From the Pressbox

Over a decade ago, the former general manager of the New York Islanders, Mike Milbury, called the former general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Rejean Houle. Milbury was looking to make a trade. (I believe the player was Bryan Berard.) Houle was interested, so he asked what Milbury wanted.

“Saku Koivu” was the answer.

Houle couldn’t get off the phone fast enough.

I was reminded of that story last week, as rumours swirled around the Canadiens captain. There were some wild ones as Montreal slumped badly at home. Friday afternoon, he stood at his stall for almost 15 minutes, answering several of the same questions over and over about his situation.

First thing I thought of upon hearing Roger Clemens accused of being a steroid cheat: his first workout in Toronto after signing with the Blue Jays. It was the winter of 1997, at SkyDome. Another accused steroid cheat, Benito Santiago, was there to catch him.

The Raptors used the building back then, so a temporary pitcher’s mound was set up behind the court. The Heat were in town for a game that night, and two of their trainers walked up to watch. As Clemens fired fastballs to Santiago (who was not wearing a jock; obviously performance-enhancers don’t help the mind), one of the trainers looked at the pitcher’s stomach and said, “Looks like Roger needs an abdominal routine.”

It was pretty funny.

Anyway, the baseball world is in an uproar today because Clemens – and 87 others – were named in the Mitchell report as linked to performance-enhancing substances. I’m sorry, but I find all of this hilarious.

Just another day in the loony bin that is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For the second time in six months, president Richard Peddie decided to publicly castrate GM John Ferguson, but no one’s been fired and it’s hard to tell if anyone will be. Today, reaction around the league ranged from: “That kind of story makes me think Ferguson will be fired tomorrow if they lose tonight (to Montreal),” to: “That’s Peddie trying to tell Larry Tanenbaum that it would be stupid to fire Ferguson and replace him with someone still relatively inexperienced.”

(Some of the floated names include Steve Yzerman, Mark Messier and Glenn Healy.)

Whatever the case, this ownership group is quickly dropping into Ballard territory among Toronto fans. If these duelling egos are really serious about doing the best for the franchise, they’ll stop sipping Cristal for a few minutes to ask each other one question: Do we trust John Ferguson to trade Mats Sundin?

That is the only relevant question right now.

Had another conversation with CFL chief operating officer Michael Copeland today. Also chatted with CFLPA president Stu Laird, the former Stampeder. We’ll get to Copeland in a minute, because this is the first time we’ve heard from Laird.

Laird said he hadn’t seen the play, and added that he hasn’t been heavily involved in the process. (I sent him the available video evidence via email, but he is travelling today and may not be able to see it until later. If he sends a comment, I’ll let you know).

His response to the issue: “Every player is entitled to legal counsel. The CBA creates a process (for suspensions) that’s followed” and Laird stresses that Jimenez deserves to go through that process.

UPDATE:

Apparently, this whole idea that the maximum suspension can only be one game is not true -- according to CFL chief operating officer Michael Copeland. Copeland really couldn't go into it, because there is still the possibility of an appeal, but he said, "there is nothing like that."

The length of a suspension is the commissioner's choice, but Copeland said there were several mitigating factors. He talked about the fact they lost the A.J. Gass appeal and that there isn't precedence for heavy suspensions in the past.

I'm leaving the rest of the column as is, because it only makes the situation worse. Make new precedence. If anything called for a severe penalty, this is it. If Chris Walby, Khari Jones, Greg Frers, Daved Benefield and Gass himself -- who all saw the video -- can say it was among the worst things they've seen, that's good enough for me.

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There were no games played today. No franchise folded. No announcement was made about the NFL coming to Toronto.

But, this is one of the lowest moments in CFL history.

For Jason Jimenez to receive just a one-game suspension for crippling Anthony Gargiulo is an absolute disgrace.

Weeks ago, when The Globe and Mail first reported that the Buffalo Bills were considering a move to Toronto, the story was met with condescension and laughter.

It came from other media. It came from (mostly West) teams in the CFL. It came from hard-core Canadian football fans. It came from everywhere. No way. Not a chance. Or, even more absurdly, “Bring it on!”

Now that the Bills are just awaiting a rubber stamp that will allow them to play one exhibition and one regular-season game per year in Toronto, apologies are coming in from everywhere. And, the people who should be apologized to the most are the Argonauts’ owners, David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski.

This is about Buffalo. This is the NFL's warning to that city.

In case you missed it, the Bills began seeking approval this week to play a pre-season game in Toronto next year, followed by a regular-season game the following season. Those moves would help the small-market club expand its fan base and pull in more dollars to better compete with wealthier teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins.

People in Buffalo are worried this could be the first step toward a permanent move to Toronto, and with sports-savvy businessmen like Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum expressing interest, there is the will and the money to move the Bills. But the NFL would prefer to stay.

Now, it's telling Buffalo to prove it deserves to.

Remember all of two weeks ago when Steve Downie was suspended? The NHL patted itself on the back, satisfied it had served notice that this was a new day in discipline. Deliver that kind of cheap shot and you will be punished severely.

Guess the message wasn’t well-received.

Now, it’s not Colin Campbell’s fault that Jesse Boulerice ignored whatever intelligence exists in his body to crosscheck Ryan Kesler in the face. But this act of idiocy should remind the NHL’s Doctor of Discipline that even if you suspend one player, a team can find someone else to do something three times as stupid.

Campbell should suspend Boulerice for the rest of the season, and nobody would be surprised or disappointed if that happens. But, if you really want to stop this – and judging from player reaction to both incidents, they do – there is a simple way to do it.

Start penalizing the teams.

I can’t remember the date, but I remember the game: Chicago 2, Toronto 2 att Maple Leaf Gardens. Reg Kerr scored both Blackhawk goals. I was still young, and, at that point, a Maple Leaf fan. But that night my allegiance changed.

That memory came flooding back to me this morning when I heard about Bill Wirtz’s death.

The question is: Will things get any better?

Damon Allen wants to make one thing very clear:

“To say that I don’t appreciate Canada, that’s not true... I would never do that. This is where I live. I’m a Canadian.”

Allen was reacting to this column posted Friday. His wife, Desiree, saw it and called him, upset. Allen called me after she read it to him over the phone.

“I want to understand why you would write that I don’t appreciate Canada,” he said. “Because I am not that person.”