Last week in the CFL the penalty flags were flying. Cesar Azpilicueta Spain Jersey . In total between the four games played there were 110 penalties for 958 yards, which is the third-highest total in the last 20 years. Obviously, that is way too many penalties. It disrupts the flow of the game, extends the length of the game, and is flat out hard to watch. However, it is one thing to simply complain about the flag-filled week. Its another to examine the calls, look at the reasons why they were made, and work towards finding solutions so it doesnt happen again. In conjunction with the leagues head coaches, that is exactly what Glen Johnson, the leagues Vice-President of Officiating, is currently working on. It is a process that will take some time for a couple reasons, the most important being that we are all learning a new culture in football where player safety is the focus. However, all the league stake holders are all in to work towards limiting the amount of penalties called, and the time it takes to call them. Johnson has accumulated the numbers from last week and some from the first three weeks of the season, and they may surprise football fans. First, all of the penalties from last week have been reviewed and, of the 110 called, 93 of them were the correct call while only seven of them were debatable or questionable calls. Essentially, 94 per cent of the calls made last week were correct which according to Johnson is, "very close to the overall standards from the last few years." These numbers are significant, because it is important to understand that fixing the problem of too many penalties does not just fall on the shoulders of the officials. The players and coaches are ultimately responsible, and are working with Johnson on a weekly basis to improve the situation. Johnson explained by pointing out that there are currently teams that have asked the league to make officials available for practices. "I talk to the coaches and we are working together to improve the situation on a weekly basis, in fact some teams have asked that we supply them refs at practice, which I think is an excellent idea, and can help the teams and our officials." After three weeks this season penalties are up by 31 per cent overall, which is a huge jump. However, when you dig a little deeper into the numbers, we shouldnt be surprised. Of the 31 per cent increase this year, "player safety fouls," are leading the way. Penalties like unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer, face masking, and sportsmanship-related fouls like taunting are driving the increase. When you consider what is happening in North America when it comes to player safety in contact sports, we shouldnt be surprised that calls that are designed to protect the players, sometimes from themselves, are up dramatically. It is going to take time for players to understand what is a legal hit, and what is not, when they have trained their whole lives to hit a certain way, especially when we are talking about the hits on the quarterbacks. So before we start chanting, "ref you suck," from the stands, remember that the Players Association have negotiated player safety items into their new collective bargaining agreements and have made it a priority. It is the players who must change their behaviour, and better understand what is - and isnt - a legal hit, and play with more discipline. They voted it into their own agreements. For now, if the officials err, they will err on the side of protecting the players because that has been mandated by the league and the CFLPA. Penalty-filled games make for long football games, and fans should know that the league is very aware of games extending too long and are working on improving that area as well. One concern is with regards to video review, and whether or not it is taking too long. No, this has nothing to do with the new rule to make pass interference a reviewable penalty - more on that in a minute. This is about being more efficient with the review process. Glen Johnson is even looking at possibly changing the mechanics to speed things up. "One thing that I am looking at is to possibly drop the part of the process where the official explains to the Referee what he saw which then gets relayed to the replay official." He went on to say, "that information is rarely helpful as the play is getting reviewed, we could save about 20 seconds per review." Twenty seconds would be significant when you consider that currently the average review is taking two minutes and 15 seconds. This however, according to Johnson, is skewed because of a few really long reviews this year that took five minutes. He said that reviews generally take about one minute and 30 seconds, which is close to the target. "The objective is to get them under two minutes and five minutes is not acceptable!" It should also be noted that according to data from south of the border, NFL reviews on average take about three minutes, so shaving over a minute off that time will add up quickly. Johnson has reminded his refs that when replay was first introduced to the game there was a 90-second limit placed on the referee, and that decision didnt come from a replay office - it was made from under the hood at the park. Now on the new rule involving the review of pass interference. After three weeks there have been five challenges of pass interference, and all five were on plays where there was no flag thrown. In other words coaches challenged that the call was missed. On two of those challenges the play was reviewed and it was determined by the command center that there was PI on the play and the no call on the field was overturned. It is a small sample size but Johnson, and the majority of the coaches in the league, feel the new rule change is, "going well," so far. As for the timing of this particular challenge on average it takes about 20 seconds longer than other challengeable plays. So if it takes about one minute and 30 seconds for most challenges, then a PI call would take one minute and 50 seconds which is still under the target of two minutes. By the way both overturned PI challenges occurred in the end zone which is the area on the field that changes the outcome of games, and the calls ended up being correct. The purpose of this change was not to make PI more difficult, but to assist the officials who may have missed something blatant during live action, and in that regard the league and the coaches believe it is working so far. When you break it all down, there is a fairly simple explanation as to why player safety type penalties are up, and that should correct itself over time. It is also important to understand that 94 per cent of the penalties called in the game are the correct call, so it is the coaches and players responsibility to make the necessary corrections. And finally, all the stakeholders in the game are very aware that last week there were way too many penalties and are working together to make changes to make sure 110 flags in four games doesnt happen again. Now lets get back to talking about football. Diego Costa Jersey . Nix is a career .218 hitter in 425 games over six seasons. The 