All-Time Running Backs and Cannon Street

A couple of little pieces of info from the past couple of days as it relates to the Tiger-Cats.

For starters, we have the team releasing the names of the running backs that are up for the all-time team. I was very surprised when the position breakdown came out that fans would be asked to select two running backs. I figured there would only be one and that fans would pick five receivers, not four. But two it is and the list of nominees has been revealed to be Willie Bethea, Troy Davis, Jimmy Edwards, Dave Fleming, Cookie Gilchrist, Andy Hopkins, Gerry McDougall and Ronald Williams.

Troy Davis is a no-brainer. He is the all-time leading rusher in team history, and onws the single-season and single-game records for rushing yards. Davis is arguably the greatest running back in team history and his four-plus year run with the Ti-Cats was one of the few bright spots in a less than stellar era of Tiger-Cat football. He's definitely getting one of my votes.

Where to cast my second vote is where I'm having problems. The remaining seven players all have a compelling case as to why they should be the second running back on the all-time team and my last votes seems to be a back and forth between Jimmy Edwards and Ronald Williams. I never saw Edwards play, but what he did was nothing short of spectacular. Three all-star nods in three seasons, two MOP nods, and 1977 MOP award. Had the guy stayed with the team, he might have gone down as the greatest CFL running back of all time. Williams I did watch and man was he good. He's often forgotten when discussing those early McManus-led teams, but he was an integral part of that offense. My vote is going to flip flop between those two until voting ends.

The second bit of Tiger-Cat news involves, what else, the new stadium. A report given to the city recommends that the area of Cannon Street in front of the new stadium should become a "civic space" and be closed to traffic.

I think that is a great idea, even if it is only put in place on game days. I think turning the area around the stadium into a more pedestrian-friendly one would be wonderful. I hope this comes to fruition in 2014.