Wednesday 24 February 2010

Say Hello to Jimenez, Godspeed to Goodspeed

The Ti-Cats continued to make moves today with the signing of former BC Lion Offensive Lineman Jason Jimenez and the release of Offensive Lineman Dan Goodspeed.

I will freely admit to liking Dan Goodspeed. He was great in the community; his and Alex Gauthier's program allowed for hundreds of high school football players to see the Ti-Cats live in 2009. However, his play on the field was not up to the caliber that it should have been. Goodspeed is getting older, and his contract couldn't be justified based on his level of play in 2009. In the past the team would've kept guys like him and Nick Setta - great community leaders, but not the best player they could attract. Releasing them in no way diminishes what they meant to the Hamilton area in terms of volunteer work, but it does signify a shift in philosophy. While it seems cold, the bottom line is winning. Releasing Goodspeed was the correct decision based on his play in 2009.

I will also admit to not knowing much about Jason Jimenez. Let's be honest, no one watches the games to see what the offensive line is doing. Plus, he played in BC, and their games don't usually start until 7:00 or 8:00 PM PST, which is 10:00 or 11:00PM EST, which means I don't get a lot of opportunities to watch the Lions. From what I've read about him he seems like a nasty, borderline-dirty player. That's something that I'm OK with. Having played on the offensive line I know that it's an area of the field that calls for nasty play. I welcome adding a player who straddles the line between nasty and dirty. As long as he can avoid stupid penalties, all should be fine. My hope is that in adding Jimenez to the Tiger-Cats' offensive line we have added that nasty O-Lineman that has been missing since Carl Coulter retired.

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