17to85

Again though, Pitlick is a good bottom 6 player when healthy.. but he's never ******* healthy. Is it the scouts fault that a guy keeps getting hurt? I don't believe it is it's just the way it works. Scouting is only part of the issue as well, development plays a much bigger role and no one is going to claim that the Oilers were great at developing players. It's only been recently that the farm team has actually started to develop any players. Prior to that most of the development happend with guys who went directly into the NHL. Going to the terrible farm team was basically a death sentence for careers.

I'm going out on a limb and I'm going to pick Cotton

Again with the outright ignorance. Jordan Eberle wasn't a can't miss pick and he worked out just fine. Yeah he was still in the first round but at twenty something that was a great pick. Anton Lander has developed into a solid depth player, all it took was Eakins being fired. Klefbom wasn't a can't miss pick either and he's developing just nicely, again first round but not one of the first over alls. Marincin was a 2nd round pick that is also developing nicely, Tyler Pitlick was a solid draft pick in the 2nd round too who would be a solid depth player except for the fact that he keeps getting hurt. That's not really on a scouting staff either. There are some other guys developing in the minors it's just that most of them are the types of players that generally take 4 or 5 years to start to be NHL ready and given that their rebuild really only started 5 years ago it makes sense there isn't a lot of NHL depth right? Especially when you consider that they had even less on the farm than they did in the NHL when they kicked that off. You have to look in depth and not just fall into the "herp derp oilerz suck" kind of analysis. Tambellini outside of the first round used his draft picks trying to get size. That's not really on the scouts if the GM just says "who's the best big player?" and then picks that guy. Craig McTavish did do a better job of selecting better prospects in later rounds, but again too soon to call on a lot of them. The scouts were fired for good reasons, they didn't do enough, but I still say it was lack of development that was a bigger issue than anything. Part of developing is having a good organization top to bottom so you can bring players along slowly and Edmonton simply didn't have that. Their amateur scouts weren't the worst. They weren't the best but not the worst either. The pro-scouts though were terrible. Just outright useless and that was a big problem.

Doug Brown said it best with regards to Marve I think. He's just a spark for the team. Brings an energy and excitement level to the team because of how he plays. Hopefully he keeps progressing as a passer and can climb the depth chart because I think there is something to be said for a guy that can spark a team.

There was a lot of talk earlier in the year that the scouting department was going to be changed around. As for the timing, I'd assume that all the scouting work is already done for the draft. It's interesting but always happens when there's a new GM in town. I don't know if the amateur scouts were that bad for the Oilers, Tambellini had a very funny way of drafting and McTavish appeared to do better in later rounds. There's also the development aspect to consider which I think is the biggest issue the Oilers have faced. Their farm system was pretty much non-existent until only a few years ago.

Special place in hell for people who post that gif

but the thing is, they have opportunities to improve themselves if they want to put in the work. Go get educated, find an entry level job with some upward mobility. Work in a field that pays higher without a lot of skills required. This country is great because you CAN improve your situation if you want to. Tough life? No education? Just excuses when it comes right down to it. The people who do the best in this country are the ones who know what they want and have the drive to go out and get it. For some yes. For others, easier said than done. Who said it was easy? Fact remains though if someone wants it they can get it. It makes it more of an accomplishment. If it was easy everyone would do it rather than being content to coast by at their minimum wage job. Life is about choices and finding out where you want to be. If you're happy to coast by in a minimum wage job that's a choice you've made. If you want to do better than that and do what is required to do better that's another choice you've made. Why should people who choose to work minimum wage jobs get a hand out at the expense of people who chose to make something more of themselves? You cant possibly believe that every person working a minimum wage job is just making the choice to not better themselves. in a lot of cases it's true. Sure there's some people who have some type of handicap but for someone with an able body and mind it really does come down to whether or not they are motivated to do more than flip burgers all their life.

but the thing is, they have opportunities to improve themselves if they want to put in the work. Go get educated, find an entry level job with some upward mobility. Work in a field that pays higher without a lot of skills required. This country is great because you CAN improve your situation if you want to. Tough life? No education? Just excuses when it comes right down to it. The people who do the best in this country are the ones who know what they want and have the drive to go out and get it. For some yes. For others, easier said than done. Who said it was easy? Fact remains though if someone wants it they can get it. It makes it more of an accomplishment. If it was easy everyone would do it rather than being content to coast by at their minimum wage job. Life is about choices and finding out where you want to be. If you're happy to coast by in a minimum wage job that's a choice you've made. If you want to do better than that and do what is required to do better that's another choice you've made. Why should people who choose to work minimum wage jobs get a hand out at the expense of people who chose to make something more of themselves?

but the thing is, they have opportunities to improve themselves if they want to put in the work. Go get educated, find an entry level job with some upward mobility. Work in a field that pays higher without a lot of skills required. This country is great because you CAN improve your situation if you want to. Tough life? No education? Just excuses when it comes right down to it. The people who do the best in this country are the ones who know what they want and have the drive to go out and get it.

