17to85

You know what, I don't think it's are serious as all that. Yeah they didn't win a championship, but Milt Stegall (and the rest of the great players around when he was) made a lot of football fans in Winnipeg. Those are people in my age bracket (or just a bit below) who became fans watching one of the best players ever and they're in that age now where they are having families which likely passes the tradition of being a fan down. Sure there's probably not a lot of under 25s but really in the grand scheme of things that's not too big a deal. The thing gets turned around they'll jump on the band wagon too.

I don't believe Doug Berry ever played anything and he turned out to be a good positional coach... Here's the thing, playing a position certainly helps but it is not an absolute requirement for understanding fundamentals and how to coach. Coaching is really just teaching and some people can teach even if they aren't themselves experts in the field.

....? Was this misplaced or jus an odd rant as I dont see anyone pouring distain over peoples choices.. If anything, I see people adding counterpoints to why they are good or bad in their opinion.. You know, as in having a discussion? Some people just don't understand why others can't ***** and complain about everything all the time.

I am a huge Khari fanboy. To me the pluses are: former CFL QB, success working with Durant/Willy/Jennings/Lulay, worked with a great OC is Cortez. The negatives are: only an average offense in Hamilton as OC, worked as an OC under Marcel. That time in Hamilton was a long time ago, he was always a smart guy, surely he's learned since then. Not to mention not having Glenn as your qb opens up options. I just think people soured on him too much because of that first go around. Was he not pegged to be the OC in BC until Cortez came available and they bumped him down to get a very proven guy?

The biggest drawback for Manitoba is that they're far away from BC and Ontario and Quebec and don't have a huge amount of their own breweries at this point. Makes the logistics getting a big variety more difficult. It is interesting, I was chatting with the guy who runs the closest liquor store to me one time when I was buying something new and I mentioned how I was stoked to see a new offering from this company, he says "Yeah but now I gotta find more room on the shelves for it" Guess there's just too many options out there they are forced to stock the best sellers which unfortunately for me means my preferences get the short end of the stick. Lots of IPAs though and lots of fruity beers. Also why WildRose stopped bottling the SOB yet you can't go anywhere with the god damned raspberry beer being front and centre.

I still say Khari is the guy! He won't fail us!

I've gotten into some stouts, but I just can't enjoy them most of the time. That Phillips sampler has good variety, but I keep just falling back to the IPAs anyways. I'm biased. Dave will try and sway you toward the ESBs....I'm a big fan of Red's. There's a new one from Village Brewery called "The Huntsman" that I really enjoy. Earthy....ton of flavour. I'm a fan.... No thank you to bitter beer. I'm a wheat beer guy, especially in summer. It's just a name! It's not bitter! I love a bitter. Has some nice hoppy flavour to it without being too over whelming. The biggest shame in the craft beer scene right now is that it seems like stores stock only the IPAs or the stouts because that's what is the biggest sellers as some people think you need the big intense flavours for it to be a craft beer.

Dat would be the record completion percentage in 2005, Bob! That and his stupid ******* facial hair choices and his giant dumbo ears... he just looks like someone you'd want to punch right in the face.

Look the bottom line is that the award is for the most outstanding and the season Westerman had was outstanding for any player national or international. What Sinopoli did was a good season but not really outstanding. If Westerman doesn't win what should be a slam dunk award it's a ******* joke.

3 beers with supper isn't all that trying, going through a case in a weekend won't even catch a buzz. Sounds like there's some rank amateurs in this thread. Also Mike, get off the IPA wagon, there's stuff out there that isn't pure hops.

fine I'll be the one to say it... **** Jason Maas. I don't care what he did in Ottawa something about that guy just bugs me.

All I’ve heard for three years is how no one wants to sit in minus-30 conditions for playoff games in CGY. Fair. I guess plus-10, too. — Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) November 16, 2015 When the marquee franchise can't get 35k or so to a semi final their is something wrong Look back over the past couple decades and see how attendance was for semi-finals in both conferences. 26 is probably right around the median, maybe slightly above. For back-to back semis in 2002 and 2003, the Bombers drew 22,000 - 23,000. For the 2007 semi-final Bombers drew 23,000. BC, Edmonton and Calgary have never been know to draw great crowds for semi-finals either. Sasky was 3000 short of a sellout in 2013 for the semi. Seems like a reasonably fixable problem for the spiffy new commish. to solve...seriously. Makes no sense that attendance drops off for playoff games. To start with don't crank playoff ticket prices up above regular season prices and start the season 2-4 weeks earlier to keep the fair-weather fans interested. They didn't crank ticket prices up in Calgary though. Tonnes of $35 - $45 tickets available too which is the same price those seats sell for in the regular season. If teams choose not to sell playoff games as part of their regular season packages, which I believe Calgary does not do, then it will be tough to sell 35,000 individual tickets for semi-final games. The best the league will do is move the season up one more week so the first week of the regular season does not overlap with the final week of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Another factor is the draft. The league will not move the season up any earlier than mid-June (late-May for training camp) due to the NFL and CFL draft. People need to accept this. If by some crazy chance we see a 10th team in the CFL, the Grey Cup will happen an additional week earlier in mid-November. Here's hoping... Calgary isn't as rock solid in their attendance as people want to believe. Too many NFL only douchebags in this town who don't give a **** about the CFL. Too many economic migrants that have no past connection to the Stamps or Calgary in general who just want to jump on the flashiest party train, basically soulless zombies attracted to bright, shiny objects. Like I said, douchebags.

