Atomic

Etcheverry's first comments since being hired. Interesting gentleman... http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/new-defensive-guru-looks-only-at-future-255124031.html BRADENTON, Fla. -- If you were thinking getting fired from his last job after just five games had humbled Gary Etcheverry, well, think again. The new defensive co-ordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was defiant here Sunday when asked about his brief -- and winless -- stint in 2012 as head coach of the University of Ottawa Gee Gees football team. Asked how the Ottawa experience -- in which he was abruptly fired after opening the 2012 season at 0-5 -- had changed him as a coach, Etcheverry invoked the memory of one of the world's most famous firings. "Kind of the way maybe getting fired by the company he founded changed Steve Jobs 11 years later when he went back to save Apple," Etcheverry said Sunday on Day 1 of the Bombers' first-ever spring mini-camp in Florida. "They weren't ready for me, and I wasn't ready for them." Well then. It was one of just two Apple references Etcheverry invoked Sunday in what were his first public comments to the Winnipeg media since he was hired as the Bombers' new DC in February. "People always talk about a playbook. We don't have a playbook," Etcheverry said in reference to his unique -- and famously confusing -- defence. "Well, when you used to have a VCR you had a playbook like this," Etcheverry continued, holding his hands several inches apart, "and you still couldn't set the damn clock. And nowadays if you have an Apple product, what's the playbook? What's the user manual? "But they say we're behind the times because we don't have a playbook? S , we're so far behind the times we're ahead of the times." Confidence What emerged here Sunday is that the Bombers have secured for themselves a new defensive co-ordinator who, if nothing else, is certainly not lacking in confidence. But then why would he be? Now in his 35th year in coaching, the 57-year-old Etcheverry has coached everywhere from college to Europe to the NFL to 10 years in the CFL, which included a brief stint as head coach of the Toronto Argonauts in 2002. A Grey Cup winner in 1997 with the Argos and more recently the architect of stingy defences in Saskatchewan from 2008-10, Etcheverry is considered a master of a defence that can best be described as organized chaos, with defenders expected to play all over the field and in strangely named positions such as rover. "I believe he's thought more about football than a lot of people and he's thought about it in a lot of different ways," says Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea, who played under Etcheverry in Toronto. "He's very thorough in his thought process on how defensive football should be played and how offensive football should be played." The admiration is mutual. "I've told people that there's nobody that I've worked with at any point in time that I've had more respect for," Etcheverry said of O'Shea. "It's very exciting. Certainly he's elated and I am for him. Our job now is to get us to where we need to be." So how will he do that? With fleet and finely tuned athletes, instead of the physical behemoths so commonly associated with CFL defences, Etcheverry says. "We do a lot of things that require interchangeability among our players, so we can't have a bunch of 300-pounders out there, because they can't run on this big-ass field... "We cause confusion, there's no question about it," Etcheverry continued. "We want to be multiple, and to be multiple you gotta have interchangeable athletes... Multiple everything. Multiple alignments, multiple movements, multiple coverages, multiple, multiple, multiple... "If we're gonna err, we're gonna err on the side of speed."

Rick Zamperin ‏@rickzamperin 2m BREAKING: Former #Ticats centre @marwanhage will announce his retirement from the #CFL Monday. #REDBLACKS #HamOnt Not totally unexpected. Ottawa kinda took a risk on this one.

Who? Quentin Saulsberry? There not much. But he is #55 in this video: http://www.patriots.com/media-center/videos/2012-Draft-Prospects---Quentin-Saulsberry-C/70478f85-2110-4d6c-8dc4-e21621c735ac

McRath, Maurice Leggett, Leon Williams, and Mario Urrutia are all interesting prospects. Certainly whoever wins the starting MLB job will have a great chance at making an impact.

Rule 3 from the Lefty handbook: When someone says something you don't have a response for, act offended and cry 'Politically Incorrect'! Too funny!

Thanks for the clarification guys.

You can't play AHL the year of your draft. It's either NHL or back to junior. I don't believe that's true? JC Lipon and Brenden Kichton were both drafted this year and played in St. John's....

No, you come on. This time, he relates just the story. That shows me you didn't read the article I'm talking about. Here: .http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/Melting-snow-damages-new-stadium-254417861.html Far different take than Friesen. My mistake, I actually was looking at the wrong article.

