Fan Boy

I think isolation is a pretty harsh word. Not everyone worries about that or we'd have no pro teams in Winnipeg. I agree with you on that one. No matter what the sport. Pro athletes who are breaking in are happy to have a job. Pro Athletes who want to succeed go to winning teams. Pro Athletes who want glamour I can live without. Furthermore Glamour and CFL are not words to be used in the same sentence very often.

I know what his job / purpose is. Doesn't make me hate him any less. From reading other stories of his where I was very knowledgeable on the topic and see how he twists facts to fit whatever narrative he wants, makes me distrust absolutely anything he writes. His job is to sell papers. A combination of him and Friesen make me not read the Sun. And if you hadn't of posted the article, no way I would have known about it. Pretty sure that isn't the reaction his employers want. You got that right. The truth is useful to a point but if it gets in the way of a good story well then truth has little value. Years ago the Sun ran a ridiculous front page story and when I spoke to the editor about fact checking he just told me "You caught me. We'll try to do better next time." I contacted Free Press about what the Sun editor said and I was so completely misquoted that I ended up sounding like I agreed with the Sun story. I don't know where the truth is but it sure isn't in the news media or if it is then it was a mistake. The bottom line is that the Bombers aren't getting the sweetheart deal that BC got with the new roof, or the Sask or Hamilton stadiums. Point that media finger somewhere else.

Personal feelings aside at least the stadium debt has a chance to paid. One can not say the same for the Pity Party Museum (so called by my wife who lived in a civil war and know human rights abuses from personal experience and was close to summary execution at least once), That thing is going to cost 20 million a year and cost way more than stadium to build. How many times are you going to visit? Once to see the amazing architecture! Your kids or grandkids will be forced to visit but how many will go 10 times in a year and enjoy themselves thoroughly (at least some times). That is one bad investment for the taxpayer. The stadium is a long term investment with real payback potential.

I wonder who is present at the interviews?Mike O'Shea is present. Is that it? Who else needs to be there? No one. O'Shea will have to answer for the coaches under him and therefore ought to have the final say. That answer makes sense in a logical business sense. But is professional sports and especially CFL business sensible? Does it work strictly by logic? Besides it is much better for the the tin foil hat crowd for there to be layers of intrigue with conflicting motivations and aspirations so that we can discuss for pages and pages. This is much better than working.

I'd take Berry back in a second. Made the playoffs every year. And that smart guy Bauer made Berry the scapegoat for the "unfinished business" season...in favor of his boy Mike Kelly. I will always like & respect Berry for being the man with the balls to cut that blabbermouth moron Westwood! Bring back mad Doug Berry as our OC. So you don't like Westwood? Is that what I can take away from this? It has been a few years now. Maybe time to let it go a bit. Maybe change to Life as Bomber Supporter Sucks or Potholes Suck.

Actually it has a lot to do with the other CFL clubs. Both in individuals that are now available (Would Benevides be an improvement from Etch as a DC?) and also in the size of the contract needed to secure a coach in the future. Also in another form do those open jobs hold any interest in current Bomber coaches. Everything that happens in the CFL has a ripple effect on the other teams. The coaches in CFL bounce around from team to team. For every move in one direction there has to be a move in the other direction. The coaches are looking at their options too so there is going to be delays on both sides. Even if deals have been made, announcements might not want to be made to space out the media attention if nothing else. I understand impatience but maybe I am wrong but expect a lot of the posters here have been around a few years or been involved in some business and understand these things are complicated with lots of competing agendas. Above all I can't imagine anything more ridiculous than announcing firing someone without having a replacement in hand.

Sask is making changes but are they the right moves? The team was 8-2 when Durant went down. Don't you think they might be overreacting by reportedly firing both their coordinators? Any GM can hire and fire guys every year. Does that make him a better GM than one who sticks by his guys? I'm not saying the Bombers are right if they don't make any changes, but the simple act of making changes isn't always the right move. I am not sure you have this fanatic thing worked out yet. You are supposed to breathe fire and demand coaches, general managers, presidents, beer sellers and peanut hawkers to be fired every year until a good team appears or at least until moral is better. I know it is frustrating to be a bomber fan but there has been a lot of churn in coaches and managers over the years but this bunch seems like the best we've seen for a long while, maybe not everyone on the staff but at least as a whole. Every time a new management person is put in place there is an adjustment period. Players are different. Their time is now and when they start to Romby you have to get rid of them. (I am glad we don't have motorcycle guy and "no shotgun" guy by the way sometimes change is necessary.

