At the start of the season, there were four teams that were always among the favourites for the 2010 Yates Cup. Those four teams finished in the top four in the OUA regular season standings. And those four teams are the only ones left standing as we enter the second-last week of OUA football play. This week is the OUA semi-finals. Top seeded Ottawa will host the Laurier Golden Hawks while regional rivals do battle as McMaster travels to London to face the Western Mustangs. Continue reading
Football
OUA Morning Warmup: Quarter-Finals
It’s been a weird season in the OUA. Waterloo withdrew from OUA football for the season because of a steroid scandal. Toronto stepped up and lost out on a playoff spot on a tiebreaker. The defending Vanier Cup champion Queen’s Gaels got in the playoffs by winning that tiebreaker over Toronto. But all the drama of the regular season gives way to the drama of the OUA playoffs. Today, four teams do battle and only two will survive to see another week’s action. Continue reading
OUA Morning Warmup: Week 9
We’ve finally reached the end to the OUA’s regular season. Two teams could end the season atop the standings and have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. At the other end of the standings, there are four teams with a chance to take home the two final playoffs spots as positions 5th through 8th could change this afternoon. Continue reading
Is Now The Time For The XFL?
When it was launched for its sole season, the Xtreme Football League, a joint venture between NBC and the WWF (now WWE), was considered a joke. With all of Vince McMahon’s hype about the league being a return to old school football with big hits and big personalities, no one ever took the league seriously and attendance and TV ratings reflected it.
But with all the talk of the NFL adding more rules and harsher penalties for big, highlight reel hits and pass interference penalties getting nearly as common as offsides, maybe there’s a place for the Xtreme Football League (or the philosophy of old-school hard-hitting football) to return. Continue reading
OUA Morning Warmup: Week 8
In most years, we’d be talking about playoff tiebreakers and likely Yates Cup matchups in Week 8. Obviously, 2010 is not most years in OUA football. This is the second to last week but that doesn’t mean we don’t have things to talk about. The Score’s OUA Game of the Week has what is likely the worst two teams in a nationally televised game in University Rush’s history. But the two combatants are among the five teams that are battling for the final playoff spot which is held by a 2-4 team. This week’s games will go a long way to clarifying the OUA playoff picture. Continue reading
Wednesday Link-Off: Big Payday
Here’s Minka Kelly who was just names Sexiest Woman Alive (or something like that).
The infamous Cigar Guy’s identity has been revealed. He’s not a cigar smoking, turban wearing golf fan but an investment analyst. (Sports By Brooks)
We heard that Deadspin spent more money than ever before on the Brett Favre dongslinger pics. One blogger’s sources say that the pics cost $75,000. (Terez Owens)
And on that note, hear’s a long look inside the Gawker Media empire and at its chief Nick Denton. (New Yorker)
After the jump, a sports agent tells all, the most dominant video game athletes, and the tables get turned on Mario. Continue reading
OUA Morning Warmup: Week 7
Our weekly OUA preview comes to you a little early this week. That’s because the weekend of Thanksgiving tends to have an odd schedule. The week starts with one Thursday night game in Hamilton and the remaining three games on Saturday afternoon. Last week saw the OUA tossed on its head as Toronto upset Ottawa to take over the final playoff spot while Laurier beat the nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons. Continue reading
OUA Morning Warmup: Week 6
All teams in the OUA are now in their second halves of the season this week. In action this week, only Western, Ottawa and McMaster have yet to have a bye week. After their lackluster performance last week, Western is probably wishing they had some time to regroup. As for the Gee-Gees and Marauders, they play the Toronto teams which is as near to a bye week as anyone can get while on the gridiron. The week’s final game sees Guelph seek a measure of redemption for their Week 5 egg-laying against Laurier. Continue reading
OUA Morning Warmup: Week 5
For four teams, this week marks the halfway point of the regular season. For five OUA teams, halfway was last week. Either way, we’re getting in the home stretch of the OUA regular season. This week, only one game is likely to have direct playoff implications. Western travels up the 401 to try to ruin Guelph Homecoming with the winner gaining the advantage in the battle for the first round playoff bye. Meanwhile, Queen’s, Laurier, and Windsor all do battle this week looking to edge ahead in the battle for the last playoff spots. Continue reading
OUA Morning Warmup: Week 4
Welcome to a new feature on the blog. We’re trying something this week called the (obviously) OUA Morning Warmup. This will get you ready for the week’s OUA action by recapping the schedule, game storylines and big stories of the week that was. It’s part preview and part linkdump but 100% OUA football. (At least, that was the plan at the start. It deviates a bit near the end.) This week, we have two big games to look forward to. One has likely playoff implications while the other has definite implications at the top of the OUA standings. Continue reading
The Lowdown 