Ok, So that’s not the most flattering title for the starting quarterback of the B.C Lions for the 2011 CFL season, but it’s certainly true in a sense.

It seems that Lulay has taken quite a shine to social media over the past several weeks, with a Youtube Channel, Twitter profile and Facebook page all popping up online.

Athletes taking to social media to interact with fans is nothing new, but Lulay is stepping it up a notch with a complete social contest running here on his Facebook page.  The contest features some awesome prizes, including an all inclusive Fishing trip courtesy of Oak Bay Marine Group ($1300 value) , as well as Lions autgrapahed merchandise, game tickets, and more!

How To Win

The best part about this contest is that it isn’t difficult to participate in. All you have to do to win is “Like” Travis’ Facebook page (Here) and follow the contest directions to earn points toward the prizes.

I personally enjoy having athletes interact with fans in real time using social media. It is awesome to get thoughts unfiltered from the players you watch week in and week out on the field.

Who is your favorite athlete on Twitter? Facebook? Youtube?

The BC Lions will be trying to get to the Grey Cup on their home turf this season but have a lot of obstacles to overcome. With the loss of the distraction that was Casey Printers and 2 solid QBs in Travis Lulay and Jariuos Jackson fighting for the starting job this year the Leos will have the key components in place to try to make a run for the cup.

If the Lions decide to keep playing musical Quarterbacks then there is no way for Lulay or Jackson to get that chemistry going with the veteran receiving core .

Prediction

9-9 and loses to Calgary in the West Semi

Players to Watch

Offence

Travis Lulay and Jarious Jackson- if one of these QBs can step up and become the starter for the Lions expect that guy to have a good season.

Defense

Davis Sanchez, the BC native, in his second year with the Leos and 11^th in the CFL will be looking to improve on his 37 tackles and 2 picks from a year ago.

Courtesy Montreal Gazette:

Bitterness. Anger. Disappointment. Of all the emotions Paul McCallum displayed on Monday, frustration seemed to be at the very foundation of all of them.

The veteran B.C. Lions kicker seemed genuinely baffled with his current situation following practice at the team’s headquarters in Surrey. A practice in which the 39-year-old’s workload consisted of taking reps behind rookie Sean Whyte, which equalled two field goal attempts at the very end of the 90-minute session. Whyte, 23, inherited the starter’s job on July 10, when McCallum suffered knee and wrist injuries against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

McCallum just came off the nine-game injury list last week.

“If they don’t want me, I don’t want to be here,” said McCallum, who was given permission to seek out a trading partner last week, something the Lions had failed to do in the weeks before. “I want to play, but Wally [Buono's] made up his mind with what he wants to do, so then let’s move on. I don’t want to be here if I’m not going to play. Simple as that. It doesn’t make any sense why I stuck my neck on the line and broke my wrist making a tackle, trying to help the team out, and now I don’t have a job. I can’t make sense of it.”

Buono said the decision to keep Whyte as the team’s starter was strictly a business decision — a case of putting the team before the player. Even if the said player relocated his family here in the off-season after signing a three-year contract extension with the Lions. And even if the said player has done everything asked of him over the past five seasons. Especially, even if the said player is a sound believer in the philosophy that you should never lose your job to injury.

“I’m sorry Paul feels betrayed, but things have changed,” said the Lions general manager and coach, adding he feels he kept up his end of the bargain by giving McCallum the benefit of the doubt coming out of training camp.

“Paul gets paid very well to come out and do a job. At the end of the day, a professional puts aside their emotions — whether they are good bad or indifferent — and does the job.

“It’s not just a simple thing. I understand how he feels and can appreciate how he feels, but be a team guy,” continued Buono. “We all have to sacrifice for the team.”

Which is what you can expect McCallum to do today. Deep down, he knows there’s no way Buono’s going to release him because as a veteran player the Lions would still have to pay the remainder of McCallum’s salary. Outside retirement, there is no other choice for the veteran but to stay and watch Whyte do the kicking.

Unless, of course, McCallum has more money than brains.

“I don’t want him to retire,” said Buono. “But if getting paid doesn’t mean that much to him, if being part of a team doesn’t mean that much to him, then he has that option.”

For his part, Whyte is not taking sides.

“It’s not my issue,” said Whyte. “It’s got nothing to do with me. Paul and I are still friends. He said it in the dressing room earlier, that it’s not my fault. Every athlete wants to play, but Wally’s given me a great opportunity that now and in the long run will make me better player.”