Oh come on. Kives does the exact same thing Friesen does, but because he is not a sports reporter his target is the City of Winnipeg... not the Bombers.

Alright then. Bogo and Pav for Eberle and a draft pick. Yes, that will be fine.

There is no chance we could get Hall for that price. He's one of the best offensive players in the league. Those type of guys don't get traded for 2nd pairing dmen & subpar goalies. Yeah but Edmonton's management is confused and desperate. We should be able to take advantage in some way.

I wonder if we could move Bogo and Pav to Edmonton for a stud forward like Taylor Hall. Though I'm not sure who would take a chance on Bogo with him going through rehab yet again.

He has been pretty damn impressive. But we just don't know.... I mean, the guy was in the ECHL for a reason, right? Keep him in the organization, but don't make any plans around him being part of the Jets equation next season.

And now Billy Gunn is back in the WWE. The circle of life.

Experienced bonafide starting non-import offensive linemen aren't just floating around out there. There certainly weren't any in free agency and you don't see teams trading their starting Canadian OL very often... or ever.

The NDP puts money directly in a lot of people's pockets. That's why they are in power and that's why they will stay in power.

Sorry guys but the NDP is not going anywhere any time soon.

From everything Walters has said, I really believe it will be Lavertu or Foucault. Whichever one Ottawa doesn't take. I don't think anyone else is even in the conversation.

That's all I can say about Evan Gill. If Ottawa takes Lavertu, and they are really sour on Goossen, maybe take Gill or trade down for a later first and a second if anyone is interested? I really don't see Foucault fitting our needs for 2nd overall either. He's a pipeline pick, and we already have some guys in the pipeline. Coombs is one hell of a gamble for a team like the Bombers to take IMO. Gill was a man amongst boys. But Coombs got you out of your seat... he was electric. Truth be told I'd be happy with Gill or Coombs if we can't get Lavertu.

All I can say about Anthony Coombs is that he was the best football player on the field at every Bison game I went to this year. He won't disappoint whichever team gets him. It would be a shame to pass up on him just to take another OL that won't see the field for a year or two.

This happens every year you know that right? They have about 70 or 75 players at the start of training camp but rosters are only forty some players. You basically sign a 2nd team in the offseason then cut most of them before training camp is done. I know it's "supposed" to happen every year but I haven't seen this many training camp signings in a loooooong time. I can recall maybe half as many players signed last year and there is still almost two months till camp. It's just nice to see a change. They've gone in with full training camp rosters every year, just because you are choosing not to remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen. They did have the same number of players in the past... but there is a lot more turnover this off-season. Last off-season, we finished the season with so many guys on the injured lists that we almost had a full training camp roster already. Couple that with the fact that we re-signed almost all our practice roster players, and by the time the CFL draft rolled around, there were still only 15-20 new faces on the roster... compared to the 35+ that we already have this year, with the expectation of still signing a few more before the draft.

I find Paul Friesen as repulsive as the rest of you but I don't think you can pin this one on him. He's just doing his job. All the media outlets are talking about it. I just heard on the radio on my way home "And on CTV News, learn about the damage at IGF and how much the Bombers' stadium is costing YOU!!!"

If only the stadium architect had the same attitude! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Ultimate Warrior's speech on Monday Night RAW two days ago: "No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats its final beat, his lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others, and makes them bleed deeper, than something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. "You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. "In the back I see many potential legends, some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they live with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever." RIP!!

Paul Friesen ‏@friesensunmedia 53m Breaking News: Stadium flooding exposes more design flaws at IGF. Around one-third of suites are flooded, source says. #Bombers Paul Friesen ‏@friesensunmedia 51m Source says water from melting snow on roof flowing up against suite doors and through celings at IGF. #Bombers Paul Friesen ‏@friesensunmedia 49m Source says repairs will be in the "hundreds of thousands." #Bombers CEO W. Miller downplays flooding as "a little water from spring thaw." Paul Friesen ‏@friesensunmedia 49m #Bombers CEO W Miller says builder or designer, not team, will be on the hook for repairs or redesign. Darrin Bauming ‏@DarrinBauming 47m I have a friend in construction who told me last year more problems may arise at Investors Group Field come its first spring. Sure enough. Paul Friesen ‏@friesensunmedia 47m #Bombers CEO Wade Miller refused Sun's request to have access to stadium and see damage, first-hand. "You're not getting in there."