Rich

It is fair to say that everyone reacts differently to different situations, but Banks is hardly a kid. He is 26 years old, who was a star at every level he has played in prior to the NFL, including, high school, junior college, and 2 years at Kansas State. Prior to the CFL, he played 3 years in the NFL and accumulated 11 receptions, 35 receiving yards, 3,793 return yards, and 2 touchdowns. While mostly a ST player in the NFL, he has had plenty of time and experience in high pressure games and situations through his college and pro career.

Sorry but none of this makes any sense. They played Eastern teams 8 times and Western teams 10 times, just like every other team in the league. Furthermore their 9-9 record would have made the playoffs in the West (they swept BC so would have the tiebreaker). As for the last statement, well, I don't really know what that means. "It doesn't make them a good team, it makes them good enough"? OK. I say a team that finishes .500 or better and wins a playoff game while also having a top 3 defence and an all-Canadian OL, is a pretty good team. But I guess your definition differs from mine. 18 games in a season. 5 teams in the West, you play each of those teams 2 times, so that takes up 10 games. That leaves 8 games to be split between the 3 other teams in the East, meaning you play two of those teams 3 times. Just so happens that the two teams they played 3 games against is Toronto (which they lost once and won twice) and Ottawa which they won all 3 games against. So they got 3 games against an expansion team, while everyone in the West got two. That could easily account for their extra win and playoff presence right there. (So poor wording in they played the Eastern teams more often, they got to play Ottawa more often then most teams) 6 of their 9 wins came against Eastern teams, which means 6 of their losses came from Western teams. If they were in the West, it stands to reason that they would play those teams more and a very good chance of losing more since the competition is that much higher. Luck of the draw, but it could very well be that they played Edmonton and / or Calgary 3 times instead of Ottawa. I could also mention one of their Western wins was against a SK team without their starting QB (but this one is probably splitting hairs as those things tend to even out in a season). As for my other statement, in a 9 team league were only 3 teams don’t make the playoffs, if you just squeak into the playoffs with .500 record, it means you are just good enough to make it in. Sure they have pieces and lots can happen in an off season, but we are talking about this year, and this year they were just good enough …. Just good enough to make it into the playoffs. In their first playoff game, they got lucky in playing a BC team in a cross over where no team has ever won and with whom the time difference would play the most havoc. Then they lost to Hamilton.

Except it wasn't his error that made it get called back. If it was him who had screwed up, I could *almost* see it. One minute the hero, the next you wear the horns .. but that isn't what happened. He should have been even more motivated to go out and make another play.

Montreal is a playoff team right now because they play in the East. Even with playing the weaker Easter teams more then the Western teams this year, their record wouldn't have earned them a spot if they were in the West. I have no reason to believe they won't make the playoffs next year either, but that doesn't necessarily make them a good team, it just makes them good enough.

A lot of the anger directed to "Stef" was an extension of the anger at Mike Kelly. Now, after the fact without the emotional angst, people can separate the two.

Eric Comrie Nic Petan Josh Morrissey More players invited to the Canadian camp then any other NHL team. Should be a fun tournament to watch.

The 2014 CFL Season is now officially in the books. And while we as Bombers fans have to say the same thing we’ve been saying for the last 23 years, “Maybe Next Year…”, I did want to take a moment and thank everyone who comes to this site. Whether you visit monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, or every minute, whether you post regularly, sporadically, or just lurk, you guys are the reason this site is here and continues to thrive. In only our second season of existence, the continued growth of this site has been overwhelming to say the least. I’m happy to announce that we’ve already renewed the MBB season tickets for next year and they will once again be donated to the Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Winnipeg. I think it is great that the support of this site not only pays for the expenses incurred in running it, but we are able to share the game day experience with kids who wouldn’t otherwise be fortunate enough to experience it live. And while we are always open to suggestions on how the site is run and things we can do better or add to the site, I’d like to open up this thread for comments in two areas: Any suggestions or ideas on contests or content that you would like to see added to the site for next season. With the Grey Cup being held in Winnipeg next year, we are thinking about holding an MBB event during Grey Cup week. So far, a one day touch football tournament has been suggested. Looking for thoughts / feedback on this or any other ideas you may have on what we can do or what you would like to see during Grey Cup next year.

Apparently the sixth time the cup has been broken/damaged.

What did he do? Missed it.

