THURSDAY,AUGUST1,2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAILO B15
T
he Hamilton Tiger-Cats are
now Dane Evans’s team.
Evans becomes Hamil-
ton’s starter after incumbent Jer-
emiah Masoli suffered a season-
ending knee injury in the Ticats’
23-15 home win over the previ-
ously unbeaten Winnipeg Blue
Bombers on Friday night.
Evans, in his third season with
Hamilton, doesn’t have the luxu-
ry of time to settle into the No. 1
role. The Ticats (5-1) visit the Sas-
katchewan Roughriders (3-3) on
Thursday night.
Evans certainly has some big
shoes to fill. Masoli was the East
Division’s outstanding player last
season and this year is second in
the CFL in touchdown passes
(nine) and third in completions
(125) and passing yards (1,576).
Evans was 13-of-25 passing for
94 yards and an interception ver-
sus Winnipeg. But he also ran for
a TD in helping stake Hamilton
to an early 14-0 lead.
The loss of Masoli is huge for
Hamilton. The Ticats also will
not have receiver Brandon Banks
(42 catches, 554 yards, three
TDs), offensive lineman Darius
Ciraco and defensive lineman
Adrian Tracy.
Meanwhile, linebacker Simoni
Lawrence remains out for Hamil-
ton. He’ll serve the final game of
a two-game ban for hitting Sas-
katchewan starter Zach Collaros
in the head in Hamilton’s sea-
son-opening home victory.
Canadian Nick Shortill filled
in admirably for Lawrence with a
game-high nine tackles against
Winnipeg.
On Monday, the Ticats signed
American quarterback David
Watford. He appeared in 18
games last season with Saskatch-
ewan, completing 15-of-32 passes
for 168 yards with one touch-
down and two interceptions.
Watford also ran for 93 yards
on 18 carries.
The Riders are coming off a
home-and-home sweep of the
BC Lions. After earning a 38-25
home win July 20, Saskatchewan
captured a 45-18 victory at BC
Place on Saturday night.
William Powell ran for 146
yards and three TDs for Sas-
katchewan, which also didn’t al-
low a sack in either game. The
Riders defence held Lions quar-
terback Mike Reilly to 66 passing
yards before he left the contest
in the fourth quarter. Saskatche-
wan also finished with four
sacks.
About the only blemish for
the Riders was allowing two
Ryan Lankford return TDs. And
that could be telling, given Ha-
milton’s special-teams prowess.
But Montreal’s William Stan-
back, the CFL rushing leader, ran
for 203 yards and three TDs ver-
sus Hamilton earlier this season.
Pick:SaskatchewanWINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS VS.TORONTO ARGONAUTS
(THURSDAY NIGHT)At Toronto, Winnipeg (5-1) looks
to begin another win streak after
last week’s loss to Hamilton.
Matt Nichols had three intercep-
tions in that game after throwing
just one in the Bombers’ first five
contests. The Argos (0-6) return
home after a 26-0 loss in Edmon-
ton to face an ornery opponent.
Pick:Winnipeg.OTTAWA REDBLACKS VS.
MONTREAL ALOUETTES
(FRIDAY NIGHT)At Montreal, the streaking
Alouettes (3-2) come off a bye
week chasing a fourth straight
win. Vernon Adams Jr. has been
under centre for the victories
with Stanback also carrying a
huge load. So did the defence in
the team’s last win, 20-10 over
Edmonton. Ottawa (2-4) comesoff a tough 17-16 loss to Calgary
and has dropped four straight.
However, quarterback Domin-
ique Davis could return from in-
jury.
Pick:Montreal.EDMONTON ESKIMOS VS.
CALGARY STAMPEDERS
(SATURDAY NIGHT)At Calgary, it’s the first of three
matchups between now and
Sept. 7 for the Alberta rivals. The
Stampeders (4-2) are coming off
a narrow win over Ottawa
thanks to Rene Paredes’s game-
winning field goal on the final
play of the contest. Shaquille
Cooper ran for 128 yards and a
TD, while the defence pitched a
shutout for Edmonton (4-2) ver-
sus Toronto last week.
Pick:Edmonton.
Last week:3-1.
Overall:18-9.THE CANADIAN PRESSEvansgetstheQBcallagainstRoughriders
Ticathasbigshoesto
fillafterMasolisuffers
season-endinginjury
DANRALPH
QBDaneEvanswas13-of-25passingfor94yardsandaninterceptionintheTicats’winovertheBlueBombers
inHamiltononFriday,buthealsoranforaTDtoanearly14-0lead.PETERPOWER/THECANADIANPRESSTORONTOArgonautsquarter-
backMcLeodBethel-Thompson
didn’tmincewordswhenasked
whatToronto’s0-6starttothe
seasonhasbeenlike.