Read more….

Courtesy Montreal Gazette:

Wally Buono is not ready to shake things up just yet.

The B.C. Lions head coach and general manager will likely give Buck Pierce the start Friday against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, not newly acquired pivot Casey Printers.

“That would be exciting, wouldn’t it?” Buono said, chuckling at the suggestion that Printers should get the starting call next game. “I don’t believe in 21/2 days of work (51/2 if you count this week’s preparation) that Casey’s ready. He wasn’t brought in to save this team.

“Right now, he’s still trying to learn the offence,” Buono added. “It would not be fair to Casey to put him in a situation where he really doesn’t have much chance to succeed. That’s probably what happened to him in his past. And it was a tremendous detriment to his team. We’re not in the business of doing that. It’s not fair to him, it’s not fair to the players, it’s not even fair to the fans.”

The Lions added Printers for insurance after Jarious Jackson was injured and with Pierce dealing with nagging hurts.

In July, after the Lions were humiliated in a 48-10 home loss to the Calgary Stampeders, Lions owner David Braley suggested the team could bring in Printers as a quick fix, then backtracked on that thought in an interview with Team 1040 radio.

“That would be a terrible mistake at this point,” Braley told the radio station. “Casey Printers selling tickets? He did that very well in Hamilton, I guess, for no games. He didn’t perform very well. I don’t think he has a big enough upside, quite frankly.”

Buono, however, said that the Lions owner has faith in his decisions and Braley’s personal opinions aren’t necessarily reflective of the football operations department.

“If there were no injuries to the quarterbacks, we probably wouldn’t have made a change (signing Printers), period,” Buono said. “It made us do something we had to do — protect ourselves. For some reason, we seem to be the only team that gets nicked up (at quarterback). Right now, I don’t know if there’s any other team (with two ailing QBs).”

Buono implied he was satisfied with Pierce’s performance in Friday’s 27-18 loss to Calgary. Despite painfully sore ribs, Pierce threw for 230 yards and a touchdown, although one throw ended up in the hands of Stampeders defender Keon Raymond at a key juncture. Overall, Pierce showed “progress,” Buono said. “He moved well and he had some good throws.”

Those don’t sound like the words of a coach contemplating a change. If fact, if anybody displaces Pierce as the Lions starter, it could be Jackson, Buono suggested. Jackson has missed the past two games with a bruised or slightly torn supraspinatus tendon (one of four rotator cuff tendons that enclose the shoulder), although he did accompany the team to Calgary in an advisory role.

Jackson was supposed to be out from three to five weeks, but Buono suggested his progress is ahead of schedule.

“Who will start (against Saskatchewan)?” Buono said. “I don’t know. It all depends on Jarious’s status. He could be much improved, or he may need another week.”

Read more….

Courtesy Calgary Herald:

Casey Printers arrived in Vancouver just before midnight Monday, timing that seemed appropriate given the current state of his career.

Lions staffers were dispatched to pick him up at the airport when he arrived from his home in Houston, Tex., and there was no expectation before they left Camp Surrey that the quarterback who needed a ride would be wearing the white robes and rose-coloured glasses of a celebrity swami.

The expectation outside the CFL team is different, however, with an element of the fan base expecting Printers to immediately alter the balance of power in the West Division and quickly shove aside the four other QBs on the roster.

The truth is, however, the 28-year-old agreed Monday to sign a practice-roster agreement, a deal that by rule can only be worth a maximum $2,276 a week.

He likely won’t travel with the Lions when they face the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, GM/coach Wally Buono said. And it will be a few weeks until Printers will even be in pristine football shape, although between stints as a motivational speaker at home he has been running on a daily basis.

What the Lions wanted to know more than anything was whether the Printers who’ll be at work today is different from the one who left after the 2005 season, when his career began a downward spiral.

Elated that a team gave him another chance, Printers began to make his case on a conference call. He wasn’t humble. He wasn’t contrite. But he did sound different.

“Over the last seven or eight months I’ve tried to master the idea of what a quarterback is all about,” he said. “I’ve been a lab, so to speak, trying to figure things out; what does a quarterback do, what does he say, how does he handle things? “Have I changed? We’ll see. But it’s not about me. It’s about the team. We’re fast-forwarding to today. I’m going to go in there and do my one-twelfth, if I get on the field. A lot of people are going to come at me a lot of different ways and try to get me to say a lot of different things. That’s water under the bridge.” Job One for Printers will be to mesh with the four other pivots, who were summoned to meet Buono after the club announced the signing during practice.

