Things have changed immensely in Toronto since Adam Rita introduced Jim Barker
Some news and views on some current Canadian Football League topics:
Earlier this year, Toronto Argonauts' general manager Adam Rita ushered in Jim Barker as the team's new head coach with a speech that seemed to go on forever.
In fact, Barker made light of it following the glorified introduction, when jokingly wondering if Rita was ever going to finish.
Well, Rita is almost finished, though not in a way he could have expected following the hiring of Barker.
While Rita said in his speech that he had never worked with Barker before but was looking forward to it, the reality is it didn't turn into a good relationship.
Barker developed into the de facto GM, essentially making recommendations on the personnel and the strategies the Argos employed.
And it's not as if it didn't work. The Argos finished with a 9-9 record and made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2007. The nine wins exceeded the combined seven wins by the franchise in 2008 and '09 during which they had a grand total of seven victories in 36 games. Moreover, Rita had been the GM during that period, which consisted of three coaches, one of whom started with a record as the top-winning coach in CFL history and failed to win a game in eight outings.
That Rita was still employed may have more to do with a contract, which expires on December 31, that new team owner David Braley didn't want to eat.
No one ever said working in football was fair. In fact, the pigskin prophet Eric Tillman has been known to say: "It's a great game but a lousy business."
Rita could hardly groan about his predicament last year because even if he became nothing more than a glorified pencil pusher, he received a stipend befitting of a top executive. He has been in the game long enough to know that even a contract doesn't guarantee happiness.
Barker wanted to do things his way, which is not surprising, given that his future would depend on it. He had come from a successful stint in Calgary, in which he had served in a variety of roles and had won a Grey Cup in a personnel capacity in 2008. But he yearned to be a GM - his own boss, really - and applied for that role with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. When that didn't materialize, he called the Argos, with whom he had worked as the team's head coach in 1999 and whose president, Bob Nicholson, happened to be back in that role 10 years later in his second tour of duty with Toronto.
Barker guided the team to a 9-9, third-place finish in 1999, losing out in the semi-finals, after which he was literally locked out of the team's football headquarters following a change of ownership.
That's life in the CFL, and Barker took full advantage of dictating his terms 11 years later. He is expected to be named the CFL's coach of the year when the award is officially announced in January.
Now he is the GM, too, although anyone who followed the Argos in 2010 knew he basically already had that role.
As for whom Barker will find to battle much-maligned quarterback Cleo Lemon in 2011 for the starting role, well, it will be his decision and his alone. Rita won't be around to take any criticism.
BOMBS AWAY: If you read enough of the stories about the proposition to build a new stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, you have to be concerned. The community-owned organization will be on the hook for $85 to be paid over 40 years - $15 million interest-free up to 2016 - as part the $190-million project scheduled to be ready for use in 2012.
That's an ambitious project, and for a community-owned team which has had serious money problems in the past, it has a lot of people in the 'Peg worried.
It's been suggested by those looking at the project that the Bombers' organization would need to make at least $3 million a season and perhaps closer to $4 million to help pay down the debt. You can dramatically look at various ways to accomplish that, but it's going to take some amazing success on and off the field to do it.
Yes, it can be done. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, a team which was near bankruptcy in 1997, has proven you can literally make millions an annual basis since the franchise overhauled its operating structure in 2006 and began winning consistently in 2007. The Bombers are really going to have to look at the Roughriders' template and hope they can duplicate their business and football operations.
Right now, the situation is scarier than the Bombers' quarterbacking situation.
And recall, uber-optimistic CFL commissioner Mark Cohon talked glowingly about the Bombers' stadium situation in his state of the league address during Grey Cup week. Then again, the picture didn't look nearly as concerning then as it does now - even if his pronouncements came only three weeks ago.
PROJECTED 2011 TOP-15 LIST: The recently-released CFL top-15 list for next year's draft has Vaughn Martin listed fourth overall. He is currently playing defensive tackle for the San Diego Chargers, which should make him first overall by a mile, but because he is not expected to play in the CFL for a long time, if ever, he is rated fourth. Expect some team to take a flyer on him knowing they don't need him right away. Usually, it's a team such as the Montreal Alouettes which do this.
Philip Blake, an offensive lineman at Baylor, has been the consensus first-overall pick for some time. He has played both offensive tackle and centre. He still has another year of university eligibility after sitting out a season, so it will be interesting to see if a team takes him first overall or his status drops because of that.
Anthony Parker, a slotback with the University of Calgary who is rated third overall, and Matt O'Donnell, an offensive lineman with Queen's sitting eighth overall, have both been selected for the East-West Shrine Game, January 22 in Orlando.
RIDER HEAD COACHING DERBY: The news on who will replace Ken Miller, who has given up the role to concentrate on his vice-president of football operations role, likely won't happen until Miller is capable of moving around following some knee surgery since the Grey Cup. The decision is expected to be announced before Christmas.
