Esks1975

How many obvious calls do you think they missed? I think there was one. On the last play of the game. I also think that the on field officials were right about the PI that got called on review. Calgary should have lost that challenge.

The clock does not run on converts in the last three minutes of the half. At the time I was thinking that the bombers would have been better off if your receiver didn't roll over and score the TD as a sneak on the next play would have killed more time. But you have to score when you can. The three man rush was a killer. i know it was better for the Eskimos if Calgary won but I was hoping to see the Bombers finish the comeback.

This is crazy!

I think he was suggesting that SJ Green was the reason that Montreal might have cap issues (which also doesn't make sense since Green is injured). I think the Bombers were robbing people today.

So you're saying you don't want to see him go Full Bryan Hall then.

This is the worst reffing of any game this weekend. The Argo's got screwed over at least three times that cost them a win.

If the GM fails to fire a coach when everyone else knows he should be gone, should the GM still get that second hire? That means that he would get another two years to let the next coach prove himself. That's five years and nothing could improve because the GM was a big part of the problem.

The substitution gates were already down as the whistle had blown play in. 17 players on the field is 'too many men'. On the TV broadcast the line judge lowering the gates is visible on the Ottawa sideline. That said the Eskimos blew it themselves. They should have been able to kill that clock on offence.

The referee blew the play in which is why the clock was running. The RedBlacks then started to change their personnel which should have resulted in an illegal substitution penalty. Time has to expire while a play is going on.

I think it was in the Western Final where they said that Chris Jones felt that Micah Johnson (93) was Calgary's top defender.

There shouldn't be a 'p' in front of 'Oilers' in the thread title. The 's' should remain. Jets were robbed by Talbot and a little unlucky.

Still no evidence of the Eskimos tempering with Noel Thorpe. Gary Lawless likes to use a lot of unconfirmed speculation in his reporting.

I think what they did was the least they could do.

Hervey got Reilly. Hervey got Jones. How many of the other players he got is unknown. Graham Hicks certainly wrote a bitter column there. One correction to that article is that Jones originally signed a two year contract that was extended one more year early in the 2015 season. Nobody want the coach being seen as a lam duck in his last year.

What is the normal procedure at Bombers games for collecting the 50/50 win? At Commonwealth they would say to go the Media centre at the west concourse to claim your prize. They also only display the amount that the winner is going to collect on the board. During the game I thought someone was going to win over $350,000 until they announced the number and the prize amount. 50/50s have really evolved over the last few years. ^I think it was ten minutes.

You are right. I hate baseball. Do three quarters of those teams have any realistic chance to ever win the World Series? It remains to be seen if the Riders are the new Evil Empire. I doubt it but time will tell.

I'm curious if you know, or anyone else for that matter, how much Huff, Murphy, Petrie were making last season together? No one knows or probably even cared to ask until the riders made this move. For some reason it seems more like a big deal because its the Riders. I get it, its a bomber fan site, but still the question stands. Well, to be fair, who else could afford the "entirety" of those moves? I just asked about Calgary. Do you have a answer? Hamilton signed Austin for big money and Tillman while collecting welfare from the league and paying Cortez who they had fired, I'm sure that wasn't expensive. Wally and Tedford? Tedford came up to the cfl from the ncaa for pocket change? meanwhile they were paying Benevides who they fired. Who else can afford it? any team in the league that's who. Unless numbers can be provided that prove the riders have spent more money on coaches than anyone else in the league it is nothing more than sour grapes. One last thing, how is it that everyone is so sure O'Day is even going to have a job and be on staff when the season starts. This sounds like the answer to the Eskimos buying Grey Cups saga. Wouldn't have liked it while it was going down but I would have preferred the whole Eskimo coaching staff going to the Bombers as well.

There was an interesting article (don't know if anyone has linked it here) that talked about the need to implement an "administrative cap" .. thought it was on point. I'll see if I can dig it up .. edit: here it is - http://3downnation.com/2015/12/08/its-time-again-for-a-cfl-spending-cap-it-saved-the-riders-once/ This reminds me of the days when Edmonton could 'buy' their way into the Grey Cup. The Bombers had some good teams back then, but not the same purse strings. Result? 5 Grey Cups in a row for Edmonton.Another result? The SMS. Saskatchewan probably threw a few TD passes with these hires, and everybody is stunned...and jealous. But could any other team have afforded these moves? I highly doubt it. Good or bad, it's moving forward... From 1973 the Eskimos went to the Grey Cup in nine out of ten years. Over half of that time playing out of Clarke Stadium. They then moved into the CFL's third largest stadium (Commonwealth) that had approximately 42,300 seats, with about 39,500 being sideline seats. The 70's were a good time to build a team as there was no free agency. If you found good players you basically got to keep them. If other teams, notably the BC Lions, were not good at evaluating talent you could pick up their castoffs (i.e. Tom Wilkinson, Bob Howes) or make trades for guys like Larry Highbaugh. 1972 was a great year for the Eskimos to pick up cast-offs since being the worst team in 1971 meant they got first crack at cuts. I also recall the Eskimos had a scout, Frankie Morris, evaluating Canadian talent. His wikipedia page states that he was a member of seven Grey Cup teams as a part of management (for people outside Edmonton, that means Grey Cup winning teams). He died in 2009 at 85 so it is fairly likely he wasn't involved with the Eskimos for the '05, '03 and '93 Cups. Safe to say 1975 was his first Grey Cup as a scout. Winnipeg stadium was as big as Clarke Stadium. I'm not sure other teams were scouting like the Eskimos back then. He was scouting before the Eskimos could possibly have any advantage over the other teams. When the Eskimos wanted Tommy Scott from the Bombers they couldn't wait until the end of the year for him to be a free agent and outbid the Bombers. They had to trade for him. How did that trade work out for the Bombers? I would say pretty well. Can you name any players the Eskimos got from other teams because that other team couldn't afford them? What can you point to to say the Eskimos bought that team? When did the SMS start? I've seen people say they bought Grey Cups but no one every seems to provide evidence. Your opinion doesn't surprise me because it is a common conscience clearing opinion most Eskimo fans have. There was no cap so they were free to spend as much as they wanted. They were destroying the league to a point where we almost didn't have one. The eskimoes are in unchartered waters this year however, as their roster will get raided at free agency. Back in the good old days before the pesky salary cap the esks could win year after year and not lose a single player because they could continue to pay them more than anyone else could. Now that the sms is in place, teams that win the cup commonly have a moderate turnover of their roster because free agents want more money to stay. That's why its harder to string cup wins together and sustain success in the modern CFL. Calgary being the benchmark recently for sustained success has relied heavily on great scouting to keep things going. I also think that is why the Edmonton media is sour about the Jones situation, they thought the glory years were back. Don't need any conscience clearing as you are not providing any proof that the Eskimos 'bought' their Grey Cups (I'm assuming the ones from 1978 to 1982). There was no free agency at the time so players were not able to shop themselves and go to the highest paying team. Take a look at the Eskimos' rosters of those years and tell me what stars they got from other teams? What time period would it be considered that the Eskimos were buying their way to success?

