Esks1975

This is what I don't understand... Even if Pedersen isn't officially an employee of the Riders (which I think he is), he's either contracted or a full-on employee of the CFL as one of their columnists. They should've nipped this in the bud weeks ago, but have to do something now.
All the stuff Rider fans are whining about isn't actually ruining the integrity of the league. But taking Rod Pedersen seriously and keeping him as a columnist when he's claiming a conspiracy from the CFL and leading a witch hunt against the Commissioner? That actually does tarnish the integrity of the league.

My personal favorite was when they got penalized for too many men... that stuff never gets old.

If Pederson is an employee of the Riders then he should be subject to a suspension & fine by the CFL. He's accusing the league of a conspiracy & therefore attacking the integrity of the game. He needs to be slapped down & slapped down hard

I thought this "eye in the sky" stuff was supposed to be monitoring the game in real time.  For example it should not have been necessary for either coach to challenge the Watson reception or the Posey interception as upon quick review those were both obvious calls.  If the control booth was watching and communicating with the refs. in real time, they could have altered the officials call before a challenge was necessary.  It could have taken 15 secs. instead of delaying the game 3-4 min. for each call.

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.

Yes, I think Maas is a better head coach. He nearly won a GC as an OC. MOS never even was a coordinator.

We have won 1 freaking game this year. We haven't won back to back games for almost 2 years. It's been years since we've even scored more than 30 points. O'Shea's record is 13-27. How much worse do you think it's going to get under a different HC?

Here is to a long stretch of the Riders in last place.

Perhaps you need to be reminded that Tillman traded the best deep passer in the league for the worst then for good measure traded a first round pick for Brody McKnight among other brilliant moves. You're reading way too much Riderfan propaganda if you believe Tillman has any usable  skills.

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

For those questioning Gary Lawless and his knowledge of Labour law, don't overlook what his name is...

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.
 

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.

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.

Why sign a coach to a multi-year contract now?  You want to fire him, you have to pay him.  He wants to leave, he's free to with no compensation.  Are teams going to start putting buyouts into coaches contracts like NCAA?

Pretty simple for me. I hate the Riders. I don't care who they play. Even if a Rider loss affects our playoff chances I hate that team enough to still want them to lose. I never want them to win. They almost had a perfect season 0-18 but that was spoiled when 3 CFL teams including us felt sorry for them & let them win. I laugh at every interception, fumble, bad penalty call & resulting loss that happens to them. For me, goes back to Roy Shivers & just how much of a **** he was as Riders GM. The Riders fanbase are a bunch of bandwagon jumpers & some of the idiots like Migs come on to other team's websites to gloat when they were winning only to crawl back into their caves when they lose. It's mostly the fanbase that is the problem. I don't hate the players, I hate the fanbase. 

It's not even the team. It's just the God awful bandwagon fans. The worst thing in all of sports.

Yes, he was a drug addict and was arrested many times, the last time quite recently. Very sad, but despite the fact that he was a very troubled individual he was a human being who had value (as we all do) and he deserves to be honoured. He was a great football player and the first Bomber I ever remember following as a kid. I am sad to hear of his passing and send his family my condolences.

Favourite quote from the Rider Forum thread so far. 
 
"Hire Jones now!!!  It's a know brainer!!!"

Can't a man walk down the street in this country without being offered a job??

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.

I renewed my season tickets and I'm excited to do so.   I've been around long enough to know that that there are ups and downs and that things will turn around.  I'm keeping the faith.   I honestly believe that the loyal fans enjoy the ups more than the bandwaggon jumpers because they know what the downs feel like.

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.