31-year-old right-handed hitter batted .270 with a homer this spring for Tampa Bay. Thiago Alcantara Spain Jersey . - Jason Day and Cameron Tringale shot an 8-under 64 on Friday in modified alternate-shot play to increase their lead to three strokes in the Franklin Templeton Shootout. http://www.soccerspainfansshop.com/Gerard-Pique-UEFA-European-Spain-Jersey/ . With the Pirates in the thick of the race in the NL Central, the timing couldnt be better. Liriano struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season and Pittsburgh beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Tuesday night.TORONTO -- When the darkness threatened to envelop Clara Hughes, the six-time Olympian sought solace on her bike. Hughes climbed on her bike again Friday for what she called the most important ride of her life. The retired athlete, who is known almost as much as a tireless advocate for mental health awareness as she is an Olympic champion, set off on Claras Big Ride -- a 110-day journey around Canada to promote conversation about mental health. "This is bigger than anything Ive ever done or ever will do," Hughes said. "And the best part about it is its not about me. Im using the bike as a vehicle to bring the mental health conversation and then using every community event that we visit, every school, to really elevate the people in the community, the students to give them a voice, give them the platform. "Its so different from sport because this is not about me. It is actually what motivates me to do this." The 41-year-old Hughes, who has been vocal about her battle with depression, won Olympic medals in both cycling and long-track speedskating, and when she retired from competitive sports after the 2012 London Olympics and suddenly found herself with more time on her hands, a cross-country bike ride seemed the perfect vehicle for her cause. "Over the years, Ive done a lot of bike touring as well as my racing, and theres a curiosity when you roll into town and roll out of town. Where have you come from? Where are you going?" Hughes said. "And I wanted it to be epic. I felt like we need something epic for people to really connect to, and riding across and around Canada is epic. "This is a massive country and I just feel like maybe we can show also the importance of movement, of being active, whatever it is. Going for a walk, riding your bike. Thats a big part of my mental health practice, so I also wanted to show that." The Winnipeg native, accompanied by her husband Peter Guzman, will cover 12,000 kilometres and visit 95 communities, eventually reaching Ottawa on July 1, Canada Day. Hughes, the spokesperson for Bell Lets Talk, set off from a lunchtime ceremony at Maple Leaf Square, wearing blue cycling suit, black tuque, and her trademark megawatt smile. "Today, I woke up and thought Its game time. Lets go. And Im ready. And this is the best day of my life, that I get to start this journey. I cant wait for this to unfold," Hughes said. Hughes slipped into severe depression after winning two bronze cycling medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and for nearly a year she hid her sombre secret behind her wide smile. She initially thought it was simply post-Olympic letdown, and believed shed get over it. But she found herself sleeping away the days, and crying uncontrollably when she was awake. She gained between 15 and 20 pounds. More than a decade later, Hughes has become one of the most vocal advocates for erasing the stigma around mental illness as the spokesperson for Bell Lets Talk Day. "I do feel theres a shift (in the discussion around mental illness)," she said. "Has it changed? No. The shift has started to happen in the last number of years and I think the (Lets Talk) campaign is a big part of it. And thats why I had the idea of when I finally diid quit, I had all this time on my hands. Gerard Pique Jersey. . . what more can I do? And thats where this ride kind of stemmed from." Hughes and her husband plan to cover about 150 kilometres a day. Theyll be accompanied by a Greyhound bus carrying support staff and supplies. A rotating group of cyclists will ride with them. There were about 100 that set off from Toronto to Hamilton for Day 1 on Friday. "I think its going to be really different," Hughes said, comparing her Big Ride to her days of competing. "Its funny, the other day I woke up and had a big cinnamon roll and coffee for breakfast, and I was just like: I would never do this if I was getting ready for a race. "Get to relax a little more. And theres no finish line, Im not sprinting, theres no race. The race is just getting the message to as many people, connecting to as many people, and I really like that. Because I dont have to go hard either. So its different in terms of intensity as well, obviously. "And Im loving life after sport. Im a proud recreational athlete, and this is part of my recreation is riding my bike." Asked about her own health, Hughes said shes "doing very well" but admitted it was a big transition into life after sport. "One of the things even doing this ride whenever I have something big in my life, I worry about after, because thats when things start getting dark and difficult," she said. Hughes speaks regularly with a psychologist shes worked with since her last year training in Calgary, and will have that outlet during the ride if she needs it. Shes although thankful for the support of her husband. "Hes trained for many Olympics kind of in the shadows but with me, hes been a force behind me," she said. "But this is the first time weve done everything together and spent so much time together, and its going really well. Hes so excited. Hes the kind of person who never ever quits what he starts. So even if disaster strikes and whatever, and this ride doesnt finish, Peter will be out there on his own, finishing in Ottawa on Canada Day, so Ive got great partners." Mental health issues in sport made headlines again this week when Terry Trafford, a 20-year-old from Toronto and a forward for the Ontario Hockey Leagues Saginaw Spirit, committed suicide. Hughes spoke about meeting Olympic speedskating champion Stefan Groothuis last month at the Sochi Olympics. The Dutch gold medallist was on the brink of suicide a year ago. "Hes been talking about what that was like to go through that dark period and depression and to come back, and to say This gold medal represents that there is light to go to. Dont give up. "So there are so many athletes that are starting to come out and talk about their experience with mental illness, and the stress, anxiety. . .Athletes are not immune to it, but also athletes are not superhuman and need support. I always tell that to athletes, make sure youre getting the help you need." Along with her two Olympic bronze medals in cycling, Hughes won four winter Olympic medals in speedskating -- one gold, one silver, and two bronze. Her six medals ties her with speedskater Cindy Klassen as the most decorated Canadian Olympians. Jerseys NFL China Wholesale Jerseys Cheap NFL Hoodies Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Gear Wholesale Jerseys 2019 Wholesale NFL White Jerseys ' ' '