The Calgary Stampeders had another good regular season in 2006, riding an offence that made excellent use of trick plays to a second-place finish in the West. Sadly, all that was quickly forgotten as the team was eliminated by some sort of rodent in round 1 of the playoffs.

After that embarrassment, the team fired the architect of the offence and spent the offseason stockpiling players to push the starters. Whether this will pay dividends remains to be seen. But you do have to question some of the moves.

Additions:

• Receivers Ryan Thelwell and the oft-injured Marc Boerigter. Good moves by themselves, but do you really think that Nik Lewis is the sort of guy that’ll handle himself well if some of the spotlight is taken off of him?

• Duncan O’Mahony, whose performance in the 2004 Grey Cup will always bring a smile to any Argos fan. Hopefully he'll make it to the Argo Dome this year.
  

• Real estate agent Akili Smith, who is presumably being brought in to help some of the more useful players find accommodations in Calgary’s tough housing market

So what do we expect from the Stamps this year besides nicer houses?
No word on if he used the "V" as a slingshotFrst of all, we expect Scott Coe to really let loose with his hairstyles this year. No more of the banker look for him. More importantly, on the touchdown celebration side, we expect:

• Jermaine Copeland to recreate BC Place deflating

• Pole vaulting over the goalposts

• Akili Smith to put up a “Sold” sign in the end zone after successfully executing a QB sneak

• Something involving the two-man luge - so long as it doesn't come off all "gay" like Geroy Simon’s Superman pose

In any event, we’re looking for another solid year from the Stamps this year. And quite frankly, that's probably for the better. The idea of these two getting pissed off scares the hell out of us.