The Ti-Cats Report

CFL Insider's Ticats columnist Dave Roddick weighs in with his take on Hamilton's chances of winning.

My Birthday Wishes 


I have a birthday this week. I don’t mention this in an attempt to elicit gifts, best wishes, or sympathy. I will not specify which day is my birthday, except to say that it falls prior to the Ticats’ home rematch with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday; and I will not say which birthday it is, except to say that I am old enough to celebrate it however I choose, but not old enough to receive a congratulatory note from the Queen.

I only mention my birthday because it has led me to reflect on what I would wish for if I could have anything at all. Not the kind of things found in a catalogue, though; if a birthday genie gave me three wishes, what would they be? Well, I suppose world peace would be one. Then a pristine world environment, free of terms like “global warming” and “greenhouse gases.” And finally, an end to world hunger. That or a million dollars, I’m not sure.

But these wishes are far too vague. I decided to focus on those wishes that relate to the Hamilton Tiger-cats. What would I ask from my favourite team, if they could grant my birthday wishes?

Wins. This is rather obvious. But the Cats will need more than a few wins, more than the four they had last year, or the five they had the year before. A CFL team shouldn’t be able to count their wins on one hand; this team is in danger of being able to do that three years in a row. That would be unacceptable to any fan of any league of any sport in any nation in this world.

A punt returner. These past few games, the Ticats have moved the ball effectively on offence, both on the ground and through the air. They have also shown a lot of promise defensively, and should only improve as their young team gains experience. Their kicker is fantastic, and even the kick cover team has done a good job. The most glaring weakness is the lack of a punt returner. They need to find a return specialist to shorten the field a little. Starting drives inside their own 20-yard line leads to, at best, a lot of field goal attempts. They’ll probably need to make a trade in order to get a decent returner, and they’ll have to give up something of value. If only they had an expendable player, like a second tailback with all-star credentials who has been under-performing in this team’s offence...

Discipline. This one may be the greatest pipe dream of all, right up there with the eradication of world hunger. The team has given up over 100 yards in penalties in every game so far this season. Extra laps haven’t helped. The team set up a system of fines prior to their last game, and that only resulted in an increase in yards surrendered. I have no idea how this can be corrected, but it must be corrected.

And then maybe that world peace thing.