voodoochylde

I'll dip my toes into this thread ... I'm 41 years old, 175lbs. I'm stronger, more fit and am 'in better shape' now than when I raced mountain bike competitively, played rugby or football. I was always very active and fit .. then I got married, comfortable and gained a tonne of weight. Over the span of nine months I dropped 110lbs strictly counting calories and running .. it wasn't the best way to lose weight, it put me in a shitty head space when it came to food / eating .. but it was nice to get back to my 'fighting weight'. Soon after making that change, I started doing CrossFit and that tapped into my competitive side and I haven't stopped since. That was almost 6 years ago. Nowadays, I do 'standard' CrossFit classes 5-6 days a week. I do focused Olympic Weightlifting 2-3 times a week. I do yoga and meditate. I run, swim and ride whenever the urge strikes me. I'm able play with my kids. I make sure I fuel my body well. Shortly after I began CrossFitting, I used myself as a bit of a guinea pig. I adopted a paleo inspired lifestyle in part to see if it could / would help me perform better in the gym (also I was simply curious). Now I believe in that ****. I emphasize whole foods, focusing on quality cuts of meat, lots of veggies and good fats, nuts seeds and some fruit. I ate strict paleo for about three years .. and slowly re-introduced certain foods .. and have taken a more 80 / 20 approach to my eating (so yes, I'll crush the occasional pizza, smokie or two at a game, a pint of ice cream and I drink craft beers). The most important thing, I believe in eating intuitively and allowing yourself to live life (there needs to be joy in what you do). I'm also one who feels ketosis and ketogenic diets in general aren't sustainable. That's just me though and I'll never advocate against something that works for an individual .. listen to your body and do what feels right .. I just believe that carbs aren't evil .. they are necessary .. especially when you are pushing yourself hard. It's all the sugar that's in a standard North American diet that kills people. Eliminate processed food in your day to day and I guarantee you will see improvement (even without lifting a barbell). Had to giggle in the Draft Thread .. I go through about three dozen eggs a week .. they are staples for me day to day.

Great to see solid Canadian players extending and choosing to be in Winnipeg. Not a splashy free agent but continuity along the line is a huge thing.

Cleaned up the thread a bit. If immigration is your thing .. the thread exists in General.

Just to confirm what others have said RE: Special Teams contribution.

Who's next .. Ryan Leaf?

Fixed that for you. ;-)

It's 2:1 (a bit better) in favour of CFL returners. The only reason I used "TDs" as a measure of anything was in response to the comment that in the NFL "the returner just takes a knee and doesn't go anywhere". To illustrate, I referenced the most explosive sort of special teams play (one that all football fans, regardless of league affiliation, hope to see). Changing field position with a well kicked ball is more easily accomplished on the shorter, narrower American field. To that end 'flipping the field' via punt return isn't a meaningful metric. I'd be more interested in an offenses ability to capitalize on field position after a punt (or conversely, not giving up points after a successful return if the offense doesn't do much). I'm not a fan of the No Yards rule. Said simply, it drives me nuts to see players being flagged when they clearly weren't in the 5 yard zone or when they make noticeable effort to give the returner space (especially when the distance inside that bubble is marginal). It's just as bad seeing players not draw a flag when they clearly were in that zone .. it's worse when it happens on the very next punt or in the same game. *shrug*

Facebook Q&A.

Time clock I'll give you. It's what I love about the Canadian game .. 2 minutes left, there's still a chance. NFL .. not so much. The one rule I'd love to see changed is "ball last touched before going O/B".

Only to be nullified by a penalty. For the record, 752 punt returns in the CFL season and 768 (approx, don't have my #s in front of me) to date in the NFL. Pretty comparable.

And yet .. there have been just as many punt return TDs in the NFL so far this season as there were in the entirety of the CFL season. When a penalty is being called inconsistently week to week, game to game and even series to series in some cases .. it's time to look and ask, "Is there a better way to do this?"

Hey guys, just a heads up. Moved the Open Carry / Gun discussion to the General Forum. Please feel free to continue exploring that topic there.

What a black eye for the league if this is true. Our marquis game and we can't sell more than 16000 tickets in the nation's largest centre? Embarrassing.

First of all, do you genuinely expect a player who receives a minimal number of practice reps to be able to come in cold and make a difference? It's a serious question and I'd ask you to think about it. The starter takes almost 100% of the snaps during practice and is *most* familiar with the game plan that week and it's important that they are given a chance to play their way out of a bad spell so outside of injury, there is little reason to pull your established starting quarterback. Baseball teams are composed of virtually interchangeable parts. Especially pitchers. Here you have multiple guys capable of starting a game and the *expectation* is that you will be pulled at some point by the guy hired to do just that, the relief pitcher / closer. Hockey you have a team in front of your goal tender, he's not directing traffic and 'chemistry' with all the moving parts isn't as key.

A bad coach could take a great team and make it look like a train wreck. DD is a good coach who has benefited greatly from being in a tremendous situation.

Hell .. it's not like THEY had any choice in the matter. Damn you O'Shea for not making the dumpster fire that was Winnipeg appear more palatable.

I know that .. you know that .. but just speaking to the point about "one of MOS biggest mistakes was his choice of assistants" ..

Let's not presume that some of his selections for assistant's were his first (or even second) choice. Winnipeg was not seen as a darling spot for would be coordinators. It was a coaching graveyard. This has changed much like how Winnipeg was once not a desirable option for would be free agents.

Thinking you might retain either O'Shea or Walters on a short term deal is deluding yourself. If you don't think they wouldn't be sought after by other organizations .. teams willing to spend and offer them term .. you're mistaken.

They don't look as consistent as they were last year but they ARE teams that can still roll when they get in a rhythm.

His reliability is also one of the reasons fakes like we saw yesterday can be so successful .. he's automatic. Trot him out there, even at 50+, and take the points .. it's what we've done all year.

Calgary is a good team .. but Winnipeg just hasn't shown up today. So disappointing.

So much for being physical right from the get go.