The problem is that it's a low skill easily replaceable job. You won't do it for 8 bucks an hour? Ok fine we'll hire some high school kid who is desperate for a paycheque to do it for 8 bucks an hour.

It is possible that their plan @ #4 has been Jordan Yantz all along and that the battle for a QB position has been between Marve and Portis. Keeping a qb you're not giving reps to? That just seems a dumb idea when trying to develop a player. But that's just the point. If you've decided to make him your 4th QB already, then you have to make a decision on the other 2 QBs..which one to keep.. How? By splitting their reps and seeing how they do. Yantz gets his work in practice and his development, as a CFL-ready QB, may not be as far behind as some think. Is it a dumb idea, or forward thinking? It's a theory. I just don't see it as a good idea at all. There is no benefit to a canadian qb so why decide on a guy who is likely behind the others in terms of development anyway and not give him reps? What if it turns out he's a terrible qb at this level? Wouldn't it be better to figure that out now than in the event they ever get that far down the depth chart? If they made that decision it's a bad decision. Yantz because has a strong accurate arm & good football smarts ... could develop into a Russ Jackson Portis and Marve because of their physical attributes could develop into *insert HOF qb here* blah blah blah blah. Giving people jobs without having them face off against their peers is just a bad idea all around. It's just giving a guy a job because of his passport which does nothing at the QB position. I don't want a feel good story at qb, I want the best players at every position unless there is a ratio reason for it.

When people were looking for a country with a similar population and oil reserves to Alberta to talk trash about Albertans.

This implies that people who are smarter or who work harder are the ones who get ahead in our society. A hallmark of advanced society is the ability to feel empathy for your fellow human. If not, then why have things like socialized healthcare, education, and social assistance. Without those, those who are "smarter and harder workers" could gain even more advantages. Not all by many of them do. I have empathy for my fellow humans, but let me tell you about my situation... I work a job that pays very well. Most people in my peer group aren't in a financial position I am. I'm not rich, far from it but I never have to worry about money and have a nice savings going. The reason for that is that I have stayed in a job that is very volatile and unpredictable and requires long stretches away from home and makes having a real normal life difficult. I have made sacrifices to be in the position I am in financially, why should I be equal to people who can not make those same sacrifices? I'm not trying to boast about having a lot of money here, I'm simply pointing out that not everyone is willing to do the same things when it comes to earning money so equality should be right out the window just based on that. One of the things that makes Canada a great country is that you do have the opportunity to better yourself if you are willing to sacrifice and work at it. A lot of people though are content to coast through life. Why should those people be equal to the ones with the drive and willingness to sacrifice? Yeah we should help support the people who are incapable of supporting themselves, but not the people who have the means but not the will.

I just don't see it as a good idea at all. There is no benefit to a canadian qb so why decide on a guy who is likely behind the others in terms of development anyway and not give him reps? What if it turns out he's a terrible qb at this level?Who is behind whom in terms of development though?The guy who has played Canadian football his whole career? Or the 3rd choice amongst our QBs, whose had at least 2 years to learn and develop his game and has not developed? And as to the 2nd part of your question, just how many QBs have we've seen and hoped would turn out?...and they were terrible? Too many to even mention. We're talking about the 4th person development position here, and to me, taking that decision path is no different than keeping Joe QB-Star from Turn-'em-out University who will not play Pro ball at any level. But doesn't that just prove how hard it is to play quarterback in the CFL? Why hand a guy a position when he is likely less talented than the other qbs you have? You shouldn't be giving people jobs without letting them showcase themselves against their peers.

I would argue that keeping everyone at the same level is a worthy goal. Wealth and income inequality are not things a country should aspire to. but people aren't equal. Once this silly idea is purged the less we'll have to hear about what a noble goal this is. Some people are just flat out smarter than others or harder workers or better athletes or whatever. Some people are lazy lumps who are happy to accomplish nothing, why should they be equal to someone driven to succeed?

