Golden Fox

Another 4 games coming up this weekend, including the Battle of Ontario on Friday night. The guys on the post-Ottawa podcast seemed far more upbeat on the Argos' performance than I was, and reading 3 Down Nation ahead of this week, they seem to be in my camp and have a few choice quotes: "This is a matchup where the winner will get to pretend they’re close to the Alouettes for a week based on the standings. It has been an ugly start to the season for both clubs." "Toronto’s defence isn’t what we would call “good” right now" "Lost in Slywka’s heroics last week was the fact that Toronto didn’t actually play very well at all." "Arbuckle has looked better these past two weeks, but give me Bo Levi Mitchell over his former backup." There is no favourite on the line, but that's not stopping 9 of their 10 writers picking the Ti-Cats, so @spacemunky and @Jattdogg likely to be getting early bragging rights! I'll be watching delayed during Saturday so that will be my excuse if I seem to be ignoring any jibes coming my way during the game!

My Giants have imploded since the trade as well. 1 win in 6 games last week vs Marlins and White Sox, and followed that up with a loss to Arizona yesterday, so refusing to look at the standings as don't need to know how far back of the Dodgers we are now!

Isn't this just bragging about turning supporters into customers? Good riddance.

Incredible from Derek Slywka - a 105 fumble return, and then a 120 missed field goal return! In the same game! That pretty much got the win single handedly, as absolutely anaemic offence again - 3rd week out of 4 with only 1 offensive TD - how on earth was Nick Arbuckle MVP of the Grey Cup last year?

Yes - as the new resident Argos fan on the board, I can confirm its mainly been injuries! They did lose quite a few players in free agency, but are down their best player in each phase: QB Chad Kelly, LB McManis and returner Janarian Grant. They haven't helped themselves either, with a couple of close losses in the last 2 games, and some bonheaded penalties and 11 men on the field on a KO return last week sparked a big outburst from the coach. But not time to panic yet, as its a long season, players are due to come back, and they only need to finish 2nd in the East to qualify for the playoffs. But with Ottawa last week and Hamilton this week picking up big wins, it will start looking an uphill struggle if they go to 0-4 against the RedBlacks tomorrow night. Not quite must win yet, but I've been really enjoying following the sport, and would rather not keep waiting for my first CFL win as a fan! Especially as this was meant to cheer me up after the debacle of Leicester's season.

Away = smart and in traditional away colours. White or yellow or black with blue sash. None of this pink or mint nonsense.

Proper Leicester mash-up kit that is... Tigers colours right down to the double-width green, and a running fox badge!

Accounting standards are pretty clear that you have to recognise a liability when you meet the criteria "the entity has an obligation at the reporting date as a result of a past event, it is probable that the entity will be required to transfer economic benefits in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be estimated reliably." Whether the official termination is dated 27th June or 1st July, the event is the club issuing the press release stating the contract has been terminated. Therefore, the timing of the actual document might affect whether the cost goes in the accounts as an accrual rather than a payment, but the fact remains it is a cost in the accounts to the end of June '25. There may be some arguments about adjusting costs into different periods from the statutory accounts for PSR calculations, but I can't see any way the club would get away with that. My feeling is that they have run their calculations for the year to June '25 and have decided to put this cost in '24-'25 after all. Whether this is to breach all in 1 go and leave '25-'26 clear, or whether they have juggled enough to put the cost through is the big question, but I do think this decision has been made based on having as much information as possible as to what the June '25 results will be.

I'm loving this thread. Now up to 222 pages, and destined to become an all-time Foxestalk classic. How it started: How it's going: All on a hypothetical "if RVN goes" and having gone round and round in circles on Martin, Rohl and Dyche, we are still none the wiser if he is even going!

That's one of my biggest takeaways after 3 weeks, is how many empty seats there are. So different from the NFL. The Stampeders game was played in torrential rain in an outdoor stadium, so there was an excuse for it to be virtually deserted & from what I can tell, the Argos do a Filbert Street and load up one side of the stadium, which also happens to be where the cameras are, which makes it look worse than it is... but a lot of them aren't massive stadiums to begin with. I guess hockey is king (particularly as the Stanley Cup has had a Canadian team in and just finished), and the CFL is a pretty niche sport, but maybe it ramps up as the season goes on & the game get more important?

First 0-3 start since 2019, once more defeat will match the worst start to a defence of the Grey Cup, and what a way to lose - down 2 scores for a lot of the game, but good comeback and up go right down the field with a TD and 2 point conversion to tie the scores with seconds left... to then only line up with 11 players on the kick-off and give up a kick off return! But massive injury list - best offensive player in QB Chad Kelly out, best defensive player in LB McManis out and best Special teams player in returner Janarian Grant out (yes, I've found a good Argos podcast to tune into between games) - so it was a really impressive performance to hang in there and compete to (nearly) the end. Early days and far from out of the playoff race in the East with Hamilton and Ottawa 0-2, and with most of the injured players set to come back at some point, so big picture isn't as dire as it seems.

