J.C. Sherritt joins the Eskimos

Former Eastern Washington University linebacker J.C. Sherritt has signed with the Edmonton Eskimos.

Sherritt becomes the third Eagle on the roster joining EWU alum Matt Nichols and Greg Peach in Edmonton.

Winner of the 2010 Buck Buchanan Award as a top defensive player in Division 1 subdivision, J.C. Sherritt (5-11, 212lbs) is Eastern Washington’s all-time career leader in total tackles and is second in tackles on the Big Sky conference all-time list. He’s also been recognized with multiple All-American, Academic All-American and Big Sky awards.

Eskimos General Manager Eric Tillman commented on Sherritt on the Eskimos website, "JC may not be the biggest or fastest player we'll sign, but without a doubt he's one of the best football players. He's a hybrid type athlete, who’s smart, physical and is an outstanding open field tackler. Obviously, his production at Eastern Washington was off the charts. We expect to give JC an early look at the will linebacker spot where he’ll likely compete with Damaso Munoz and Will Harris. Signing players who possess athletic versatility will be one of our highest priorities as we continue to build a winning franchise."

Canada: where real men play football

Awww, look they play football in Canada, with pads and everything. How cute. If you were too busy watching the Pittsburgh Steelers have their season go down the drain than you probably missed the Canadian Football League's final game of the season - the battle for the Grey Cup.

CALGARY -- It took a lucky break on the final play of the game, but the Montreal Alouettes' run of Grey Cup futility is over.
 
Damon Duval, given another try due to a penalty after missing what could have been the game-winning kick, made good on his second chance from 33 yards to lift the Alouettes to a stunning 28-27 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a classic CFL championship game on Sunday.

It was a shock ending for most the sell-out crowd of 46,020 at McMahon Stadium, where the seats looked to be tinted Roughriders green from fans who had spent most of the game watching their underdog team outperform the Alouettes on a mild evening.

But quarterback Anthony Calvillo and the Alouettes, both shaking off a reputation for coming up short in the big game, battled back to erase a 16-point deficit in the final 10:52 of play and end a four-game Grey Cup losing streak over the past seven years. They posted their sixth Cup win overall despite not leading until the final play.

"Heartbreaking, happy, sad, suspenseful - it was everything wrapped into one," said Montreal's veteran centre Bryan Chiu. "I guess that's what the CFL's about - a game like that."

Any idea if the Als could beat the Seahawks at the moment?

Ugly things from Canada

We love our neighbors from the North but sometimes... they make some poor choices...

CFL player is now crime fighting in his spare time

Look Ma! A story involving a football player that isn't negative!

Kitwana Jones, who played college ball at Hampton and is now a defensive end for the CFL's Eskimos, was driving to a pancake breakfast on Tuesday morning (seriously!) when he spotted an old woman screaming for help and chasing after a man carrying her purse and laptop. Then the thief knocked down an old man who tried to get in his way and Jones sprung into action. He jumped out of his car, took off after the suspect and then leveled him with a blindside tackle.

Saw this on Deadspin. What a great story although this reminds me of the Terry Tate commercials on so many levels.

O' Canada!

Canadian football fans are better than NFL fans.

So says Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams.

“I know that each town that we went to, including the hometown fans, when you go to a game the people there are true fans,” Williams said today, speaking during a conference call with media from Buffalo and Toronto. “Sometimes, especially in Miami, you get people coming only when you’re winning."

And I think I agree with him. While everyone will be jumping on the running back for his erratic behavior and love with a certain leafy substance about those statements -- ESPN writer Bill Simmons basically said that the regular NFL fans have been moved backed from the field or phased out from stadiums altogether due to rising ticket prices, corporate ticket packages and luxury suites.

"I've attended three Pats games in the Gillette Mausoleum and always felt like I had been transported into a David Lynch movie in which everything looked slightly the same, only it isn't even remotely the same. Throw in the dirty secret that it isn't really fun to attend an NFL game in the 21st century -- the routine of "kickoff, TV timeout, three plays, punt, TV timeout, five plays, field goal, TV timeout, kickoff, TV timeout, someone gets hurt on first down, prolonged TV timeout, three more plays, touchdown, extra point, TV timeout, kickoff, TV timeout" gets old after about 25 minutes..."

After working for a professional baseball franchise, I can tell you that the main goal is to sell season tickets and group tickets to companies because it's more money and it's guaranteed upfront. You can't rely on the walk-up. Baseball is different because there's so many games, you have plenty of seats to accommodate the everyday fan and the company man. However, football is just one game a week meaning that it's a hot ticket sell for a franchise. When you're selling tickets you're (a) going to try and sell to large groups (companies) because that's where the guaranteed big money is and (b) you're going to have higher prices than if you were going to sell it to a bunch of individuals because you only have a few games to charge for and you want to squeeze as much blood out of the rock as you can.

We've heard how bizarre the Super Bowl is because its a mishmash of corporate who's who's attending the game. That's slowly creeping into NFL games as well. When teams played in the Kingdome, Veterans Stadium, Memorial Stadium and the old Soldiers Field -- the glossy corporate types wouldn't be caught dead out in those crowds on namely working class people. That wasn't because they didn't like football, but it was because these stadiums were terrible and the only people that wanted to sit out in the elements to watch these games were working class people.

Now that fan base has been priced out now that all the stadiums and brand spanking new. You've now got a disconnected fanbase that consists of (1) people that have paid a crapload of money for one game so they can just say that they went to the game, (2) people who went to the game because their company bought tickets and (3) in the upper, upper, upper deck, you have the die-hards who had to take a mortgage to pay for season tickets.

The CFL? Well they still play in venerable stadiums where the execs would steer clear of, and factor in the elements (it's cold in Canada) and quality of play that is presented in that league and really the only people who are either from that city or just diehard football fans would attend.

It's actually a throwback to NFL fans 30 years ago. Same type of fans before the corporations took over.

While the CFL may not surpass the popularity of say, hockey, you've got a home crowd at those games that are much more involved in their teams than their Disneyland counterparts of the NFL.

And my practically Canadian friend Jake Rehm would agree.