17to85

Lapo was also the biggest ***** of a coach I've ever seen. The man played not to lose rather than playing to win. Lots of close games sure but they never really took the chances needed to win.

Has a 9-9 team ever missed the playoffs? If we go 9-9 I expect we'd make the playoffs, but no playoffs = no O'Shea to me. Usually not, but given BC only made the crossover by one game last year at 9-9, it's not a give me by any stretch. 9 wins will always get you into the playoffs in the CFL. Hell most times 8 is enough, last year being a bit of an oddball in that it wasn't enough. Just the simple numbers. Some teams always have to lose games and some teams will always win more than half of their games. Only way I don't see a .500 record making the playoffs in the CFL is if parity is such that the top teams only pick up like 10 wins and everyone is sitting there with .500 records.

Yes Don Wittman was from Winnipeg. He's the one who convinced Walby to be a color guy.http://itvideo.me/watch/?v=NJNW-1TVcSY http://youtu.be/3W7SbgP2_20 RIP Don. Yep he was a pro through and through. They don't make sports broadcasters like that any more.

In the OP it said Picard was sick today. Yes I know. Your point? It's not surprising that with Picard sick they would need another guy snapping the ball and that Neufeld would be that guy. What's with your snarky comments lately Jacquie? I was just stating a fact, that Neufeld was playing centre in practice. It's a notable development, even if Picard was sick. yep, Jacquie is the one being "snarky" I, for one, think it's notable considering how Goosen is waiting in the wings .. The clock is ticking for Goossen. He appears to be bypassed for a starting role, and I am beginning to wonder what is missing from his game. I don't know...he's still young, and this week we are going up against a very good Defence. Might just be an experience thing. I know...you can't get experience unless you get experience....but this might not be the dline to do it against. Can't help but wonder if it had been Joe Mack that drafted Goosen if people would be so forgiving of his utter lack of progress.

Not my intention at all. I'm just trying to understand what the CFL is trying to accomplish with the new rule changes in the long run. Any theories? Yeah a bunch of busy bodies trying to solve problems that don't exist. They take one year trends and try and fix them with a rule change which is just dumb. I don't think there is a long term strategy, I think the CFL just has too many people who don't think big picture.

I think this is missing the real point of why the Bombers don't hire experience.... it's a general managers and coaches grave yard. Experienced people don't want to come here because the track record in Winnipeg is a couple years and you're fired with your reputation in tatters. Justified or not that's what's happened for the last 15 years and it does impact whether guys want to come here and subject themselves to that. Walters and O'Shea might not be perfect but you have to give them a long enough period you can't just keep firing people all the time, that ensures you're not able to hire the best candidates. Yes, our record the past few years has been a problem so I acknowledge what you said Thing is, I know that Jim Barker applied for the GM job but the Bombers hired Mack & I believe that Tom Higgins was interested in the HC job as well at the end of the 2013 season after he left the CFL. I don't think it's been all inexperienced people applying for Bomber management & coaching positions. You gotta get off the Higgins train man, he ain't done much of note in Montreal and the Als lost a game very similarly to how the Bombers lost to the Stamps. The problems here are deep rooted long term ones that aren't remedied easily. Barker and Higgins? Why waste time on them?

That's kind of odd considering the Riders sold around 25k season tickets that year that so many bomber fans were there isn't it? You guys can laugh at how bad we are all you want but even this year there are 26700 season tickets sold so the myth that any team will ever outnumber our fans in our stadium is simply that, Obviously you would have sold a lot of season tix this year as you came off the GC win in 2013 a good year last year and were expected to be good this year. Even at 0-18 this year you won't see a significant drop as the new stadium will keep ppl buying. If you go years without success 3-4 that's when you will see a significant drop. Where as the Bombers have gone forever with success and still sell above 22k in season tix. Putting our team rivalries aside for a minute. The Bomber fans have done a good job supporting the team through a drought that has lasted too long. You are right our season ticket numbers will go down if we continue to struggle but I contend that 22k or better is a number that will hold as we too have a solid fan base and we too know what suffering is. I've been there for years and have enjoyed the good times, but have seen more bad times I'm afraid. I think what's happening now to certain extent is the fans are not going to just watch things go down the crapper without saying something. Gone are the years where we are just happy to have a team. Yes some are panicking, but that happens everywhere. the crazy fans don't speak for the majority as it is in every cfl city. No one doubts the die hards, hell no one really is bothered by the diehards either, it's the bandwagon jumpers who crow the loudest about RIDER PRIDE!!11!!!! and how awesome everything Rider is that annoy people and we know damned well that they won't still be there when the fortunes have turned. What we want is a nice long streak of the Riders sucking so that these folks will finally STFU and go away.

Hey you brought up the OIlers dynasty. The only thing that changed the way hockey was played was Gretzky making a mockery of the league by being the best ever to play it. So if you want a similar thing to happen in the CFL then all you need is that all time greatest player to show up.