Buck Pierce took part in practice Monday after X-rays on suspected bruised ribs were negative, and Buono said he expected him to start against Calgary. But Pierce admitted he still was sore, perhaps in more ways than one.

“Is it [the Lions'] place to explain [the signing] to us a little? I think so,” said Pierce.

“At the beginning of the year Wally did mention if me or Jarious [Jackson] was to get hurt we don’t have a lot of experience behind us. It’s a smart move.” It’s also a move that could shape the quarterbacking roster through the start of next season. The club agreed to terms on a minimum one-year-plus-option contract that would be activated should Printers be moved to the 46-man roster, though there is every belief that deal would be rewritten.

Whether any active roster contract is used, however, remains to be seen. Buono is still hopeful the small tear in Jackson’s right rotator cuff will not require surgery, one reason the Lions haven’t yet exchanged him for kicker Paul McCallum, who is eligible to come off the nine-game injured list.

The coach also gave passing grades when asked to assess the 18-month development of third-string quarterback Zac Champion, whose roster spot’s the most imperiled.

He and Travis Lulay hadn’t even graduated college in ’04, when Printers won the CFL’s most outstanding player award. Only a handful of ’05 Lions remain on the active roster.

Geroy Simon, a locker-room ally among the holdovers, said: “The new guys … all they’ll hear are the good things. He’s going to be good for the locker room.” No team in organized football had interest in Printers in the months after he was cut by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, yet at no point did he think his career was over.

“I was a young man when I was back in B.C.,” Printers said. “I’ve gone through a lot since then. I’ve seen a lot, been around a lot, heard a lot and certainly grown.” The first chance to measure that growth comes this morning at practice.

Read more….

Courtesy TSN.ca:

The BC Lions have offered a practice roster spot to former Lion and 2004 Most Outstanding Player winner Casey Printers, reports CKNW radio.

“Casey is coming in like anybody else that we are bringing in right now,” Lions head coach Wally Buono told CKNW Radio. “We are just bringing him in to evaluate him, to see how he could be integrated into our system. I think if anyone goes beyond that they are being premature in their process.”

Printers last saw action in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last season.

In the 10 games that he played with Hamilton, Printers had a 55.6 completion percentage, and threw for 1693 yards. Unfortunately, he only threw for five touchdowns, but was intercepted 10 times.

Read more….

Courtesy Globe and Mail:

Wally Buono is known as a tough, no-nonsense football coach, someone who is loath to show emotion or weakness on the field.

But after recording his 232nd career victory on Saturday, Buono established a new CFL mark for coaches, and was reduced to tears and mush.

The B.C. Lions general manager and head coach began crying during an on-field interview with TSN, when his thoughts turned to his mother, who is afflicted with Alzheimer’s and lives in a Montreal nursing home. Then, after addressing the team, Buono was filled with patriotism and sentiment for the CFL, saying the league is important to Canadians and has blessed his life.

“Honestly, all I hope is that the league is around and healthy for a very long time to come,” Buono said after a 23-17 victory over the Toronto Argonauts. “I’ve put a lot of my life into this league, and it’s given a lot to me.”

In the locker room, Lions players presented Buono with a game ball and a photo montage as the B.C. Place Stadium crowd of 27,515 dispersed. Quarterback Buck Pierce said the team wanted Buono to earn the record at home, when his family could be present, and team captain Angus Reid said Buono was quick to credit his players for his 20 years of success on the sidelines. Buono said he would give game balls to his wife, Sande, and his youngest daughter, Christie, who sends him a note after every game.

Buono, 59, is the most tenured coach in the CFL by a wide margin, and owns 200 more victories than his current counterparts.

Don Matthews, who set the record for career victories in 1997, breaking the old mark of 147 wins owned by “The Professor” Frank Clair, was in attendance and predicted that Buono’s record will never be broken. Matthews, who is retired and living in nearby Oregon, made the trip to Vancouver to pass the torch.

“If I’m going to be No. 2, I’d want to be No. 2 to Wally,” Matthews said.

The Lions built a 14-point lead in the first half, but trailed 17-14 midway through the third quarter as the visitors lulled them to sleep.

