With the status of Chris Williams uncertain and import returnees Onrea Jones and Bakari Grant having each finished with less than 500 yards receiving last year, there could be opportunities in the receiving corps.

Justin Hilton (6-foot-3, 190 pounds) attended training camp with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and later spent time on their practice roster. He finished his collegiate career at Indiana State, where he caught 40 passes for 684 yards and seven touchdowns. Here's his video.

Donovan Varner (5-foot-8, 208 pounds) spent four years at Duke, where he holds the school record for career receptions (207) and ranks third all-time in receiving yards (2,660). He's the guy with the youtube highlight package that's AN HOUR LONG.

The new guy is Eric McCree (6-foot-3, 208 pounds) who played four seasons at Fort Valley State University.

"I thought, if I let that happen," said Carol Rose, president of the Cat Claws Fan Club, "Ron would come back and haunt us forever."

Like Rose, Southern was a founding member of the Cat Claws, formed in 1988 by a small group of fans concerned about threats by then owner Harold Ballard to move the team from the city. For 25 years — and through some decidedly lean times — the group has supported the Ticats, honoured players and brought thousands of underprivileged kids to games.

This Friday, the club will host its annual dinner, hand out its Walk of Fame and Charlotte Simmons Award for community service and auction off a substantial portion of the Southern memorabilia collection. It includes programs dating to the 1930s, team photos from several decades and scrapbooks containing newspaper articles covering full seasons — including the 1972 Grey Cup run.

The most iconic pieces — the original Pigskin Pete bowler hat, jersey and fur coat — were donated to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in February.

"His house was a mess but his football stuff was immaculate," laughs Rose, who knew Southern for almost 30 years.

The club's most prestigious honour — the Walk of Fame — will go to former receiver Andrew Grigg, who played eight seasons for the Ticats between 1995 and 2002. He was an East-Division all-star twice and was a member of the 1999 Grey Cup team.

"He was always a fan favourite and that's one of our criteria," Rose said. "It's not just about their stats, it's about what they do in the community and how the fans feel about them."

The Charlotte Simmons Award for community service will be shared by two current Ticats. Offensive lineman Peter Dyakowski has been a staple of the team's BeFit program, which brings a message of health and fitness to local schools, and defensive back Ryan Hinds has worked tirelessly to improve children's health in his native Guyana.

"Both guys are very deserving," Rose said.

All proceeds from the silent auction of Southern's memorabilia will go to support the Walk of Fame and its continuing efforts to usher in the next generation of Ticat fans. Through community groups such as City Kidz and Big Brothers, Cats Claws Fan Club sends 40 kids to each Ticat home game.

"Ron would be happy to know that his collection was going to fans who really wanted it," Rose said.

NOTES: The dinner takes place this Friday, May 24 at the Renaissance Banquet Centre on Barton Street. Tickets are $65 and available at the Tiger Town store on Jarvis Street or by calling 905-664-6117. ... Former McMaster defensive lineman Ben D'Aguilar has signed with the Calgary Stampeders. Drafted 13th overall, D'Aguilar was thought to be pursuing NFL opportunities.

The second is an editorial about the fact that the Ticats and the Univertsity of Guelph still don't have a contract.

I'm watching you, Andy Fantuz

By Greg Mercer

When I heard the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would be playing their home games in Guelph this season, my first thought was: How cool will that be for the city?

My second thought was: Do they have to bring Andy Fantuz?

Fantuz, of course, is the wide receiver for the Ticats and the pride of Chatham, Ont. As a seven-year veteran of the Canadian Football League, he’s known by football fans as that tall, handsome guy who makes quarterbacks’ jobs easy.

Not so many people know that when he was in Grade 10 in Chatham, playing football for his high school team, he dated a girl in Grade 8. It was not a romance for the ages, and they broke up after three months because, I’m told, he was constantly grounded by his parents.

That would be an inconsequential fact except for this: That girl would go on to become my wife. And now you see my problem.

I’ve never met Fantuz and I’m sure he’s a standup guy. And my wife is a beautiful woman who looks good even in a snowsuit, so I expect she had a boyfriend or two before we met.

And this whole thing is fine when Fantuz is playing at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, far, far away down Highway 6 in front of beer-crushing steelworkers. But playing at Alumni Stadium, five minutes from my house? For the entire season? That’s some kind of cruel joke.

When I finally learned about my wife’s connection to Fantuz, all sorts of lights started going off in my head.

The news explained why, strangely, there is an unopened box of Fantuz Flakes cereal in the basement of my mother-in-law’s house, left in a prominent place with soft lighting. It also explains how her voice rises when she talks about him, as if he had just rushed into a burning house and saved her kitten.

It helps to explain, too, why when I told my wife I’d bought tickets to a Ticats game at Alumni Stadium this July, she seemed a little too excited. I should have known something was up when she was overly focused on where the TiCats’ bench would be placed on the field and where our seats would be in relation to that.

I mean, what’s the big deal? He’s just a well-paid professional athlete who’s won a Grey Cup, is adored by women and has his face on cereal boxes. But can he write newspaper columns for peanuts and name the capitals of all the provinces? I doubt it.