Congratulations to Calgary. Great season from start to finish.

Hamilton marching here...

Please post on the topic at hand and not callout individual posters. If you don't like what someone has to say, there is an ignore function.

Even if they report themselves as straight, they are still gay.... The question is whether or not the same percentage would be applied to professional sports, and why wouldn’t it be? You could argue that it is a small sample size compared to the general population and the stats would be skewed somewhat, but by that rationale, the percentage could just as easily be larger as it would be smaller. Seems people want to believe that the percentage would be smaller because professional athletes should be more “manly”. Its more like, professional team sports -- especially football, hockey, baseball, etc -- are life long pursuits. You start when you can basically walk -- those that make it to the bigs are those whose talent matches their ability to endure 20 years of training, 20 years of locker rooms, 20 years of not so subtle homophobia. Its only logical that many gays -- especially until the last 10 years or so -- would gravitate towards non-team endeavours where their sex life would never come up. Its why many gay men went into diving, rowing, fencing, even martial arts. This I can accept as a plausible explanation. It is also just a theory. We will never really know what the true numbers are.

Even if they report themselves as straight, they are still gay.... The question is whether or not the same percentage would be applied to professional sports, and why wouldn’t it be? You could argue that it is a small sample size compared to the general population and the stats would be skewed somewhat, but by that rationale, the percentage could just as easily be larger as it would be smaller. Seems people want to believe that the percentage would be smaller because professional athletes should be more “manly”.

Probably 10% for sure. I can understand why they'd prefer to wait to come out til after their career is wrapped up though. Probably for sure? I'd don't think the stats for the general population translate equally to pro sports. Not that I think Sam is the only gay football player out there, but do you really think there's an average of four gay players per team in the CFL? Yes. Why wouldn't it apply to professional sports?

I read an article a few months ago where the writers admitted they wrote themselves into a corner from day one. They seemed to be amused at it actually. I found it very unprofessional. And I think they had the end date confirmed with about three seasons left so they had plenty of time to plot out a satisfying conclusion. I seem to be in the minority that I really liked the finale and felt it was highly emotional. But most of the plot developments in the middle of the series were just awful. Agreed. First couple of seasons were really good. The middle seemed to have have no direction (like the show was "Lost"). I also liked the ending, though it really wasn't that much of a surprise for me by that time. Would have been a much better show if it was 4 seasons of 6. A show like that relies combines the compelling stories (and flash backs) of the cast with suspense, cliff hangers and surprise to keep the audience guessing and coming back each week. Can only do that for so long, especially with the flash backs.

I'd still list Lost as a success for him. The cultural impact and audience size it gathered makes it as such. I've also heard rumours that the network forced them to draw it out longer then originally intended to milk it for all that they could. Then they were forced to come up with side stories and plots.

I wouldn’t say he kills everything he touches, you can’t deny the successes he has had and the credits to his name, especially with his TV properties. It could be argued that he has had much greater success as a producer and writer over director.

Neither, because Pavelec played quite well last game. If Hutch continues to play well I think he will be rewarded with more playing time, but Pavelec will still be the clear cut starter (at least for now). If Hutch maintains anything close to his numbers with increased playing time and Pavelec goes up and down with his play, I think Hutch will continue to get increased playing time. To me, that means the controversy really happens / heats up by February when maybe they are splitting the games. Purely conjecture of course, but I do like to see Hutch pushing Pavelec.

Good game by Pavs yesterday. He does seem to do better when there is competition to push him. Be interesting to see who they play against Boston. Do you play Pavs again after a good performance, or do you play Hutch against the team that drafted him? Having two goalies playing well is a good problem to have.

Odds and Sods switched over to regular forum posts in the middle of last season for that very reason!

No, it isn't his accent, it is his bias for Montreal. No issues with him in games where Montreal isn't playing.

Never much been a fan of Proulx. Always seemed to be bad calls against the Bombers when we played Montreal. However this is his 5th Grey Cup game and 3rd as head referee. Must be doing something right. Other then Kim Murphy, don't recognize much of the other names. Which is probably a good thing when you are a referee.

Pinball was able to make the jump right to Head Coach. But I think he is more of the exception then the norm.

No plans to remove chat. Not necessarily looking to save money, like I said it isn't a huge amount, just no point in paying it out if we aren't using it. So far it looks like it really isn't used.