MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- When Michael (Pinball) Clemons speaks, the Toronto Argonauts listen. The clubs former head coach and current vice-chair delivered an animated 10-minute address to the team following Fridays practice as the Argonauts prepare to host the Edmonton Eskimos. Toronto (4-2) enters Sundays game tops in the CFL East Division and riding a three-game winning streak, while Edmonton (1-5) limps into Rogers Centre in the West basement. Its not the first time Clemons, a star Toronto running back on the field and member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame off it, has spoken to the Argonauts while a member of the clubs front office. He stood up in front of the team during a losing streak last season and again prior to the Argonauts victory in the 100th Grey Cup. So why have Pinball attend an already spirited practice ahead of a mid-August game against a team tied for last in the league? "I was fortunate to have a surprise visitor and hes always welcome," Argonauts head coach Scott Milanovich said coyly before adding: "Pinball played here, coached here and hes a lifetime Argo -- and then also the best speaker Ive ever been around. Hes one of us and the players feel like hes one of them, and he is. "To have such a dynamic speaker who they feel is part of the family, its just another voice." Argonauts defensive tackle Kalif Mitchell is in his first season with Toronto but sees the value in what Clemons has to offer. "It gives us a perspective of somebody whos not playing, but played the game and also understands how the game should be played," Mitchell said. "He gives it to us raw. He never gives it to us sugarcoated." One treat for the Argonauts so far in 2013 has been the play of veteran quarterback Ricky Ray. The 33-year-old former Eskimos pivot, who has missed one game with a knee injury, is third in CFL passing with 1,355 yards and second in touchdowns with 11, to go along with zero interceptions. But while Ray has completed 34-of-38 passes for 438 yards with five TDs in his last two starts, he and his teammates are taking nothing for granted against the Eskimos. "The challenge when youre playing well and winning football games is to not let up and start going through the motions and think that were playing good right now and well show up for gametime," said Ray, who joined Toronto after a trade with Edmonton before last season. "Weve still got to do the things that have gotten us to this point, which is practise hard, study, and pay attention to all those little details." With a game against the Calgary Stampeders (5-1 heading into Saturdays game against the B.C. Lions) on deck next week, the Argos could be excused for looking past an Edmonton team that will be minus last seasons outstanding defensive player J.C. Sherritt, who is out indefinitely after thumb surgery. But the Eskimos come in off their bye week following close losses of five points to the Montreal Alouettes and one point to Hamilton Tiger-Cats. "We respect all of our opponents not matter what their record is. We just make sure that when we go out we carry ourselves to a certain expectation and a certain standard," Mitchell said. "Every game, no matter what the records or where youve been, the score starts 0-0." Edmontons offence, although last in the CFL, has produced 25.6 points per game in its three previous outings. "Its just about us just going out and playing football. Theres a lot of noise and stuff thats going to surround a 1-5 team. We just have to go play football," Edmonton head coach Kavis Reed said this week. "Theres no extra stress that we can add to ourselves. Thats not good for this football team. We have to be focused on execution and thats simply it." While the Eskimos are without their heart and soul on defence, the Argnonauts have done well to plug holes on an offence that has seen injuries at all of the skill positions. Ray missed one game with a knee injury, starting running back Chad Kackert is out long term with a knee injury of his own and receiver Dontrelle Inman has been out with a leg injury. Inman has been taking first-team reps this week at practice and Milanovich said hes "hopeful" he will be good to go against Edmonton. Inmans impending return makes for a complicated situation at receiver because of the strong play of rookie John Chiles, who caught two TDs in Torontos victory over Montreal last week. In the backfield, the Argos could have a different starting running back for the third time in four games. After Kackert went down, Curtis Steele played well but picked up a groin injury in last weeks victory over Montreal. If Steele cant go or is limited on Sunday, former NFLer Quinn Porter will likely come off the practice roster. Torontos depth on offence, which includes backup quarterback Zach Collaros three-touchdown debut in place of the injured Ray in Week 5, has been impressive in the early going of 2013. "Well never make excuses. We believe in the guys that are here," Milanovich said. "Weve been very fortunate that the guys that have got their chance have played well." St.Louis Blues Pro Shop . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. Blues Jerseys 2021 .Y. - Alex Rodriguez paid $305,000 for evidence that could be used in the case involving the Biogenesis of America drug clinic, the Daily News reported Saturday. https://www.cheapblues.com/ . MLB executive Joe Torre ruled on Tuesday nights game at Wrigley Field that was called after 4 1-2 innings. 