B.C. scored on their first three possessions, getting a 15-yard field goal and a 68-yard punt single from Sean Whyte, and a one-yard touchdown run from Martell Mallett.

They were helped by two interceptions from halfback Korey Banks, and a botched punt by Toronto. Long snapper Steve Schmidt hiked the ball into up-back Bryan Crawford, handing B.C. excellent field position.

Whyte would add a 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter before the Argos responded with 10 points in one minute.

After a 44-yard field goal from Justin Medlock, rookie safety James Green blocked a Whyte punt. Jordan Younger scooped up the ball and trotted 18 yards to the end zone.

In the third quarter, Toronto converted two third-and-short situations on its first drive. Jamal Robertson capped the march with a one-yard touchdown, giving the Argos a 17-14 lead.

Whyte tied the game, than put B.C. ahead, with field goals of 41 and 32 yards. He kicked another 32-yard field goal with 32 seconds remaining.

Read more…

Courtesy Toronto Star:

The Argonauts arrived here an extra day early in hopes of beating both the B.C. Lions and jet lag.

Based on the way the Argos played in the first quarter last night, they could have saved themselves the extra hotel costs.

The Argos couldn’t overcome a disastrous start and fell 23-17 to the B.C. Lions before 27,515 at B.C. Place. The loss dropped the Argos to 3-8 and temporarily put them in last place in the CFL’s East Division.

The defeat extended the Argos’ winless streak in Vancouver to seven seasons. It also means they’ll soon have to go on a winning streak if they’re to have any hopes of making the playoffs.

With former coach Don Matthews in the building to witness B.C. head coach Wally Buono’s record-breaking 232nd career victory, the Argos failed to show the guy who resigned at the end of last year that he had made the wrong decision.

While they battled valiantly after digging themselves an early hole, they simply didn’t have enough offensive thrust to pull out a victory.

Argo quarterback Cody Pickett had the toughest night of his 2009 season, coughing up his second and third interceptions of the season and getting sacked six times. Most of those were coverage sacks as Pickett struggled to find open receivers all night.

Three of them were courtesy of York University grad Ricky Foley.

Pickett failed to complete 50 per cent of his passes.

The Argos got a strong game from their defence, which kept things close in the first quarter when the Argo offence seemed determined to give the game away.

The defence came through big in the fourth quarter when B.C.’s Ryan Grice-Mullen returned consecutive punts a total of 99 yards with the game tied 17-17.

But the defence held and all B.C. could manage was a 32-yard field goal by Sean Whyte to give the Lions a 20-17 lead.

The Argo offence went back into sputter mode after that and couldn’t make up the difference.

A third-and-seven effort came up two yards short at their own 47 in the final two minutes to kill any hopes of a miracle comeback.

While much of the pre-game talk focused on B.C. quarterback Buck Pierce’s concussion problems, the Argos started the game as if they were the ones with concussion issues.

Pickett was sacked for an 11-yard loss on second down on the game’s opening series, setting the stage for a punt from the Argo 19. But long snapper Steve Schmidt hit upback Bryan Crawford with the snap and Jason Arakgi recovered for the Lions at the Argo eight.

A Kevin Huntley sack forced the Lions to settle for a 15-yard Whyte field goal.

Things didn’t get much better on the next series as Lion defensive back Korey Banks intercepted a Pickett pass and returned it to the Argo 34.

Five plays and one roughing-the-passer penalty later, Martell Mallett ran in from the one for a touchdown and a 10-0 Lions lead barely seven minutes into the game.

Read more…

Courtesy Vancouver Sun:

Never say never. It’s a tried-and-true philosophy adopted by many in the wacky world of the Canadian Football League.

Good thing, too.

Take three months ago at the B.C. Lions training camp, for instance. It was then that Lions general manager and coach Wally Buono open the possibility of throwing quarterback Casey Printers a lifeline should a situation arise where he could possibly help his former team.

Well, it’s situation critical now, with starting quarterback Jarious Jackson lost for up to five weeks with a damaged rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder. Buck Pierce assumes the No. 1 job against the Toronto Argonauts for tonight’s game at BC Place. Travis Lulay and Zac Champion, both unproven at the CFL level, move up the depth chart.

Printers had yet to hear from the Lions on Friday, but seemed intrigued by the possibility of returning to B.C. He said he’s adopting a wait-and-see approach before commenting any further.

