han Ive seen since Ive been here. It was definitely a mental grind for seven innings tonight. "He got

The gold-wrapped TV deal the Canadian Football League secured last year will make financial life a lot easier for every franchise this season. But for a few weeks this spring, it also played a significant role in a labour dispute that could have stopped the season from getting off the ground. TSN/RDS and the CFL signed a new contract last year that runs through 2018, reportedly worth in the neighbourhood of $40 million per season, more than double the previous five-year agreement. That extra cash is great news for money-losing franchises like the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. "We needed a deal that would dramatically change the economics of our league and its teams and thats what this does," league commissioner Mark Cohon said last year when it was announced. "This will allow losing teams to start making money and to make some investments in their future, whether its new stadiums or practice facilities. Its definitely transformative from an economic standpoint." But the flip side of the coin was the serious pre-season friction with the CFL Players Association the lucrative new agreement provoked. Players wanted a bigger slice of the TV pie than the league was offering and in the end settled for a $600,000 bump in the salary cap to $5 million, more than a million short of what they initially sought, although only $200,000 less than their final offer to the league. But labour peace has now been guaranteed for the next five years and TSN president Stewart Johnson wants to look for even more ways to give fans an up-close-and-personal look at the CFL this season as the new deal kicks in. "How do we create better access for a viewers?" he said as the CFL prepares to start the 2014 season with the Toronto Argonauts visiting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday. He said he league has already been very co-operative in allowing the network to put microphones on players, put cameras in locker-rooms for speeches and Grey Cup pre-game and post-game talks and putting cameras in less traditional places on the field. "Look for us to continue to look for new ways to innovate when it comes to that type of thing," he said. This year former Bombers coach Paul LaPolice will move to a full-time member of the "CFL on TSN" panel from the part-time role he occupied last season. Rod Smith will host the show. "He (LaPolice) has shown to be an incredible asset to bring a coachs perspective to our panel as we try to tell those stories," said Johnston. The panel is expected to be live in Ottawa for the expansion Redblacks opener and Hamilton as their new stadium is christened. The 2014 CFL broadcast schedule will expand to 86 games in 2014, with the addition of the Ottawa expansion franchise and the playoff games, including the Grey Cup. "Were thrilled with that expansion to begin with. Having nine more games on the schedule in and of itself is a huge benefit to TSN (and) expanding to another major Canadian market that will generate interest not only in the home team but the league as a whole is a benefit to TSN." The new agreement gives TSN and RDS exclusive media rights to all CFL exhibition, regular-season and playoff games — including the Grey Cup — as well as the leagues annual draft and combine. In addition to broadcast and digital rights, it includes exclusive radio rights to the Grey Cup for TSN and Team radio stations. "The deal is an incredibly important component of TSNs overall programming schedule," said the network president. "It is an exclusive relationship with a top-tier property that delivers incredibly compelling all-Canadian content and culminates in the biggest show on Canadian soil, the Grey Cup." The CFL is a marquee property for TSN, which lost the NHL national rights earlier this year after Rogers paid $5.2-billion for a 12-year deal. Sports increasingly is seen as the premium product for broadcasters in the competitive multi-channel environment. "It has to be consumed live, there are very few folks who want to PVR a sporting event and watch it later," said Johnston. "That translates into an increased value proposition for our advertisers." Hydro Flask 32 Oz Sale Cheap . Lost to Los Angeles in first round of playoffs. Hydro Flask Ombre 40 Oz Sale . Nainggolan scored his first Italian league goal at Bologna, in October 2010, and he also opened his Roma account there following his January move from Cagliari. The Belgium midfielder volleyed home Miralem Pjanics cross from close range eight minutes from time. http://www.waterbottlecybermonday.com/. CHAUNCEY BILLUPS (Pistons): Yes they got Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings in the off-season and Andre Drummond is a beast (teams are kicking themselves for passing on him - he rebounds and block shots every game - thats two more discernable and significant skills than most guys in his draft class), but dont for