When CFL players hang up their cleats for the last time, as the Toronto Argonauts' Adriano Belli and the Stampeders' Rob Lazeo did earlier this year, it often isn't a true retirement. The CFL's lower salaries often don't provide enough for players to just take it easy for life, and many have to work other jobs either during the offseasons or after their careers are done. However, as The Toronto Star's Chris Zelkovich explored Friday, that doesn't mean huge numbers of ex-CFLers are struggling financially. In fact, many of them have taken their gridiron experience and put it to good use in the business world, and Belli and Lazeo are attempting to follow that path.

As Zelkovich details, there are plenty of notable success stories out there, from the oil business run by former Stampeders Dave Sapunjis and Bob Viccars to former Hamilton Tiger-Cats' defensive lineman David Sauve's collection of 10 Tim Hortons' franchises and an investment company. Former Acadia Axemen and B.C. Lions

The Saskatchewan Roughriders' 43-40 win over Hamilton at Toronto's SkyDome in 1989 remains one of the most memorable Grey Cup games ever. It was a spectacular offensive shootout, with Saskatchewan quarterback Kent Austin and Hamilton quarterback Mike Kerrigan both piling up the stats and legendary receivers like the Roughriders' Ray Elgaard and Don Narcisse and the Tiger-Cats' Tony Champion and Derrick McAdoo hauling in catch after catch. The kickers wound up having a huge impact too, with both Saskatchewan's Dave "Robokicker" Ridgway and Hamilton's Paul Osbaldiston hitting four field goals. Ridgway's final field goal to win the game with no time left has passed into the realm of legend all on its own, and it's frequently still referred to as just "The Kick". Now, after 22 years, there's a tremendous new view of The Kick, and it's got a story to match.

Most of the published angles of that field goal, like the great photo at right below taken by Ryan Remiorz of The Canadian Press or

Continuing our training camp previews, here are some thoughts on how the Montreal Alouettes are shaping up heading into camp based off Thursday's conference call.

— The story that's gotten the most play about Montreal recently actually wasn't really anything to do with that call, but rather developed out of another interview Alouettes' general manager Jim Popp did Thursday morning on Montreal's Team 990. In that interview, Popp took some rather public shots at former running back Avon Cobourne (who signed with Hamilton in the offseason) and the Tiger-Cats' coaching staff. Among his comments: "The funny thing is, is that the people that are in Hamilton that used to work for our organization, when they were here, they didn't want him playing in the backfield," Popp said. "Hamilton laid the red-carpet out for him. They wanted a name signing. I don't know if that was ... a president simply trying to look good publicly." That would seem to be a particular shot at Tiger-Cats' president

One of the remarkable things about the world of Canadian football is just how small a community it is. Operating with mostly the same teams for over 50 years, everyone either knows almost everyone else directly or knows someone else who knows them. The latest example of that is the incredible outpouring of support for former Toronto Argonauts' coach Leo Cahill in just a couple of days after The Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons wrote a column about his health struggles. As Simmons describes, an incredible amount of people have written in from all over North America with words of support for Cahill and fond memories of his tenure with the Argonauts, demonstrating both the importance of the CFL's history and the close-knit community it still has today. There were memorable responses from other CFL legends like Don Matthews and Dave Ridgway, but it may be those from average fans that sum up Cahill's importance best:

But mostly, the responses came from almost every province, from names you

There were plenty of unconventional picks in this past weekend's CFL draft, from Calgary's choice of Canadian quarterback Brad Sinopoli to Winnipeg's selection of kicker-turned-receiver Jade Etienne. However, one of the most unusual and notable stories revolves around a man picked in the last round by B.C., Saint Mary's defensive lineman Chris Hodgson.

Most of the players in the CFL draft are in their early 20s, just coming out of university, but have been playing organized football for much of their lives. That's not the case with Hodgson (pictured at right during his short time with St. Francis Xavier, the school he briefly attended for football before switching to Saint Mary's), the 26-year-old son of former Blue Jays' outfielder Paul Hodgson and a guy who's already been a professionally sponsored skateboarder, a renowned snowboarder, a professional hockey player in the ECHL and an notable hockey player in the QMJHL and CIS ranks, but only has one season of CIS football under his

Over the next few weeks, the CFL's conducting a series of media conference calls to preview each team heading into training camp. I'll be sitting in on each call and recapping some of the highlights here. If you've got a particular question about a specific team you'd like me to try and get in, let me know via Twitter or e-mail. First up, a recap of the highlights of Tuesday's conference call with Calgary Stampeders' president Lyle Bauer and coach/general manager John Hufnagel. You can find the full audio file of the call here.

— Bauer started things off with the usual sort of optimism you'd expect, commenting "We're obviously very excited about the upcoming season and the job general manager/coach Hufnagel has done." However, he went on to add some more interesting comments about the special things in store for the Stampeders this season. He proved quite enthusiastic about the organization doing events with the 2011 Hall of Fame inductees Sept. 14-18, saying "It's a great honor to

In a CFL draft where perhaps the most talented player was drafted with the final pick of the fifth round and the identity of the top pick was known days in advance, there are plenty of interesting angles to explore. That isn't uncommon in the CFL, as there are usually tons of interesting stories around prospects in this league, and this year's crop is no exception. One player particularly stands out even amongst that group, though, and that would be Winnipeg Blue Bombers' draft pick Jade Etienne.

Etienne was originally a kicker with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies before converting to receiver, but he missed most of the 2009 season after breaking three bones in his back and only had two career CIS catches heading into last year. He put up a superb 2010 campaign, though, recording 28 receptions, 721 yards and six touchdowns in seven CIS games. That led to his selection as a first-team All-Canadian and his invite to the league's evaluation camp. However, his selection fourth

The CFL's annual draft is always intriguing for a variety of reasons. A lot of the attention is centred on the first round, which is generally the subject of most of the mock drafts (including my own) and most of the television coverage (the first and second rounds were aired live on TSN, while the remainder were only webcast), but what happens in the later rounds can be just as important. Players fall for all sorts of reasons, and many of them have nothing to do with talent, but are rather based on the position they play, how soon they'll be available and the amount of NFL interest in them.

For example, Baylor offensive lineman Philip Blake was one of the top players in this year's draft by sheer talent; he topped the CFL's prospect rankings both in September and December and only fell to fourth in the final April rankings. However, he was taken 23rd overall by Montreal, thanks largely to concerns about his remaining NCAA season and the growing NFL interest in him, which could turn