Dieter Brock Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1974 - 1983 was pretty good and the Bombers kept him all the time. Joe Poplawski 1978-1986, long time Bomber stars, how did he get to stay? Hugh Campbell came from Whitworth College in Spokane, Don Mathews was a high school coach before he came to the Eskimos. Cal Murphy was a Bomber for much longer than he was an Eskimo, how could the Bombers afford him? Every team was able to keep their players and coaches back then.

There was an interesting article (don't know if anyone has linked it here) that talked about the need to implement an "administrative cap" .. thought it was on point. I'll see if I can dig it up .. edit: here it is - http://3downnation.com/2015/12/08/its-time-again-for-a-cfl-spending-cap-it-saved-the-riders-once/ This reminds me of the days when Edmonton could 'buy' their way into the Grey Cup. The Bombers had some good teams back then, but not the same purse strings. Result? 5 Grey Cups in a row for Edmonton.Another result? The SMS. Saskatchewan probably threw a few TD passes with these hires, and everybody is stunned...and jealous. But could any other team have afforded these moves? I highly doubt it. Good or bad, it's moving forward... From 1973 the Eskimos went to the Grey Cup in nine out of ten years. Over half of that time playing out of Clarke Stadium. They then moved into the CFL's third largest stadium (Commonwealth) that had approximately 42,300 seats, with about 39,500 being sideline seats. The 70's were a good time to build a team as there was no free agency. If you found good players you basically got to keep them. If other teams, notably the BC Lions, were not good at evaluating talent you could pick up their castoffs (i.e. Tom Wilkinson, Bob Howes) or make trades for guys like Larry Highbaugh. 1972 was a great year for the Eskimos to pick up cast-offs since being the worst team in 1971 meant they got first crack at cuts. I also recall the Eskimos had a scout, Frankie Morris, evaluating Canadian talent. His wikipedia page states that he was a member of seven Grey Cup teams as a part of management (for people outside Edmonton, that means Grey Cup winning teams). He died in 2009 at 85 so it is fairly likely he wasn't involved with the Eskimos for the '05, '03 and '93 Cups. Safe to say 1975 was his first Grey Cup as a scout. Winnipeg stadium was as big as Clarke Stadium. I'm not sure other teams were scouting like the Eskimos back then. He was scouting before the Eskimos could possibly have any advantage over the other teams. When the Eskimos wanted Tommy Scott from the Bombers they couldn't wait until the end of the year for him to be a free agent and outbid the Bombers. They had to trade for him. How did that trade work out for the Bombers? I would say pretty well. Can you name any players the Eskimos got from other teams because that other team couldn't afford them? What can you point to to say the Eskimos bought that team? When did the SMS start? I've seen people say they bought Grey Cups but no one every seems to provide evidence.

Do the Esks hate the Riders as much as we do? Yes, yes they do. Doesn't everyone hate the Riders?

Just drove back to Edmonton yesterday from Winnipeg. Even though we were only there for 36 hours we had a great time and are left with a very positive impression of Winnipeg. We walked around downtown quite a while on Sunday before the game and were amazed by the number of heritage buildings you have. IGF is a fantastic stadium to watch a football game in. We sat in the fourth row of the upper deck around the 43 yard line. It is a terrific vantage point from there. It seems most of the Bomber faithful were cheering for the RedBlacks but had no problem with me cheering for the Esks. Met a lot of friendly people including John the guy I bought the tickets from off of kijiji. Thanks to everyone in Winnipeg.

Thanks Goalie.

Hi Bomber fans: I'm going to be driving in from Edmonton tomorrow to go to the big game. I've been looking at resale tickets and using the Bomber virtual venue to get a rough idea of what the view from the seats are like. Are the guard rails on the upper deck an issue at all? They appear to be an obstruction for the first rows of the upper deck. I have to say that might favourite nickname on this site to date is Throw Long Bannatyne. Everybody knows that that's the way it goes...