Also, I happen to know from a reliable source that he’s a bad kisser. Just saying.

I could have been a professional athlete, anyway. I once made it into the top 16 at the World Crokinole Championships, in Tavistock, in the recreational division. But my wife made me forfeit my spot in the playoffs so we could go to a wedding shower. The Mennonite farmer I was set to face off against just shook his head as she led me out of the arena.

So, really, she has no one to blame but herself.

And I’m not jealous of what they had back then. Really, I’m not. After all, I won, right? I get to live with her, and we don’t even have a curfew. I’m just saying: Andy Fantuz, welcome to Guelph. And I’m watching you.

XXX

Ticats need to ink deal with U of G soon

By Steve Milton

Even if the Hamilton Tiger-Cats "win" their arbitration case with reluctant returnee Chris Williams, it's difficult to see how it could actually be anything but a loss.

That's not an indictment of the CFL team but, rather, a nod to the obvious: After this ugly, polarizing process, Williams could not play for the Ticats again. Not soon, anyway.

The multitalented receiver, who scored 17 touchdowns last year and usually made the price of a ticket to see a losing team a worthwhile investment, is claiming his standard CFL contract of two years, plus a club option for a third season, is void after just the first two years.

All CFL contracts have an option year added to the formal length of the deal, but Williams is believed to be citing a clause in the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players' association that, even if a player signs a two-plus-one (as his type of contract is referred to in football parlance), he must first be informed that a one-plus-one is available. Williams' stand is that the Cats did not present that alternative to him and his former agent.

He wants to be released from his contract and presumably has a guaranteed payday — in the form of a signing bonus or formal contract — waiting for him from an NFL team. If he doesn't, this is the dumbest thing an agent has ever suggested to a CFL player, and there are a lot of worthy contenders for that award.

The Ticats simply had to fight — in a two-day hearing that began at a hidden location Thursday — Williams' action. Not just for themselves and all their future negotiations, but for the other seven, soon to be eight, teams in the CFL. If they didn't, front offices would quickly be paralyzed by a flood of flimsy arbitration cases.

But, even GM and coach Kent Austin, whose only public acknowledgement of the situation has been that the Ticats expected Williams at mini-camp (oops) and training camp, has to know that this situation could be toxic to his team. And, remember, this is still a fragile bunch that, until further notice, has a losing record and is heading into the unpredictable stresses of an entire season on the road.

The tone of Williams' approach in the tweet that began this case seemed anti-Ticat and anti-CFL. This will not be lost upon the paying public. And, although he may not mean it this way, his adamancy not to return here seems like a slight to Hamilton itself. One constant around here is this: Those who dump on this city or its ethos will in turn be dumped upon from much greater heights. Surely, the Cats don't want to start out at Guelph with the crowd lustily booing a player from the home team, even if it's only until he rips off his first runback.

And we're not sure Williams would be well-received in the Ticat locker-room, despite the obvious desire of so many of his teammates to also play in the NFL. Nobody else on the team was aggressively looking for loopholes in their two-plus-ones, or three-plus-ones so they could get an earlier shot stateside. If, in a team game, you're perceived to think you're different than everybody else, then everybody else will treat you differently.

Williams seems so adamant he doesn't want to come back to Hamilton — there is some feeling that he might sit out a year if he loses at arbitration — that, if he does return, you know he'll have felt forced. He has demonstrated through other acts (think blowing a touchdown with a premature celebration) that he hasn't yet acquired the maturity to rise above emotional conditions. Nobody wants to sit next to a teammate who clearly doesn't want to be there and, if they do, now you've likely got two problem children. That's the start of a virus.

And there was kind of a collective promissory note among last year's Cats that they would prove something in 2013 after the absurd 2012 results. The season's on the near horizon, and Williams' teammates can feel him opting out. That won't sell because nobody's bigger than the team, even the quarterback, even the coach.

If Williams wins and subsequently doesn't make the NFL and wants to return to Canada, he surely wouldn't come to Hamilton after a bitter arbitration session.

This is all a shame because he's a special talent and, essentially, a nice, friendly young man, but the guess here is that we have likely seen the last of Chris Williams in black and gold.

• Chris Williams hard his arbritration hearing but there's no news to report. Decisioneithin 30 days, says the CBA. Uncle Milty weighs in in tomorow's Spec and I'll post that in the a.m.

• Ticat QB Henry Burris and CFL commish Mark Cohon are in Moncton to promote the latest version of TD Atlantic.

• Panther's Pulse, a team-sponsored show available on their website, discussed the Panther's rookie camp and Linden Gaydosh in this video. The bit about Gaydosh starts about the 3:50 mark. The seem to like him.

• here's another piece from a team site, this one on former Ticat and current Miami Dolphin Marcus Thigpen.

• The agency that represents Justin Hilton, a wide receiver from Indians State University and a guy who spent some time with the Bengals last year, has Tweeted that their client has inked a deal with the Ticats. Some video on Mr. Hilton.

• import defensive back Bo Smith, who played five years with the Ticats, just signed a two-year contract extension in February.

