In football, the straight on kicker is long gone and there are no more drop kicks. Walter Payton Black Friday Jersey . In hockey, there is no more rover and the players dont go without helmets and masks. But in baseball, some things refuse to die. This past season, the Blue Jays R.A. Dickey was the only full-time knuckleball pitcher in the majors. His knuckler is more of a hybrid, thrown harder than the traditional floater of the likes of Phil Niekro, Tim Wakefield and Charlie Hough. I often wondered that when the Jays aquired Dickey in the offseason last year, if he would eventually be the last ever to throw the storied pitch in the majors. Maybe not. The Red Sox have a knuckball pitcher in their system in 29-year-old right-hander Steven Wright. He made the conversion to throwing the knuckleball in 2011 and made it to the BoSox this past season with mixed success. On Aug. 6, his catcher Ryan Lavarnway was charged with four passed balls in one inning, tying the Major League record. The first time it happened was in 1954, when Ray Katt was catching Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, the second when ex-Blue Jay Gino Petralli - then of the Rangers - was catching yet another knuckleballer in Charlie Hough. And theres another would-be knuckler. Kevin Pucetas - a 29-year-old in the Texas organization - has bounced around a bit. He was drafted in the 17th round of the June draft in 2006. He showed enough promise to pitch in the All-Star Futures game in 2008. However, by October of 2010, he was dealt to the Royals as the player to be named later in the Jose Guillen deal. He was released by K.C. in 2011 and signed by Washington. Things didnt work out with the Nationals either and in January of this year, he was signed to a minor league deal by Texas. Pucetas pitched for Frisco in the Double "A" Texas League this season and didnt really blow anyone away with his stuff. After the season, to keep playing the sport he loved, he agreed to try and become a knuckleballer. He made seven starts in the Dominican Winter League and went 3-1 with a 4.86 ERA. However, something seemed to click in his final four outings. He went 22 2/3 innings and shaved his ERA down to 2.78. He gave up 13 hits, struck out 14 and walked only three. The Dominican team wanted him to stay longer because he was pitching so well, but as Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News reported, the Rangers called him back stateside because they wanted him to be well-rested for spring training. So keep that name in mind come February - Kevin Pucetas of the Texas Rangers. Who knows, maybe hell follow the path that Dickey and so many other blazed before him. Three Ex-Blue Jays were also in the news this past week. Chris Woodward, who was drafted in 54th round by the Blue Jays in 2004, was named infield coach at Seattle. Chris spent parts of seven seasons with the Blue Jays as a "Jack of all Trades" utilityman and spent 12 years in the majors in total. Darnell Coles spent 14 years in the bigs and was with the Blue Jays for two seasons, including 1993, when he was a key bat of the bench for the team that won a second straight World Series. Darnell had just been promoted by the Brewers to be manager of their Triple "A" Nashville farm club, but opted out to become an assistant hitting coach with the Detroit Tigers with new skipper Brad Ausmus. The third former Blue Jay in the news was Ted Lilly, who retired this week at age 37 and battled what had become chronic neck problems. The lefty came to the Blue Jays in one of J.P. Ricciardis better deals back on November of 2003. The Jays sent outfielder Bob Kielty to Oakland to get him and from 2004 through 2006, Lilly went 37-34 for the Jays and ate a lot of innings. Unfortunately, he became better known in Toronto for his in-game run-in with skipper John Gibbons, when he balked at being taken out of the game while he was in the process of blowing a huge lead. Both men have put that behind them now. Lilly was traded five times over his career and is also one of those who was an Expo and a Blue Jay. He put together a career record of 130-113 with a 4.14 ERA. He didnt want to retire and was actually trying to pitch in the Venezuelan Winter League when he realized his body just couldnt carry him anymore. Now on to other matters - the Winter Meetings start Dec. 9, a week from Monday in Orlando. Cant wait! Chris Harris Womens Jersey . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Whitney Mercilus Texans Jersey . - The Halifax Mooseheads are four wins away from completing their dominating Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season. http://www.cheapjerseysfox.com/ . Thats when Vancouver rookie Cody Hodgson ensured the Oilers road woes would continue. Hodgson slipped a puck between the legs of goalie Devan Dubnyk to give the Canucks a 3-2 victory over Edmonton Tuesday night, handing the Oilers their sixth straight road loss. Randy White Black Friday Jersey . -- Down 11 points early in the second quarter, Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson seemed more than satisfied with the way his team responded. Morten Andersen Saints Jersey . Madrid slipped one point ahead of Atletico Madrid in the standings after high-flying Real Sociedad ruined Atleticos perfect home record this season after 13 league games with a 1-0 win thanks to forward Xabi Prietos second-half goal.The quality of the Canadian Football League when it comes to on-field play is in the quality of the position of quarterback. If both teams competing to win both have great quarterbacks there is a distinct possibility you will see a good game. An entertaining game. And in the extreme opposite if you have two quarterbacks that just dont have it; well then it becomes a punting battle and a collection of two plays and little entertainment