SpeedFlex27

I have no problem with Matthew Scianeti's crowning the 1981 Eskimo team as the All Time Greatest Grey Cup Team. That dynasty of 5 straight Grey Cups has never been matched. Although naming the 81 team The All Time Best is a bit of a head scratcher considering Edmonton found itself down 20-1 at halftime to an 8-10 Ottawa Rough Riders team that had no business even being there. The 82 Edmonton team may have been the better choice but what the hell? They won 5 straight. Just a strange choice for Best Ever. My issue with the list of the 8 Grey Cup Championship teams Scianeti gave us are some of the choices he made. Now that list isn't on the TSN website for some reason but I'll do my best to name the teams by memory... Calgary Stampeders 1948, Edmonton Eskimos 1981, BC Lions 2011, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1958, Hamilton Tiger Cats 1972, Baltimore Stallions 1995, Toronto Argonauts 1997 & Montreal Alouettes 2009. First, why Calgary 1948? They couldn't play today's game & would lose by 70 points so then why are they even on that list? Because they were undefeated? C'mon Matt. That isn't a valid reason to include the 1948 Stamps. There are other Stamps teams that were much better & deserve to be there like the 1971 or 2014 teams. Picking a team from an era where a forward pass completion was more of an accident than a planned outcome as one of the Grey Cups Top 8 teams is another strange choice indeed. In their era yes, they were dominant but they couldn't have beaten any of the other 7 teams on the list. Two, no mention of the first Edmonton Dynasty team that won 3 consecutive Grey Cups from 1954-56 & had the CFL Player of the first half century in Jackie Parker as a player. Yet somehow the 1948 Stampeders were rated higher than the Eskimo Dynasty of the 50's by Scianeti. Go figure. Three, the Baltimore Stallions didn't have to worry about the ratio so they had a huge advantage which should have disqualified them from the list. Good on Matt Dunigan for pointing that out. Playing with a complete team of American players is a HUGE advantage. As we all know, injuries can change the ratio making a healthy superior American player sit out while being replaced by an inferior Canadian. We see that on both sides of the lines, at receiver or in the secondary all the time. Four, how could Scianeti have overlooked the 1967 Hamilton Tiger Cats? To me that is the biggest oversight & insult of any team on the list. They were a team playing in it's 8th Grey Cup game in 10 seasons having won 4. They had one of the most dominating defenses of all time. They never allowed a touchdown in their final 6 regular season games & crushed the 1966 Grey Cup Champs Saskatchewan Roughriders 24-1. They were a much better team than the 1972 Tiger Cats who made the list. Five, I never felt the 2011 BC Lions were that special. They started off 1-6 & then went on a huge hot run for Wally going 12-1 the rest of the way to a Grey Cup win. Everything that worked, worked well for them that year but Top 8??? Not a chance. The 1964 Lions would have been a much better choice. Or the 1984 Bombers or 1998 Stampeders. Six, there was the Bombers Grey Cup Champs in 1958, 59, 61 & 62. Scianitti picked the 58 team as one of the Grey Cup 8 best & maybe they were the best of that group as they only allowed 181 points in 16 games. However games were low scoring in that era & scoring was beginning to go up a couple of seasons later as offenses were starting to open up. Myself, I'd have picked the 1961 Blue Bomber team over the 58 team even though that gave up 251 points that season just because that team was more mature & experienced. That's just me. Seven, not one Rider Grey Cup team made the list which I think most Bomber fans will find funny. That 1966 Grey Cup team deserved to be on that list. But it's not so Ha ha. I'm sure Rider fans are outraged & rightly so. Eight, I also can see Milt's point about the 1997 Argos. He felt that they were the All Time Greatest Grey Cup Team. He may not be wrong.

Grey Cup champs pick 3rd? I'll take it.

I do as well. Winning 11 Championships is a big deal. We brought the Tiger Cats to their knees. It was an old fashioned **** kicking. Brandon Banks was shut down by the middle of the third quarter. They lost their most explosive player to injury but truth be told he quit before he got hurt when he told Steinhauer to stop giving him the ball. He was scared. Their qb Dane Evans was so far out of his mind from being hit every play that he was useless to them in the 2nd half. Remember how the Tiger Cats acted at the CFL Awards banquet the Thursday before the game? Man, they thought all they had to do was show up & the Bombers would just lie down & they'd just take the championship that they felt belonged to them back to Steel Town. I think they just fired up the Bombers even more being disrespected like that.

Losing that 100 lb chain around our necks as an organization meant everything. We're no longer the team with the longest GC losing streak. The other teams can go .... off! I said this the night we won a year ago & I still mean it. I'm absolutely thrilled that the younger fans here that never experienced a Grey Cup win & never knew the feeling that goes with winning a championship finally had that chance to experience what that win meant!!!! Even for an grizzled old fan like me it brings tears to my eyes still. Mike O'Shea got it.

Rider fans would be creaming their jeans if they had 11 Grey Cup wins. I just want to live long enough for us to catch Edmonton at 14 & surpass them at 15. That would make me very happy.

When you have a 22 year drought from 1962-84 & then a further 29 year drought from 1990-2019 as fans our heads get filled up with paranoid thoughts of doom & gloom because we've seen just about every bad thing happen to our Bombers in the playoffs. Hard to stay positive when winless championship droughts routinely last 2-3 decades. Meanwhile jack **** teams like the Argos win Grey Cups year after year. It is maddening. Yet, through it all we still are #3 in all time wins behind Edmonton & Toronto. Whenever I think of that I can stick my chest out a little further with pride.