Not all of us have that much faith in the media.... Honestly I'm not sure a lot of the CFL media are capable of tying their own shoes let alone correctly picking the most outstanding players in the league.

All I’ve heard for three years is how no one wants to sit in minus-30 conditions for playoff games in CGY. Fair. I guess plus-10, too. — Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) November 16, 2015 When the marquee franchise can't get 35k or so to a semi final their is something wrong Look back over the past couple decades and see how attendance was for semi-finals in both conferences. 26 is probably right around the median, maybe slightly above. For back-to back semis in 2002 and 2003, the Bombers drew 22,000 - 23,000. For the 2007 semi-final Bombers drew 23,000. BC, Edmonton and Calgary have never been know to draw great crowds for semi-finals either. Sasky was 3000 short of a sellout in 2013 for the semi. Seems like a reasonably fixable problem for the spiffy new commish. to solve...seriously. Makes no sense that attendance drops off for playoff games. To start with don't crank playoff ticket prices up above regular season prices and start the season 2-4 weeks earlier to keep the fair-weather fans interested. They didn't crank ticket prices up in Calgary though. Tonnes of $35 - $45 tickets available too which is the same price those seats sell for in the regular season. If teams choose not to sell playoff games as part of their regular season packages, which I believe Calgary does not do, then it will be tough to sell 35,000 individual tickets for semi-final games. The best the league will do is move the season up one more week so the first week of the regular season does not overlap with the final week of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Another factor is the draft. The league will not move the season up any earlier than mid-June (late-May for training camp) due to the NFL and CFL draft. People need to accept this. If by some crazy chance we see a 10th team in the CFL, the Grey Cup will happen an additional week earlier in mid-November. Here's hoping... Calgary isn't as rock solid in their attendance as people want to believe. Too many NFL only douchebags in this town who don't give a **** about the CFL.

If you read between the lines on that though he doesn't come across as saying "no problems here" I do believe when referencing the OL he was placing plenty of blame on the scheme. Saying "my players are fine it's the scheme not letting them work. Which is a sentiment many here have echoed.

O'Shea's never been a DC so it would be unrealistic for them to expect he'd be able to fix Etch's D by mid-season. I disagree. Due to his experience as a player. He has been a part of some great defenses. And if you hear his former team mates speak, he was basically a coach on the field. He knows the CFL defense and could design one if needed. I have a hard time believing a future HOF MLB wouldn't know how. Especially one that spent basically his entire life around the Canadian game. I'm also pretty sure that if he could pick any defensive coordinator in the league to run his defence it'd be Steinhauer and everyone here loves his defense right? O'Shea knows what he's doing, a lot of people spouting off on here though don't really know the ins and outs of what goes on in hiring decisions.What do you base that MOS knows what he is doing on?His record?His hiring of assistant coaches?I would suggest you don't know a lot of the in and outs any better than the naysayers.Just saying. I'm not pretending like I know the ins and outs. That's the difference. I base O'Sheas knowing what he's doing on the improvements in the defence when he didn't have to hire a last choice after being turned down by everyone else of interest. I base it on the way he speaks about the defense in Hamilton and specifically mentioning how well Steinhauer has those guys playing. Mike O'Shea is not a dummy. He didn't get where he is by being a dummy. Even when he talks about Bellefeuille he mentions continuity being important for Willy in his mind. Not a bad point, they tried to spend their way into better protection for him and it didn't work so he fired the guy. Just because he is more patient than people here doesn't mean he's not a good coach, just means he isn't the knee jerk reaction type.

We need a game breaking interception... Juran Bolden I'm looking at you

He's a smart cookie for sure and I get the sense that he knows what the problems with the team are, it's just a matter of whether or not he can actually address them.

