Rich

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.

Put me in the camp of those who have soured on Pavs. I’m not calling for Hutch to replace him as the starter, not yet anyway, but I think it is time that Hutch starts getting more starts. At least 1 game out of every 3 -4. Pavelec was certainly out to a hot start, but he has regressed back to what he is. His career save percentage is .906 and while he is at a .917 right now, he is .884 in the last 5 games. Was his earlier play the new Pavelec? Or was it a blip and he is coming back to his career average now. He has 5 years as a starter now, I’m not sure he is going to magically change into something else. We pretty much know what we are going to get with him. Would like to see Hutch start getting more starts to see how he handles an increased work load and tougher opposition.

So it is time to renew the software we use to run the board. Some of the money goes to pay for security updates and maintenance of the software, some goes to pay for the chat room that we have. The forum software has many modules (including ones we don't use) that you can kind of pick and choose to customize your forum. Two that we do have are the Pages and Blogs section. The Blogs section is pretty self explanatory. The Pages section is really supposed to be a place that pulls content from all the different areas of the site together and summarize it. Since we don't use a lot of the other modules, mostly it is just the forum info that goes into there. I don't mind keeping these areas going but there is a cost associated with keeping them, and while certainly not exorbitant, there is no point in paying for it if people don't use it. So a quick poll to see what peoples usage patterns are.

I think the other question has to be asked on effort ... is that if the team is finally putting in the required effort night in and night out, they've bought into a system and style and sticking to it, and we still miss the playoffs .... then what?

And to be fair, as I think about it. If True North ever sold the Jets, no guarantee all of their revenue streams would be sold with it. If they moved cities for example, the concert revenue, government gaming revenue, etc wouldn't move with the Jets. It is an arbitrary assessment. No one really knows the finances other then True North and the NHL (depending on what they need to know for Cap revenues).

It is interesting that the revenue is listed at $102M and player expenses at $62M So if our operating income is only 3.3M, what are we spending the other $36.7M on? Coaches, GM, travel, minor league expenses, scouting. That can't all be that much. The only possible big expense that can contribute to that is debt repayment. Not sure how much they owe on the team or arena, but that is a bug chunk of money.

According to that article operating income means: I find it hard to believe that their operating income is so low. Does that take into account concession and merchandise sales? Just ticket sales? The mention of not much in the way of concert revenue makes me question all of their numbers. Also the premise that a building needs an NBA tenant to be profitable. I also question whether or not the Jets need to make the playoffs to make a profit. We aren't a cap team at all.

I'm okay with the Jets making it into the playoffs and getting knocked out in the first round (or course I'd prefer if they would win). That would at least be progress. Look at the roster and the playoff experience on it. These guys need to get a taste of what the playoffs are all about and be able to prepare themselves for it. Teams often need a year or two of just making it into the playoffs before experiencing real success. What I hate is just hovering a spot or two out of the playoffs. You still get a "decent" draft pick, but not as good as if you suck completely. But you just don't get over that hump to get into the playoffs. Mired in mediocrity. I don't want to mortgage the farm just to make it in and have an early exit (and by that I mean mortgaging the future for a playoff rental like Atlanta did), but this team needs to taste the playoffs to make that next step. Then they know not only what it takes to make it into the playoffs during the regular season, but what they need to do once they are in.

What happens IF the Jets were to actually make it into the playoffs. At that point the games get tougher, more physical, more intense, everything is ratcheted up a notch and you've got the wear and tear of 82 games on your body. You need to be able to rely on your 4th line contributing more ice team.

ive heard the following in regards to why Thorburn was signed: - Buddy with Kane/makes Kane happy/keeps Kane out of trouble - Very close with Chipman/Chipman sees Thorburn as a lifer - Fantastic locker room guy/loss of Thurburn would hurt morale I dont know if I buy any of those. I think management saw him last year, saw him fill in for Kane and not really get exposed (though he didnt really make that line any better nor should he have been expected to) and "rewarded" him. I dont really care about the contract because it's a million bucks, who cares. If he's a saint in the locker room, great, make him a career 12/13 forward who comes into the game every few games when someone gets hurt or we need a shake up. But playing a guy who's playing 3-5 minutes a game? And its not just him. Halischuk (who I like) played 3 minutes last game. Really? We dont have an option the coach trusts more in St Johns? It just makes you wonder. When they win, no one cares. But the questions will come if they dont perform well on this road trip. Because if the coach isnt playing the fourth line, it means we need a better fourth line. if the GM isnt improving those guys, what message is that sending? We were told part of bringing in Maurice last season was to do an in depth analysis of the roster....I guess he liked everyone. They played a clip on TSN1290 this morning where Maurice said not to look at it as he doesn't want to play the 4th line, but look at it like he wants to play the other 3 more. He basically said he doesn't want to take minutes away from the other 3 lines. Which is all fine and good, but then don't use the excuse of your team being too tired as a reason why they lost or played poorly. You can't have it both ways.

