johnzo

#thankyouwinnipeg

...or maybe not. Happy to be going to another super bowl but i have to agree that the NFL OT rules suck ass. NFL MVP QB vs. best D in the land in OT is a legendary matchup, you can't take that away from fans because the Hawks won a coin toss.

ooof. time to change out the ol' avatar I guess. I am a total fair-weather seahawks fan, my true passion is reserved for the Winnipeg teams.

hats off to Pavs, but holy cow we were outplayed, I think the shot count actually flattered the Jets. That was a terrible run of faceoffs in the third period.

oh man that was a sweet glove save with Seguin in alone.

Not everyone worries about that

Yeah, by relative isolation I mean that if you're in a Western city and you want to go to another city in any kind of reasonable timeframe, you've almost certainly got to fly, whereas if you're in Montreal, huge chunks of the populated North America are car trippable. If you play in Winnipeg, you can drive to places like Thunder Bay, Fargo, Regina, and Saskatoon in a day. If you play in Montreal, you can easily drive to Boston, Toronto, Ottawa, New York City, or Quebec City in a day. I'm not saying that this is super important to any particular football player, but when my family's considered moving back to a Canadian city, the isolation of the West is something we think about.

Also, Montreal is an awesome city, a great combination of inexpensive and elegant. It doesn't have Vancouver / Toronto's cost of living, it's much nicer than Hamilton, and it doesn't have the relative isolation / hard-to-reachness of the west.

Seven imports, eh. Love to see a football remake of The Magnificent Seven; Winnipeg team officials pooling their money to hire mercenaries to destroy the filthy western flatlander bandits.

What is best in life? It is to crush the Leafs, to drive them before you, to hear the lamentations of their fans.

I'm always hopeful and jacked up for a new season. I was hopeful that Tim Burke's 2013 Bombers would reprise 2011. I was hopeful that Stefan LeFors would be the next great Winnipeg QB. I was hopeful that the 2008 Bombers were right to stand pat with the 2007 Grey Cup finalist team. This year ... I gotta say I am bummed out to see Bellefueille back after the way our O regressed in the back half of the season. But I am hopeful that the MOS is right that consistency between OC and QB will pay off and that everyone will take a step forward in 2015.

He was the field corner, though. I don't think there was ever a time here where he wasn't the least of our starting import DBs. When I heard he was playing HB in Hamilton, I was happy for him, I thought maybe he'd taken his game up a notch but yeah he got exposed when the chips were down. Helluva athlete, though. He had fantastic wheels and I remember him making a lot of tackles from behind on special teams.

Whatever you celebrate, have a good one. May 2015 be the year the Bombers and Jets both turn the corner.

Cory Watson was pretty good on that corner route ... he caught a couple of them.

Tedford was one of the guys the Cats turned to as a replacement for Dieter Brock back in 1985. I think he proved pretty quickly that he wasn't the answer. Cats had a pretty interesting season that year. They started 1-6 but then they found Ken Hobart, who was a sub-50% passer who could run really well. With Hobart rambling all over the field they finished 8-8 and went to the Grey Cup.

When do assistant coaches' contracts expire? When do they become "free agents?" Is Washington even allowed to talk to other teams yet? I read recently that Orlando Steinhauer has a no-movement clause in his contract. I've never heard of a CFL assistant coach or coordinator who wasn't free to seek a promotion with another team. Is that a usual thing?

Look at the bright side -- we made a mistake when we paid this guy a bunch of upfront money but we didn't compound the error by keeping him around at the expense of Sears or Johnson or Wild or Dunn. The coaches made the right call on Korey Banks.

Someone has to take the fall for Durant's elbow injury. There has to be some accountability there.

Oh man I'd love to see that. Imagine how the talent level of teams would rise if you cut the bottom 30% of the league.

If you like Appalachian doomgrass where a dude with a banjo wails about the devil lurking on your threshold waiting to steal your soul away, then check this tastiness from Sixteen Horsepower. They also sing brooding songs about Hutterite life which are maybe mildly NSFW for paintings of boobs.

Do assistant coaches even get multiyear contracts?

Why This Is Dumb: A Play In One ActWBB: "Goodbye, Marcel Bellefeuille. We appreciate the grace with which you sailed through the Great Tim Burke Shitstorm of 2013, but we want to move in a different direction." WBB: "Hey fans, you spoke and we listened! Bellefueille is history!" Fans: "**** YEAH BELLEFEUILLE SUCKED! GREY CUP IS OURS SACK ETCH NEXT" WBB: "Hello, George Cortez. Come be our new OC!" CORTEZ: "That's great! But I think I want to see what's going on in BC. They've got a head coaching vacancy and I'm eager to prove I'm better than my 2012 season would indicate." WBB: "Okay, buddy, we'll sit tight, just don't do anything without calling us. Love you bro." Fans: "WHY HAVENT WE HIRED A NEW OC YET GET OFF YOUR ASS WALTERS YOU LAZY SLOB" WBB: "Hey, Khari Jones, come back to Winnipeg! You could return to glory as our OC and you can work with Drew Willy again!" KJ: "Oh man, I would love to come to the Bombers but Saskatchewan promised me they'd give six free Booster Juice trucks if I coached there." FANS: "WE WANT A PRESS CONFERENCE" CORTEZ: "Oh hey Blue Bombers, sorry to let you down but Montreal just fired Dinwiddie. You know how good the deli is in Montreal? That smoked meat they got? It looks like pastrami, it smells like pastrami, but brother it ain't pastrami! Anyway, I'm going there. Thanks for your interest." WBB: oh **** Fans: "BRING BACK TAMAN HE COULD AT LEAST MAKE DECISIONS." WBB: "Hey Marcel Bellefueille, would you consider uh being our OC again this year? No hard feelings bro?" MB: **** off WBB crosses off the final name from their candidate list, sighs heavily, and dials a familiar number. WBB: "Hello, Gary Crowton? Are you interested in returning to the CFL?"

My prayers for tonight: 1) Please God let them go back to royal blue jerseys. 2) Please God don't let them also go to royal blue pants.

I don't think that Leggett is a good enough tackler to get back to the NFL. He whiffed on a number of them last year, turning medium gains into long gains and long gains into TDs. Happy to have him back, though; he's a playmaker with fantastic range. After so many years of watching Logan and Cauchy, it was nice to see a safety out there with some serious wheels.

Whole lotta retreads there. Taafe looked helpless in Hamilton, Danny Barrett was perpetually .500 in Saskatchewan, Cortez was yet another coordinator who couldn't make the jump, Lapo couldn't keep his hands off the offense... But I suppose Taafe and Buono could reminisce about Casey Printers.