Noeller

So this would be the final weekend of the CFL regular season. Next week would be the Semis, and of course Finals and then Grey Cup in the 3rd week of November. I've decided that I'm going to attempt some sort of Re-Watch Party on those days, exactly when the games would be happening. I have the edited re-broadcasts of each game on my PVR (I didn't tape the games at the time, for fear of jinxing us...) but was fortunate enough to have come into bluray copies of each game, with the complete broadcast on it. So, my November weekends are all set. I wish there was some way we could all participate in this, virtually, and do a MBB Chat throughout each game. I'm really missing the camaraderie each week and having upcoming games to talk about. Just absolutely heart breaking right now. We've got a relatively small "bubble" of friends (less than 10) that we see outside of work, so that'll have to do for now, but man..... I really miss the real thing.

Good....reading about the **** that kid did. Just gross. No place for him. I can't remember which team it was....but apparently had "DND - Under Any Circumstances" next to his name on their draft list.

Her "When Life Is Good Again" is the best pandemic-themed piece of art I've heard/seen this year......absolutely fantastic.

I've been mentally preparing myself for the loss of Willie and Dolly for some time now. Willie's been in poor health, off and on, for awhile. Gave up the weed 'cause his lungs were taking a beating. Not sure how much longer he's got. Dolly seems ageless, but time makes fools of us all...

I'm 100% behind this. Shut down all non-essential businesses, but help them to stay afloat until things have calmed down.

92% ICU capacity.... that sound you hear is alarm bells ringing LOUDLY...

further, I came across this online and thought it was a good reminder.......

That seems to run completely counter to what all the health officials are saying. There's lots we can do...like pulling our heads out of our asses and stop gathering in groups. Stop going out if you're even a LITTLE bit sick. Stay home as much as you possibly can. I don't think this is something that is just going to start getting better again with people doing nothing. The only way it's going to get better is if we all start doing the right thing and actually PREVENT it from spreading.

this is a great quote. Trump normalized being a horrible person. All these people came crawling out of their caves because Trump made it okay to be evil. I read a quote recently that said America needs to not only vote in Joe Biden, but do so in such staggering numbers that it sends a message to all these awful people to go back into hiding and never come out again.

I think I've watched every win from last year at least a half dozen times so far. I'm glad I have them on the PVR, but at the same time it's really depressing. I love CFL football so much more than any other sport...

Sounded like there were various offers over the last few years, but Braley didn't think he was getting a fair deal, so he wouldn't let go. I'm not sure what the new owners will be like, but I'd bet we see a new, local owner in BC pretty quickly.

Apparently one of his last wishes, after he realized he was dying, was to make sure there was a smooth transition of ownership of the Lions. I think it was Lalacheur or someone that said it. Said they'll be working with the estate to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

Heartbreaking.... The guy was a straight up legend.

I read a thing today (Naylor, maybe?) where, apparently, the Lions were about to fold, and CBC (the CFLs only broadcaster) was apparently going to stop broadcasting if there was no team in BC, so someone from the government went to Braley and told him about it, and that's how he jumped in to help them out the first time....

3 teams...bailed out the TiCats after Ballard died, as well. The man was a known ******* within the BOG, but there's no question he absolutely LOVED the CFL...

discussion ongoing in the CFL Forum (...we need all the content we can get over there..)

No idea where to put this, but incredibly sad news out of the CFL, as David Braley has passed away. The man (and his $$$) saved the CFL multiple times over.