a second discount the impact of having a savvy veteran like Billups on your team. Hydro Flask 32 Oz Black Friday . LOUIS -- The Atlanta Braves used a two-run rally in the ninth to end their road trip with a win. Hydro Flask Wholesale . The Blue Jackets got goals from Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Boone Jenner and R.J. Umberger and Curtis McElhinney posted his first shutout since 2011 in a 4-0 victory on Friday night.TORONTO -- R.A. Dickeys knuckleball finally danced like it did last year when he was the best pitcher in the National League. Dickey baffled the New York Yankees for seven innings and Colby Rasmus and Rajai Davis homered as the Toronto Blue Jays won the opener of a three-game series 2-0 on Tuesday. "What you saw tonight is what I saw last year for 25 starts," said catcher Josh Thole who accompanied the Cy Young Award winner to Toronto in an off-season trade with the Mets. "It was consistently that every night." Dickey (13-12) struggled in the first two innings then faced the minimum number of batters for the next five innings. He struck out eight in holding the Yankees to four hits and two walks to win his fourth decision in a row. "It was probably the latest action Ive had on it here in particular," Dickey said. "So its nice to continue to grow. These are important games for me in particular. Were going to be competing next year so its important to get it right now." Rasmus hit his 21st homer of the season -- and third in three games since returning from the disabled list -- in the fourth inning against left-hander Andy Pettitte (10-10). Davis hit his sixth of the season against right-hander Shawn Kelley in the seventh. The Yankees (79-72), who entered Tuesday 2.5 games out of an American League wild-card spot, have lost four in a row. The Blue Jays (69-81) have won only twice in their first seven games of a nine-game home stand. Sergio Santos took over from Dickey in the eighth. Casey Janssen pitched the ninth for his 31st save of the season. Pettitte lost for the first time since Aug. 5 as he allowed six hits, two walks and one run while striking out five in 6 2/3 innings. He had three wins and four no decisions in his previous seven starts. "Its frustrating," Pettitte said. "Were playing terrible and its not good. Its a bad time to be doing that. If we pitch we got to score some runs. If we score some runs, weve got to pitch. It seems like we havent been doing a lot of mixing and matching together. Dickey pitched a good game. His knuckleball, he threw it well." Dickey left the bases loaded in the first when he struck out Mark Reynolds. He left two more runners stranded in the second, and struck out the side in the third before being helped by a fourth-inning double play.dddddddddddd "I didnt get discouraged the first two innings," Dickey said. "I was throwing good knuckleballs. I thought I had a couple of pitches there 3-2 and ended up being balls but outside of that it was moving pretty drastically tonight. Even in the first two innings, I knew I had a pretty good one. I just needed to stay the course with it." The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead with one out in the fourth when Rasmus homered to right on a 2-2 hanger. The centre-fielder came off the disabled list on Sept. 13 after not playing since Aug. 11 because of an oblique strain. "I made a terrible mistake to Rasmus and that was the ball game," Pettitte said. "He got me deep into an at-bat. I kept trying to bounce a cutter off the top of the plate see if I could try and get him to swing. Bad thought process." Kelley replaced Pettitte with two out in the seventh and Davis homered to left on a 1-0 pitch to extend the lead to 2-0. The way Dickeys knuckleball was working, that was all the Blue Jays needed. He even tried two sidearm pitches. "The knuckleball stayed hard for most of the night, it was moving all over the place," Thole said. "In the pen it was moving more than Ive seen since Ive been here. It was definitely a mental grind for seven innings tonight. "He got stronger as he went on I think. That was the difference. You could see it. His velocity kind of jumped up I think in the third inning, he was throwing the harder consistently and it was all over." Notes: Blue Jays 1B Edwin Encarnacion (left wrist) will undergo season-ending surgery to clean up the cartilage in his left wrist. ... LHP Brett Cecil (left elbow) has been put on the disabled list with discomfort in his elbow. The reliever first felt it late last month after pitching in Houston and it has flared up again. Cecil said indications are that it is a "nerve inflammation" and not serious. He will have an MRI. ...Yankees reliever LHP Boone Logan (elbow discomfort) who has not pitched since Sept. 6 will throw a bullpen session on Wednesday and could be ready to return on Friday. ...LHP J.A. Happ (4-6, 5.15 earned-run average) will start Wednesday against RHP Phil Hughes (4-14, 5.07 ERA). ... Attendance at Rogers Centre was 24,894.