Alouettes 23 Renegades 16

There are a couple of reasons the Renegades did not get in a bidding war with the Argonauts for the services of Arland Bruce III.

For one, they don't believe they need another receiver, even one that was a CFL all-star with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a late cut of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

"Our priorities are upgrading the secondary and getting bigger on the defensive line," GM Eric Tillman said on his way back to Ottawa from a NFL scouting trip last night. "We feel good about our receiving corps."

Also, the Renegades simply refuse to compete with the Argos in the dollar-spending game.

One report yesterday said Bruce will be paid $72,000 for the rest of this season and $162,000 next. Whether that is accurate, it's pretty much a certainty the Argos' new owners have elected to totally ignore the CFL's salary "guideline." They are already giving RB John Avery $250,000. Damon Allen has to be making somewhere close to the same. And they are doling out big bucks to Bashir Levingston, Tony Miles, Noah Cantor, Noel Prefontaine and Mike O'Shea ... to name a few.

In fact, it's believed by many that Toronto is paying six-figure salaries to 10-12 players.

The Renegades have two players making more than $100,000: Pat Woodcock (just barely) and Kerry Joseph, whose base salary is in the $150,000 range.

While fans might call the Renegades cheap, Tillman has no problem with ownership's decision to stay under the $2.55 million "guideline" -- even while the Argos, Alouettes, Lions and Eskimos et al blow past it.

He says the Renegades also have a mandate to be successful, but they don't have to break the bank to do it. He uses examples like Lawrence Tynes, Josh Ranek and Joseph as players who the Renegades brought to the league and developed into solid CFLers. The thinking is, if they price themselves out of Ottawa's range, Tillman, director of player personnel Chris McRobbie and their contacts can find more like them. And bravo to that.

It is our opinion that the Renegades ownership should be commended for sticking to a philosophy that is suppose to make the league viable. But we also contend that they should sway from their game plan a little this season.

If ever you're going to blow the budget, the year you host the Grey Cup is when you do it.

Imagine the embarrassment of not even making the playoffs the same autumn the national championship game is played in your own backyard?

FIRST AND 10: This time, the Renegades filmed Don Matthews right back. "Donny Vision" was shown on the scoreboard, but wasn't exactly a must-see as it mostly featured a grumpy old fat man standing with his hands on his hips ... Ranek ran farther (16 yards) on his first carry than he did all game in Edmonton ... Orleans native Obby Khan played centre last night after George Hudson was injured on the opening series ... Demetris Bendross took a penalty last night and he wasn't even playing. The slotback ran about 80 yards to celebrate Jason Armstead's fourth-quarter touchdown on the field with his teammates. Ottawa was nailed with an objectionable conduct flag that made Sandro Sciortino boot the following kickoff from his own 25-yard line. Coach Joe Paopao gave Bendross a blast on the sidelines, as he should have, but Sciortino bailed his teammate out with a booming kickoff that the cover team strongly followed up on.

HIGH AND OUTSIDE: Kelly Malveaux ran over Joseph, then to the Renegades bench to do some taunting, then had himself a little celebration dance following his first-quarter sack that he was too busy to realize was wiped out by an offside call ... The Renegades' "Everybody Loves" Raymonn Adams was guilty of similar silliness after making a tackle on a punt that saw him penalized for no yards ... Key play at the time, with about a minute and a half left in the second quarter, saw Montreal QB Anthony Calvillo throw a second-and-10 pass to Kwame Cavil that landed incomplete after Kelly Wiltshire bumped Cavil before the throw's arrival. Clearly, it was pass interference officials inexplicably missed.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM...: Calvillo is no longer on speaking terms with the Montreal Gazette because football scribe Herb Zurkowsky had the audacity to write a story about fans who have expressed they expect more from the quarterback (GM Jim Popp was even quoted saying that while Calvillo is passing for 300 yards nightly, the team's faithful wants him to throw for 400). Hey, A.C., I have an idea: Why don't you grow a layer of skin, you big suckhole? ... Oh, and it's probably safe to say you shouldn't expect any exclusive interviews with Calvillo in the Sun anytime soon ... The Als employee who usually sits in the north-side grandstand and focuses on Paopao was four people down press row from us last night. And no, he didn't bring his video camera with him this time. He was guilty of cheering, however, and he should have been kicked out of the stadium again for that is a press-box no-no.

don.brennan@ott.sunpub.com