TBURGESS

I hope you're right Mike. The fans have been clamoring for the Royal blues for years.

It's not about a wailing press conference or feeling entitled or even a sense of satisfaction. It's about the Bombers including the fans in the plan going forward to fix the obvious problems that kept us out of the playoffs this year. I'm not talking about every little detail. I'm talking about the big picture stuff, like which coordinators we'll retain. Good organizations don't wait for the dominoes to fall. They make the dominoes fall. They make decisions quickly and effectively and get out in front of the other teams. Waiting to see how things shake out is the way to end up with the guys no one else wanted. The Bombers had a 3 week head start on every team not called the Redblacks. If they don't have a plan in place by now, they are incompetent. IF O'Shea/Walters/Miller have realized that coaching changes need to be made and have defined where they want to upgrade, there's no advantage to waiting to tell the coordinators or the press. As soon as they reach out to prospective candidates the CFL community, including the coaches they want to replace, will know anyway. As soon as management decides they need to upgrade a spot, keeping the old coach around 'just in case' is counter productive. It's time for them to move on if they are going to. If they've decided to keep our current coaches, which is what I suspect has happened, then call a presser and let everyone know. If they've decided to replace one or more, then call a presser and let everyone know who's being replaced. There's no need to keep anyone twisting in the wind. If they haven't made a decision yet, then make one and let everyone know what's going on.

That doesn't carry the same weight in the CFL as it does in other leagues. No one's been better in the CFL. That carries a lot weight IMO.

Wally's been coaching or GM/Coaching or just GM'ing since 1990 and has missed the playoffs once. He's not perfect, but he's about as close as a coach/GM gets in the CFL.

Wally the GM and Coach great. Wally the GM, Benny as coach, not so much. That's why he's gone.

Hard to complain about Wally's record when our Bombers were 26-46 in the last 4 years. BTW: 3 out of 4 years weren't Wally the coach.

Fringe NI player re-signed. OK move. Still like the way Wally's decisive with the changes on his team. Everyone, including the fans, know where they stand before the Xmas season is fully under way. I'd hope the players and coaches already know where they stand on the Bombers and I'd like to know too. I suspect the coordinators jobs are safe because Walters has moved on to re-signing fringe players.

WTF - he's had over 24 hours - bloody hell He's had over a month.

Another horrible decision by my favorite team.

January had a bad year IMHO. In fact, Jace Daniels looked better in the short time he played. Big Salary + Lower Play + Injuries + Maybe Over The Hill + Rookie Looked Better = Hard Decision For Bomber Management.

I think we should save our FA money for O lineman and NI's. I'd hope we can bring in competitive imports where we need upgrades without having to 'overpay' them.

Alberta's economy is completely tied to the price of oil, even though they tried to change that after the NEP. Low crude prices = major political problems in Alberta and a lower Canuck buck which affects all of Canada. The price of crude will definitely affect housing prices in Alberta, but it won't make much, if any, difference to Vancouver and Toronto as their economies aren't based on commodity prices. IMO, the ONLY thing that will create a housing correction in Canada is a major raise in interest rates and I keep a close eye on the market. The current market is the reality. Recession? I hope not, but lower oil prices and a lower dollar certainly won't help. Employment numbers are the big driver. The less people who are fully employed the less demand there is for goods and services.

I'd like to see Cortez and Washington as our coordinators next year and I know that's a long shot. The longer it takes to announce the decisions, the more I worry that O'Shea/Walters/Miller will keep our current coordinators and we will end up with another not quite good enough season.

Sign Cortez in immediately if not sooner!

I don't see how it's anyone's business where two consenting adults find love. It's kind of sad in this day and age that there are 5 pages on a topic about any players sexual orientation. All I care about is can he play football? The answer to that question is still up in the air.

Thanks for the overview. Makes me want to don my Bomber jersey and head out to the parties. Take in the Montreal and Hamilton venues if you get a chance. The Esks room is always a top venue (At least it was in my time) as is the Eskimos breakfast if it still exists. Hammy's venue should be great this year.

I'd rather have Price than Bryant. I rather have Stamps than Bryant too.

If they can't be fired right now to keep all the attention focused on the events surrounding the festivities and the game itself, it would be bad form to interview people for a job that isn't even open yet. To me that sort of looks bush league. If they were going to fire the coordinators they should have done it the way BC did. Fire before the moratorium. That being said... if the decision's been made to fire one or more coordinators and those folks have been told, then there's nothing bush league about doing interviews during GC week. Brice... Steinhauer is a good DC who's on a team that's made it to the GC two years running. Other than a big raise, there's nothing in it for him to leave Hamilton for the same job on the Bombers.

No advantage to waiting until after the GC to fire OC/DC. in fact GC week is a great time to interview potential replacements. The league usually puts a stop to any firings during GC week, so we can't fire them now. I'd like to see us replace both coordinators, but the tea leaves would suggest that we aren't going to.

I'd take Mitchell over Willy every day of the week. Better QB all round.

Goes to show there isn't just one way to be a good to great coach.

I hope the 'Fire Etch' folks of the 'Power Struggle' win. Shouldn't be a power struggle though. Everyone knows the Bosses vote is worth the cumulative votes of everyone underneath them + 1. If Miller or Walters want Etch gone, he'll be gone.

Saw this coming yesterday when it was reported that Braley would pay out coaches who Wally didn't think should be there anymore. I'd take Benevides over Etch in a second, but I'm not sure he'd want to go to Winnipeg.

My take on O Line: T: Daniels - Got more push on the running game and provided good protection in the passing game. Younger and cheaper than January who didn't play well due to age/injuries. I wouldn't bid high for January and I wouldn't worry if another team values him more than we do. G: Greaves - Played pretty well. He's the least of our problems on O line IMHO. CENTER: Goosen. We drafted him to play center and we should move him there next year. I wish we'd started him at center for the last few games to give him some experience. G: Free Agent (Holmes?) or 1st Draft Pick or Neufeld. Lots of questions. No obvious answer. T: Neufeld or new import. I'd like to see 4 NI's, but we don't have the hogs for that yet. Newfeld is our only NI choice IMHO. That leaves Morely, 1st Draft Pick or Neufeld or Everett fighting for the 6th and and the PR O lineman. If Morely isn't the 6th, then see if we can trade him for something useful as he isn't going to get any better. The rest of our O lineman are on the bubble or gonzo IMHO.

I prefer Wally's and Benevides approach to the year end presser than the Walters and O'Shea approach. Note that they didn't 'throw anyone under the bus' but still managed to let folks know where they stand. Marsh was gone most of this season and there wasn't much doubt in my mind that he wouldn't be back. More older players will get cut free in the next few weeks.