I went to see Stratford Festival’s sensational production of Hamlet, on Saturday, before getting home in time to see the second half of the Hamilton – Edmonton game. The Melancholy Dane seemed extra crestfallen, for some reason. Depressed over his father’s murder? No. Deflated by yet another star quarterback going down, I’m sure. For each of this week’s takeaways, I will find a quote from Shakespeare that suits it. As far as all these injured pivots go, King Claudius says it best, in Hamlet: “When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions!”
Now, the takeaways.
1) The Ottawa REDBLACKS’ rise is for real.
This is no illusion. Not in the least. “Is this a dagger I see before me?” Yes, yes it is! Run away! The REDBLACKS are the dagger and they are coming for you as surely as Birnam Wood will get to Dunsinane. Pretty fancy, don’t you think? Tossing in a Shakespearean forest reference in a passage about a football team that has lumberjacks as a central theme? The REDBLACKS have won three straight and now have designs on first, what with the Ticats suffering the loss of quarterback Zach Collaros. They’ll play Hamilton, back-to-back, to end the season and get an extra home game against the Argos on October 6th. All’s well. Will it end well?
2) Henry Burris is getting stronger and stronger.
Blasting his way through the Saskatchewan defence, Hank rolled up 477 yards passing, going 35 for 45, with two touchdowns, in the process, in Ottawa’s win on Saturday. There was a ripple of a social media uprising touting him as a Most Outstanding Player candidate. That sentiment might grow. Burris has the REDBLACKS’ offence running smooth as Romeo’s sonnets. As far as a Shakespearean quote goes, you’d think I could find something from Henry IV. Or Henry V. Or, even Henry VI. But I ain’t done read me none of them ones. Instead, this from Julius Caesar seems appropriate: “Why, man he doth bestride the narrow world like a colossus.”
3) Stefan Logan has still got it.
No, I mean he really, really still has it. At the age of 34, Logan walked through the Winnipeg Blue Bombers special teams’ defences like they were sliding doors on the U.S.S. Enterprise (um, William Shatner was once an actor at Stratford. So, yeah). Eight returns for 273 yards, including a 78 yard touchdown romp, for Logan. Very nearly had a second one, too, coming up 7 yards short on a kick-off return. He didn’t look like a 34-year-old to me and I conclude that Logan has flux capacitor technology available to him. “You built a time machine?! In a DeLorean?!” I’m fairly certain that Shakespeare wrote Back To The Future but don’t have time to fact-check that because I’m now on to point number four.
4) I may have been a little hasty last week in proclaiming the offensive troubles of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were fairly well at an end.
Quarterback Matt Nichols struggled badly in Montreal, going 23 of 48 for just 189 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Winnipeg’s top receiver was, once again, kept largely quiet. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Clarence was held to three catches for a grand total of four yards and one rush for a loss of six yards. Head Coach Mike O’Shea was heard to exclaim, afterwards, “my kingdom for a horse.” Bright side? Justin Veltung. The rookie receiver caught 6 passes on Sunday for 57 yards. He scored a two-point convert after catching a pass at the seven yard line and left 5 tacklers grasping at air, including guys named Chip Cox, Winston Venable and Billy Parker. “It is a damned ghost that we have seen!”
5) Charleston Hughes has the best “Starters To Watch” picture in the entire TSN photo library.
Look at that face. It’s as though the photographer just asked him: “Do you have a favourite Downton Abbey character?” What do you think was going through his mind at that moment? That is some pretty decent disdain going on there. Perhaps he’s thinking “you’re not seriously going to write a football column filled with Shakespearean references.” Yes, I am, Charleston. Because “there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” By the way, “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” Mr. Hughes? No. No, I didn’t think so.
