What we learned: Eric Tillman vs. everyone, Hockey Canada vs. the WHL, and the Saskatoon Blades vs. the haters

Two weeks in a row? That must be some kind of record. This week we learned …

That Eric Tillman should probably fire Eric Tillman as his own publicist. New Eskimos GM Ed Hervey lit into his predecessor at his introductory press conference: “The double E stands for Edmonton Eskimos, not the Ego Empire.” The incomparable Terry Jones then referred to Tillman as a “fired egomaniac” and quoted Hervey as saying his relationship with Tillman was non-existent. Esks head coach Kavis Reed hasn’t had much good to say either about the man who helped bring the 2007 Grey Cup to Saskatchewan. Then again getting fired twice in the month before Christmas is pretty harsh so he might just want to wait until the new year on that one.

That the WHL doesn’t produce goal scorers. Canada’s selection committee for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship named just two WHL forwards to the team’s roster, including Regina product JC Lipon of the Kamloops Blazers. Did Colin Smith, Adam Lowry, Michael St. Croix and Hunter Shinkaruk make urine in someone’s cereal this season? Or is this all payback for commissioner Ron Robison’s embarrassing handling of the Great Portland Winterhawks Debacle of 2012?

Alright Dean Molberg, you’re off the hook for wishing death on the Saskatchewan Roughriders

No, wait, you’re still an idiot. Really, you’d have to be to think, even for a second, that there was any context ever in which wishing death upon four players of an opposing sports team would be considered funny. As a great man once said, you can stuff your sorries in a sack.

But at the end of the day (luckily for you) nobody died, so we’re not going to kick you anymore while you’re down. And we actually come bearing good news too: You’re no longer the most embarrassing Saskatchewan Roughriders-related mistake to surface this week.

The girls next door: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Love. Losing.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ fans deserve better than this.

You can dicker back and forth all day about whether or not the Bombers faithful have overtaken the Rider Priders for title of the CFL’s best fans, but you can’t argue succesfully – even after three or seven jager bombs – that football fans in the city that rhymes with, well, nothing are getting a fair shake.

You see the Joe Mack Attack on the Bombers’ dignity is back for at least another year, after the team renewed the embattled GM’s deal last week. Yes the same Joe Mack you all watched dismantle a Grey Cup contender and then fire the coach when the clearly inferior replacements struggled out of the gate. The same Joe Mack who makes jokes about milk and cookies after a 52-0 loss. The same Joe Mack who has 19 regular season wins in three seasons with the Bombers.

The Girls Next Door: Blue Bombers steal another page from Riders playbook

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced some news yesterday so overwhelmingly positive that we’re not even going to be smart asses about it. Except of course for the headline, and probably the next paragraph too. In short, the Bombers posted a net profit of over $2.3 million in 2011. It’s great news for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the CFL in the sense that the future of the league’s best rivalry is only further ensured for many years to come.

Maybe with all that money the Bombers can finally afford to change their name to the Winnipeg Do-Whatever-The-Roughriders-Just-Dids too. Think about it: Saskatchewan won the Grey Cup in 1989, the Bombers followed in 1990. The Riders tried Kevin Glenn at quarterback, only for the Bombers to snap him up. And now they’re stealing the Riders’ seven-figure-profit schtick. What’s next? Taman as GM? Oh wait …

The Girls Next Door: Aunt Jemima 1, Dustin Penner 0

If Dustin Penner has a bonus clause in his contract for breakfast food-related injuries, he’s about to become a very rich man. The Manitoba product and L.A. Kings forward dinked up his back this week eating pancakes. If the Kings try to sell this as anything other than an upper-kitchen injury, I’m going to be very disappointed. Let’s hear it from the man himself (via Kings reporter Rich Hammond):