This has to be a down cycle in the quarterbacking business, both in the NFL and the CFL.
Can't remember a time when so many nondescript quarterbacks were starting for so many teams.
Once you get past Peyton Manning and Tom Brady on the NFL list, is there another sure-thing Hall of Famer in the league? And, no, Eli Manning doesn't qualify based on size of contract.
And in the CFL, there is Anthony Calvillo and then Ricky Ray and Henry Burris and then who?
Two decades ago, the NFL had Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman and Steve Young, seven of the best who ever played.
The year after that, the CFL had Doug Flutie, Damon Allen, Matt Dunigan, Tracy Ham, Sean Salisbury and Kent Austin.
The football was better back then, frankly, because the quarterbacking was better.
This and that
Just wondering: When will a Blue Jays season be about that season and not about next season? Don't we deserve that? ... Expensive day for Kenny Williams, general manager of the Chicago White Sox. First, he picks up Alex Rios for all that money. Then he gets a ticket for jaywalking in Seattle ... Funny, Jerry Reinsdorf will pay real money for Rios and Jake Peavy, more than he's willing to pay to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes ... The real problem with the Rios to Chicago deal: Everybody loses. The White Sox get a ridiculous contract. The Jays lose a player they can't replace and free up money to sign players they will otherwise lose to free agency. How's that a win for anybody? ... A quick Olympic moment: Don't like the idea of golf in the Olympics, hate the thought of women's boxing in the Summer Games and still believe softball got screwed ... Yes, the Maple Leafs have a big league defence and maybe strength in goal -- although that has to be proven -- but really, who is going to man the first two lines up front? Mikhail Grabovski? Alex Ponikarovsky? Ferris Bueller? ... Don't care whether the cab driver had a proper licence or was previously convicted of drunk driving, the angel-faced punk Patrick Kane had no business allegedly doing a tap dance on his face with his fists ... Kane, by the way, will make a brief statement at the opening of the U.S. Olympic orientation camp about his troubles in Buffalo and then not answer any questions about it.
Hear and there
Should the proposed new owners of the Florida Panthers ever complete the deal and get NHL approval, Neil Smith will be back as their general manager, hopefully for longer than the three weeks he worked for Charles Wang in Long Island ... If Philadelphia boos Christmas and cheers when players on other teams are injured, honestly, what chance does Michael Vick have in the supposed City of Brotherly Love? ... So, who needed Roy Halladay? Cliff Lee is 3-0 with the Philadelphia Phillies ... Department of dumb: High pick receiver Michael Crabtree holding out with the San Francisco 49ers. Every year, some stupid kid holds out and it takes him a year and a half to catch up. This year, the very talented Crabtree is that stupid kid ... Russell Martin's numbers are so lame this season that some reporters are asking him whether he's coming off steroids and the Canadian catcher isn't at all pleased about the accusations or his own stats.
Scene and heard
My personal Michael Vick protest: No more Eagles concerts for me ... Not living up to his name, the Texas rookie flamethrower, Neftali Feliz. Kid has struck out 13 of the first 22 big leaguers he's faced. Neftali, for the record, means "struggling" in Hebrew, just not in the late innings ... Quentin Richardson is changing addresses this summer the way some of us change our socks. His summer odyssey: June 25, traded from New York to Memphis; July 17 traded from Memphis to Clippers; July 20 traded from the Clippers to Minnesota; Aug. 13 traded from Minnesota to Miami ... Before he gave him a gazillion dollars and made him untradeable, J.P. Ricciardi once said of Rios: "He is 6-foot-5 hitting like he's 5-foot-6." ... It's strange that the controlling NFL commissioner Roger Goodell didn't fine Tennessee running back LenDale White for admitting he lost 30 pounds in the off-season after giving up tequila. It would be so Roger to do so ... I see where Arturs Irbe, one of the great characters of recent hockey times, has signed on as goalies coach with the Capitals. What's strange about this is Irbe was an old-school, odd-style goaltender, and he's now teaching butterfly and puck movement, two things he couldn't do himself.
And another thing
Brad May won't be getting another contract from his old pal, Brian Burke, and isn't likely to get work elsewhere, which basically means his NHL career has come to an end after 17 seasons and 1001 games ... This is how CFL teams get around the salary cap. When Arland Bruce last signed with the Argos, he agreed to be paid $190,000 on the books and another $60,000 for work being done for the team in other capacities. But when Brad Watters took over as short-lived president of the team, he balked at paying the 60 large and Bruce's verbal agreement wasn't worth anything ... Yes, there is hope for society: How else to explain that Terrell Owens' reality show ranked 798th in the ratings of American cable programs last week ... Does Cito know there is a newspaper in the Carolinas called the Gaston Gazette? ... Happy birthday to Garnet Exelby (28), Ed Olczyk (43), Madonna (51), Frank Gifford (79) and Kathie-Lee Gifford (56) -- and isn't it sweet that their birthdays are on the same day -- Julie Newmar (73) and Nick Leyva (56) ... And hey, whatever became of Steve Payne?
STEVE.SIMMONS@SUNMEDIA.CA