The team has regressed from the stretch of games that saw them climb into 3rd place in the Central. Perhaps a better choice of words would be "can we now say this team is the same as it has been for four years". We've changed the players. We've changes the coach. And yet the record is nearly identical. Everyone wanted to say "this is the real Jets" when they were winning. My point is, losing one or two means nothing but this stretch of losing 4 out of 5 and the way they've done it shows me the team has "regressed" back to where they were. One goal games or not..a loss is a loss. if they were losses like the Pens loss, so be it. They arent. Pavs Save Percentage is a wonderful .893 or whatever these past few games and he's looked shaky. Im a Pavs guy...and even Im at the point where Im saying is Pavs the goalie we see 45 games a season that is barely average or the goalie we see 20 games a season that is great? That first season, the Jets' depth was awful and we had fourth line players playing 3rd line. No one is arguing that. But to use Stapleton as an example of improved players is moot. At worst it contributes to my argument that the Jets are a lousy team since they replaced those guys and arent any better. if I was you, I'd use the example of replacing Jokinen with Perrault. Thats a significant upgrade. Looks good. Makes the line better. Makes the team better. helps the puck posession game. And yet the team has no more wins. I want to be wrong. I just dont think I am. And my...not frustration, but agitation is that management doesnt appear to be addressing any key issues. They were pretty friggen lucky Hutch has turned out because they took a chance on a guy with 3 NHL games on his resume as a back up behind a below average starter. The fourth line barely plays and they've done nothing but reward a 4th line guy with a big contract. I dont get that. The Jets are in the position to be able to take better talent from other teams who have better depth but want to shed some salary...why we dont is beyond me. I agree with a lot of what you say. Chevy needs to start using everything at his disposal, including trading, to make this team better. The Frolik deal was good, but that is really all he has done trade wise to make this team better in 4 years. People who point to bad trades that GMs make overlook the GMs who make good trades for their team (look at Dallas). Your job as a GM is to assess and evaluate talent and being able to negotiate those deals. Not every trade is bad for your team. The cupboards here are no longer bare, they've filled them with prospects and picks ... time to start using them. However they did get a backup plan in case Hutch didn't pan out. Budaj is still down at the Rock and he would be called up if Hutch didn't turn out. He was the backup plan for at least this year till one of the other youngsters would be able to step up. Glad to see Hutch doing well though.

Shame on Chevy if that is why he was signed.

I'd be shocked if anyone from the 4th line made it back next year. Thorby is locked up for a couple more. Still don't understand that contract.

To be fair on this one, he included it on a tweet talking to Nic Grigsby wishing him luck in the playoffs. Just makes you wonder if it was football related.

Likely something completely unrelated to football. Just daily life stuff.

Maurice Leggett ‏@almighty31 1m1 minute ago @KimBabij @randyturner15 I'm not talking about the bombers. I love #Winnipeg 0 replies1 retweet0 favorites Reply Retweet1

Sound off doesn't really sound like a good thing. Usually means he is going to speak up about something.

IF the right deal were to present itself, I would definitely trade him. It has been mentioned previously, but for a man of that size, when the drop off happens it is going to happen quickly. Knees and joints take that much more of a beating with the weight and size he carries. He is currently 29, next year is the last year of his contract and he will be 30. Purely a guess, but I would say his drop-off starts happening around 32 – 33. Trade him now while the team is “on the edge” sort a speak, and a shakeup is warranted. Be nice to get a few pieces to help the forward depth and prospects to join the up and comers. Would need at least one top 6 forward (or a younger player who could be ready to be a top 6 this year or next) and a decent prospect. Maybe throw in a bottom 6 to bolster our depth there and send back a later draft pick. My biggest fear is he is going into the last year of his contract next year, and next year we are on the bubble of making the playoffs (again) at the draft deadline and Chevy doesn’t deal him because we “may” make the playoffs, then we lose him for nothing in free agency. Someone is likely to offer him a longer term then I’d be comfortable with when he hits free agency in a couple of years. Now of course it is possible no one is offering the pieces Chevy would want in return, but I would have to think there is a contender who would be interested in his services. The one issue I do see is some of the contenders may not be able to take his cap hit of 5.2M. While not an excessive salary in this day and age, with the rumors of the cap not going up a whole lot next year, teams that would normally be interested may not have the cap space to deal for him. If this is the case, we wouldn’t be able to deal him until the trade deadline next season.

With only the Grey Cup game left and saskbluefan in the lead by two games, saskbluefan takes home the $50 Gift Certificate this year. Congratulations saskbluefan! The Grey Cup game has still been setup if you want to make your picks in the final week. http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=games&pid=5&wid=70

They had power of attorney so my guess is that he signed everything over to them to manage and had no clue about what they were doing.

Not about being right, just the answer as to why the CFL doesn't pull from the CIS more. It is too bad there isn't more money spent at the University level to develop the coaches and players. The CFL would be far better off if those programs had more money in terms of coaching and players. Without that feeder system though, the CFL is basically given a choice of taking failed NCAA coaches who don't know the Canadian game and retired players.

If you look at NFL Coaching Bios all of them played college football & some played NCAA & pro football. Most NFL assistant coaches started coaching in HS or the NCAA & then moved on the to the pros including the CFL. It was a learning experience for all of them. They coached other positions but at lower levels. So, by the time they got to an NFL team they were experienced coaches even if it wasn't a position they played. It doesn't cost a fortune to hire qualified coaches to coach positions in the CFL. We should have MORE CIS coaches coaching in the CFL. They cut their teeth in HS or junior ball & moved on to the CIS. If there is a CIS coach who has continually developed running backs over the years that went on to the CFL, why wouldn't he be hired, for example? My guess is that the answer to this is budgets at the CIS level. I couldn't find any concrete examples of how much CIS assistants make, but there we some sites saying it was in the 30 - 75k range. I wouldn't hire a player who has never coached before as a head coach even at the CIS level. A retired football player in his 30s and a family isn't going to take that job for 30k a year. I'm guessing the range is due to different schools having different budgets. If I had to guess, a school like Laval probably pays closer to the higher end of 75k, while others would be lower. I would also guess that there are more school at the lower end of that range then the higher, and that makes those jobs scarce. You need to pay to attract the top talent, and a lot of the CIS programs don't have the budget for that. So if more CFL teams pulled purely from the CIS ranks, you'd be missing out on a lot of quality people who wouldn't coach for that kind of money. Look at the revenue that NCAA football brings in in terms of attendance and sponsorship. Now look at the money CIS brings in. There is your answer.