value. Last week, Week 5 of CFL football was an important one for the league in that there were some talented players identified at that No. 1 position - quarterback. It started on Thursday with Montreal beating Edmonton 32-27. Much of the conversation was about how the game ended and was managed by Edmonton but lost in that controversy was how well Mike Reilly played in the second half. I have never been benched in my career but can only imagine how difficult it must have been to be benched then have to come back and play. To be honest I thought head coach Kavis Reed had made a mistake in taking Reilly out and putting in Jonathan Crompton followed by Kerry Joseph. I am a big believer in working through problems and not avoiding them and as I expressed on TV it seemed as if he was rolling the dice to see what he could come up with. And when you looked at Reillys body language on the sidelines you could see he was pretty much devastated at being taken out. Well Coach "K" was right and I was wrong because the time on the sidelines helped Reilly immensely. In the second half he played significantly better saving the best for the last and taking the Eskimos the length of the field and giving them an opportunity to win. Yes he messed it up with 10 seconds to go but you saw a genuine mental toughness from Mike Reilly that creates a new optimism going into the game Friday night back home in Edmonton against Hamilton. Good job, Mike Reilly. The new infusion of quarterback blood continued Friday night as Calgary manhandled Winnipeg. I thought Justin Goltz was okay. He faded a bit in the second half but did some good things - an example being the two touchdown passes to Jade Etienne. It may be worth the risk to start Goltz one more time when they play BC that first Monday in August. Still what Goltz did was in no comparison to the spectacular - and I mean spectacular - play of Bo Levi Mitchell with Calgary. His final mathematical accumulation was incredible. 29 completions in 33 attempts, that is 88 per cent. 376 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He competed his first seven passes for 118 yards and ended the game going 16-for-16 for 183 yards. His quarterback rating was 144.4. Perfection is 156.3. But here is the most shocking number. Mitchell is 23 years old. All of a sudden he in no longer a "REDBLACKS" consideration, he is a starting quarterback for the Stampeders consideration. The only word of caution is that Winnipegs pass defence has regressed to an all-time low. The week before it was Ricky Ray going 19-of-20 for 286 yards so you do wonder if Mitchell was at the right place and right time. Calgary plays Saskatchewan on Aug. 9 and if the Sttampeders decide to see what they have in Mitchell that night it will be a good indicator. Bob Griese Jersey. Back on July 26, 2002 Ricky Ray had a similar opening day going 21-of-28 for 277 yards and four touchdowns. Bos game last Friday night was more impressive. The third game of the week saw Saskatchewan beat Hamilton 32-20. Good game for young quarterback Drew Willy as his offence did score 32 points. Thats somewhere better than Justin Goltz but not near Bo Levi Mitchell. Still, a solid game. This actually was a trap game for the Riders. They won 37-0 over Hamilton the week before, and were now on the road playing in a college stadium with a back-up quarterback. Hamilton should have won that game but they didnt because the Riders avoided the Trap. Why are the Saskatchewan Roughriders 5-0? Ben Heenan going from right guard to play so effectively at right tackle is one reason. Craig Butler playing linebacker with excellence is another and Dan Clark from the Regina junior program playing tight end when he is not playing offensive tackle is a third reason. With Kory Sheets playing well there is only one thing the Riders need to avoid: injuries. Darian Durant has missed a game but the Riders have remained very healthy so far. Is that skill or luck? Probably a bit of both. Dont buy your Grey Cup tickets yet Rider faithful, just make sure your credit card is paid off. In Toronto...Zach Collaros, W0W! 11-of-13 in the first half and 21-of-25 for 253 yards; no interceptions and three touchdowns. But so much more than the numerical success was his ability to make positive plays out of nothing or potential disaster. He did have a little Doug Flutie in him in his ability to move and avoid and run to throw. Personally I did not see this coming but all of a sudden the Ottawa REDBLACKS have to give consideration to Zach Collaros being part of their organization. I mean you just cant teach some of the things he did in terms of elusive movement to anybody. You either have it or you dont. The 38-12 win for Toronto was so significant in many ways. Two new players with Jamie Robinson going from cornerback to linebacker. Josh Gatlin playing for the first time at cornerback for Robinson and Curtis Steele playing running back for Chad Kackert. Wilth the bye week pending and a game in Montreal, Toronto is positioned well come September football. In baseball it is the pitching, in basketball it is the point guard. With hockey it would be the goalie and football the quarterback. Each of the big four team sports have a position of importance that when appropriately filled with a singular highly talented player you have a much greater chance to have a winning program. And the entertainment value of the game is obviously better. Now who knows how many more years a Bo Levi Mitchell or a Zach Collaros will play. How many more opportunities will Justin Goltz or Drew Willy get? But they are out there ready to play again and in all likelihood perform at a high level given that opportunity. Week 5 of the 2013 season was an important one for the league. You could see into the future, and the future looked pretty good. ' ' '