“When that opportunity presents itself, I’ll address it at that time,” said Printers, from his home in Houston, Texas. “Right now it’s just rumours as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t heard anything from the Lions and until there’s some facts and I speak to the appropriate people there’s not much I want to say.”

Printers was voted the league’s most outstanding player in 2004, his first of two seasons with the Lions. He left following the 2005 season to sign a free-agent contract with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, but returned north in 2007 when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats signed him to a $500,000 contract. After a disastrous campaign with the TiCats, Printers was given his walking papers and departed the CFL with a legacy of being a disruptive, me-first guy in the dressing room and a one-hit wonder on the field.

“You think all of Casey’s problems were just him? I don’t think they were.” said Buono, on Friday. “I don’t know [if Printers has changed]. I talked to him in the off-season. I’m a big believer in listening, but I’m also a big believer in seeing.”

Pierce was named the Lions starter before training camp, but hasn’t played a down since being suffering concussion-like symptoms the last time the Lions and Argos played on Aug. 14. The 28- year-old pivot has a history of concussions — his most recent being his fifth in the past 11 months — and all it would take is one blow and B.C.’s offence would be left in the hands of a pair of relative rookies for the stretch drive.

Printers, who works as a personal speaker and has a book entitled From High School to the Pros due out soon, politely declined to say much more other than he has the utmost respect for Buono and the Lions as an organization.

“There’s been a lot said in the media about Wally and I — and that stuff is so crazy and bogus,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s unfortunate for Jarious, but again it’s all speculation. Until I’m contacted directly there’s no need for me to say anything else.”

Never say never.

Read more…

Courtesy Globe and Mail:

The B.C. Lions quarterback saga took another twist yesterday when newly anointed starter Jarious Jackson was pronounced out of action for the next three to five weeks.

Jackson, who had started the past three games, suffered a torn rotator cuff to his right (throwing) shoulder in a loss to the Montreal Alouettes on the weekend, and missed practice this week to undergo medical tests.

Buck Pierce, who has suffered two concussions this season, and five in the past 11 months, returns to No.?1 on the CFL team’s depth chart for a home game against the Toronto Argonauts tomorrow.

“The main thing is: don’t take anything unnecessary,” Pierce said yesterday when asked about the risk of more concussions.

“You’re going to take hits, especially as a quarterback in this league. I’m not worried about it, and I’m not thinking about it.”

The game has playoff implications because the Lions (4-6) hold an edge over the Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (both 3-7) for the final postseason berth. It also has record-breaking potential as B.C. general manager and head coach Wally Buono shoots for his 232nd career victory, which would eclipse Don Matthews and set a mark for CFL bosses.

Matthews, who coached both the Argonauts and Lions before retiring last year, lives in nearby Oregon and will be at B.C. Place Stadium to pass the torch. Matthews has called Buono his favourite CFL coach, and last year predicted that his friend’s record will stand forever.

Yesterday, the only torch passing happened under centre, with Buono admitting that the brittle Pierce is once again central to the team’s fortunes in 2009. The five-year veteran was the starter earlier this season, and several times over the past three campaigns, in a seemingly never-ending battle with Jackson.

Pierce has completed 105 of 166 passes for 1,167 yards in seven games this season.

He has thrown nine interceptions to only six touchdown passes.

Pierce, 27, has not played since suffering his most recent concussion on Aug. 14 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. He has been more injury-prone than Jackson, but Buono has often expressed more confidence in Pierce.

“We’re at that critical stage in the season, but Buck has been chomping to go,” Buono said.

“I believe that emotionally, physically [and] psychologically, he’s probably in a very good state.”

Since 2005, the Lions are 17-11-1 when Pierce starts, and 14-7 when Jackson takes the first snap.

Pierce has been the quarterback of record for one win and four losses this year, while Jackson has gone 3-2.

Pierce said he has been working at releasing the ball more quickly, which should theoretically reduce the number of times he gets hit. He also said that he has adapted to a new helmet, which provides more protection to the head and jaw than his previous model.

But the New Mexico State product was quick to add that he cannot play scared.

“If these guys thought I was thinking about my head, or that I was timid and was holding onto the ball, and I wasn’t taking off when I was supposed to, than we would be a little bit worried,” Pierce said. “But I honestly feel okay.”?

Read more….