Alex’s CFL Tuesday Takes – March 13, 2018

Alex’s CFL Tuesday Takes – March 13, 2018

Published: Tuesday, Mar 13th 2018, 3:03pm

by Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

The CFL has some explaining to do. Last week we found out that (now, former) BC Lions Defensive Lineman Euclid Cummings is facing four charges, including sexual assault stemming from an incident back in October of 2016 in Vancouver. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Cummings’ team at the time) told the league of the incident when they found out from the police, which is absolutely the right thing to do. Charges were then laid on April 21, 2017. Cummings played for Edmonton last year and then signed with BC in February as a free agent and had his contract voided with the BC Lions.

Edmonton and BC both apparently didn’t know about the charges. And here’s where my issue is. IF they legitimately didn’t know about the charges, the league has to step forward and say why they didn’t tell the other 8 teams of the league of the situation. Cummings should not have played in 2017 until this was sorted out… much like the Justin Cox situation.

Now I would like to think that the league DID inform the teams about this situation, after all, that would be the responsible thing to do, no? IF they did, then both Edmonton and BC should hang their heads in shame on this. I know we are making Cummings out to be guilty until proven innocent, which isn’t the right way to do things, but if the league is truly taking a zero tolerance approach to domestic violence and sexual assaults, ties should have been severed long ago. Did the league not even bother to EVER follow up in 2017 on this?

IF the league didn’t inform the teams when the charges were laid, that’s where the league needs to come out and explain why. I’m not saying there should have been a press conference last year for the public, but all teams should have been notified.

Does Cummings take blame for not telling teams himself? Sure, but I can see why he. He’s trying to find work and get paid while awaiting his trial.

There’s just something about this whole thing that just feels weird, and I’m not talking about the charges themselves. I don’t buy that the league wasn’t aware of the charges until nearly a full year after they were made. I also don’t buy that Ed Hervey and the BC Lions (and the Edmonton Eskimos for that matter) didn’t know about the charges either. All I know is that something doesn’t really add up here, but we will likely never find out now that the league has severed ties with Cummings and have appeared to move on.

The BC Lions should NOT get their signing bonus taken off the salary cap, like some are suggesting. $70,000 of Cummings’ $150,000 salary was in the form of a signing bonus. Sorry (not sorry), but that’s the risk you take when you pay someone that much in a bonus. Hell, he could have snapped his leg walking down the street minutes after registering the contract and you’d still be on the hook for the bonus.

I bring up an honest question. If this happened to a player on the Saskatchewan Roughriders roster, would the general CFL fan think they should get the cap hit back? I highly doubt it… Double standard much?

Ok, on to actual football talk.

We know why Riders Running Back Marcus Thigpen looked so good in his limited time last season after being out of football for a while… Thigpen got busted for PED use and has been suspended the first 2 games of 2018.

I don’t buy the excuse that athletes make that they didn’t know what they were taking. It’s YOUR body, you chose what goes in there. You cheated, you got caught, you pay the price.

Also, if you’re going to be dumb enough to take PEDs in pro sports when you know they are completely against the league’s policy, don’t also be dumb enough to get caught.. However, I think leagues should really let up on what is in the drug policy. Cough medicine? Come on…

All that said, what the hell, let em all juice. Why not? We all want a level playing field, so let them all do it. Remember McGwire vs Sosa? THAT was theatre in sports.

I got into an argument with someone that said the CFL shouldn’t hype up the CFL Combine and the Draft, because it never produces stars and to hype the neg list players like Colin Kaepernick and Johnny Manziel… yeah, the guys who will NEVER come to the CFL. Ok. Sure, this guy panders to an American audience and yeah they clearly care more about the American big name players than Canadian college kids, but the league shouldn’t hype it? Half of the league is made up of Canadian players and fans LOVE seeing their hometown players do well, even if they are a role player and not a mega star. The league should be hyping EVERYTHING! That’s how you build a fan base.

CFL Week is next week in Winnipeg and we can’t wait to go! The list of players going out there is now out! Stay tuned to pifflespodcast.com for interviews with players from across the league and articles covering the week! Tell us who you want to hear from!

Darvin Adams (WPG), Manny Arceneaux (BC), Brandon Banks (HAM), Adarius Bowman (WPG), John Bowman (MTL), Bryan Burnham (BC), Zach Collaros (SSK), DaVaris Daniels (CGY), Larry Dean (HAM), Weston Dressler (WPG), Solomon Elimimian (BC), Greg Ellingson (OTT), Roy Finch (CGY), James Franklin (TOR), Josh Freeman (MTL), C.J. Gable (EDM), Ed Gainey (SSK), S.J. Green (TOR), Aaron Grymes (EDM), Andrew Harris (WPG), Trevor Harris (OTT), Kyries Hebert (OTT), Charleston Hughes (SSK), Ernest Jackson (MTL), Willie Jefferson (SSK), Jonathon Jennings (BC), Kamar Jorden (CGY), Cleyon Laing (TOR), Ted Laurent (HAM), Simoni Lawrence (HAM), Maurice Leggett (WPG), Richard Leonard (HAM), Taylor Loffler (WPG), Jeremiah Masoli (HAM), Jerome Messam (SSK), Marken Michel (CGY), Matt Nichols (WPG), William Powell (OTT), Ricky Ray (TOR), Mike Reilly (EDM), Namaan Roosevelt (SSK), Almondo Sewell (EDM), Alex Singleton (CGY), Brad Sinopoli (OTT), Diontae Spencer (OTT), Tyrell Sutton (MTL), Luke Tasker (HAM), Derel Walker (EDM), Jamaal Westerman (MTL), James Wilder Jr. (TOR), Chris Williams (MTL), Odell Willis (BC) and Bear Woods (TOR)

And don’t miss the next episode of the Piffles Podcast. It is episode 71 and to honour that number, we will bring on the greatest #71 in Rider history, Mr. Bobby Jurasin for a chat!

*** Piffles Podcast is heading to the Banjo Bowl! Join us on the trip and let’s paint Winnipeg green! We will leave the Saturday morning of the game, tailgate at IGF for a little bit, watch the Riders beat the Bombers and then we will stay overnight in Winnipeg and come back to Regina on Sunday afternoon. Spots are limited and are filling up, so if this is of interest to you, let us know ASAP! All the info you need can be found here.

It promises to be a fun time and we have some great prizes lined up to giveaway ***