Win some, lose some: The Toronto Bills

Hey, remember that feature I did once before? Well it's back! What's there to debate this time? The Bills have put together an agreement — originally reported months ago, finalized Wednesday — to bring the Buffalo Bills to Toronto to play a total of eight games over the next five years. Five games will be regular season tilts while three will be boring preseason games that matter nothing to anyone except players desperately trying to make the roster or upgrade their depth chart position.

The winners here? Football fans worldwide. This move could be the first in the a long line of steps towards putting a team in Toronto, or an international location. While it's not exactly feasible to put a team in Europe right now, settling a franchise in Canada, or maybe Mexico, would be beneficial to the league — which is always looking to grow the product.

Fans from both Buffalo and Toronto are winners here considering that while Toronto Bills fans won't have to venture south of the border, the Buffalo-natives get to road trip and see their favourite team in a different locale. It's not like Bills season ticket holders are losing out either, they get first dibs at tickets.

The losers here? Something called the CFL (Canadian Football League) which seems to think they would go bankrupt if the NFL invaded their borders. This could actually be a real possibility. If you were a Canadian football fan and watched a severely higher quality game at a stadium where a CFL team plays, you could realize just how crappy the quality of play is in the league. It wouldn't be too shocking if a CFL ticket holder would rather save up and watch a better product than have to sit through an Argonauts-Eskimos game.

Another group of people who might be a loser in this case is the people of Buffalo. It has been stated that after Ralph Wilson passes — sadly, it may not be too far off — that the team will be up for grabs. If the team pulls in a good chunk of money during this experiment, why wouldn't a group of Toronto investors try to take the team up north. We'll have to wait for ol' Ralphie on that one though.

The verdict here: Unless you're living in the city of Buffalo and a die-hard Bills or are a pessimistic CFL enthusiast, the Bills playing in Toronto is a great idea.

Spygate II

So what happens if it turns out to be true that the Patriots cheated in a Super Bowl, specifically their first win against the Rams, you know the one that's drawing comparisons to the one the lost on Sunday to the Giants. Taping a team's final walkthrough, which the Patriots reportedly did, would be the equivalent of looking at another player's hand poker. If there's a worse type of cheating — other than taking a dive — I don't know what it is.

You may also ask what business U.S. Congress has investigating a matter like cheating in the NFL. You can also wonder why they became involved in the MLB-steroids mess of the past while as well. Let's just remember where these leagues play their games: in stadiums that were built in large parts thanks to tax dollars. These tax dollars were alloted by whom now? That's right the government. Basically, when you're playing in somebody else's house, you better abide by house rules and try not to put your feet up on the furniture.

The real question I have about Spygate II is what exactly are they going to investigate? The NFL already requested tapes and notes from New England, said they'd reveal what was on them (and didn't until pressed about it last week) and then destroyed the tapes for no one to ever see again. Why? It makes no sense. It was reveal that the Pats did cheat in at least six games during the 2006 season though, and why has there been nothing done about that?

Also, what did the NFL ask the Pats for? Was it just last year's tapes? If so, then New England can say they complied with the league's orders and commissioner Roger Goodell seriously dropped the ball. The NFL has to disclose what the Patriots had, how they did it, how far they went and when they cheated. It's the only way to not make themselves look like fools and come out looking alright.

As for consequences, If the allegations of cheating that go back to the victory over the Rams (and maybe even before) is true, then Bill Belichick should be suspended from the league for life and SEVERE fines should be laid on the team. It's the only way to go. All of the Patriots records should be tarnished, sullied with asterisks everywhere they belong.

Goodell has gone above and beyond what any previous commissioner has in terms of disciplinary measures to uphold the integrity of the league. If he drops the ball on Spygate II in the same fashion he did with the original, more than a few people will be calling for his ousting. I'll be one.

More and more jinxes

Just thought I’d add a few more things that lost the game for the Patriots, you know, besides their atrocious, uninspired performance on the field.

