johnzo

Why would you say that? CFL first overall picks are pretty much a joke. Let's look at the last few of them: 2013 Gaydosh 2012 Heenan 2011 Muamba 2010 Williams 2009 Rottier 2008 Barker 2007 Baumann 2006 Braidwood 2005 Robede I see only two every-down CFL players in there -- Heenan and Muamba. Everyone else is at best marginal, or in Gaydosh's case, busy in the NFL.

Well, Hage was retired and wasn't ever going to play for the redblacks, so I don't think he's much to give up. I'm definitely not sure about him trading the first overall pick, I think that we'll have to wait for a bit to judge that trade, see how Gott and Lavertu do this season. Gott is a proven starter and I think only about half of CFL first rounders become starters, so I can see the upside for Ottawa. I think it's the same kind of thinking that led us to trade a second rounder for Neufeld last season.

I hope this trade silences some of that Desjardins-is-an-idiot talk that started up when he signed Burris. Turning a backup QB into another first round pick is a pretty sound play for a team that's gonna suck for at least a couple of years. I don't know much about Antoine Pruneau but if he turns out to be a player then no one will care that Desjardins had to **** Kevin Glenn around for a few months to get him. From Wally's POV, having Kevin Glenn is all win and is worth the first-round pick. If Lulay isn't ready to go, Glenn is a perfect bridge QB. When Lulay is ready, Wally just has to wait for some team to have a midseason QB emergency and he can send Glenn packing for an inflated price. If Wally can get a 2015 or 2016 first rounder back for Glenn, then will have paid essentially nothing for Glenn -- and if the 2014 draft was as shallow as people say, Wally's better off having picks in later drafts anyway. I'm gonna predict that barring another long-term injury to Lulay, Glenn won't finish the season in orange.

I think it was a game against Toronto last year, Ray threw a deep shot and Suber picked it off and then quickly lateraled back to Cauchy who just kinda spun out and fell. Like do or die said, very Brock Ralph-ish.

That's how it works here in dope-legal WA state. You can't blaze one anywhere you can't smoke a cigarette. And you can't smoke a cigarette pretty much anywhere in public. Also, the initiative that legalized dope set a ridiculously low DUI threshold for blood THC levels. A lot of the people who legitimately medicate (say what you want, they do exist) were pissed off at the legalization people for throwing them under the bus, saying that THC lingers in the blood and isn't a good measure of intoxication, especially at the trace levels necessary to bust someone for a DUI. I'm sure when legalization comes to Canada it will look somewhat the same with pretty strict DUI laws and education campaigns similar to the anti-drinking-and-driving ones I got pounded with in the 80s and 90s.

I think I'm with tracker. The units aren't great but they're not nearly as bad as they could have been. I was thinking that they were gonna look like the Tampa Bay Bucs of the CFL. The sawblade R looks pretty good on the white helmet, like an update on the classic old roughrider R.

Redblacks is a dumb name in English, but I think it sounds OK in French. If I were still in Ottawa I'd buy some Rouge et Noir gear.

Totally don't care if a football player burns a J or ten especially during the season when they've gotta deal with pain and lingering injuries. Just don't get behind the wheel, fer chrissakes.

It'd be great to have a receiver who's also a good special teamer. I wonder if this translates to good downfield blocking in the running game? Love watching receivers escort the RB downfield.

Yeah, it was in March. I saw the linked article was dated in May and mistook it for news ... didn't think anyone would publish two articles about a kicker in a single year.

Justin Palardy signs with Redblacks: http://www.ottawaredblacks.com/article/justin-palardy-is-ready-to-kick-his-way-into-a-starting-role-for-the-ottawa-redblacks He's currently the only kicker of any kind on their roster. Wonder if they're going to bring in anyone to challenge him? In other Redblacks news, they're unveiling their jerseys on Tuesday. http://www.ottawaredblacks.com/article/throwback-thursday-jerseys-in-cfl-historyottawa-makes-the-cut I love a good simple jersey, so I hope they opt for the classic look like the Argos and the TiCats have. Just stripes, no stupid wedges or swooshes or script typefaces.

Oh man this is awful news. All of the legit pay-someone-money ways of watching the CFL down here suck.