Thank you for bringing that one up. Ever once in a while it is good to remember something real good. I enjoyed that one. I even jumped on the field although I can't say I liked the tearing down the goalposts. Someone could get hurt. That was a defense. No gimmicks there.

I've heard the same. My buddy who grew up with Rod Black told me Rod would go to socials and always leave with another guy's girlfriend. Guys hated him, but the women couldn't resist him. With his advanced knowledge of figure skating and saying "wicked.." why wouldnt they?! Honestly, i could be wrong but I thought rod black was in the park Pontiac commercials.. Not that anyone can help taking shots at Rod Black. I follow Raptors too and the remote control gets busy when he adds his "valued" opinions.

Retired players... Wear with pride. Well, #11 Ken Ploen, #27 Dave Raimey, #54 Phil Minnick, #77 Ernie Pitts, #64 Bill Frank, #55 Joe Critchlow, #7 Don Jonas, #52 Harry Walters, #30 Brian Herosian, #27 Jay Washington, #38 Willard Reaves, #35 Tyrone Jones, #54 Greg Battle, #10 Rod Hill, #35 Bob "Hoss" Houmard, #2 Tom Clements, #70 Jeff Boyd.... Those guys come to mind. Jones was 35, crap I thought it was 32. Actually the numbers were a bit blurry in those days. We used to go to Chi Chi's before the game.

You must be at least my age as I have a royal blue 58 (wild wild west) but a 32 was a close second. I never could figure out how a waddle could get so fast.

I too like this signing though I would like to see a large large man in the middle tying up a couple blockers to allow the little guys to run around and make the plays. I know I will probably be shot but I think the defensive scheme can still work with some personnel tweaks. Of course since I have no coaching experience at any level I am just voicing an opinion based on nothing but hope.

Why is it that when Messam changes uni's he looks great for awhile then disappears. I think we'd be better off sticking with Fitzgerald and bring him along. Fitzgerald is another wasted pick from Mack. Even his LS'ing is not good when the Bombers need replacement when Wild was injured. We need someone that D will respect when he has the ball. Messam might not be as explosive during his first year but how many times did he burn our D this year? Agreed. Fitzgerald is not a rookie and has not been for some time. He needs to come to training camp with the expectation that he will either show more than he has or be gone. He has shown a few flashes of promise,but after awhile that is not enough. How is he supposed to show more when the offense barely uses the TE/FBs on the roster? It might have something to do with the OC's and the QB's confidence in him too. Or how about the fact that offences in the CFL these days runs mostly a 1 back set and the FB/TE is only a situation position and used sparingly as a tendency breaker and nothing more. This is the answer I vote for. There's been sparse backfields in the CFL for years. FB has just a been position name you give for special teams specialists for a long time too.

You think so Mr Lawless?

I think you are mixed up with Jake Edwards (radio DJ) but if that was a joke, sorry for ruining it. I've heard the same. My buddy who grew up with Rod Black told me Rod would go to socials and always leave with another guy's girlfriend. Guys hated him, but the women couldn't resist him. With his advanced knowledge of figure skating and saying "wicked.." why wouldnt they?!

Mike Kelly also finished the 2009 season with 7-11 record. Just sayin' I knew this would be brought up. But anyway, Mike Kelly's record was only a partial reason he was fired, the bigger reason is because he was an embarrassment to the team and the league as a whole with his awful character, the CFL commissioner at the time even said so. He was also GM and majorly ****ed up throwing good players out the door with that control. If you can't respect or treat your players like a professional should, you don't deserve to be coaching. Plus Kelly didn't take a 3-win team from the year before and improve them, he took a perennial Grey Cup team that Berry had built and pretty much rode it into the ground. Bigggg difference from what O'Shea has done. I took one of my daughter's to her first game in the Mike Kelly era and and I had to explain offense in theoretical terms: That guy is a quarterback and when he isn't running for his life he is supposed to throw the ball forward but more than the 8 yards this guy can throw. Also I had to explain that usually the game isn't over after 1 quarter and that fans can also cheer as well as boo. I didn't have to explain a first down because she never saw one. It is hard to believe that Mike Kelly season was 7 wins because that was one hopeless looking squad with almost no fight in them. Maybe my memory is faluty but I find this team to be far more competitive.

