Former CFL coach Don Matthews could be a guest at Argos camp this year.
I hear Don Matthews may not be finished coaching in the CFL just yet. The Argonauts, I’m told, have asked or are about to ask The Miserable One to serve as a coach at their training camp. Matthews is on friendly terms with Michael Clemons and Adam Rita, Toronto’s head coach and general manager, respectively. No coach in CFL history has more victories than Matthews but he wore out his welcome last season in Montreal and it’s unlikely that the Alouettes or any other club will offer to rehire him.
I understand Calgarian Chris Reitsma is the source of considerable concern at the Seattle Mariners’ training camp. The 29-year-old reliever was guaranteed a one-year contract worth $1.35-million US despite season-ending arm surgery while with the Atlanta Braves last July but has done nothing with the M’s to indicate that he’ll earn his stipend. The M’s want Reitsma as their set-up man, but, at this point, he’s a work in progress, at best.
• I think Pete Rose should be forgiven and immediately inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. So he wagered on his team as a manager. Big deal. A lot of us have had gambling problems. Rose has paid enough.
• I believe Philadelphia teams are better off without superstars. I mean, the Phillies improved after they traded Bobby Abreu. The Eagles got better after Donovan McNabb was injured. The 76ers became more competitive once they discarded Allen Iverson and Chris Webber. And even the Flyers are better now after trading Peter Forsberg. Weird, eh?
• I know Eddie Shack will surface at the next reunion of the 1967 Maple Leafs, the most recent Stanley Cup champions from Toronto. Shack was conspicuous by his absence from the reunion of the ’67 Leafs at the Air Canada Centre recently, but I’m told that probably had something to do with the fuss created at that time by the re-emergence of the enigmatic Dave Keon. I hear Shack loathes Keon and vice-versa. Anyway, Keon won’t be at the next reunion, and neither will George Armstrong, but just about every other living member of that team will be at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. For details, log onto
