They put a new guy in charge of the CFL this week and, of course, the hand-wringing began about what he could possibly do to make the Toronto franchise viable or at least relevant.

Predictable, really, but it misses a point, I think.

Isn’t it the Argonauts job to make the Argonauts relevant and viable and haven’t they failed abysmally?

Sure, new commissioner Randy Ambrosie has to offer leadership and advice to Toronto but to think he’s got to somehow wave a wand and make things better is taking responsibility away from Argos management and ownership, where it truly lies.

Look, I hope the Argos do well and survive and always have. I’ve been to games at the new park, have taken part in the tail-gating thing and had an excellent time. I think others have, too. The tickets are cheap, the games can be wildly entertaining, if the weather’s nice it’s a glorious placed to watch a game and, really, there aren’t a lot of negatives.

And from what I saw, heard and read, the new commissioner is accomplished, bright, passionate and capable and I’m sure he’ll have some ideas to impart that might help.

But his job’s bigger than that, no matter what we think here in the centre of the universe.

He’s got player safety to work on and that has to be paramount; if he doesn’t do something about the state of officiating the league might be doomed anyway and I’m sure there are business issues throughout the league that have to be resolved because there always are.

Toronto?

I was talking about this the other day with Baseball Steve (formerly a diehard Argo fan who used to smuggle booze into Exhibition Stadium back in the day – don’t tell the cops) and while we agree it’s an ownership/management issue here we also wonder if it’s ever going to be workable in this day and age.

So many other options, so little buzz (which, name me five Argos and then try to name me 12 players from elsewhere in the league) and so many years of neglect that maybe expectations have to be tempered.

Maybe topping out at 16,000 a night with the odd 18,000 crowd if they’re winning a lot, should be the goal? Maybe this thought that they can get to 20,000 a night is ridiculous no matter what they try. I don’t know if that’s financially feasible for ownership – I’d suspect it’s not – but it might be more realistic to think, “hey, this is what we’re looking at, let’s focus on getting that done and then move on” rather than “hey, new guy, fix this.”

It’s quite possible that it’s not fixable but it starts with the people in charge trying to find innovative ways to make their product at least interesting to casual sports fans who might be looking for an affordable way to be entertained for an evening or an afternoon.

That’s a team thing, not a commissioner thing and I don’t think anyone should eventually judge the new guy on what he does with the most struggling franchise in the league.

He can help, the heavy lifting in the responsibility of the people in charge and on the ground here.

-

A month of CanCon, continued.

The women’s got some singing chops, for sure.

-

Annual warning:

Summer League starts for the lads out in Las Vegas this evening – 6 p.m. against New Orleans if you were wondering – so it’s time to throw this out there.

It’s Summer League and everything that happens should be taken in the context of it being games between raw rookies, undrafted free agents, kids looking for jobs with a sprinkling of experience thrown in.

The games can be awful – the officiating is brutal because it’s young refs looking for work, too – and one theory is that you can’t find out who can play in the NBA there but you can find out who can’t.

Plus, it’s gonna be like 44C for a bunch of the time and that’s delightful!

The Raptors team includes Fred VanVleet, Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam and, yeah, they will all have great games. As they should. They are relatively experienced NBAers playing lesser competition and if they don’t dominate for long stretches, that would be troublesome.

But it is basketball and some people quite like it; I may not be included in that group so you’ll pardon me for not paying much attention unless something untoward happens.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

-

One sure sign the summer months are upon us?

Between vacation for a thousand others and my own idle time, there’s a rare appearance on the FAN590 round table with the esteemed Mr. McCown and others tonight.

When you’re stuck in traffic, tune in because it’s bound to be delightful radio from 5-7 tonight.

Seriously.

Delightful.

With gusts to hilarious.

-

All right, I’ve got about 3,500 words of unanswered mail to handle – things got busier than I thought yesterday and I needed a haircut – which means you’re going to have a lot to read Sunday and I’m going to have a fair amount to type before then but since it’s how we roll here, if you’ve still got things on your mind, I’m here for you.

Well, it’s at askdoug@thestar.ca but you know what I mean.

-

Wouldn’t it just be like the Blue Jays to rattle off a series sweep this weekend over Houston heading into the all-star break to get everyone cranked up about the second half and then come out of the break and go like 3-7 on the 10-game road trip that awaits?

Not that either is going to happen but wouldn’t that just add to the crazy injury-riddled ride they’ve been on?

Was a helluva game last night, had to rub my eyes during a five-run inning that included a series of clutch hits throughout the lineup and a game-sealing bat-around inning that wasn’t gifted them with a half dozen or so walks.

-

Dog-and-pony, cake-and-bun party down at the arena this morning for Lowry and Ibaka and it should be fun, glad it’s at 10 a.m. so the day gets over early and maybe we get a sniff of what else might be percolating here and there.

And with a raft of signings around the league yesterday, the offer sheet for Otto Porter and the mystifying Knicks move on Tim Hardaway Jr. to be resolved this weekend, perhaps all the heavy lifting will be done by Monday, we can sit back and take stock of what’s happened and then get on with the relaxation portion of the summer.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

-