17to85

not bad, I could drink this... no promises about sobriety but....

don't. this is the dawn of the rebuild that the Bombers should have begun several years ago. the Wade/Kyle/Osh thing needs a year to gain traction and momentum. yeah, i know you've heard that refrain several times over the last 2 decades... and that the emotional stamina required to willingly get on the same roller coaster that has made you nauseous over and over is immense (i am a Leaf fan after all)... but the aggregate of the Bomber's moves since Miller came on board (and put Walters in place, and hired O'Shea and allowed him to have a dozen other coaches) has got to have you looking at the team's trajectory and believing in it. (heck... i do) Bluto, I see this as a team that wins 5-6 but is competitive, Willy establishes himself as a legit starting QB, Gossen and Neufeld become good NI pieces on the OL and we start building a nase. You? yeah, 5-7 sounds right. and i've said elsewhere that you may have to wait for a few of those until the arse end of the schedule when your remaining opponents have already clinched. my hope is that Willy gets at least 14 starts and progresses as the year goes on. We were just talking here about how it is a foreign concept for us to expect a qb to play the majority of games in a season... In my mind if Willy starts 14+ games it's a huge win for the team just because it means we have a qb we can at least somewhat rely on.

Rays reputation took a real hit it seems suffering through the gong show in Edmonton for a few years. People forget that the guy came in and basically dominated the CFL as a rookie, when does that ever happen? Then the Esks hit the skids and everything was a mess and he still put up good numbers but the wins didn't come and people forgot that the guy is a robot who just doesn't miss throws when he's got a competent coach, o-line and receivers.

So stoked. Noeller and I gonna get a nice afternoon drink on and should be in fine form come game time. Win or lose today is a great day just because CFL football is back after too long an offseason.

See I'm not nearly sold enough on Schenn or Read to consider that (plus an obligatory **** Postma thrown in there)

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!

I think O'Shea is the real deal. I like how in the media he keeps it positive. When the media asked him where the problem spots were and he refused to play that game it's good. If he comes out and says "well our o-line is ****" or "the receivers are terrible" or something like that then all of a sudden you got the media talking about the players who aren't good enough and they hear that. This way the coach doesn't give the media anything to pick on players for before games even start. I have no doubts that if there's guys not playing up to snuff MOS will tell them to pull up their socks in the locker room but the key is that it stays there. That's how a coach earns a teams respect and trust.

I'm chuckling over here. No. He proved that he doesn't have the tools to be a head coach in this league, not even close, but for him to crack that top echelon of Bart Andrus awfulness? No, he just wasn't that interesting. His time as head coach will be a footnote in Bomber history. The truly awful ones get their own chapters. A head coach with zero positive attributes. Yep, Burke is one of the worst ever, the only one in his league in Bomber history is Reinebold, and even though his teams sucked his players would have tried to run through a brick wall if that was the play call, so he had some positive attributes. The only head coach I can remember in my time who was worse than Burke is John Huard. I'd but Burke at par with Andrus, Paopao and the American Greg Marshall as head coaches as the next tier of garbage head coaches after Huard. We'll see if Chris Jones joins that crew. Burke IS the worst. Followed by clueless Joe Zaleski & Reinebold. The Top 3 Worst Bomber Coaches of all time. Jim Daley doesn't get a mention in there? Daley's an Epstein compared to those others. jeeze I'd have a hard time picking between Daley and Reinbold for worst, I might lean towards Daley just because he had a lot of the Burke defeatist in him... plus that whole nonsense about not liking the way the D-coordinator was running the D and thinking he could do it better himself leading to record setting bad defence...

