Flames get good news, Bombers not feeling blue

But NFL and fans should be really down over situation with Watson and Browns

BULLS OF THE WEEK

After the eight difficult weeks that spanned their elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the hands of their Alberta rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, the loss of Johnny Gaudreau to the Columbus Blue Jackets through free agency and the exit of Matthew Tkachuk in a forced trade to the Florida Panthers, the Calgary Flames and their fan base got some good news this week.

General manager Brad Treliving was able to complete an eight-year, Us$84-million contract extension with Jonathan Huberdeau, the major piece in the Tkachuk deal from two weeks ago. That meant that the one year of team control that came with the trade was now a comfortable long-term commitment to the Flames at an annual value of US$10.5 million. The deal with Huberdeau, a point-per-game player, is the largest contract in Calgary franchise history.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are now unbeaten in nine games and in a league of their own at the top of the CFL standings. There are at least four games separating the defending Grey Cup champions from the team with the second most wins in the nine-team loop in the 5-1 B.C. Lions, who are in second place in the West Division.

Meanwhile, south of the border, the biggest bull market was in Southern California, where by winning the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the San Diego Padres won the Major League Baseball trade deadline earlier this week. Their odds to win the World Series went from 20-1 and 18-1 to 12-1. The Padres are well back of their rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, but they're hoping that a batting lineup with Soto, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. at its heart will be enough to win the wild-card round and then sneak past the Dodgers to ultimately win a first World Series in franchise history, something Soto helped the Washington Nationals (the former Montreal Expos) do in 2019.

BEARS OF THE WEEK

Despite the buzz around the MLB trade deadline and the onset of pennant and wild-card races in August and September, the National Football League took over the sport landscape in the U.S. this week — even though that takeover was merely on the strength of the pre-season, launched Thursday night with the hall of fame game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaguars in Canton, Ohio. Still, the cloud of weirdness around the Deshaun Watson scandal continued to hang over the league, the Cleveland Browns and Watson's own largely guaranteed Us$230-million contract.

The stench was around what looked like tacit manipulation of signing-bonus provisions designed to minimize any lost salary on a six-game suspension levied against Watson.

The media and social media response to the decision by former federal judge Sue Robinson — ruling on the basis of NFL precedent — left the league and the commissioner's office with no choice but to appeal and shoot for a longer suspension with more financial teeth.

At this stage, anything less than a full-year suspension — or something in the range of 12 games with additional financial penalties — will seem like not enough given all the moving parts in this soap opera involving the star quarterback and two dozen massage therapists who accused Watson of inappropriate conduct and, in some cases, outright sexual assault.