- Have you ever seen Bill Belichick wear a red hoodie before? Me neither. Why would he change up his style on the biggest night of his season?
- Tom Brady spend time during the week leading up to the Super Bowl getting not one, but two hair cuts by his personal stylist he flew in. Shouldn’t he have been studying some game tape perhaps?
- Both of Bill Belichick’s “girlfriends” were in Arizona during the week. Distractions, distractions.
- Preorders for a book entitled “19-0” went on sale on Amazon.com a week before the Super Bowl. The book was supposed to be about the Patriots’ undefeated season. I hope every skips over the last chapter; the story doesn’t have a happy ending.
- Boston’s mayor already had the Patriots’ Super Bowl parade route planned a week in advance will New York City’s mayor refused to even think about in fear of a jinx.
- And finally, when Elisha Manning and the Giants got the ball and had to travel 86 yards and score a touchdown to win, I claimed to the room: “There is no possible way Eli Manning can drive 86 yards.”

You’re welcome New York but let’s not get our hopes up for a repeat. In fact, people should be flocking to Vegas immediately and putting down their money on, believe it or not, the Washington Redskins. The seasons after the first two Giant Super Bowl wins, the Redskins have taken the title. Remember that.

Lakers rob Grizzlies

Were Memphis held at gun point during the negotiations for Pau Gasol? It seems like they were after handing over the best player to ever play for Memphis to the Los Angeles Lakers. Getting rid of Kwame Brown might actually help the Lakers even more than the arrival of Gasol.

Gasol will form one of the best front court duos in the league with Andrew Bynum when the youngster returns from injury. Gasol is also a great stop-gap until Bynum is cleared to return and is certainly much better than the departed Brown.

When a good player like Lamar Odom is your fourth option on the floor and you have a good tandem of point guards who can distribute the ball as well as score like Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar, you can go far in the NBA, even if you're in the West. The only problem is how well Gasol will integrate into Phil Jackson's triangle offence, but then again, there's a good argument that maybe all Pau really needs is a change of scenery.

Sending Crittendon to Memphis makes no sense on any level as well. Why release your veteran presence third point guard (Damon Stoudemire) and then trade for another point guard when you already have a logjam at the position with young talent (Conley and Lowry)?

The only positives that Memphis can take from this deal is that they should settle into a better lottery slot, they'll have two more future first rounders — even though they be in the 20s range, and they'll have a lot of cap flexibility when the disaster named Kwame comes off the books this summer.

And if you think this deal doesn't actually help the New Jersey Nets, well you might be crazy. With Gasol and Kobe together and sure to reep some havoc on the West, don't think that a team like Dallas won't sweeten their offer for Jason Kidd's services.

Giants win!

There are so many different headlines that could’ve worked here. I could’ve gone with “18-1*” -note the asterisk is still present because of Spygate (which is heating up to white hot levels). I could’ve used “Cheaters never prevail,” because quite frankly, they don’t. Or even an open-handed “Eat it Tom Brady,” which I think he kind of deserves for his smack-talking during press week. But “Giants win!” is more suitable and just a great way of showing the surprise behind what happened.

So Thomas, what did you say about getting credit for being a great offence when Plaxico predicted a 23-17 win and you claimed that you would score more than that? If anything, you threw a jinx down on your team and your own play. And the way you choked at the end of the game, with everything on the line? It was certainly Peyton Manning-esque, which is especially fitting after the comparisons between the two QBs’ record breaking seasons.

Was there even a single omen or jinx going against the Giants? It seemed like the deck was stacked in their favour on that front. Well, except for Eli’s Peyton jinx. So, in no particular order:

Gisele was in the stands to jinx Brady.
The league’s leading passer has never won the Super Bowl.
Strong defence will beat a strong offence.
There’s no roman numeral for zero so the Patriots could not go XIX and zero.
The report that the Patriots cheated in their first Super Bowl win was broken days before the game.
The 2008 Giants were eerily similar to those Pats who beat the heavily-favoured Rams.
Plaxico Burris guaranteed a win. Wasn’t that famous guarantee made in Super Bowl III predicted by a New York player on an underdog team? Broadway Plaxico doesn’t really roll off your tongue though.
And, just for Bill Simmons:
The Ewing Theory potential of Tiki Barber’s retirement was off the chart.

And if Elisha Manning can continue playing like he did throughout the playoffs, he might actually have been worth the first overall pick that San Diego used on him. Is it weird that I still don’t believe he’s a good quarterback even though he just won Super Bowl MVP? What a great story that is too. Peyton and Eli winning back-to-back MVPs is certainly something I never would have thought would happen.

In the end, even though I thought the Patriots would mop the floor with the Giants of New York, I’m glad I was wrong. Now, let’s see some heavy Spygate fallout, congress-stlye. Ban Belichick for life.

Final picks roundup.
The playoffs: 3-5-1
The season: 111-117-10