We aren't discussing whether or not he would be a good DC. Just whether or not it would be unrealistic to expect him to know how to Design a Defense along with another DC (Etch), which is what your original statement was. That it would be unrealistic to assume so. I'm simply stating that since he's already shown he can take on field experience and transfer that to a playbook via Special teams. It isn't unrealistic that he could also do that for a Defense. Whether or not it would work out is another discussion all together. If he were a former DC at any level then I'd agree with you. As he wasn't I don't. So only DC's can recognize or design defensive schemes then? I'm betting that lots of defensive position coaches can, to various degrees do it, and I'm willing to bet that some players can too. I know this because there is no "magic" that happens once someone is named defensive coordinator. They are not suddenly able to do things that they couldn't do before, it's just that they are now being paid and given the responsibility for doing it. So does O'shea have a background that might allow him to help a DC put together a defensive package? Of course he does. Arguing that he doesn't is just plain silly. Would O'Shea be really good at doing it? Maybe, maybe not. Sure that's how it works. Once someone has enough experience points they level up and gain new skills that they don't have access to before.

Just because I like thinking about that 2001 team so much here's this:

started 2-2, won 12 straight, then lost the final 2 games, including the final game of the season to Calgary, which let them into the playoffs and..............well, we don't need to go there....... We shoulda known when half the lights at the old stadium stopped working during the game.

Haha oh my stars you actually said that... I don't think you remember how hit or miss the offense was in 2007, or how dominant the defense was on that 2001 team. 2007 was bolstered bigtime by Gauthier being one of the better tackles in the league and a canadian. They paid a big price to get that guy too don't forget. Picard was still good back then, Andrew Greene was really the unsung hero there too. Guy was a real quality vet on the interior. Rounded it out with Dan Goodspeed at the other tackle who in his day was a good american tackle. 2007 was also a long time ago, the CFL has changed Canadians are playing more and more skill positions and playing them better and better. You don't need to put all your canadians on the OL. It's not the most efficient use of the roster when you don't have those quality veterans to fill the positions. As much as we dislike Bucknor he's still playing maybe the easiest position to hide a Canadian in, much moreso than safety. The additional designated imports make a rotation on the defense a very viable option as well which many teams are taking advantage of. The idea that you MUST use as many canadians on the offensive line is outdated thinking. The key is you must have as many good canadians as possible and where they specifically play doesn't really matter as long as they can play. Right now we don't have enough Canadians who are simply good enough players. 2001 was all kind of special. Should have swept the awards that year. The only team that I'll listen to an argument as being better than 01 since 2001 is 2002. That was a good ******* team that got boned by Ricky Ray showing up and being amazing as a rookie and injuries before the playoffs.

O'Shea's never been a DC so it would be unrealistic for them to expect he'd be able to fix Etch's D by mid-season. I disagree. Due to his experience as a player. He has been a part of some great defenses. And if you hear his former team mates speak, he was basically a coach on the field. He knows the CFL defense and could design one if needed. I have a hard time believing a future HOF MLB wouldn't know how. Especially one that spent basically his entire life around the Canadian game. I'm also pretty sure that if he could pick any defensive coordinator in the league to run his defence it'd be Steinhauer and everyone here loves his defense right? O'Shea knows what he's doing, a lot of people spouting off on here though don't really know the ins and outs of what goes on in hiring decisions.

Etchevary was clearly a dumpster diving hire though, he was literally the last choice when everyone else turned them down. They didn't waste time upgrading when someone better was available

Haha oh my stars you actually said that... I don't think you remember how hit or miss the offense was in 2007, or how dominant the defense was on that 2001 team. 2007 was bolstered bigtime by Gauthier being one of the better tackles in the league and a canadian. They paid a big price to get that guy too don't forget. Picard was still good back then, Andrew Greene was really the unsung hero there too. Guy was a real quality vet on the interior. Rounded it out with Dan Goodspeed at the other tackle who in his day was a good american tackle. 2007 was also a long time ago, the CFL has changed Canadians are playing more and more skill positions and playing them better and better. You don't need to put all your canadians on the OL. It's not the most efficient use of the roster when you don't have those quality veterans to fill the positions. As much as we dislike Bucknor he's still playing maybe the easiest position to hide a Canadian in, much moreso than safety. The additional designated imports make a rotation on the defense a very viable option as well which many teams are taking advantage of. The idea that you MUST use as many canadians on the offensive line is outdated thinking. The key is you must have as many good canadians as possible and where they specifically play doesn't really matter as long as they can play. Right now we don't have enough Canadians who are simply good enough players.