the 4th star

Act 1
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers ask linebacker Barrin Simpson to grab some pine for a few plays, as they want to rotate younger guys in and out of his position while he can rest his turf toe — an *injury* he’s fought through all year.

Act 2
Simpson balks at the suggestion, feeling that he is at the top of his game and the better option to help the club win, and asks the team if both parties can explore a trade. No immediate progress is made on that front, so the club decides to sit Simpson for the Banjo Bowl. That turf toe? Yeah, it’s an *injury* now. He can’t go.

Act 3
During the Banjo Beatdown, before or after — whenever, the club decides to place Simpson on the nine-game injury reserve list, effectively ending his chance to play this season. That turf toe? It looks like it’s going to be a major problem for the player (who had been playing through it). The Bombers say there were no trade offers worth exploring and by shifting what’s left of Simpson’s $120,000 salary over to the nine-game holding pattern, the club saves itself that financial hit on the salary cap. Oh yeah, Simpson still gets his money. He won’t play, though, but according to the team, he’s hurt, remember? That turf toe *injury* is painful.

Act 4
Simpson balks again, saying that he has to sign off on being placed in that nine-game injury holding pattern. He hires an agent to sort out the legal mumbo-jumbo for him, the Bombers say they’re in the right to make the move, and whatever happens, happens. Other CFL teams grumble about the move, too, saying they’ve had to eat salary in a similar situation. They say the Bombers have discovered no loophole whatsoever, and are just flat-out breaking the rules. The case goes before the CFL board of governors next week. No word on the turf toe *injury* at this time.

Act 5
The shenanigans continue when it’s revealed the Bombers asked Simpson, turf toe *injury* and all, Tuesday night if he would play in Montreal this weekend. Huh? Guess he’s not hurt. That’s weird. What’s he doing on nine-game injured reserve? Of course, with nothing but embers left from all the damage that’s been done between player and team, Simpson declines.

Act 6
Someone starts a Facebook group.

Recap
1. The Blue Bombers put Simpson on the nine-game INJURY list on Sunday.
2. Two days later they ask him if he wants to play.
3. No dice, so he remains on the nine-game injury list, his status pending review from the league.

Epilogue
When you break it down like that it makes a lot of sense. Despite the optics of this bizarre situation, the news that the case was going to be dragged out until next week wasn’t the worst for Blue Bombers fans today. No, somehow this is a little more discouraging — and you only have to look at the lead.

Casey Bramlet may become the fifth quarterback to play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this season when they visit the league-leading Montreal Alouettes on Sunday.

Twitter?

Never heard of it.

This past summer has been all about the money. There was the unrestricted free agent *frenzy.* That was around the same time the Phoenix Coyotes financial problems came into the spotlight, when BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie threw his two cents into the fray and the league kept talking out of both sides of its mouth. You know, the place they seem reluctant to put their money in.

Screwed up contracts — both legitimate Chicago fuck-ups and the over-spending variety — became commonplace, and some players decided to gamble on the bigger payday in Russia. Terms like “escrow” and “cap numbers” came to be a part of the conversation, too. Then there was even more change — and even less sense — from Patrick Kane, who allegedly tag-teamed a Buffalo cab driver with his cousin over 20 cents.

It seems talk of climbing out of this recession has put money on the mind and our mind on the money, so in the spirit of cash, let’s take a look at all 21 teams 30 teams as training camps get set to fire up this month. Like most financial ventures, some teams will offer a greater return than others.

MINNESOTA WILD

Northwest Division
2008-09 record: 40-33-9, third in the division, ninth in the conference
Cap space: $4.092 million

Tip sheet:
The Chuck Fletcher (GM) and Todd Richards (head coach) era begins with the Wild not bringing back Marian Goborik and losing out on the Saku Koivu sweepstakes…Martin Havlat takes over for Gaborik, giving Wild fans another series of seasons to wonder when their sniper will be ready to return to the line-up…Hockey has proven to be a nice distraction from the usual Vikings suckage and regular late-season flame-out.

Fun fact:
The colours on the Wild jerseys are white, iron range red, forest green, Minnesota wheat, and harvest gold. They do not have candy hearts on them.

You should really invest in this club because…
Mikko Koivu. From Wikipedia: Koivu is known to be “extremely competitive.”

The bottom will fall out with…
Their defence. Kim Johnsson and Brent Burns are good, but after that there’s a bit of a drop-off. Remember, there’s not Jacques Lemaire choke-down system anymore. The Wild may not have the horses back there.

Key acquisition:
Havlat put up career numbers last year with Chicago. If he can stop bitching about how he never wanted to leave the Windy City, he might be a productive piece.

Bottom line:
The Wild may not have the horses. Sorry, when a line is that good you have to trot it out there again. Blammo!