Eternal optimist

No, I'm not concerned with the Liberals spending, conventional macroeconomics states that as long as the government currency (i.e. Canadian $) is able to retain its intrinsic value, they are fine to run deficits, they can always issue more debt (such as bonds) to make up the shortfall. With rock bottom interest rates currently, deficits aren't exactly a bad thing. I guess I'm bucking the trend there - I have no problem with taxes, and although I agree taxing families to death isn't the answer - neither is handing out tax breaks to the rich.

My favorite is how the Conservative tax promises are made under the guise of helping working-class families, but in reality, they often benefit the rich most: 1. Increasing the basic personal amount will benefit people that use the deduction to its' fullest extent the most, so anyone with federal income below the basic federal credit (for 2019 this is $12,069, i.e. really poor) actually doesn't get any additional benefit from this... they'd still pay the same amount of tax ($0 assuming no refundable credits). 2. The children's fitness/arts tax credits can benefit working-class families, but families that are on the fringe of affordability are likely to cut luxuries (such as fitness/arts for their kids) first. Again, these benefits simply allow for the rich to get a tax break on something they were probably paying for anyways (such as a rich family whose son is in SJR paying for their kid to play hockey, they get the full $500 credit for that kid, assuming the cost of hockey is at least $500). 3. Increasing the RESP limits again benefits the rich - most middle class families struggle to contribute the maximum under the program, and if you're poor, having extra contribution room isn't going to help you plan for the future when you're struggling to put food on the table. Do the Liberals lie as well? Absolutely. They're all dogs, but at least they aren't spin doctoring with the level of finesse currently shown by the Cons. I'm pretty cynical and since I can't decline my ballot federally, I'm seriously considering intentionally spoiling it in an act of defiance, I've never seen such a bad batch of politicians set to run this country.

I think it's a cap space thing for the most part, though personally I'd much rather see them bring in a green rookie at safety than play Hecht. With Hecht, you know what you're getting (usually subpar performances), but if they did some scouting with a new guy, there's the upside of them meshing well, and paying them less as a rookie (helps with the cap). Of course, with fresh recruits, the risk there is you end up hanging onto a guy like Roc Carmichael for too long hoping he'll develop.

Shout out to other 30 year olds that will be debt free this year whoot.

As much as the pick he threw was a back breaker, honorable mention to Streveler for fighting through two blocks to make the tackle on the INT runback. Ti-Cats ended up scoring a TD on the series anyways, but the hustle was nice to see.

This says more about how bad the playcalling was tonight than how good Streveler's strengths are over Nichols.

HH to Bob Cameron, for still being able to punt the ball quite well, even though he's 65!

They are also 2-2 in that time span.

Man, I remember when we were 5-0 and people were complaining about Nichols... this is why we can't have nice things. If they manage to win it all without him, I will gladly eat my hat.

Deny, deny, deny. Seriously though.. what are they supposed to say? "Oops sorry guys we're totally incompetent, whoops!"

Sure, but from the footage you can see it wasn't incidental, it was deliberate. I think the fact the game was in Montreal played into this, the scenario reminds me of the questionable non-call in the Music City Miracle for the Titans in the NFL - the question of whether or not the play was a lateral was very close (much closer than Adam's infraction), but seriously... What happens in that stadium if you overturn the call there (or comparatively, eject Adams Jr.)?

Alright, I'll bite. I think it's only fair to compare the Bombers offensive play-calling in the fourth to that of their peers, both of the other top teams also had sizeable leads at some point (HAM, CAL) and had opponents that surged a comeback, though for EDM and TOR, the comeback fell short: Calgary 4th Q Plays 7 POC, 5 YAC, 12 YWF Incomplete pass (33 yards) 10 POC, 1 YAC, 11 YWF Incomplete pass (10 yards) 13 POC, 0 YAC, 13 YWF Incomplete pass (29 yards) 16 POC, 5 YAC, 21 YWF 0 POC, 7 YAC, 7 YWF Incomplete pass (9 yards) Field goal 6 POC, 0 YAC, 6 YWF Rush for 2 Punt 9 POC, 4 YAC, 13 YWF Rush for 2 10 POC, 8 YAC, 18 YWF QB Kneel Incomplete pass Pass plays 20+ yards: 2 (attempted and successful based on YOC, bolded above) HAM 4th Q plays Rush for -3 Incomplete pass (24 yards) Punt 13 YOC, 1 YAC, 14 YWF 6 YOC, 6 YAC, 12 YWF 0 YOC, 1 YAC, 1 YWF Incomplete pass (24 yards) Field goal Incomplete pass (5 yards) 0 YOC, 9 YAC, 9 YWF Rush for 3 0 YOC, 8 YAC, 8 YWF Rush for 0 Punt Rush for 5 0 YOC, 2 YAC, 2 YWF Punt 26 YOC, 0 YAC, 26 YWF Rush for 5 Rush for 2 Rush for 9 Field goal Pass plays 20+ yards: 2 (attempted and successful based on YOC, bolded above) CAL Play breakdown (Pass - 78%, Rush - 11%, FG / Punt - 6% each, respectively) HAM Play breakdown (Pass - 45%, Rush - 32%, Punt - 14%, FG - 9%) WPG play breakdown (Pass - 53%, Rush - 27%, Punt - 13%, FG - 7%) WPG Pass plays 20+ yards: 0 I think the biggest difference isn't so much the fact the Bombers ran the ball so much (as shown, HAM actually ran the ball even more in the 4th), it's the fact the Bombers didn't even attempt any 20+ passes - sometimes it's more important for the opposing D to think you might take a deep shot - you have to at least have them concerned about it, and not think you've abandoned it. Which, in my opinion is what happened, Bombers started running routes just enough for (or classic Lapo, just short) of 1st downs, MTL DBs creeped up, Bombers never even made them think twice with a deep ball attempt, and MTL got the 2 and outs quickly and efficiently that were needed to score 24 points unanswered. Of course, home run balls all day isn't the answer either - it's a balancing act, but you have to at least take some shots otherwise the opposing D will pick up on that.

