Noeller

middle of last week...where the hell were you?

Oilers would deal the 1st for a stud D, I think.....but I'm not sure that deal is out there, even in June/July. And any deal for RNH/Hall/Ebs, happens in the summer...not today.

I like Yak rumoured to be leaving Edm, don't like him going to another one of my teams. Can't we ship him to Washington, Montreal, New York or some other team that's really easy to hate?

http://www.bluebombers.com/2016/02/27/blog-patience-is-a-virtue/ Patience is a tough thing to ask of fans that have been longing for a winner for decades. I get it. We get it. Will 2016 be the year our fortunes turn around? I can’t promise you anything, but I can promise you that this franchise is in the right hands and is headed in the right direction. But of course I’m going to say that, right? After all, the team signs my paycheques. They do, but they don’t pay me to spread lies, and I certainly wouldn’t write it if I didn’t believe it. Heck, I wouldn’t have written the above preluding many of the seasons I’ve been here. But something you develop over a long period of countless hours in the sports business, is a strong sense for what feels right or wrong heading into a new season; knowing when things are actually on the right track, or when they aren’t. It’s often people like myself, or Al Couture (Head Therapist), or Brad Fotty (Equipment Manager), who aren’t at the forefront of decision-making but toil behind the scenes and see everything, that know the real state of affairs. CEO Wade Miller? Yes, he’s my boss, but he gets it. He’s implemented things here that fans don’t see but that matter in the long run both on and off the field. He knows it’s the small things that go a long way, like calling a veteran free agent after he’s signed with the team to congratulate him and send his son a Bomber jersey. The player in question told me, “in all my years being in the league, that’s never happened.” Do the small things win you games? Directly, no. Indirectly, yes. They win respect. To Wade, these small gestures are simply second-nature, but that’s another topic. GM Kyle Walters? He knew the state of the roster he took over, specifically the position we were in regarding our Canadian depth and lack of a long-term quarterback. We spend nearly every day talking football, talking about our team, and exhausting every option to improve the roster. He knew from the get-go how he wanted to build his team, but he also knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. I go back to what he told the Winnipeg Free Press in July 2014, after a strong 3-0 start: “You have to count on the draft and overspend in free agency to get better Canadians. You can’t do it in July.” In other words, this takes years to build, not one month and three wins. Not even two years and 12 wins. Finally, this season we are starting to see that development come to fruition. Sukh Chungh (2nd overall, 2015) will return in 2016 after starting every game for us last season at guard. To put that in perspective, and to highlight just how challenging that is to accomplish as a rookie offensive lineman, Sukh is one of only five lineman drafted in the past three years to start ten or more games in a season. Over one spot, Matthias Goossen (2ndoverall, 2014) will take over at centre after being drafted as a 21-year-old. Matthias is one of only three lineman drafted in 2014 who made a start (six total) in 2015. Meanwhile, Derek Jones had a career-high 15 special teams tackles (fourth round, 2014). An example of a what good drafting can do to help your club in time. Head Coach Mike O’Shea? I’ve made my point on Mike in previous blogs. He is the best Head Coach I’ve ever worked with, without question. I thought Pinball Clemons put it very well in the Argos’ video tribute last season: “He made me better as an opponent. He made me better as a teammate. And he made me better as a person. One of my favourite people on the planet, without question.” The guy has passion for the game and our league like nobody I’ve ever known. His compete level, desire to win, and love for the sport is apparent within minutes of meeting him. For example; Friday, August 14, 2015 – our first game following some major injuries to Drew Willy, Darvin Adams and Paris Cotton. Mike walked into the locker room five minutes before team introductions. He called everyone together, and with the fallen guys standing in the circle, addressed each one of their replacements. And with his eyes starting to well-up he said; “this is why, before I had a *** Swiss ball (he sits on a Swiss ball in his office instead of a chair) and a computer, and I had one of those (points to a locker) and a roll of tape, these were my favourite games. It’s your *** chance to honour your teammates. You get to look around and do it for those guys (pointing to Paris, Drew, and Darvin),” his voice now shaky. “These are the best games to play for.” I could write for days of examples like this one, and I will in time, but all this to say that our football team is in great hands with Mike O’Shea as our Head Coach, and I’m excited to see what 2016 brings for him. He deserves the success that will come. With injuries and roster turnover to get the team where it needs to be, the club had 80 different players take the field for at least one game last season, the third-highest total in CFL history. “We knew all along that this was going to take time,” Kyle told me recently when I broached the topic. “Of course the Canadian depth end of things was without question going to take time, but developing the respect to garner interest from players and developing our way of doing things here was going to take time. I think we have finally turned that corner.” It’s true. During free agency in 2014, we sent out offer after offer, only to, for the most part, get a ‘thank you, but no thank you’ reply back. Last season was a bit better. And this season our offers, which were really no different than any other club’s financially, were accepted. One after the other, everything fell into place. Everyone talks about how we were so aggressive in 2016, but the reality is that the past few years have been quite similar in our approach, the only difference is that now players want to play here. With February just about behind us, we look ahead to the Combine, and then mini-camp in April. This year, we won’t be hosting it in Florida but rather here in Winnipeg, so we encourage fans to attend. We’ll get more information out in the coming weeks.

