Thanks to the NFL Lockout, very soon, American football fans (and Terrelle Pryor) may be hooked on the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Arena Football League (AFL).

With the Canadian Football season about to start, it’s a good time to get involved with one of SBR’s CFL Forum threads. Last season poster Hawk007 provided picks and betting odds insight for many of the matchups.

The CFL runs an 18-game regular season from early July until early November, then caps the season with three weeks of playoff action culminating with the Grey Cup. Considering the state of the NFL, it may be time for football fans and bettors to take a closer look at the eight teams that comprise the CFL. The football betting odds cited are from Bodog.

CONTENDERS

Calgary Stampeders (11/4)

The Stampeders will be looking to return to their first Grey Cup since 2008, when they defeated Montreal by a score of 22-14. This squad, which scored an amazing 626 points in 2010, is loaded. The leader of the offense is Most Outstanding Player Henry Burris (4,945 yards, 38 td). He is supported by back Joffrey Reynolds (1,200 yards, 8 td) and a trio of 1000-yard receivers.

Ten starters return on the CFL’s top defense, led by linebacker Juwan Simpson. Rob Maver, last season’s top scorer in the CFL as a rookie, returns at kicker.

On paper, this is the best team in the CFL, and Calgary deserves its status as a favorite (or favourite, since this is the CFL). The Stampeders were, however, the best team last year as well but fell to Saskatchewan in the West final.

Montreal Alouettes (3/1)

The Alouettes will be looking for a threepeat in 2011 behind the arm of quarterback Anthony Calvillo (4,839 yards, 32 td). The 38-year-old will look to become the CFL’s all-time leading passer after having throat surgery to remove a lesion on his thyroid. Calvillo is on the downside of his career, but one can never count out this legendary quarterback.

Ben Cahoon, the CFL reception’s leader, retired in the offseason. S.J. Green (875 yards, 10 td) will move to slotback to replace him.

Montreal only has one 1,000-yard receiver returning in Jamel Richardson (1,271 yards, 7 td). He will be joined by Jerry Porter, Dallas Baker, Kerry Watkins,and Preachae Rodriguez in the receiver rotation.

Running back Avon Cobourne (956 yards, 6 td) signed with Hamilton. Brandon Whitaker (111 yards, 2 td) will get the first shot at the position.

Besides the retirement of Mathieu Proulx, the defense remains largely unchanged. That is not a positive sign for a squad that allowed 475 points last season (5th in the CFL).

It is difficult to count the champs out, but with age catching up to Calvillo, uncertainty at back, and a lack of big-play receivers, this team will struggle to threepeat.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (11/2)

The losers of the last two Grey Cups will look to change their fortunes in 2011. The team made news recently by acquiring rights to negotiate with Terrell Pryor, but they already possess the league’s top quarterback in Darian Durant (5,552 yards, 25 td). Wes Cates (1,053 yards 15 td) will spur the rushing attack.

Slotback Andy Fantuz (1,380 yards, 6 td) was signed by the Chicago Bears. Rookie Jordan Sisco is the favorite to take that position. The Roughriders will rely heavily on Weston Dressler and Chris Getzlaf in the passing game.

New defensive coordinator Richie Hall cut both starting corners from last year’s team. Replacements will be determined during the preseason.

Gregg Marshall, in his first head coaching stint, wants to make special teams a priority and plans to play offensive and defensive starters on the unit. Special teams are important in the CFL, and this could be a brilliant move unless it negatively effects his starters in other areas.

The Roughriders will remain competitive behind Durant. With a rookie head coach and without Fantuz, it will be difficult for this team to appear in its third consecutive Grey Cup.

British Columbia Lions (6/1)

B.C. is an intriguing team heading into 2011. The Lions began 2010 with a 1-7 record before finding themselves and posting a 7-3 mark over their last 10 games. Quarterback Travis Lulay (2,602 yards, 9 td) became the starting quarterback after the horrible start, and showed flashes of competence.

Jamal Robertson (953 yards, 8 td) will lead the rushing attack, while Geroy Simon (1,190 yards, 6 td) will lead the receiving corps.

The defense is led by a group of young stars who are able to shift from a 4-3 to a 3-4 during the game. That causes major headaches for opposing offenses.

This squad also boast the CFL top kicker in terms of accuracy, Paul McCallum (88.5%).

The Lions will be a fun team to watch in 2011, and could be worth a small flyer at this price. I do not think, however, that they are ready to compete with Calgary and Saskatchewan in the West. . .yet.

THE REST

Edmonton Eskimos (7/1)

Edmonton is starting fresh with coaches, players, and new facilities this season. It will pay off in a couple of years, but 2011 will not be a great season. Look for a few upsets from this young squad, though.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (7/1)

A choke job in the playoffs resulted in some changes on the coaching staff and the addition of Avon Cobourne. Another mediocre season awaits in 2011. In fairness, though, this team has the talent to excel if the squad puts it all together. I’ll need to see a playoff win first.