Not just one team, but 2. Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks (formerly Eskimos until they recently changed the name as part of the move away from naming teams after other cultures)... but make sure you do pick a side, as there is a big rivalry between the 2 cities known as The Battle of Alberta. Edmonton has a bye this week, but Calgary are playing tonight at 9pm - free on https://www.cfl.ca/plus/

My evening's entertainment is watching last night's game: the Blue Bomber's opening game v's BC. At half time now & has been some big plays, including my new favourite play: a single! The blue and gold is bringing back good memories of watching the London Monarchs & its easy to dislike BC after the years of NHL battles when the Canucks were in the same NHL division as my Sharks, so go Bombers! Its available for 48 hours after the game, but is just the warm up for tomorrow's Argos game, which starts at 9pm UK time, so will be on live. I think I must have been starved of good live sport recently as really looking forward to it!!!

Getting a sore head just looking at that

Have just checked their roster, and they are overloaded with Js... They have 2 Johns, 2 Jarrets, a Jake, a Jonathan, a Jeremiah, a Jordan, a Jyran and of course, there is a Janarlon. They even have a Dejon. But no Jason. Roster As far as ex-players, it didn't take much digging to find a Jason Shivers played for them from 2007-2009, so does that mean you'll be tuning in to watch the Argos play the Stamps on Saturday night???

That's it... if I'm already getting abuse, I've got to own it now! My best man actually lives in Ottawa now, and has been talking up the Redblacks, so I'm sure I'll get abuse from him as well, but the Redbacks is such a lame name. It feels weird supporting the Big City team, but not as weird as supporting a team from a place I've never been to and would have no idea where it was without looking on a map. Besides, years after my Houston Oilers broke my heart, it feels good to support a team on the gridiron in light blue again! Maybe I'll go the whole hog and get an Argos shirt. They look good with the oar effect and "Argos" stamped across the front, so I can wear it out and about looking like I've been working in a catalogue shop...

Any fans of the CFL on here??? (I think I've seen posts by @Jattdogg & @spacemunky on the NFL thread, but think it needs its own topic). Due to the the Canadian winters, the season starts at this time of year, and finishes in the autumn, so gives a bit of out of season football fix. It was week 1 last weekend, and after doing some digging, found that you can watch every game in the UK on CFL+ (https://www.cfl.ca/plus/) & it is available for 48 hours afterwards, and its absolutely free to watch! I'd never seen any before, but watched a couple of games over the weekend - it is a different sport from the NFL and does have a very different feel - longer and wider pitch, 3 downs rather than 4, more men in motion pre-snap, teams able to recover their own ball on kicks, so as a result, there is more throwing, more space, and it is more athletic and less structured than the NFL (a bit closer to its rugby origins). So a bit weird at first, but the more I watched, the more I got it. There are only 9 teams, so only 4 games a week - which makes a long season as they play 18 games with 3 byes, but will make it a lot easier to dip in and out of than the NFL where each week and the whole season can feel like an onslaught! Having been to Toronto & Calgary & been to MLB/NHL games while there, I seem mainly find myself rooting for the Argonauts with a soft spot for the Stampeders in the West, but as the season goes on, I'm sure I'll get more invested and harden those allegiances.

Bryan Hamilton?

That is one of the most dreadful passages of football I've ever seen. Every time they got near an opposing player, they shat themselves and passed it backwards. Over 50 passes doing nothing, just to then show it could be done in 3 or 4 if they actually attacked. They should be embarrassed by that record - not celebrating it. How our board could think our fans want that being drilled into our players shows how out of touch they continue to be.

How has a positive thread already come to this??

To be fair, it is the only post this year to have used the phrase"football is a high-noise, low sample decision environment where intuitive improvisation often beats system logic."

Multiple statues. Make them all and then just put them up in the middle of the night. One of him doing Eagle celebration outside Selhurst Park. One of him kicking a corner flag outside Bramall Lane. One of him doing a backheel somewhere in Germany. And about 10 of him outside the Hawthorns!

No mention for our only player to lift a major international trophy?? (in the worst column... Bless him!)

I have zero confidence in our ability to keep within the PSR rules. Our management have a track record of failing abysmally, and we have the same people in the same roles. Pleasr Top just sack Rudkin and get someone competent and experienced in.

Time for a new picture... To me, this screams "it is what it is" but I'll open the floor up...