Those guys are "Addition By Subtraction".........

Ryan Rishaug apparently reporting that deals in the works for Oilers to ship Teddy Purcell to LA and Justin Schultz to Pittsburgh....

Hoping he can get back to 100%. If he can, he's one of the best in the CFL, period...

Good deal for both sides. I'm a Hawks fan too, so I'm stoked to see Ladder with Toews on the top line. He's gonna be HUGE for them with no letter, no responsibility, and just getting his game back now after the surgery. He'll be rejuvenated by the winning culture.

Would love for this to be all for naught, and have Ladd sign a last minute deal. Apparently, tho, Darren Dreger is saying he IS scratched tonight......

I always find it interesting to see/hear that the organization is held in such high regard by players both current and former. It can't possibly be true because so many people on here told me this organization is a parriah, and nobody wants to be anywhere near it.

I'm getting a chuckle out of Dayn being the head of operations behind this whole project. I was doing colour for the Winkler Flyers broadcasts back when Dayn was playing and that kid was.....off. All goalies are a little different, to be sure, but that kid.....he was nuttier than most. Very curious how that whole distillery thing goes for them....best of luck, anyhow.

Not as big as you think. Hall, RNH, Eberle, McDavid, Drai, Klefbom, Nurse, Davidson.....all safe. Guys like Schultz, Yak, Purcell....likely a couple others.....on the way out, for sure. Schultz on the market for the last 6 months and nobody wants him. His stock has crashed THAT hard...

I don't remember seeing one when we were around during GC. Either way, this is supposed to be a gigantic 55k-sq ft LC Superstore. They'll have a lotta cool stuff in there, I'm sure, like a massive growler bar. It'll be neat for sure.

Outstanding...this is gonna be such a cool project when it's all done.

Sorry, you're welcome to Yak or Schultz, but not the top guys. But I'm a Jets fan too, so I don't want those guys in the 204. Send em to Florida or Columbus or something.

You want to surround your great prospects with the right kind of vets who can teach them properly. That's what Ladd can do. I'm not sure how much longer he should be wearing the C and playing big minutes but I like him as a L2/L3 W for another 5 years if we can pay him as such.

It will absolutely be the Jets 1.0 logo....they're not stupid.

I'd mentioned this earlier in the thread, but I actually liked these Gold's.....soooooo much better than the brown things they're calling gold now.

Raps and Leafs are pretty much able to do what they want, but until last year at the deadline, the Jays never had much of a budget. I'm not sure what the logic is, but Rogers doesn't see fit to pump money into the Jays organization, which is a real shame for the fans.

and they don't spend **** on the Jays, normally. Last year they had a bit of budget, but the Jays don't get much from Rogers.

I totally understand how good the guy is, but I've never been a fan of his attitude...just not my kinda athlete. I'd trade him in a heartbeat...

BOmbers officially announce Avon Cobourne as RBs coach....

I would think that if a team takes him on for playoffs, how he performs in the playoffs would go a long way to deciding if they want/can keep him...

I was gonna say, somehow mentioning that Iso complains about everything got me lumped in with Spuds......of all the things...

The girlfriend and I were talking about the food at CB and can't understand why people would think the food was so great. Even by pub-grub standards, it's "standard" at best...or the Red Deer one is, at least, and I assume they're all identical with the same re-heated food.