I don't have a problem with Stevie Baggs as a football player, but some people have a problem with my criticism of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats recent signing of the free agent rush end.
It seemed every time the Ticats made a play in their 30-3 butt kicking of the Argos Friday night at the Rogers Centre, some members of the Ticats public relations staff pointed to me and offered some good-natured needling.
It wasn't just the Ticats p.r. boys giving me the business. Sportsnet.ca colleague Jim Lang, who has disputed my criticism of the signing, spent much of the game texting me to chirp about Stevie Wonder.
I have never been critical about Baggs' talent, though he seemed to really develop last season with Saskatchewan, his third CFL team. The fact he had John Chick, the CFL's defensive player of the year, at the opposite end of the line didn't hurt.
But I'm not going to go over that again. Baggs is damn good, but so are the Ticats' young defensive studs, Garrett McIntyre and Justin Hickman. Baggs led the Cats with seven tackles against Toronto, while adding two quarterback sacks. He even chipped in with one special teams tackle.
Hey, the guy contributes a lot to the Ticats, even though he doesn't play every down of every defensive series. The Cats are rotating him, likely because he plays special teams, but let's not discount the value of McIntyre and Hickman. McIntyre finished with three tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles against Toronto. The stats indicated nothing for Hickman, but I could have sworn he did something.
For one game, my critics gave me a Baggs full of gears. Good on them. Baggs played great. To hear my critics, he made every play of every series -- even while on the sidelines.
Let's not discount his young understudies. I'm not.
So there.