“It’shorrible.Losingishor-
rible.It’sbeenverytough,”
Bethel-Thompsonsaidon
Wednesdaymorning.
Thirtyminuteslater,Argos
generalmanagerJimPoppdid
somethingabouttheteam’s
losingskid,tradingforformer
TorontoQBZachCollarosfrom
theSaskatchewanRoughriders
forafourth-rounddraftpick.
Thetradereturnsthe30-year-
oldCollarostotheteamhe
startedhisCFLcareerwithseven
yearsago,whenhebackedup
RickyRayastheArgonautswent
ontowintheGreyCup.
“It’saplayerthat’svery
familiarwiththisorganization.
He’sobviouslyavetthathas
won,”Poppsaid.
Collaroshasbeenoutof
actionsinceacontroversialhitin
Week1oftheseason.Hewas
placedonthesix-gameinjured
listonJune17aftertakingahit
fromHamilton’sSimoniLaw-
renceonthethirdoffensiveplay
ofa23-17losstothehost
Tiger-CatsonJune13.
Poppwasn’tsurewhenColla-
roswouldofficiallybeclearedto
play.Bethel-Thompsonwillstart
onThursdaynightasToronto
playshosttotheWinnipegBlue
Bombers(5-1-0)andthenthe
Argonautshaveabyeweek,
givingCollarosmoretimeto
recoverandgetfamiliarwithhis
newplaybook.
TheArgonautshavethemost
two-and-outsintheCFL(44),the
mostinterceptions(14),the
mostfumbles(7),themost
turnoversoverall(26)and–not
surprisingly–Toronto’soppo-
nentshavescored73pointsoff
ofturnovers,28morethanthe
nextworstteamintheleague.
THECANADIANPRESSCOLLAROSRETURNS
TOTORONTOINDEAL
WITHROUGHRIDERSW
ith Saskatchewan trad-
ing veteran quarterback
Zach Collaros to the To-
ronto Argonauts on Wednesday,
the usual football parlance
would now call the Roughriders
Cody Fajardo’s team.
General manager Jeremy
O’Day and head coach Craig
Dickenson, however, prefer a
more collective concept.
“This is no one player’s team.
This is not my team, it’s not Jere-
my O’Day’s team. The whole idea
of team is a group of men com-
ing together with a common pur-
pose,” Dickenson said Wednes-
day.
“Is Cody a leader on this team?
That has yet to be determined,
but this will never be one per-
son’s team for as long as I’m the
coach. That defeats the purpose
of team. He might be the leader
on offence, we’ll let the players
figure that out. This is a collec-
tive group of men and they feel
like playing hard for each other
and that’s the whole idea.
“Yes, he is the starting quarter-
back. He’s got one of 24 starting
positions.”
The 27-year-old Fajardo was
thrust into the starter’s role
when Collaros suffered a concus-
sion early in the June 13 season
opener against the Hamilton Ti-
ger-Cats, a 23-13 loss. Since then,
Fajardo has gone 3-2 as the start-
er, completing 107 of 146 passes
for 1,392 yards and seven touch-
downs. He’s also thrown four in-
terceptions.
Fajardo found out about the
Collaros trade during a meeting
prior to Wednesday’s walk-
through for Thursday’s home
game against the Ticats. He de-
scribed his promotion to undis-
puted starter as bittersweet and
said Collaros served as a valuable
mentor over the past six weeks.
While Fajardo is looking for-
ward to the challenge of being
the full-time starting quarter-
back, he isn’t about to make any
big adjustments.
“For me, nothing’s going to
change,” Fajardo said. “I don’t
think I’m going to be any more
vocal than I’ve been. I don’t
think I’m going to try and do
anything more than I’ve already
done. I’ve been able to start pret-
ty much the whole year and tak-
ing those experiences and mov-
ing forward, it’s professional
football. At any given time they
can bring in another guy if I’m
not performing well. I just want
to continue to go out and prove
to this team that I can win foot-
ball games.”
Fajardo also isn’t about to let
the expectations of the job affecthis performance.
“There’s more added pressure,
because people are going to look
at you as the franchise guy now,”
Fajardo said. “Like I’ve always
stated, any time you play the
quarterback position, you can’t
put any more pressure than what
is already on the position. ... We
can’t let this distract us from a
pretty good team coming in to
play us tomorrow night.