Holy crap man, you should stop doubling down on dumb stuff when you're called on it. If you look at the depth charts, which are still available on bluebombers.com, you'll see that Etienne was a starter in 2013. He did lose his starting job after Labour Day -- but that was due to a concussion suffered when a Saskatchewan DB tried to decapitate him. I think there were a couple games on the 1-game for him, and a couple games where he didn't make the 42 due to lingering symptoms, and a couple more games where he started again. So is Cauchy Muamba.

Hey Rids, is that an educated guess or are you tracking the number of snaps each player plays for their team? This is not to call you out on guessing, just to say that if you are tracking that kinda thing, it's awesome and it's exactly the kind of analysis I love to read about the CFL and please post more of it. It's frustrating that the announcers on CFL games never pay attention to substitutions and rotations, even during injury situations.

It's just as likely that we didn't protect either and Desjardins, like many of the posters here, liked Miles better than Kelly.

I think it's because he made the biggest two or three offensive plays for us in our improbable Banjo Bowl victory last year. First impressions are weirdly powerful.

I bet that Glenn will be traded, not released.

I'm definitely not an expert or an insider but based on what I've heard I don't think the NHL in Seattle is imminent. We're talking about building a new arena but the rich guys who would own it are on the record as being much more passionate about basketball than about hockey. I've heard that the city and county money earmarked for that new arena doesn't come free until there's a basketball tenant for it, so a lot has to happen before the NHL will find a home here.* In 2012 there was quite a bit of talk about the Coyotes coming here for pennies on the dollar. My guess is that if Bettman keeps all the present teams stable for the next 2-3 years, we'll see another round of NHL expansion to Quebec and another city. Seattle is a relatively rich town but I don't know if there's a wealthy sucker here who'd pay premium money for a crappy expansion team. With all due respect to the T-Birds, it's been nearly 100 years since a hockey team captured Seattle's imagination. I wouldn't bet that the fans here would be passionate enough to support a terrible expansion team for any amount of time. All the hockey fans I know already have a favourite NHL team and all of the other sports fans I know follow the Mariners or the Hawks or the Sounders, or they're still mourning the Sonics. There's just not a massive pent-up demand for pro hockey here. * (http://blogs.seattletimes.com/nbainseattle/2014/04/02/chris-hansen-seattle-will-have-a-basketball-team/)

Jets win tonight = damaged Leaf playoff hopes = I don't care about strategic losing or draft positioning, I'm happy tonight.

Is he being paid by anyone else right now? Perhaps it's a Lapo-type situation where an otherwise-guaranteed contract won't be paid out if he accepts a coaching position somewhere.

First Jets game: March 19, 1986. Brian Mullen scores a hat trick as the Jets beat the Habs 6-4. Fergie had just fired Barry Long and was behind the bench and the Jets were showing signs of life. Dan Bouchard was the Jets' goalie and Doug Soetart was the Habs'. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FHlkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K38NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1120%2C5366356 First Bomber game: September 25, 1983. Bombers 50-19 over the Roughriders. Can't find a newspaper link but that doesn't matter because I'll never forget the details. This was Tom Clements' first game as a Bomber. Nickie Hall started but was hurt in the first half. Clements came in to a massive standing ovation. He was playing on just 2-3 days of practice and he and Willard Reaves absolutely smoked the Riders. Reaves ran wild, he had around 150 yards I think. I'd never heard anything so loud in my life and I knew I'd be a lifelong fan after that game.

Oh, so that's why the Bomber OL faced the line of scrimmage during the play call.

Yeh I was gonna ask if that was the game where Hall was limping off the field after basically every down That was the Toronto game, where we had that amazing sequence where Cory Watson dropped one in the endzone, Hall had a sure TD pass to Denmark hit the upright, and then we botched the field goal. 2013 in a nutshell right there. One fumble aside, Hall played quite well in that game despite being repeatedly hit like a nearsighted bullfighter.

I don't get the angst over this. Barker and Mitchell agreed to mutually terminate Mitchell's deal. That's totally a kosher thing to do in contract law. Barker is just making his team more attractive to import talent -- which is kinda his job. And not every player gets this treatment. Chris Williams, for instance.

If I were a redblacks fan I'd be fine with this. Glenn is a great asset with contract that works if he's a starter or a backup. The redblacks are going to be a crap team and the fanbase will have pretty low expectations. I think it's smart of Desjardins to be patient and wait until he can maximize his return.