Except they change something every offseason so we get half a season of adjustments every year. Why can't they just leave well enough alone rather than fixing problems that don't exist? Except they change something every offseason so we get half a season of adjustments every year. Why can't they just leave well enough alone rather than fixing problems that don't exist? I wonder if the CFL has a long-term plan in mind with all of these rule changes to elevate the excitement of the game for a younger crowd. If I can equate it to hockey during the Oilers reign it wasn't unusual for scoring to average over 10 goals per game. Most fans loved it even if purists didn't. Maybe the CFL brain-trust (oxymoron?) is attempting to create the same free-scoring environment were shootouts end up with scores in the vicinity of 52-48.....Doubt it. So all they need to do is find the greatest football player in history who is so much better than every other football player ever to change the game drastically? Well that shouldn't be too hard...

I hear ticketmaster is trying to move a few....

I think this is missing the real point of why the Bombers don't hire experience.... it's a general managers and coaches grave yard. Experienced people don't want to come here because the track record in Winnipeg is a couple years and you're fired with your reputation in tatters. Justified or not that's what's happened for the last 15 years and it does impact whether guys want to come here and subject themselves to that. Walters and O'Shea might not be perfect but you have to give them a long enough period you can't just keep firing people all the time, that ensures you're not able to hire the best candidates.

20 years ago maybe but Cole is an old man now and can't keep up with the play, he spends most of the games now hoping that he is sitting in the pie.

Except they change something every offseason so we get half a season of adjustments every year. Why can't they just leave well enough alone rather than fixing problems that don't exist?

Honestly I have a lot of hope for this season based purely on the way WIlly is playing. That last INT aside he was in such control that game. Not really taking risks, making some good throws, just being efficient. Watching him develop last year to this year has been a treat.

Gord Miller really developed a complex lately where he thinks he's the smartest guy in the booth. If he'd just stick to doing play by play he'd be fine but he drifts into the colour commentary role too often that it really ruins his broadcasts for me. Cuthbert is the best play by play man in the business and it's not even close. Dunigan is the best colour man but it's mostly cause he's just a football fan having a blast on the air. Suitor is terrible and Duane Forde is trying too hard to be colourful. If he'd go back to just being the boring persona I'd like him a lot more.

To be completely fair though, Cornish has dragged an awful lot of middle linebackers around over the years. Not like he's some scrub itty bitty back there.

Oh please, after sitting through the shittiest of shitty games in that stadium losing by one point in a game that came down to the very end that's a step up, especially since they won there last year. We found a new way to lose in McMahon again. Playing better and losing by a point is still a loss. Spoken like someone who hasn't sat through those games in Calgary for nearly a decade. Trust me that was the best game I've seen the team play in Alberta since I've lived here. Yeah it's a sad statement but progress isn't always leaps and bounds.

Wild is a tackling machine. He was always in the play. the bombers run stopping shortcomings last year weren't on Wild, they were on Etchevary who flat you says "Go ahead run the ball I don't give a **** about stopping the run"

when it happened it sure looked like he touched it to me. I dunno what the cameras showed but I was fuming at him for sticking his hand up and touching it when it was clearly going into the endzone anyway. Guy tried to be a hero all night long and it wound up costing the team. I hate kick returners who run backwards and sideways. Yeah you're fast but so are the guys chasing you. Just hit it up the middle and see what happens.

Are we so far gone as a country that only Saskatchewan maintains sane voters?

Lot of drama queens in here. Yeah they lost on a couple stupid plays, but the defense showed a lot of improvements in that game, Calgary got 2 of their TDs on turnovers and the offense did pretty well. Yeah they got bogged down at times, but the Stamps do still have a good defence themselves. Fact is the Bombers O out performed the Stamps O, just those special teams goofs that cost the game. A loss is a loss that is true and it sucks to lose a game that was there for the taking, but that game for an objective viewer should be seen as an overall positive for the team. Bass seemed to be all over the field and getting better, the DL got a lot more pressure than they had been. Cornish had some good runs but he also didn't run wild over anyone. The offense seemed to be able to move the ball most of the time. I guess basically what I'm saying is, get over the loss people, this wasn't a bad game at all. It was another step in what so far is a promising season.

AND...Was their 1st TD offside?? Couldn't get the video to work. It is what it is, I guess. You can also argue that at least two illegal block/holding calls were missed on Lirim's missed FG that Brown ran out past the 40 yard line. Certainly had me yelling at the TV. But, as you said, it is what it is. We're onto Edmonton! Oh man there was no arguing it, again it was right in front of my seats and someone was getting absolutely mugged, not sure how the flag wasn't called. There was another return in the same end where the first guy down was clearly pushed in the numbers but no flags. I was speechless that something so obvious didn't get called.

Oh please, after sitting through the shittiest of shitty games in that stadium losing by one point in a game that came down to the very end that's a step up, especially since they won there last year.

That fumble really was the turning point. Gave the stamps life and took away momentum from the bombers. The absolute worst part is that it happened right in front of my seats and the coaches were telling him to not **** around and yet he kept running backwards and sideways on every return. Veltung, if Stoudemire keeps playing like that is a better, safer option. The O and D were pretty solid all in all but the special teams blew the game plain and simple

Vann was with the team in training camp was he not? Was he not with us at the start of 2003? I sure thought he was, but his only career highlight was slacking on a play that was intercepted by the Riders and having Khari Jones chew him out but good for it.