Wow Watson is hurt! Football is a tough game.

The logic is...we're screwed and need anyone who has thrown a football within the last 30 months. Does Taman have Bishop's number? There's another proven veteran. I seem to remember a strong arm. Mike Kelly was quite the QB evaluator even if he was a bit rough around the edges with the media.

Fans come in various shades of fanaticism. Some are going to be falling off the bandwagon after the last 8 games. I admit the quick start the BB had this season increased my hope of a quick return to the successful years of the past. I was impressed by the changes made before this season. I could see long term success or at least some semblance of normalcy which we haven't seen for a years in these parts. The building of the stadium also brought the feeling of professionalism even if the team was far from a professional one at the time. I am still optimistic and I watched every minute of the last game even though I had a pretty good idea that a quick pick 6 on the road is a hard way to start a game for a struggling team. The team has regressed and probably wasn't as good as they seemed at the beginning of the season. I haven't commented much because I would rather celebrate than commensurate. Also even though I played Canadian style football (I prefer these rules to the NFL rules - kick offs are now meaningless) I haven't got a clue how a successful team is built. It looks like the Bombers are on the way but these last games do feel like a kick in the gut and steps backward. PS: being a fan is a pretty silly thing, cheering for a jersey, but I can't help it.

You driven around The 'Peg lately? Roads are bad all over the country. A lot of it is simply to do with weather. Go to North Dakota or Minnesota, where they get the same weather, and see how nice their roads are compared to ours. Must be a Canadian thing then. When looking for answers to humanity's great questions, always start with money. As in having a tenth of the population means our budget for capital works projects is a tenth of theirs. Less really, as we prioritize the tax dollars differently, with health care getting a massive chunk of the pie. Although their budget for miscellaneous wars is much higher than ours. The roads they construct have a base that's twice as thick as ours, that's why they don't experience similar road heaves when the temperatures fluctuate. In addition, for the US typically road repairs is the first idea that politicians trot out anytime there is a downturn in the economy. Job creation, yada yada yada, but the long term effect is not the creation of a sustainable job, so their economy cycles thru mini-recessions quite frequently, which helps keep their roads under constant repair. Which is why sections of road on the I-29 are getting ripped out and replaced despite being nicer than sections of the 75 that were poured 2 years ago. I believe soil conditions are not exactly the same from region to region but it is probably a lesser factor than the ones you mentioned. I also believe the politics of money does have a great deal to do with it. You will Prioritize spending differently if you are bouncing along on a secondary highway than if you are lying in hospital bed. In general infrastructure is failing all over North America as we don't seem to have the money to repair. Even Minnesota had that big bridge collapse. Montreal had its high profile issues as well.

But it does not impede the ability to hold which is essential to every successful lineman.

I've noticed that too. Maybe it's due to the incompetence of their commentators. I think it's americanization of all their broadcasts. American sports are all about hype hype and more hype and I think TSN is jumping on that bandwagon. I hate it. The sport is good enough to stand on it's own without the artificial hype. And when the guy they're hyping has a bad game...it just gets even more ridiculous. like how they updated us that Chick had zero sacks but had been "double teamed" by having a tight end or RB chip in on the blocking on two occasions. But how would the people watching the game with their eyes closed know that if he didn't tell them?

Dressler is the better player AINEC, I don't know what AINEC means but absolutely Dressler is better thn Matthews. And It's Not Even Close Thanks. And agree. I saw some evaluation of Mathews as not putting in the effort in NFL camp. He seemed to lose interest in CFL before. If he can't get up for NFL he won't be any good at all here. I remember him as a guy who could play not a guy who loves to play. You can't play this game half way. On second thought I might be confusing him with Greg Carr. All tall skinny receivers look alike to me.

Maybe the concern with off sides is from people mistaking Hall for Willis. I remember Willis as being more the penalty magnet. If we get to vote on this I vote for getting Hall back. I feel like the defense has been a little short of pressure compared to better versions of our team over the years. I like quarterback pressure. It leads to pick sixes which are absolute momentum killers.

Is this sexual innuendo? Only if she laughs after she says it, otherwise it is all football.