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I always viewed myself as more of a wide receiver in terms of being in shape. But after this past year I look more like an o-lineman than Chad Owens. I’m just a dude that needs to hit the gym and to put that cheesecake down. Well this is the time of year where we believe that we can improve who we are. New Year’s Eve is that special time of year where optimism meets delusion and eventual disappointment when, by the end of January, we consider two bite brownies as a more than acceptable appetizer. But considering I started this column by saying I viewed myself more as a “wide receiver” clearly I am proficient at lying to myself. So with that in mind here are my 15 CFL related New Year’s Resolutions that I totally am going to stick to! Actually a bunch of these are fairly simple ones while others are just ridiculous.
1. One of the main resolutions people strive for is to “manage stress”. With that in mind I will accept the fact that Toronto will go through three full depth charts worth of wide outs, running backs, slot receivers, tailbacks, fullbacks, tight ends, split ends and just about any other position where catching the ball is part of the job description.
2. I will drink less alcohol. That’s never going to happen. Instead I resolve to celebrate the glorious return of the Beer Snake! That’s right the Blue Bombers are bringing back the beer snake in two sections at Canad Inns Stadium! Very exciting news.
3. Speaking of the Blue Bombers I promise not to get sucked in early if Winnipeg gets out to a fast start. Was I drawn in last season because of my love of Mike O’Shea and the promise of Drew Willy? Yes, yes I did. Lesson learned. I’ll wait till at least Labour Day.
4. But I am a sucker for Travis Lulay and the Lions so I promise to go overboard about the hiring of Jeff Tedford as the team’s new Head Coach. Come on this is an easy story line to fall for. A former player and coach in the CFL with a reputation as a Quarterback Whisperer will resurrect the career of Lulay. Yes I understand he doesn’t have the power to keep Lulay healthy for an entire season. I don’t care, I’m blindly supporting the Lions to start the year. 
5. I super duper resolve to not make fun of Henry Burris’ age anymore. The guy could not be more of a gentleman off the field and wasn’t bad considering we share the same age and he didn’t exactly have a roster stacked with All-Stars. Of course, Burris will be 40 by the time the 2015 season rolls around so this resolution will be a hard one.
6. Here’s a simple resolution for any and all football fans for 2015: I promise to not lord over about how much better my particular brand of football is versus yours. The game is great in all its different incarnations.
7. I will do my best to not go nuts during this up coming free agency period. That said I think SJ Green, Weston Dressler, Ben Heenan, and Brett Jones would all look great in double blue.
8. I will not assume that Johnny Manziel will be good in the CFL. The idea that he easily could play at a high level in Canada not only show a lack of understanding of the game but is kind of insulting and misguided.
9. Adding to my above resolution I also promise to not start projecting collegiate quarterback who have impressive Bowl games as guaranteed CFL All-Stars. The list of famous NCAA passers who never made it even as quality backup is a long one.
10. I’ve noticed that so many resolutions are about getting a better education. Well I think we all know the chances of that happening are about the same as Hamilton fans agreeing the refs made the right call. How about I just start rooting for Marco Iannuzzi who went to Harvard? If I can’t be smart I may as well root for someone who is.
11. I whole heartedly resolve to continue to insert my bias for Toronto. Ha! I bet you thought I would go the other way! Nope. There are plenty of smart, journalistically relevant writers on this staff who can wisely place their biases to the side. I don’t ever want to stop being a fan. Besides I find it more fun to have a rooting interest and many of you find it amusing to take digs at me when Toronto loses. This is a win/win resolution.
12. I will give Montreal the benefit of the doubt and focus on who they were in the second half of the season and chalk up the first half to natural growing pains that come with finding a new starting quarterback.
13. I would like to say that I will attempt to write shorter columns that have fewer tangents and spelling/grammar mistakes but I think we all know that isn’t going to happen. But I will do my best to keep it under 2600 words which is where my Christmas movie/CFL team article came in around..
14. I will try to focus on the positive more in 2015. Look it’s easy to write about mistakes. Failure is far too often more compelling than success. We in the media fall into the trap of highlighting the negative. I’ll try to be better in 2015. In fact I’ll start right now with a mini roll call of players who have worked hard to help their community:
a) In case you missed it Calgary’s Randy Chevrier won the 2014 Tom Pate Memorial Award. Randy works with the Canadian Cancer Society board and has been actively involved in Anti-Bullying campaigns and regularly visits hospitals.
b) J.R. LaRose from the B.C. Lions (currently a free agent) is an ardent supporter of First Nations issues and speaks out on their behalf.
c) Montreal’s Kyries Hebert has a foundation called Ky Cares that is devoted to helping people with cancer.
I could go on but Resolution 13 is for me to try and edit myself.
15. Finally all those goofy lists have people proclaiming they will travel more in 2015. Well I didn’t make it to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton or TD Place in Ottawa this past season. I gotta put some kilometres on my car and check out what the rest of Ontario has to offer.
I hope 2014 was a good year and even more I hope 2015 is a better one. Please feel free to add your CFL related resolutions. Happy New Year’s Eve!