Toronto Argonauts (8/1)

The Argos had the best defense in the CFL last season. Success will rest on the development of the offense, particularly quarterback Steven Jyles. If you believe in Jyles, this is an excellent value play, especially considering Toronto’s strong special teams. I need to see more offense before pulling the trigger.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10/1)

The Blue Bombers were 4-14 last season. It’s going to be a rebuilding year in Winnipeg.

MY PLAY

It’s a boring pick, but I’m going with the favored Calgary Stampeders to hoist the Grey Cup in Vancouver. Enjoy the season.

Courtesy of SBRForum.com.

This is open to all women 16 years and older. All females are invited and no experience is necessary. If playing football is something you have ever thought about, this is your opportunity and you have nothing to lose by attending the information session. If there is enough interest we will discuss what the next steps are at the meeting. So spread the word and tell all the women you know in Regina and the surrounding area.

We are also looking for experienced tackle football coaches to help build the foundation of the team and help with player development. Please send this email to any potential coaches, men or women, so they can attend the information session as well.

Why now?

- Be part of the inaugural year for Regina – http://www.wwcfl.com/

- Show that women can play a predominantly male sport

- This is a growing womens sport across Canada, USA and the world. Canada brought home the silver medal from Women’s World Championship held in Sweden in 2010.

- Learn how to play the great game of football while having fun, meeting new people and getting exercise…and maybe taking your frustrations out on a tackling dummy during practices!!

When – Saturday Feb 12

Time – 10:00am-11:00am

Where – North West Leisure Center Multi Purpose Room, 1127 Arnason Street

Please RSVP to reginariotfootball@gmail.com by Wednesday February 9. Bring a friend with you!!!

Thanks,

Regina Riot – Regina’s First Women’s Tackle Football Team

Steve Thompson is a CFL featured columnist on Bleacher Report.com. On the site, he focuses mainly on CFL expansion.

If there is one thing the CFL doesn’t need, it’s the pathetic and unnecessary standoff between Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner, Bob Young and the Hamilton City Council about the location of a new stadium.

When one starts to probe this case, two things bubble to the surface. First: Bob Young has few cards to play. Second: There is the inconsistent double standard of the CFL.

First Young. He appeared on the TSN half time show on Friday night during the Hamilton Tiger-Cats/Winnipeg Blue Bombers game to explain his position. When asked about his reasons for withdrawing from stadium talks with the city and his opposition to their choice of location for a new stadium, he was clear and direct. When asked about where he would move the Tiger Cats, if he had to, his language became bureaucratic.

The truth is that unless he selects an American city, Young has nowhere to move the Tiger-Cats.

In fact, the most realistic thing for Young to do, if he really is serious about moving the team, would be to shift it to Baltimore. The CFL still has fans there. They probably could still make a go of it, despite the NFL competition from the Ravens.

In Canada, he’s got nowhere to move the team except Moncton.

Two bizarre places were named: Burlington and Milton. But, how is battling QEW-403 traffic to Burlington any better than downtown, west harbour Hamilton? What is in small town Milton to support a CFL team? Besides, neither place has anything even close to a CFL-size stadium.

Population-wise, the most realistic places to move the Tiger-Cats are Quebec City, London, or Kitchener. But, though university football is popular in all three cities, there is nothing close to a CFL size stadium in any of them. If there really was a serious effort to have CFL football, all three cities, which are big enough to support CFL franchises right now, would already have teams. With proper stadiums and investors, all three cities could apply for expansion franchises. Why do they need an established team from Hamilton? Neither an investor, nor any attempt to build a CFL size stadium, has ever surfaced.

There are only two places in Canada with possible CFL stadiums for Young to move his team. Put a team in the vacant Montreal Olympic stadium to compete against the Alouettes, or expand the newly opened Moncton stadium, the site of the upcoming Touchdown Atlantic game featuring the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts, in September.

So, Young’s only real hope is Moncton. By rights, Moncton shouldn’t even be in the picture. It is only the 29th largest city in Canada. But, small Moncton has elbowed its way to the head of the line for a CFL franchise, ahead of at least ten other larger, logical places for a new team. Moncton is the most ambitious city in the Maritimes, anxious to show that it is THE Maritime city, ahead of other eastern cities, like Halifax. Once that is established, Moncton will probably want to show that it is the up and coming city in all of Canada. First selling out the Touchdown Atlantic game quickly, and then landing a permanent CFL franchise, would be a great status booster in that direction for the city. And, as small Saskatchewan proved, quality of fan can make up in a big way for lack of population. Unless Moncton comes through, Young is backed into a corner with time running out.

This situation is the complete opposite of the NFL.

When franchises like Oakland, Houston, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Baltimore, and St. Louis wanted to move, they had places already lined up, ready to give favourable deals to lure a team.

As for the CFL, there is a double standard that has emerged.

If you go to the CFL’s website, or Internet CFL forums, or even in this column, probably the hottest topic that gets the most questions and responses is expansion. People want to see the underdog league grow across Canada with more teams to make the league more interesting. But, the league only takes baby steps.

Visionary CFL commissioners like Tom Wright and Larry Smith had their plans blow up in their faces. So, the league has reverted to taking baby steps.

