Glenn wants to run the football.  I say let him.  [The Spectator]

• Anthony Calvillo is back after having thyroidectomy surgery to remove a cancerous lesion  [TSN]

• Drew Edwards has notes from the first day of off season workouts  [The Scratching Post]

• The BC Lions are bringing Arkansas quarterback Corey Leonard to training camp  [The Vancouver Sun]

• In Toronto, Terry Koshan reports on the day’s biggest standout.  [The Toronto Sun]

• The Fifth Quarter has the story on a slew of signing by the BC Lions  [The Fifth Quarter]

• Henry Burris feels right at home teaching kids on the field  [The Daily Gleaner]

• Yesterday, The Scratching Post revealed the Ti-Cats were closing their off-season practices to the public. Today, they give the reason why.  [The Scratching Post]

• Moncton is already gearing up for the Stamps/Tiger Cats game to be played September 25th.  [Global Martimes]

• Staying in Moncton, Henry Burris feels he’ll light it up against the Cats.  Which will be especially impressive with Stevie Baggs running him over.  [Montreal Gazette]

• And Kevin Glenn is supportive of a CFL franchise in the Maritimes [TSN]

• Lowell Ulrich has the story on Kelly Bates retiring and becoming the BC Lions offensive assistant  [The Fifth Quarter]

• Perry Lefko gives his thoughts on upcoming CFL draftee Danny Watkins  [Sportsnet]

• One of the reasons Mike Kelly was fired from the Winnipeg Bombers was his inability to understand the media.  Mike Kelly still doesn’t understand the media.  [The 55 Yard Line]

• The Tiger Cats take a close look at University of Western Ontario’s Craig Butler [Ticats.ca]

• The Cats have decided to close off their off-season workouts to the public. [The Scratching Post]

• Rod Pedersen has a draft preview for Saskatchewan Roughrider fans [CFL.ca]

• And speaking of the Roughies, Canadian Football Talk explains that excuses aren’t good enough for their 2010 salary cap violations. [Canadian Football Talk]

• Yonus Davis has been released from jail. The Vancouver Sun has the story. [The Vancouver Sun]

• Drew Edwards asks you the readers what direction his coverage of the Tiger Cats should go this year.  [The Scratching Post]

• The CFL has released more information on Scotiabank Touchdown Atlantic II which is coming this fall to Moncton.  [CFL.ca]

#CFL media conf in #Moncton on tues, apr 26 to unveil ticketing info for 2011 #TDAtlantic b/w #Stamps & #Ticats

April 21, 2011 11:58 am via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@CFL_PR

Jamie Dykstra

• Ian Kennedy has more on life without Andy Fantuz for the Saskatchewan Roughriders [Chatam-Kent Sports Network]

• Adriano Belli joined Jeff Sammut to talk about his winter and plans for the upcoming season [The Fan 590]

• And Andrew Bucholtz has more on the Buck Pierce plays reporter story.  [The 55 Yard Line]

• The Scratching Post has some quick hits about the Tiger Cats [The Scratching Post]

• Andrew Bucholtz has a post on the recent legal challenges facing several CFL players and how it may affect the reputation of the CFL as a league. [The 55 Yard Line]

• Continuing with the theme Lowell Ullrich talks about second chances. [The Fifth Quarter]

• Duane Forde breaks down the CFL draft. [TSN]

• UConn star Robbie Vaughn signs with the Edmonton Eskimos [CFL.ca]

And more Eat Em Raw Blog chirping with Rob Murphy:

@BIGMURPH56 See if they can put a tattoo of @steviebaggsjr footprints on your back as a permanent reminder of him running you over. Muhahaha

April 20, 2011 2:11 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@EatEmRawBlog

Jeff Pipe

@EatEmRawBlog ahhhh rest assured he will never run over me.. he might try to run around me but runnin over no lol... Ps get off his nutz lol

April 20, 2011 3:27 pm via ÜberSocialReplyRetweetFavorite

@BIGMURPH56

ROB MURPHY

A new CFL season is on the horizon, and there has already been some developments, although not great for the image of the league so far.

From All Star Sports Training facility being raided, a some used training ground for the Stamps, Roughriders and Argo’s, to Yonus Davis being found with 67 pounds of ecstasy. I’m going to guess they all weren’t for him.

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• TSN has a short video delving deeper into the Tiger Cats new sponsorship of Mark Hominick  [TSN]

• Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt talk to Tiger Cat president Scott Mitchell  [Sportsnet Radio]

• Drew Edwards has more on the Tiger Cats release of Adam Tafralis [The Scratching Post]

• The Winnipeg Blue Bombers would welcome back the Jets with open arms.  The Calgary Herald has the story. [The Calgary Herald]

• Great story on J.C. Sherritt, a linebacker out of Eastern Washington who has chosen to sign a contract with the Edmonton Eskimos rather than wait for the NFL to sort itself out. [Sports and Weather Right Now]

• The Edmonton Eskimos have parted ways with veteran defensive tackle Adam Braidwood.  [esks.com]

• And the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have announced they are selling Blue Bomber license plates [CFL.ca]

• The Tiger Cats have apparently signed a sponsorship deal with MMA fighter Mark Hominick.  This is a fantastic move by the Cats, even better if Hominick is fighting Adriano Belli. [The Scratching Post]

• It seems Adam Tafralis is the odd man with for the Ti-Cats at the quarterback position [The Scratching Post]

• Funny story out of Winnipeg where Bombers QB Buck Pierce tries his hand at being a Winnipeg Sun editor for a day.   No word yet as to whether he suffered a concussion. [The Winnipeg Sun]

• Pierce’s first story as editor was to describe his shock upon learning his hometown was affected by the recent earthquake in Japan. [The Winnipeg Sun]

• Andy Fantuz is playing the waiting game along with the NFL.  Dave Naylor takes a closer look.  [TSN]

• B.C. Lions special teams rookie Yonus Davis has been detained in California for possessing 67 pounds of ecstasy. The 55 Yard Line has it covered, as always. [The 55 Yard Line]

• And the Tiger Cats newest free agent Avon Cobourne has some kind words for Toronto Argonaut corner Byron Parker:

@byronparker28 I see ya fat boy.. You gona lose your title If u loose all that weight.."fattest best corner I have seen in a while"!

April 20, 2011 10:12 am via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@AvonCobourne

Avon Cobourne

I think he’ll fit in nicely don’t you?