I don't get paid to make the CFL plans to play. He does. And so do the individual teams. Ambrosie ghosted US... the fans for months & continues to do so. He came out for a day this week announcing a schedule. Well, good for him. All dependent upon people being in the stands & a vaccine so there is no plan. I don't trust anything Ambrosie says. If the CFL has no money then tell us as we deserve to know. How will 2021 be different thatn 2020 financially so a season can go ahead. Don't string the fans & players along for the next 6 months. Have the courage to stand in the glare of media lights & tell us it doesn't look good for 2021. Don't get our hopes up just to inevitably hear bad news. To me he's a bad used car salesman & most fans know this by now. He has lost most of his credibility. Scarf or no scarf.

I just hope they somehow get their **** together & have a season unless the entire world is locked down.

I'm usually pretty good until the Bombers get to the Western final & then I just struggle the day of the game wishing it was over. I've had more disappointments over the years than successes as a fan.

Why not just play a 48 game season? The NHL has a lot of experience with that number.

Some of you posters have been very critical of me with my comments about Randy Ambrosie & the (lack of) leadership he brings to the table. I'm no fan of his & he needs replacing. He's nothing but a smiling, talking suit devoid of any substance. It's all talk with this guy. He only comes out of his Commissioner's Cave when he thinks there is good news. He always seems afraid to talk about the news when it's bad & he goes back into hiding. I agree with you, Noeller. It's typical Ambrosie speak. There is no real plan. It's all going to hinge on something that will never happen. Like millions of $ in government support &/or the general population being 75% vaccinated & thye stadiums reopened in the next 7 months.

I wasn't intoxicated but extremely nervous.

THE BOMBEROOSKIE: This play goes back to 1971 & it is named after the Blue Bombers because our OC at the time Dave Smith invented the play. It was originally called the "Slaglerooskie" in honour of Blue Bomber Guard Larry Slagle who was the ball carrier at the time. It would be copied by other teams in the years ahead, tweaked & would come to be known as the "Bomberooskie". Houston Oilers HC Bum Phillips back in the 70's when Earl Campbell could be used as a decoy loved the play & ran it a few times. He even called it the Bomberooskie. It was first used in September of 1971 late in the 4th quarter against the Calgary Stampeders at Winnipeg Stadium. It led to a huge gain & IIRC sealed the deal with a win over the Grey Cup bound Stamps that year. I do know I was at that game & had a great look at it as the Bombers ran it from about their 40 yard line facing south. I was in the North End Zone but I had no idea what happened as it looked like total confusion on the field as players couldn't seem to find the ball only to see Slagle chugging downfield for about 45 yards & a huge first down. Stamps HC Jim Duncan was livid after the game saying the play was illegal & should have been brought back. Head Coach Jim Spavital apparently spoke with the Head Referee before the game to get clarification of the legality of the play. He was told it was legal. He also asked the officials to not blow the play dead if they lost sight of the ball which they probably would. The officials agreed & in turn asked him to let them know when Smith would be calling the play so as to be ready. First, a rule clarification as the argument was that the Bomberooskie was illegal as an offensive lineman was taking the hand off. Apparently there is no rule that says an OL can't carry the ball. They can as long as it isn't a forward handoff. What happens is the center snaps the ball. Motion flows to one side while the guard carrying the ball takes the handoff from the Center running laterally along the LOS in the opposite direction. As the guard is running laterally at the time of the handoff it is a legal play. The qb keeps the ruse alive by pretending to take the ball from under center & also then pretends to hand the ball to his halfback running with the flow which causes the defense to react in the same direction. By the time the defense realizes the back doesn't have the ball it's too late & the guard is gone downfield. I've seen the Bomberooskie also ran as a "fumble". The center drops the ball on the ground deliberately & the guard picks it up & runs with it in the opposite direction to the play. However, that is a riskier play as the ball could be kicked accidentally by someone on the LOS or the other team may recover the ball. Anyway, a trick play that was made famous in the 70's was named for the Home Team. That is my pick for my Underappreciated Play. And now you know.... The rest.... of the story.

You're in the minority.

That was John Ferguson. It was his design. He introduced them to the NHL as GM of the Rangers in 1977. Then when he was fired in New York before the 78-79 season he tweaked them & brought them to Winnipeg for the first season in the NHL.

What are v1 uniforms?

Someday that might be quite the trivia question.

Too bad nurses can't go 'click'.

Do we really want to go there? It also creates a lot of problems. None more than player & public perception of a loser league not worth playing for or supporting.

Just an aside but I found this video from 2009 where Ken Ploen accepts on behalf of his teammates from the 1959 & 62 teams being inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall Of Fame. Ken is such a class act.

He was my chiropractor back in the early 80's.

Can't get blood from a stone. Reilly can win in court 100 times over but if the money ain't there to give him then he ain't getting paid.

I gotta agree with you on that one. Kyler Murray is their guy. The Cards have invested millions in him. With Streveler, they've invested thousands. He plays. Not Streveler.

Sorry, don't agree. He takes it to court he loses as the club had zero revenue. The team lost money under extraordinary circumstances. His lawsuit would get thrown out.