https://www.tsn.ca/naylor-many-questions-but-few-answers-on-a-2021-cfl-season-1.1543725 The Canadian Football League has been outrageously quiet since it pulled the plug on its season more than two months ago, leaving behind a wake of speculation about where things are headed next. With the reality setting in that COVID-19 is likely to still be around in some form next summer, there is real concern about what the 2021 season might look like or if it will occur at all. There are teams that believe it is vitally important to play in 2021 and that without a season the CFL is in danger of being mothballed. Whether every team believes that is another question. And there is a lot to sort out before anyone can accurately predict what a season might look like and how much pain the teams are collectively willing to stomach to make it happen. The league and its franchises are currently running through various scenarios for next season, trying to get a handle on true costs of each and working at ways to trim budgets and save money. That’s likely to continue until the league can truly choose a course of action, which feels like next April at the earliest. Why? Well, there’s not much point in fully committing to a scenario that’s seven months away if that scenario might be totally unrealistic by the time you get there. There has been no 2021 business plan presented yet, only regular updates to the presidents and governors about what the league is doing to prepare for the unknown. It should be noted that teams will need to make decisions about retaining assistant coaches with expiring contracts by December, which will be the first real economic commitments to a 2021 season. Restrictions on signing players will need to be lifted well before the opening of February free agency, where players are likely to meet a cautious market – one in which signing bonuses will probably be absent. There’s a collective bargaining agreement to amend, if not renegotiate, with the players, which will require some kind of pressure point because it always does. But the league can’t sit down with the players until it gets a true handle on revenues and it can’t do that until it chooses a course of action. Will CFL teams be allowed to have full stadiums next summer? It doesn't seem likely. But just what percentage of capacity will be allowed – if any at all – is impossible to guess. It seems as if the league is counting on the restrictions that currently prevent fans from being in stadiums being lifted. But to what degree? When will we see a schedule? Good question. Or could we see multiple schedules for different scenarios? Never say never. Could it be a 21-week, 18-game season played in home stadiums? Unlikely, given the losses teams are expected to take with reduced numbers of fans in the stands. Could we see a return to the 10-week bubble? Maybe. A nine-game schedule played in home stadiums before fans? Perhaps. The point is no one knows, so demanding answers to questions that can’t possibly be answered right now is a waste of time. All we know is that there’s going to be a lot less revenue for teams to operate with under any scenario, not just because of crowd restrictions but also due to older fans choosing to stay home for their safety. The CFL’s fan demographics do it no favours in this regard. Getting consensus on a best course of action won’t be easy for the CFL’s nine teams. Back in the summer, there were teams that were willing to play without government support and teams that weren’t. And just like then, the biggest challenge commissioner Randy Ambrosie faces now is finding a scenario they can all live with. Adopting a revenue-sharing model so that each team absorbs the same amount of red ink would certainly make consensus-building easier, which many believe should be the direction for the future, COVID-19 or not. The other elephant in the room is federal government, which many in the CFL believe left it high and dry last summer after months of back-and-forth talks where the league believed it was making progress. Is the CFL prepared to go down that road again, knowing it doesn’t control the timeline and larger forces can change things in an instant? Perhaps, although it’s not as though the feds don’t have a long list of people coming at them with their hands out. There will be voices demanding the owners suck up the losses of playing a season under any circumstance, as owners have done in other sports. But the business calculation in sports such as MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA is different because of the percentage of revenues those leagues derive from television. Losses sustained by playing in those leagues can also be viewed as investments towards protecting massive franchise values. That’s not the case in the CFL, where teams can’t just float money on the backs of their franchise values, and where one third of the teams are publicly owned. It would be beneficial for the league to soon announce its formal commitment to play some kind of season in 2021. But beyond that, get ready for months more of waiting with lots of questions and speculation but very few answers.

I'm in favour of then wanting to preserve the theatre experience but if it's gonna have to be delayed another year or more because we can't get into theatres safely, what can you do? They want a small fortune, but I'm sure someone will pay it...

The only comparable is the CPL, and even then, I'd bet CFL had way more players in the States that they needed to get across the border. At the end of the day, the CFL just doesn't have enough money and their business model, flawed as it is, won't work with no fans in the stands. I'm really disappointed that they couldn't figure something out from March to July, but I hold out hope that they'll get something figured for 2021. If not....there could be big problems.

I've said from the start I'm so glad we had a progressive (rather than conservative) government in power when a pandemic hit. I'm on the fence about JPT but this government has handled the pandemic as well as possible.

Our man Tait is going to have a series of great articles surrounding the "Run To The Cup" last year........ https://www.bluebombers.com/2020/10/22/10-plays-made-champion-1-hint-magic/?fbclid=IwAR3aIbjOWxISUTUSR_VjKguxVxmGs-w7poqRZE1319lEH9UNWM4xnJrLcSs

Seth M and DRM.... I am a fan of all these things. Very intriguing.....

It's not even McDavid that the Jets really need (Okay, every team needs him, but still...) it's a high end D. If you're going to shoot for the moon, the guy you want is Ivan Provorov. The Flyers will never part with him, but THAT'S the guy you want....