• non-import receiver Jordan Brescacin was re-signed in December after leading the CIS in receiving last year. Originally signed as an undrafted free agent, Brescacin practiced with the team for the first part of last year before returning to Windsor.

• defensive lineman Derrick Summers played in a couple of games late last season as the Ticats tried put together something resembling a solid defensive line.

That said, the Ticats were 6-12 last year and there's a new sheriff in town so change is inevitable. Austin and Steinauer got their first look at these players in action at last month's mini-camp and will have made their own assessments.

In other Ticat news, Dave Naylor at TSN is reporting that Chris Williams' arbitration hearing, which I wrote about last week, is scheduled for tomorrow. No time line for a decision, though the CBA says rulings should be handed down within 30 days.

The Titans have waived tackle Matt Sewell, one of two undrafted free agents from Canada on the team’s roster.

The move came with a transaction wire notation that Sewell had left the team.

Sewell was drafted 8th by the... wait for it... Toronto Argonauts. Ranked No. 4 going into the draft, Sewell fell because he'd already inked a deal with the Titans and was expected to be in the NFL a while.

Sewell may have other NFL opportunities so it's not a lock that he'll be with Toronto. And it would be good to know the full story before jumping to any conclusions as to why he was released (Sewell was considered by some to be project. Why the high ranking and NFL interest? Size.) Nonetheless, it's now more likely he'll be in Argo camp than it was yesterday.

And city council has panned the Pan Am stadium re-design. Here's a new artist rendering and the story from my Spec colleague Emma Reilly.

By Emma Reilly

Disappointing. Bland. Nondescript.

These are only some of the words councillors are using to describe the design of the $145.7-million Pan Am stadium.

Councillors on the planning committee got a glimpse of the most recent renderings of the stadium Tuesday. Though the final design hasn't been approved, city staff say they're now satisfied the stadium meets all of the city's urban design guidelines.

However, councillors didn't like what they saw.

"When I look at this stadium, it has no theme, no character, it's bland and nondescript," said Councillor Chad Collins. "It looks like a high school stadium you might see in the Southern U.S., where football is huge."

However, as Councillor Lloyd Ferguson points out, they have little control over the design at this point.

"We can't take the time to get it right, because we have to have it ready by July 1, 2014. I think it's really touch-and-go that we'll get there, and I just don't want us to wear any of the blame for delaying them," he said. "The whole thing's so uncomfortable."

City staff have been working on a tweaked design for the past several months with Ontario Sports Solutions, the consortium in charge of building the stadium. The first attempt did not conform to the city's urban design guidelines, and of particular concern was the fact that the design called for the underside of the stands to be exposed to the street.

In the updated rendering, several changes were made including lightening the colours, adding mesh screening and banners to hide the underside of the stands, and placing additional seating and art in the public square planned for the corner of Cannon Street and Balsam Avenue.

The individual masonry pieces have been shrunk to the same size as the bricks in the surrounding homes, while bands of contrasting stonework have been added at street level for pedestrian interest.

Despite these changes, councillors were overwhelmingly unimpressed with the design.

Councillor Terry Whitehead, who was particularly concerned about the exposed stands, says the proposed solution is nothing more than "mosquito netting" and "posters."

"I don't think a bunch of banners and screening on the back side of the stadium is a legacy whatsoever," said Whitehead.

Meanwhile, the city is still in negotiations with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats about the long-term stadium lease. The team and the city have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place that outlines the basics of the agreement, but the terms of the formal 20-year lease are still being worked out.

Ferguson says the delay is being caused by some extra requests from the Tiger-Cats that aren't included in the MOU. However, since the lease is still under negotiation, Ferguson says he can't say exactly what's causing the problem.

"It's been suggested there should be some additional items that aren't in the MOU," he said.

However, Ticats president Scott Mitchell says it's been "a very, very positive, productive process. I don't see any reason why we're not going to bring this to fruition. There haven't been issues whatsoever."

In the MOU, the city agreed to pay the full costs of the Ticats' practice facility during the reconstruction of the stadium.

Ferguson says that facility isn't needed until June, which gives both sides another month or so to come up with an agreement.

Things have been heating up in Guelph as well. The latest:

• the Ticats joined forces with the Gryphons to paint "Old Jermiah" the cannon at the centre of the Guelph campus. It's a university tradition.

Here's the pic, with Ticats Ryan Hinds and Matt Bucknor.

• league commissioner Mark Cohon was in Guelph on Saturday at the Gryphon football banquet. Tony Saxon of the Guelph Mercury – an old friend and co-worker of mine – has the story.

• single game tickets went on sale today. Given that there are 12,000 to 15,000 less seats, I would imagine that demand will be high.

• this story on the relationship between Henry Burris and Drew Tate is a good read. Burris is still doing lots of community work in Calgary, his family's home. 

• the annual Cat Claws dinner will be held May 24th at the Renaissance Banquet Centre. I'll be doing a more substantial preview next week but tickets are $65.00 and  available at the Tiger Town Store or by calling Carol 905 664-6117. I went last year with my wife and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

• I'm on holiday but it's a Stay-Cation so I'm still around: if there's news, I'll have it.