So much this, I've yet to see an OC throw a pick 6, or a defensive co-ordinator bust a coverage. At the same time though, even with atrocious play-calling, a comeback of that nature can only be facilitated by a combination of both bad play calling and poor execution. It's like writing an exam - if you have a bad teacher for the course (i.e. coordinator), it can hold you back a bit, but realistically it's the student (player) that determines whether they pass or fail (based on effort and execution they put into the learning the material).

No way, I want to witness him throw 6 interceptions in the loudest stadium in the league. Then razz him about it as he's coming off the field.

I'm on it! As of this post, it's 4 days, 22 hours, 40 minutes until kickoff, I'm sure I'll be perfectly rowdy by then if I keep up my drinking habits from the past ~36 hours (notably escalating half-way through the 4th yesterday).

LMFAO Kenny Ploen has won as many Grey CUps as their entire organization, since it's existence, and he did it in the short span of 10 years. He also played as an all-star halfback, the guy was an engineering student too, he had smarts. Lancaster won just as many Grey Cups, but one of them (Ottawa - 1960) was as a backup, and the other two (1993, 1999) he was a coaching staff. So really, as a bona fide staring QB, he won one Grey Cup. As a team leader, more often than not Lancaster came up short, when he was with the 'Riders, they made the playoffs 14 consecutive years, only managing to win the Grey Cup once in that entire time frame (how's that for choking). Ploen got the Bombers to more Grey Cups (6 to Lancaster's 5 as a player) and he took four years less to do it. He also won more Grey Cups for the Bombers (4) than Lancaster did as a player for the SSK 'Riders (1).

Well, Montreal can still catch Hamilton for 1st in the East. BC is technically still alive, but at a minimum, they'd have to win 4 of their remaining 5, they'd also need outside help - EDM would have to essentially lose out and they'd need to sneak in on the crossover (EDM holds the tiebreaker in the season series). OTT and TOR, despite having equal or worse records than BC, are also still alive, due to how weak the East is, they each could still catch MTL for 2nd. Though again they'd need outside help, TOR needs to practically run the table at this point, though they could feasibly still lose 1, if they beat MTL by more than 6 in their 2nd of 2 against them, they'd hold the season tiebreaker. OTT's chances are just as much on life support, though they still have a rubber match against the Als, so they too could still lose 1 of their remaining 5.

Interestingly enough, all of the top teams this weekend jumped out to massive leads (HAM was up 24-0, CAL was up 17-0), but only we managed to choke it away, the others found a way to win. Our schedule does us no favours, with the rubber match against SSK in Regina, and 2 games against CAL who've looked much scarier with Mitchell back. On the plus side - the win by BC this weekend increases the chance of a crossover - which could help us, hopefully BC makes a go of it, worst case down the stretch is BC takes a dive whilst EDM clinches the crossover, then EDM has nothing to play for in the back-to-back against SSK to close out the season. Personally, I think 1st in the West may all come down to the home game on the October 25th against the Stamps - at this point, that might be best-case scenario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmBOvdO_8UA Oddly enough, Bombers were outdone yesterday by the Washington State Cougars... not only was their collapse larger (UCLA was down 32 points in the 3rd), the Cougars managed to pull off this magnificent feat of ineptitude at home.

We just clinched a playoff position! Despite that horrendous loss, at 9-4, it is impossible for Toronto (2-10), Ottawa (3-10), or BC (3-10) to catch us, we have punched our ticket to the post-season party! Just trying to keep things positive, step away from the ledge, boys, one loss does not a season make!

At least he shows up for 60 minutes.

My three stars: 1. Bob Irving - Continued trend of calling perfect play-by-play despite how awful team played. 2. Doug Brown - Likely successor to Bob, and also helped call a great game. 3. I don't know, the Montreal announcer, I guess.

HH to Chris Matthews - only Bombers to show up down the stretch when it mattered.

Ah, the very definition of tough love. That's my Bombers!

In the words of Bellichek when asked about running up the score - "it's their job to stop us".