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It is midweek leading up to the final game of the 2018 CFL regular season, the final regular-season game of his illustrious coaching career, and Wally Buono knows why I’m calling and what I want to hear.

But when I ask about what this past month has been like in terms of thoughts and reflections, his head simply isn’t there, and he politely, half apologetically, tells me so.

“You guys are trying to make something into what it isn’t … me being gone next year, who really cares?” he said. “We all move on. For me, I’m annoyed because we got our ass kicked last week and now I’ve got to figure out how do I get a team that really is just playing for pride to play against a [Calgary] team that is desperate because they need to win?”

Perhaps it says something about Buono that he’s preparing his team this week as if it’s any other, that the circumstances he’s focused upon have nothing to do with him and everything to do with trying to put his team in the best position to succeed when they go to Hamilton two weeks from now as the playoff crossover team.

But keeping his attention in the right place is a big part of the reason why he’s won more games, more Grey Cups and more division titles than any coach in CFL history.

Think of the things Buono has seen over his nearly 50 years in the CFL, from packed stadiums in Toronto and Montreal during the 1970s, to U.S. expansion in the 1990s to the league on the brink of insolvency, to the modern product that’s found a comfortable, significant place in the sports culture of Canada.

Think of the turnover that’s gone on around Buono in his profession while he’s worked in two cities over 29 years as head coach or general manager.

Twice his teams have missed the playoffs during that span, including last season, after which he announced he would return for one more season as head coach only.

And though the Lions were expected to be also-rans this season, they came together under the leadership of quarterback Travis Lulay, added some key parts along the way and ensured that Buono’s finale will be a playoff game.  

“If you ask me how many games I’ve won, I’m going to say none,” said Buono.” If you ask me how many wins I’ve been a part of, I’m going to say lots.”

Just as Buono shies away from accolades and tributes to his success, he’s also shy about discussing the fact he did all of this as a Canadian in a game where homegrown coaches were largely excluded from head coaching searches.

In fact, before Buono the only Canadians to serve as head coaches in the CFL’s modern era were Cal Murphy and Russ Jackson.

“I never saw myself as a Canadian,” he said. “My biggest irritant, as a player, I used to dislike the outstanding Canadian award ... and I never looked at myself as a Canadian coach.”

I remind him of the fact that there have been so many more Canadian head coaches since he got his opportunity, that it’s an unavoidable conclusion that he changed the career path for those who came behind him.

Finally, he relents.

“If you can leave a legacy of good … if I helped people of Canadian origin be allowed an opportunity I was allowed because of my success, then I feel I’ve left the CFL better than it was before I got into it.”

Football is of course not just heroes and championships, friendships and bonds. It’s a brutal business that forces you to make decisions that change people’s lives and challenge their own self-confidence.

How did Buono deal with the difficult side of professional football?

“You always deal with the harshness of it” said Buono. “When you stop struggling with it you need to move on. Men that play for you are not cars that get old and get junked, but that’s how we treat them. But they are people who have feelings and families and obligations. But unfortunately, our business doesn’t allow you to be sentimental. Our business doesn’t allow you to be loyal.”

It wasn’t loyalty that kept Buono employed in Canadian football for nearly half a century. One of the things that kept him ahead was his innate sense of when a player’s best days were behind him and he had begun what could be a fast or slow decline.

Buono prided himself on seeing it first, the same instinct that is now telling him that at age 68, it’s time to go.

“My motto is that when the fans know your time is up and you haven’t done something about it, it’s too late,” Buono said. “You need to do it before the fans and the media think you should be doing it.”

Collaros hit raises legitimate questions about concussion protocol

The hit Saskatchewan’s Zach Collaros took from BC Lions defensive end Odell Willis during the first half of the Riders win over the Lions Saturday night contained every element that should have set off alarm bells with officials and concussion spotters.

It was a late, shoulder-to-shoulder blow where the helmets appeared to come into contact, creating a whiplash effect that sent Collaros to the ground, where he remained for several seconds before coming to his feet.

Collaros then did several knee bends to steady himself, clearly in some form of distress, and yet there was no flag or intervention by a concussion spotter.

Those are two different issues, so let’s address them separately.

First, the on-field officials. There have been far too many instances, both this season and last, where a quarterback has been the victim of a vicious hit after releasing the ball without a flag being thrown.

Since quarterbacks are the most visible players on the field and the league has committed to flagging players who make dangerous hits with their helmets, the only conclusion one can draw is that officials aren’t seeing what’s happening.

It turns out the league reacted to this a few weeks ago, empowering the umpire, who normally just watches for illegal blocks and holding, to also call roughing the passer.

Missing such hits creates a competitive issue when no penalties are assessed. It also creates a safety issue for quarterbacks and is a horrible look for the game at a time where football is under pressure to prove it’s a game that pros – and more importantly kids – can play without putting their brains at risk.

As for the league’s concussion spotters, it’s hard to fathom how someone whose job it is to spot players at risk failed to recognize Collaros’ situation.

By definition, leaving a player in a game who is then subsequently removed demonstrates that a concussion spotter has failed to do their job correctly.

It seems curious that concussion spotters are not actually in the stadiums while games are being played, but instead watch on monitors in Toronto. In the case of the Collaros hit, the TSN camera stayed on him throughout his wobbliness. There should have been no doubt, whether the spotter was in the stadium or seated in a booth in Toronto.

The reaction to what happened – or didn’t happen with Collaros – has been so strong that commissioner Randy Ambrosie issued letters of apology this week to both the fans and his board of governors.

Officials were reminded this week that the standard for calling roughing the passer or protecting other vulnerable players is different than for other penalties and that a flag should be thrown even when they aren’t 100 per cent sure.

Don’t be surprised if the CFL adopts NCAA college football-style rules for ejecting players who target with their heads, or the use of the command centre camera to alert officials when they have missed a blatant roughing the passer call.

The next steps in Halifax

With a successful vote at Tuesday’s Halifax Regional Municipality council meeting, the project to finance and build a multi-purpose stadium that would be home to the CFL’s 10th franchise starts to get serious.

While the vote 15-0 was undoubtedly good news for the league and prospective owners known as Maritime Football Ltd., it’s important to understand that there is no skin in the game yet for the municipal government, beyond assigning its staff to work with the group and the province to try to come up with a financial model that works for everyone. But there is no commitment and no risk.

We’re still at least three to six months away from when council will have to vote to proceed or not, at which time things will begin to get serious.

In the meantime, the league and prospective owners to try to generate momentum by launching a season ticket campaign in Halifax on Nov. 7, a name-the-team contest, and perhaps some announcements tied to Grey Cup week in Edmonton.

Would it surprise anyone if a conditional franchise is awarded to the Maritime Football Ltd. that week? No, it wouldn’t.

But it’s all just optics until the two levels of government decide they are willing to stomach the risks that come with helping finance a stadium.

Riders, Eskimos shatter the quarterback narrative

It’s the most common and arguably lazy kind of football analysis when someone chimes, “It’s all going to come down to quarterback play.”

Not to dispute that quarterbacks are the most important players on the field, but football discussion often makes it sound as if no other element of the game matters beyond which team’s quarterback has a better day.

To that we introduce the narrative around the Edmonton Eskimos missing the playoffs and the Saskatchewan Roughriders winning 12 games and possibly hosting the Western Final. (If Calgary loses this weekend the Riders will finish first in the West Division.)

The Eskimos rank second in passing yards, touchdown passes, completion percentage and yards per pass this season.

The Roughriders have the second fewest passing yards per game this season, the fewest touchdown passes, the league’s worst completion percentage and second worst yards per pass average.