Hello, Charleston Hughes. So, StampMachine is gone, eh? Could have just gone with GreenMachine as your new Twitter handle. That would have been an easy transition as you prepare to suit up for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Easy and maybe a trifle predictable. CharlieeShredz is more – shall we say – artistic.

Wondering what your handle may have been had you remained a Ticat, though. CatScratchHuge? CharlieeHammerz?

Here are five takeaways from the off-season (so far).

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

Just a wee reminder that, yes, there are certain things you can bank on, and certain things you are unsure of, every off-season. However, there are also things that you just don’t know that you don’t know.

Charleston Hughes being dealt by the Calgary Stampeders falls into that category. While it may make some retrospective financial sense, there were very few out there who would have predicted the dealing of StampMachine before it happened. He seemed destined to retire a Stampeder, plainly and simply. There are other examples, like Argos’ running back James Wilder predicting a thousand/thousand season before abruptly announcing he would not play in 2018.

So what’s next? Simoni Lawrence to Toronto? Mike Reilly retiring to take up curling with Brad Jacobs? Wally Buono suiting up to return punts?

WE’RE ALL OLIVIA

Little Olivia, hanging out with her family, in the bowling alley. Either she just had or was just about to roll some boulders, scarf some pizza and feel mixed emotions about her rental shoes because they look so darned stylish, although you can’t quite stop thinking about the fact that you are NOT the first person to wear them.

Anyway, life is good. She’s bowling and not doing homework or household chores, or something. She’s bowling and the Grey Cup is in her town this season and she can’t wait to see her favourite player, Adarius Bowman, lift the Cup for the green and gold in November. She goes to sleep every night with a smile on her face, thinking of the cascading ticker tape.

Then, like a subarctic blast barreling down from the Peace Region, news of Bowman’s release sends a chill to her core. Blindsided. Shocked. Heartbroken. The tears flow. How can this be? A youngster gets a lesson about the world of pro football, turning, ever turning, like a ball spinning down a lane.

We’ve all been there, Olivia. I have good news for you, though. You know that player who plays for another team, who you like but can’t admit you do because he doesn’t wear green and gold? He’s about to sign with your favourite team, Olivia. The ball rolls, the pins get knocked down. But you know what? The pins get re-set, Olivia. The pins always get re-set.

JOHNNY MANZIEL IS OUT OF OPTIONS

The quarterback Bingo card is just about full, now, with maybe – maybe – one team remaining that might be in a position to figure they’d to take a chance on signing Johnny Football. When the Hamilton Ticats dealt for quarterback Vernon Adams, they all but signaled that the Manziel connection is done; certainly the connection is finished when it comes to paying Manziel what he believes he should be getting.

It is hard to imagine that, after all we’ve heard from Camp Manziel, that he would be willing to head into training with a third-stringer’s contract in hand, told to battle it out for the back-up spot, and we’ll see what happens. And everywhere else, the QB position is filled and locked down, with the Montreal Alouettes remaining as the only team with some question as to how their depth chart will shake out.

If I’m a betting man? Johnny Manziel is contract-less as the pre-season dawns, maybe getting a deal should a starter go down with a major injury.

Then again, you don’t know what you don’t know….

THE RIDERS BELIEVE IN THE ZACH ATTACK

The Saskatchewan Roughriders had a good season in 2017 and that was enough, coming oh so close to a Grey Cup berth in a year where they christened their new stadium. But that new car smell is gone from the place now and it’s time to get serious about getting back to the big game.

To do that, you have got to have a bona fide star QB at the helm. Very few teams have won a championship without that guy. Now, they could have gone all-in with the emerging Brandon Bridge, the man who mostly pleased each time he came on in relief of Kevin Glenn last season.

Bridge may be ready to take over as a number one quarterback in this league but it seems “may be” is not enough for Chris Jones and the Riders’ brain trust.

In dealing for Zach Collaros, Jones and company gamble on the 29-year-old regaining his confidence and his derring-do in green and white. Collaros has shown previously that he has everything it takes to lead a team to glory. While things went stale in Hamilton, the freshness of a new beginning in Regina should be just what Collaros needs to regain his status as one of the league’s premier pivots. This should be good.

THE ALOUETTES PREFER A FRESH DECK OF CARDS

It’s a bit of a gamble for the Als, the CFL’s basement team from 2017, and we’re talking on two fronts, not one.

In hiring Mike Sherman, the ex-Green Bay Packers coach to be their head man, the Montreal Alouettes are on a limb, bringing in a man with a tremendous pro football CV, but one that lacks a certain three-down flavour, that is for certain. In signing quarterback Josh Freeman – who would be considered number one on their depth chart right now – they hand the ball to a man who has, like Sherman, lots of NFL experience but zero when it comes to the Canadian game.

We all know that is a bit of a brave mix to go into a season with.

It can work out for the Als, as both Sherman and Freeman have the goods on paper but whether they can translate that to success on the field, that’s another question entirely. Sherman’s agreeing to hire coordinators with CFL experience (Khari Jones for the offence, Kahlil Carter for the defence) provides echoes of Marc Trestman, who also arrived in Montreal years ago with no Canadian experience, but who was smart enough to realize he needed lieutenants that did.

As for Freeman, he’ll get help from Jones, but it will be all on him as to whether he can make the transition to a very different game than the one he’s been used to.

Can it work? Hey, have I used the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know” yet?

AND FINALLY….

I can’t be the only one who still wants Kevin Glenn to end up in Toronto and Ottawa at some point, and actually throw passes for them.