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And once again, Team Homan emerged as the victor with the reigning national champions defeating Team Sweeting at the Pintys All-Star Curling Skins Game Friday night in the tournaments opening draw at The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre in beautiful Banff National Park.Canadian skier Jean-Philippe Auclair was remembered Wednesday as a freestyle pioneer who helped revolutionize the sport in its formative years before shifting to filmmaking and a focus on the more extreme side of the slopes, influencing a generation of athletes with his creativity and vision in the process.He was a creator, said former Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association CEO Peter Judge. He saw the world in a different way.The bodies of Auclair and fellow pro skier Carl Andreas Fransson were spotted by helicopter Tuesday in Argentina during a joint rescue operation by the armed forces and police in neighbouring Chile, The Associated Press reported.They had been missing since an avalanche swept them away while they were hiking in southern Chile. Auclair, a native of Ste-Foy, Que., was 37.Armada Skis, a company based in Costa Mesa, Calif., confirmed to The Canadian Press that one of the missing hikers was Auclair — the firms co-founder — but offered no further comment pending permission from his family.Judge, now Own The Podiums winter sport director, was a coach when Auclair was first starting out with the freestyle development team in the mid-1990s.At the time, the squad was loaded with stars like Jean-Luc Brassard, Stephane Rochon and Dominick Gauthier. The teams depth made it very difficult to crack the elite World Cup roster.Some of the up-and-coming skiers like Auclair later branched out in different directions.By doing that, I think it really accelerated their creative thought processes and doing some of the innovative things that they did that eventually took the sport in a whole different direction, Judge said in a phone interview from Calgary.But as these things go, many of the unintended consequences of something creates something totally different, he added. In this case in many ways it created a reinvention of the sport.Auclair was a strong influence in the burgeoning sport as it gained more mainstream acceptance. He was the first guy to do what (American) Jonny Moseley later made famous in the 98 (Nagano) Games, to do a mute-grab 360, which was a significant departure from the stock foray of jumping at the time, Judge said. Everything was very formula in moguls at the time, in that time period. He actually bent the mould based on that and didnt really ever get credit.Like a true artist, you dont get credit until after youre gone and out of the sport.Longtime friend Jean-Francois Cusson, who partnered with Auclair to start Armada Skis, released a statement Wednesday afternoon, calling Auclair an unbelievable human being.J.P. was by far the most creative calculating perfectionist I ever met in my life, he said. Extreme skiing might be a dangerous sport, but he was meticulous in every aspect of his preparation. Everything! So I always felt like he was untouchable.Nobody came close to touching his talent and his ability to push the boundaries of creativity. The sport has lost a pioneering innovator and is going to miss him, but the great personal memories I have with J.P. will stay with me forever.Auclair moved into different areas like freeskiing, urban skiing and ski development. His Facebook news feed was stocked with incredible photos and videos from his travels.His love for adventure, nature and sport was evident.Big mountain skiing was certainly a large part of his draw and what he wanted to project and convey to people in the sport as well as all the other pieces, ranging from in the early days of competing through to innovating to filmmaking, Judge said.dddddddddddd Theres so many dimensions to how his love of the sport manifested itself.Auclair appeared in the 2011 film, All.I.Can, which featured the Canadian navigating the twists and turns of a Trail, B.C., neighbourhood while on skis. I was astounded when I saw it, Judge said. Just how much it nailed who J.P. was and what went on in his mind and what his legacy inside of what he gave to the sport.Photographer Felix Rioux was a longtime friend of Auclairs and joined him on many ski trips over the years.I think his goals were to execute his visions of what he thinks skiing should be about or at least how he would like it to be, Rioux said from Montreal. He was always a great skier but hes always been a great visionary, working with the ski companies to design skis, design the clothing.Rioux is the director of the IF3 International Freeski Film Festival, which ran earlier this month in Montreal.Most of the ski videos that youve seen of J.P., well he was directly involved with the concept, directing and sometimes he would even be the guy directing the segment, Rioux said. I think if you look at J.P.s career and everything that surrounds him, thats pretty much what his dream was all about.Auclairs last Facebook post on Friday included a picture of a mountain top and a note about the future.road trip down south with a great crew. back at it with @andreasfransson99 @bjarnesalen and @danielronnback for #apogeeskiing and very much looking forward to the days ahead, he posted.Authorities said Auclair and Fransson arrived in the Aysen region of Chiles Patagonia on Thursday along with two other tourists from Sweden. They had been hiking the 3,600-metre San Lorenzo mountain, and disappeared when a wall of rocks and snow cascaded down, dragging them to a stream in Argentine territory.The two survivors in the group were treated at a local hospital, and police said they provided information to help locate the bodies.Auclairs biography on the Armada website said he had obtained Level One certification in avalanche operations through the Canadian Avalanche Association in 2009. In an interview on the website, Auclair said his approach to his work recently changed after he became a father.Now, I double, triple check and do my homework a lot more thoroughly. The factors that Im not aware of, I want to make sure its dialled before jumping into the unknown.Rioux said Auclairs family members and loved ones were keeping in touch with local officials as they waited for more details on the effort to recover the bodies. The Canadian Freestyle Ski Association said on Twitter it was shocked & deeply saddened by Auclairs sudden death. Slopestyle skier Kaya Turski was one of several athletes to voice their grief on the social media website.I am so sorry to hear about JP Auclairs recent passing. My heart goes out to his family. A true legend...... Rest well, she tweeted.Former alpine star Brian Stemmle also posted a note.I didnt have the chance to meet JP Auclair or Andreas Fransson but I grieve with our entire ski community. #RIP, he said.Judge added that Auclair was a well-respected, unassuming, quiet kind of guy.For someone who had achieved the kinds of things he had achieved, he could have been very bigger than life and ostentatious, he said. And yet he was the most grounded, down to earth, humble guy. Just a real genuine soul, you know.———With files from Canadian Press reporters Peter Ray and Fred Daigle and The Associated Press. ' ' '