Taxes aren't objectively bad - just because you don't want tax doesn't make the NDP bad fiscal managers. Your post is full of right wing talking points that aren't backed up by any evidence. You should examine your preconceptions more critically. Just look to the Nordic countries for what a higher level of taxation can do for a country. Norway has a huge heritage fund that they created by responsibly regulating the oil industry (taxation) that Alberta could learn a thing or two from. Norway also has one of the best health care systems in the world. All of them have made far more progress on environmental issues than Canada has. No one would argue that they are stagnant. Do you know what the tax rate on the people in Norway is? It's ******* HUGE. Easy to save all that oil money when you tax your population out the ass. Alberta may not have a huge oil fund (though they do have one and it's not exactly tiny) but we also enjoy a pretty low tax rate (which is going up now thanks to the NDP) The Nordic countries are exactly what I want to avoid here in Canada. Obscene tax rates. Yeah you're taken care of cradle to grave but you're paying out the ass for it and forgive me for not thinking the government is the best at spending money efficiently. Those countries also have stupidly high costs of living. They might be socialist paradises but it comes at a cost that I want no part of. I'm not opposed to taxes, I am opposed to excessive taxes. There are some things that governments should be taxing people for and paying for, having people be totally dependant on the government though? No thanks.

I know what you're saying but your definition of what constitutes "tv" is outdated and a little too broad. There is no such thing as "free" TV anymore as the broadcast signals available to antenna have been virtually cut off. Everyone that wants to access broadcast media has to pay for cable or an Internet connection at least. Why is it too broad? It is what it is. Content providers are free to choose their delivery methods and set the price points they want. This gives consumers 2 choices. Either accept the delivery model and pay for it at the price point they set or do without.

It is possible that their plan @ #4 has been Jordan Yantz all along and that the battle for a QB position has been between Marve and Portis. Keeping a qb you're not giving reps to? That just seems a dumb idea when trying to develop a player. But that's just the point. If you've decided to make him your 4th QB already, then you have to make a decision on the other 2 QBs..which one to keep.. How? By splitting their reps and seeing how they do. Yantz gets his work in practice and his development, as a CFL-ready QB, may not be as far behind as some think. Is it a dumb idea, or forward thinking? It's a theory. I just don't see it as a good idea at all. There is no benefit to a canadian qb so why decide on a guy who is likely behind the others in terms of development anyway and not give him reps? What if it turns out he's a terrible qb at this level? Wouldn't it be better to figure that out now than in the event they ever get that far down the depth chart? If they made that decision it's a bad decision.

No I know what the post was saying, but the point remains the same. People want to be able to watch tv without paying for tv.

It is possible that their plan @ #4 has been Jordan Yantz all along and that the battle for a QB position has been between Marve and Portis. Keeping a qb you're not giving reps to? That just seems a dumb idea when trying to develop a player.

Absolutely one of the top 50 players on the OL in the CFL.

But I'm damned sure going to try. If I can save even one soul it's worth it.

I didn't see my complaint about the NDP to be praise of any other party in this area, as what I meant (and obviously didn't really explain very well) is that one of my main issues with the NDP is their hypocrisy when it comes to dissent and free thought. They criticize everyone else for not being free on dissent, yet they are the worst offenders when it comes to this issue. Anyway, I wouldn't call my dislike of the NDP "blind hatred", I would call it well-informed disgust. I watched Howard the Coward run Manitoba into the ground in the 1980's while allowing the unions to just run the province (that's democracy?) and I watched the NDP in BC run our province into the ground. I watched Bob Rae run Ontario into the ground into the 1990's. I "debate" (it's tough to call it debate) NDP zealots on other forums and it's always the same mantra "We are great and can do no wrong". They don't want to admit that there are any issues with their ideology, and the only reason they feel they don't win elections is because the voter is either stupid, or swayed by "attack ads". They don't want to change, and anyone who proposes change is shouted down (this per several people I know who left the NDP). It's our ideology or nothing, and if you don't like it, get lost. As I said, I just find the NDP to be extremely hypocritical, on this and many other issues. They point fingers at JT and Harper and say that they don't allow dissent, but the NDP are the worst for this. The day I see an NDP actually finally question some of the garbage they are fed by their union masters, like that bogus article Raging just linked to, I will probably keel over in amazement. Agreed absolutely. The left likes to take the moral high ground and paint the right wingers are the intolerant ones but holy crap the left is the worst for trying to silence people who disagree with their position. No one tries to ban left wing media out lets like the left tried to ban the sun news network as an example. Not just disagreeing with an opposing viewpoint, trying to censor it! When has the right ever tried to outright censor opposing views?