Okay, is it possible to discuss the CFL without mentioning how little the players get paid? 

I will try, but not before communicating this fact: The league’s salary cap is $4.35 million per team. In comparison, approximately 120 NHL players, including Scott Gomez, Ollie Jokinen, Shawn Horcoff, Rick Dipietro, Tomas Fleischmann, Paul Martin, Jason Garrison and the ever dangerous Mike Komisarek will each earn more in the 2012-13 season than the payroll of each CFL team. 

Now back to the “other” business at hand: 

This must be a record: Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce has started 58 CFL games. In 22 of these contests (38 percent) he was replaced due to injury. Pierce is hurt again and will be sidelined indefinitely with torn ligaments in his left foot.

One has to admire Pierce’s determination, desire and competitiveness but the Bombers must be close to coming to the same conclusion as the B.C. Lions did; in that these injures are not necessarily his fault, but Pierce is an accident waiting to happen and he cannot be relied upon to lead the team. Perhaps the only compromise is to have Pierce in a back-up role. Either that, or as insensitive as it seems, cut him outright. 

The CFL least?Every team in the CFL East has given up more points than they have scored. West Division teams are 6-2 against the East, a clear signal that once again the West is best. For the record, the Western teams have had a better winning percentage than their Eastern counterparts since 2004.

Down to the wire: Two of the first three games for the B.C. Lions were decided by a field goal or less. The Lions are off to a much better start than the 0-5 record of last year, but they are not playing anywhere close to their championship level of last October and November. I suspect that has more to do with motivation than the coaching change.

From what it is worth department: I am not sure we should read anything into this, but for the record not one B.C. player leads the league in the following statistical categories: passing yards, receiving yards, rushing yards, tackles, interceptions, sacks, special teams tackles, combined return yards, punting average or points scored. 

Wide right: B.C. Lions kicker Paul McCallum has already missed as many field goals this year as he did all of last year. McCallum is 9 for 12 (75 per cent) in 2012 compared to 50 for 53 (94.3 per cent) in 2011.
However, McCallum gets a bit of a break since he is now 42, or about half the age of Jamie Moyer. 

# 

In what is a switch from past practice, there are very few conflicting home dates for the two Prince George junior hockey teams. Of the 27 games that the Spruce Kings play at the Coliseum, only six are at the same time as a Cougars home game at CN Centre. Those dates are Saturday, Oct 27th, Saturday, Nov 10th, Friday, Nov 30th, Saturday, Jan 26th, Friday, Feb 1 and Friday, March 1.

The Cougars schedule is one of their best balanced ones to date but there is certainly a glitch on the Remembrance Day long weekend when they host Edmonton on November 9^th and 10^th and then must be in Vancouver for a 4pm game on Sunday the 11^th. Not surprisingly, the Giants are idle on the 10^th. 

The Spruce Kings will be lost in the shuffle prior to and after Christmas. Following a home date on Sunday, December 9^th, they will not play again in front of their fans until January 18th, a stretch of nearly six weeks. In between, they will play eight straight games on the road. 

Furthermore, I realize junior hockey and CIS basketball have their own set of supporters; however, there is an overlapping of fans of both sports. To this end, only three of the 12 home basketball dates for the UNBC Timberwolves are on a non-local hockey night (Saturday, November 17^th, Thursday, January 17^th and their regular season finale on Saturday, February 16^th).  

Six of the other nine home games at the Northern Sport Centre are on the same night as a Cougars home game. Those dates are November 9^th, 10^th and 16^th, December 1^st and February 8^th and 9^th. The other Timberwolves home games on November 29^th, January 19^th and February 15^th are on the same night as a Spruce Kings home game. 

Ironically, there is only one date the entire season that the Cougars, Spruce Kings and Timberwolves will be at home on the same evening and that will be Saturday, November 10^th. See, isn’t that easy to follow?

From the Quote Rack:  

Curlers Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing announced they are expecting a baby. The news surprised curling fans. A skip sleeping with a second? 

Japanese scientists have perfected a robot that plays ‘rock, paper, scissors’ and always wins. An earlier model manages the Toronto Maple Leafs but rarely wins.
Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com           

 Scientists in Switzerland held a news conference to announce the discovery of the “God Particle”. Here in Canada, Brian Burke announced that contrary to popular belief, it was not found behind his right ear. 

There have been 27 NFL player arrests since Super Bowl. When the Commish starts handing out suspensions for code of conduct breaches, there will be openings for “replacement” players. Look for Jason Kidd to be among the first in line.

Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)

The Calgary Stampeders lost QB Drew Tate for the season when he dislocated his shoulder falling down. Calgary fans were heartened to see the injury come so early in the season so they won’t have to wait until the last week to be out of the playoffs like the Flames.

The CFL is considering adding the Franchise tag to their player’s contracts. It will be similar to the NFL where the player is deemed to be valuable to the franchise, only the CFL will designate one franchise restaurant for players to eat at, thus saving the team money.
Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgaryhttp://smacksport.blogspot.com

Penn State at this point says they will not take down the Joe Paterno statue. Makes a certain amount of sense. The statue isn’t any guiltier than Joe-Pa was of doing nothing to stop Jerry Sandusky.

Penn State has announced plans to renovate its football locker room shower room after the Sandusky scandal. Dynamite would be a good start.

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, Californiawww.leftcoastsportsbabe.com

The U.S. womens Gymnastics team will be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Meanwhile
the Chinese womens gymnastics team will be featured on the cover of the menu at Chuck E. Cheese.

Guinness World Records said 1,001 people clung tight to mattresses in China to set the world record for largest human mattress dominoes. However, the record is being disputed a group of NBA groupies.

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

And in case you missed it: 

Kobe Bryant says he may retire in two years. Apparently by then he will just about be done paying off the jewelry bill for all those forgiveness rings he has had to buy his wife.
Comedy writer Jim Barach  (http://jokesbyjim.blogspot.com/) 

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com