I'm chuckling over here. No. He proved that he doesn't have the tools to be a head coach in this league, not even close, but for him to crack that top echelon of Bart Andrus awfulness? No, he just wasn't that interesting. His time as head coach will be a footnote in Bomber history. The truly awful ones get their own chapters. A head coach with zero positive attributes. Yep, Burke is one of the worst ever, the only one in his league in Bomber history is Reinebold, and even though his teams sucked his players would have tried to run through a brick wall if that was the play call, so he had some positive attributes. The only head coach I can remember in my time who was worse than Burke is John Huard. I'd but Burke at par with Andrus, Paopao and the American Greg Marshall as head coaches as the next tier of garbage head coaches after Huard. We'll see if Chris Jones joins that crew. Burke IS the worst. Followed by clueless Joe Zaleski & Reinebold. The Top 3 Worst Bomber Coaches of all time. Jim Daley doesn't get a mention in there?

you see what I mean about the rider fan base being built on the backs of band wagon jumpers?

Tim "The Bus Driver" Burke why inspire players to play well when you can throw them under the bus and then back it up just to make sure they stay down?

I think I got it exactly at the cap on the first try.... OK so my first try would have had me way way over the cap but hey if it works for the riders why shouldn't I try it?

Vancouver definitely wants Reinhart if they move up. It seems like for some reason his value has fallen off in the eyes of everyone making the rankings but I can't for the life of me figure out why.... puts up good numbers offensively, has decent size at 6'1 180ish pounds and is apparently a very smart player... what's not to like about a prospect like that?

Seems to me the defense is going to be predicated on confusion, trouble with Toronto of course is that Ray is not easily confused. Will need to get to him before he can throw the ball I suspect because chances are there's going to be places for him to place the ball to make plays.

well Tallon did say that he only had one serious offer for the pick, I suspect that a lot of the talk about teams other than Vancouver is simply trying to generate more interest in it.

and that's why all the talk about the Jets making a trade for first overall is ridiculous. Hell the offer Vancouver apparently made is ridiculous and it still wasn't enough for Florida to move the pick.

There is no evidence to support that statement.

You mean I get to tune in to watch Chris Schultz provide valuable and knowledgeable insight into what's going to happen in the CFL this year? "You know Jocko, the team that is going to win the Grey Cup is the team that not only wins the division final, but also wins the Grey Cup game"

No that's only an opinion that you formed quickly and refuse even question again because like I said, you decide things instantly and nothing ever changes.

Did you listen to what Tallon said on TSN last night on their mock draft show? said he wants a good young player who can play and contribute for years to come and a draft pick. Straight from the horses mouth. I get it, you think Kane is the cats ass, he's the Jets best player so I don't blame you, but the Jets don't have a lot of talent, Kane isn't as good as you think. First overalls these days get you better players than Evander Kane, especially when the top of this draft is 3 centres and a defenseman, all of which are valued much more highly than wingers who only score goals.

This is all sorts of stupid. You're putting the entire blame on Burke so you can justify your online fellating of Mack over the past several years. A 3-15 record tells a story of bad coaching and little talent. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. Good coaches make bad players better and good players great. Tim Burke made good players bad and bad players useless.

but again, the criticism Burke takes isn't because the team lost games, it's how they lost games. That is what shows him to be a poor coach more than anything. No one is as hard on Lapo as they are on burke because at least Lapo lost close games most times.

because a truly honest answer would include recognizing his own failings as a coach of which there were many. Again no one is saying Tim Burke is a crappy head coach because the team lost games, we say he is a crappy head coach because of HOW the team lost games. You can compare similar rosters with Lapo and Burke and Lapos teams at least showed some backbone and some fight even if they lost games they were in games, Burkes teams just rolled over and died and that reflects on the head coach.

you are trying to lecture me on believing things just because you believe them? Give me a break. You are the king of making up your mind quickly and never changing it no matter how much evidence presents itself.

ahh yes, leaving out the games played because of the lockout to try and make it seem like Yakupov accomplished less than he did in his rookie season... How do I know he had a down year? His shooting percentage fell off the map, if you watched him play at all you could see he lost his confidence where as in his first year his confidence was growing and he was playing better as the year went on. When you consider that the entire Oilers team had their confidence broken it makes sense right? Again who else are there excuses for? RNH? Well go look at the numbers, Kanes best year is 57 points, RNH has a best year of 56 points playing a much tougher position in a year that was widely regarded as a year he struggled in. Stop over rating Kane compared to #1 picks.