“I just try to take a page out of
Ricky Ray’s book – stay even
keeled, no matter what is going
on around you.”
Fajardo is in his first season
with the Riders after stops with
the Argos and BC Lions. While he
was a backup quarterback with
those teams, O’Day felt confident
that Fajardo could one day be-
come a starter in the CFL.
“Not to give away my secrets
or anything like that, but I’m a
firm believer that past perform-
ance dictates your performance
down the road,” O’Day said. “I
believe that in order to be a very
good or great player, you’ve had
to have shown that you’ve got
the ability to do it, whether it’s in
college or the pros. Cody played
at a very high level in college and
every time he was given an op-
portunity at our level, he did
well.”THE CANADIAN PRESS‘Forme,nothing’sgoingtochange,’RoughridersQBCodyFajardosaysofZachCollaros’sdeparture.Fajardo
wasthrustintothestarter’srolewhenCollarossufferedaconcussionearlyinJune,buthispermanentstatusin
thatspothasyettobedeterminedaccordingtomanagement.DARRYLDYCK/THECANADIANPRESS
SaskatchewanstandsfirmaftertradewithArgos
JEFFDEDEKKERREGINA
ItneveroccurredtoBillPaulthathemighthavealastinglega-
cy in Canadian golf – until Golf Canada announced last week
thathewouldberetiringafter43yearswiththeorganization.
“You start to get e-mails and calls and people telling you
aboutwhatyoudidandyourimpactongolf,”saidPaul,whose
final title with Golf Canada is chief championship officer. “I
neverrealizeditbefore.IguessIneverthoughtmuchaboutit.
“Have I had a legacy? I guess I have. I think a lot of people
have.Idon’tthinkI’mbiggerthananyoneelse.Ineverputmy-
selfahead.IalwaystriedtomakevolunteersandsponsorsNo.
1 versus me or any of my staff. It was always a team effort.”
Paul has left an indelible mark on the sport in Canada and
abroad. He was the tournament director of the Canadian
Open for 23 years and served as tournament director of the
Canadian Senior Open Championship as well as the 1992
World Amateur Team Championships.
PaulalsoplayedasignificantroleinsecuringanLPGATour
event – now known as the CP Women’s Open – for Golf Cana-
da.
Outside of Canada, Paul spent nine years on the board of
the PGA Tour tournaments’ association and was president of
the senior tour.
Thosedecadesofserviceincludedbeinginvolvedinthere-
movaloftobaccocompaniesaseventsponsorsinCanada,the
stabilizingoftheCanadianOpen’sdateonthePGATour’scal-
endar and the emergence of a generational talent in Tiger
Woods.
Paul and Woods’s careers are undeniably linked.
The 1996 Canadian Open was one of the first tournaments
ofWoods’sprofessionalcareer.Fouryearslater,Woodswould
again play at Glen Abbey Golf and Country Club, winning the
national championship in one of the most memorable mo-
ments in Canadian sports history.
In both cases, Paul was instrumental in bringing Woods to
Canada after he forged a bond with Tiger and his father Earl.
“It was the introduction of Tiger that changed the PGA in
terms of its television model, its financial model,” Paul said.
“WhathedidforgolfislikewhatArnoldPalmerandJackNick-
laus did, but on a different level. Tiger lifted it up.”
Paul’s affable manner and ability to speak with anyone
aboutawiderangeoftopicsoutsideofgolf–orplayagameof
pick-up basketball, as he did with Tiger Woods ahead of the
2000 Canadian Open – was a boon to Golf Canada.
“Bill really has been an iconic figure in Canadian golf and
particularly in driving our professional championships. He’s
touched so many players, he’s touched so many lives,” Golf
Canada chief executive officer Laurence Applebaum said. “I
won’t go to too many places on my travels where someone
doesn’t say to me ,‘Oh, please say hi to Bill for me,’ or, ‘How’s
Bill doing?’ He’s really one of the great guys in golf.”
It’s those personal connections that Paul will miss as he
moves into a consulting role with Golf Canada.
“What’s kept me in the game and not gone to other oppor-
tunities has been the people,” Paul said. “Those people,
whether it’s been a player, a volunteer, somebody on staff, a
media person, a partner, a sponsor, golf is just loaded with
people that have a common goal.
“Wealltryandgettothatcommongoaltogetherandweall
knewwhatthatcommongoalwasanditwasalwaysfascinat-
ing to see it all come together.”THECANADIANPRESSBillPaulbidsfarewell
toGolfCanadaafter43
yearswithorganization
JOHNCHIDLEY-HILLREPORTONBUSINESS |