Right now, the league is congratulating itself on the Grey Cup selling out in record time in Edmonton, on the expansion of Montreal’s stadium, on Touchdown Atlantic and finally getting Ottawa back in the league in 2013.

Now the irony.

It is the city’s west harbour location of a 25,000 seat stadium that is the baby step. It is Bob Young’s choice of an east mountain location, fully backed by Commissioner Mark Cohon and the CFL that is the visionary choice. That stadium is alleged to hold more fans, have easier access, and be expandable for Grey Cups.

Commissioner Cohon has gone as far as to write the city a letter which threatens to vacate Hamilton forever if Young’s choice is not accepted. Why the hard line stance against Hamilton?

The CFL claims that any new expansion team must play in a stadium of 25,000 seats. But Montreal played in a stadium seating 20,000 for a decade and a half. It is playing the Touchdown Atlantic game in a stadium that only seats 20,000, of which half of the seats are temporary. It accepted a new Ottawa stadium that only seats 24,000 in a much larger city than Hamilton. Why is a 20,000 seat stadium acceptable in Moncton, a 24,000 seat stadium acceptable in Ottawa, but a 25,000 seat stadium not acceptable in Hamilton?

Even if Young does move the team to Moncton, he would have to convert half the seats and then expand the stadium by 5,000 to reach 25,000 – the same size as the west harbour stadium he finds so unacceptable.

So what will happen?

Unless Moncton comes through, or some new miracle offer makes a grand appearance, the issue will continue like an unnecessary soap opera until one side caves in, just before the Tiger Cats lease with Ivor Wynne Stadium expires in 2011.

Then the usual speeches will come from one side, congratulating the other for making concessions that the other found acceptable so that people’s faces are saved.

No one will mention that the concessions could have been made months earlier. The project could have started and completed by the time they finished talking.

Until then the Tiger-Cats will remain in limbo, a boring non-issue that most fans should best ignore.

For more from Steve Thompson, visit his Bleacher Report.com profile page at http://bleacherreport.com/users/75533-steve-thompson.

Melonhead Momma is a passionate Saskatchewan Roughriders fan from small town Saskatchewan.

1.  The 13th man
Yes it messed us up BAD once!!  But over the last 100 years the 13th man has proven to mess up quarterbacks on every other CFL team!!  Even the very poised Anthony Calvillo has from time to time suffered from the intense, passionate, thunder-crashing LOUD 13th Man at Mosaic!!  We are not a city….we are not band wagon jumpers….we do not leave the game at half time if the score is 47-10 against us (maybe just to go puke…but we get our butts back to our seats and stay there until the fat lady sings!!)  We create opposing penalties and we love to help shift the momentum back to our players…or even better yet be a part of helping keep it with them….We are Rider Nation!!!   What other team in the CFL has a nation??  We are not limited to Regina….or Saskatchewan for that matter…..You can find us in every corner of the country and you WILL find us at every rider game!!

2.  Our strong sense of determination and great leadership!!
Our Riders are very fortunate to have so focused, level-headed and fair a man behind the team as head coach Ken Miller!!  He holds very high respect for all of his men on the field and is doing a bang-up job leading them to greatness! And, as for our direct leader on the field, Darian Durant…..WOW!!! I think we can all admit that 80% of the game is mental focus & heart and Durant has more focus and heart than any other quarterback in the CFL. He is on fire!!! Durant keeps his chin up and nose out of the water even if a game has not gotten off to a great start….or momentum has taken a turn for the worse….he is a soldier and he does not cave! I think Rider fans love him so much because he has a heart in the game just like all of ours!  Unlike Quarterbacks who are easily distracted (“Hennnnrrrry” Burris), or can’t shake off a bad decision or bad play (again, Henry Burris), Durant is very self controlled, very poised, extremely confident and consistent!  We Love You Durant!!

3.  Our HOME-GROWN talent… And lots of it!!
Every child in Saskatchewan is brought up drinking out of a green bottle….and has carved more melons than pumpkins!!  Every child has sat intensely watching an “are you FREAKING kidding me?!” Rider win that took place in the last 30 seconds of the 4th!  We have all cried melon juice tears….and have all lost our voices cheering the riders on….we have all been proud of our men and proud to be a part of Rider Nation! Where on earth could you find an army of future football players with more heart…willing to take on more bruises….fight through more battles….protect the hell out of their quarterback more than in Saskatchewan?  Us rider fans appreciate and love all you Saskatchewan raised men on the team… I have a special spot in my heart for Getzlaf and Makowsky!!

4.  The determination of the our defence
Unlike any other team in the CFL, the Rider defence trusts the offence enough to make the big plays needed for the W, even in the last few minutes of the forth quarter!  Our men do not tire….they do not give up and they grab up every opportunity they can to sack a quarterback, intercept the ball, or force a fumble!!  Our defence is well leaded by the very capable Gary Etcheverry…who keeps the D side of the team very fresh….very unpredictable…and very dangerous!!

For more from Melonhead Momma, visit her website at http://melonheadmamma.com/.