A few bits and pieces this morning before heading off to practice – for the first time in over a week. Longest break, by far, since the bye week.

I never did hear back from Councillor Ferguson yesterday but Spec reporter Matt Van Dongen, who covers city hall, did manage to get this from him:

Lloyd Ferguson, who sits on the city's Pan Am committee, said Wednesday he could see the stadium construction was running behind based on a work schedule provided to him. But he added "they've already got it half back" through several weekends of extra work by contractors. "It's not a big deal; this is what happens in construction projects," said the industry veteran.

So the stadium is either two weeks behind (based on what Ferguson said Tuesday), a week behind (based on what Ferguson said Wednesday) or "on schedule and on budget" (based on what Infrastructure Ontario said yesterday.)

Thursday was also the Hage's Heroes Thanksgiving Food Drive. Working with Speroway, a Guelph-based international relief organization, they provided food and hygiene boxes for 1,000 Hamilton families.

Hage's Heroes has been been around since 2007, bringing more than 5,000 underprivileged youth to Tiger-Cats home games and feeding over 10,000 families through food drives. Earlier this year, Hage and I went with Speroway on a three-day goodwill trip to El Salvador. That story can be found here.

His relentless commitment is something to be respected.







Finally, the Toronto Sun says it's looking more likely that Ricky Ray will play Monday versus Hamilton:

A lot more will be gleaned in the coming days as the Double Blue prepare for Monday’s kickoff in Guelph against the Ticats, but barring something acutely wrong with how Ray throws the football in practice he’s expected to line up under centre for the first time since Aug. 23...

More from practice later.