Tony Bock/Torstar News Service
Damon Allen, left, and Eric Crouch take part in a throwing drill yesterday at Argonauts practice at the University of Toronto’s Erindale campus in Mississauga. One CFL GM says the Argos are offering Allen up for next to nothing in trade talks.
The most prolific quarterback in CFL history is available in a trade.
And it wouldn’t take much to pick up Damon All en. According to a CFL general manager who requested anonymity, the Argonauts have let it be known through the grapevine that Allen, a 44-year-old grandfather, can be had “for a bag of peanuts.”
The thinking is that, with the regular season opening late this month, the Argos already have decided that Michael Bishop will be their first-stringer and that the two other QBs in Toronto’s camp — Mike McMahon and Eric Crouch — will be the backups.
If Allen isn’t wanted in a trade — and that’s possible because of his age and relatively high salary — he could remain with the Argos as an unofficial coach and emergency backup QB.
• From the fat-chance department comes information that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have secured the CFL rights to NFL quarterback Dante Culpepper, who’s expendable in Miami because the Dolphins have acquired Trent Green… What’s intriguing about this is that, before he established himself as the Kansas City Chiefs’ QB, Green couldn’t make the B.C. Lions’ roster … Here’s why scoring will increase in the CFL in the coming season: Punters who boot balls out of bounds between the 20-yard lines will be penalized 10 yards and ordered to re-kick. It’s a great rule change.
• Strong rumblings in MLB suggest Pat Gillick, former general manager of the Blue Jays, will leave the Philadelphia Phillies’ front office after this season to become the new president and part-owner of the Seattle Mariners … The Detroit Tigers need to beef up their bullpen and plan to trade pitcher Mike Maroth to the Texas Rangers this week for Canadian relief ace Eric Gagne… The worst investment in the major leagues this year appears to be the Blue Jays’ acquisition of Frank Thomas. Scouts whisper that Thomas’ bat speed has decreased significantly. The Jays’ guaranteed The Big Hurt $18.1 million US for this year and next. There’s an option for a third year, worth another $10 million, which vests with 1,000 plate appearances in the first two seasons or 525 in 2008.
•When you have excessive amounts of money, you can have your cake and eat it, too — even if the cake costs $3,750 US.
That’s the price, we’re told, that the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker and his fiancee, actress Eva Longoria, have paid for their wedding cake. The couple will marry in France, but the cake, we hear, will be prepared in the States, shipped to France and accompanied overseas by a paid guard.
No joke.
