Captain Blue

I used to leave my house at or before 5:30 for 7 pm games. I considered that "normal" considering the increased traffic and where I lived (south end of the city). People that live far away from this stadium will soon get used to their new normal too. And on a side note, if buying tickets comes down to whether it will take 1 - 1.5 hours to get to the stadium I have to question your motives for going to the game at all (I mean this generally, not to you personally).

That seems waaaaaaaaay too extreme. The new stadium is actually closer to my house, close enough that I can ride my bike so this clearly affects me less, but to get to Canad Inns I used to leave about an hour and a half before game time. That left me enough time to find a parking spot, walk to the stadium and still make sure to get the player intros and the rest of the opening ceremonies. People will adjust, including casual fans. How many of us really thought about how long it took us to get to Canad Inns? I just accepted the fact that to get there at my desired time I had to leave 1.5 hours before. Once people find their time, whether its 2 hours, 1 hour or 30 minutes they'll just get used to it. And if anyone doesn't want their season tickets you can just mail a couple my way and I will happily suffer through the traffic for you.

Forget windows, they should just seal it shut with a nice wall.

Bob Irving said Goltz was throwing the ball really well yesterday (said this during the game) but then he had only two throws once I checked the stats...

To be completely honest, I think this whole thing is getting overblown by the media. Now that's not to say yesterday wasn't a HUGE mess - because it clearly was - but they will figure things out and people will adjust. I've heard complaints today from people already pre-complaining for the October games... I think once everyone figures out what works best for them and adjusts their schedule accordingly it'll be fine. At Canad Inns I think we all knew what exact time we had to leave by to get there at whatever time we thought was appropriate, but we only figured out that 'sweet spot' through trial and error.

Brown was just awful last night...criticism is fine, especially when the team was playing badly, but he crossed a line in my opinion. Also it's a preseason game and he was unhappy with all the players moving in and out of the lineup. Truthfully at one point I had to question whether he knew what the point of the preseason is.

Cohon just pronounced the Ottawa name wrong, he forgot to yell it.

CFL.ca should really update their stats faster.

Dickenson's got a little work to do.

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate on this one (a little). Buck Pierce is clearly the best QB on the roster right now, even if I do feel that we should just move on and get it over with. So I understand why Buck is the starter and I'm not going to argue that he shouldn't right now - we are trying to win games and the best chance to do that right now is with Buck Pierce under center However, I don't think Buck has reached an untouchable position. For instance while I think we all make a point about Buck 'just needing to stay healthy,' its not that simple. He's struggled with consistency and even when is healthy and playing well, his top level of play hasn't been that high in recent years. Now we can go and blame LaPolice and whoever else, but I think it's possible (although not likely) that a some point this year the Bombers may have to consider that even a healthy Buck is not the best option. I guess this doesn't have much to do with the preseason game or Twitter but that spurred me on.

It's quiet in here...

Site's slowing down...must be due to traffic (see what I did there?) No laughs? I'll see myself out...

All this talk about Irving, but does anyone else feel that Mitch Zalnasky (can't remember if I spelled that right) is pretty bad? I wish they had a stronger colour commenter.

I thought the same thing when I checked out the tickets last week. I want to be able to see everything, and much prefer the upper level to an endzone seat. You're just screwed half of the time in the endzone.

If you're not a season ticket holder and on a limited income (student or otherwise) why wouldn't you hold out and save up for a regular season game? Maybe if they offered them cheaper than usual more would consider it. Heck the only reason I thought about going was after TSN canned the game. Even still decided against it.

I honestly thought this was an elaborate prank that I had missed out on when I saw the all caps posts. This is a terrible idea. Why would you want to write the name Ottawa REDBLACKS like that? Between this and the French conversation to Rouge et Noir (which as someone pointed out already makes no sense since the team is not the Red and Black) this new team clearly is not a fan of the English language. I thought the name was pretty bad to start with but stuff like this really does make it way too ridiculous.

I'm interested in seeing how this plays out. Burke's harped on discipline and accountability. Hefney's math is starting to work against him: level of play decreased + goofing off + pot charge. I said prior to this coming out that I'd be fine with cutting Hefney and now I'm even more in favour of the move. And again, not just because of the pot charge but I'm sure the media will make that a nice talking point.

Very nice touch!

I was expecting to see more from Etienne. There is no doubt that he has improved, but he's probably equivalent to Rory Kohlert now.

I miss being able to go on to the field after practice, a few guys were nice enough to shake hands near the stands. My little cousin was happy to high five Mainor.

As much as it kills me to say, Cameron really does look like the worst punter out there.

They are going hard on special teams again today. Clement with a throw knocked down in the scrimmage but it's hard to separate the QBs until they start throwing a little more.

McGee worked as the first team WIL right now as they go up against the offence.

78 Hutchison and 79 Pav-whatever have looked great in the early punting so far. Hutchison in particular, his kicks just boom off the foot and great height and distance. Cameron's had a rougher day so far.

Went to the afternoon one as well and agree with a lot of your comments. Tons of special teams stuff today. No wonder ours sucked so bad last year, I think I've seen them practice this more than I ever recall. Pierce looked like the best QB today and it wasn't even close. He hit his WRs most consistently in the one on ones. The rest were not very good today in my opinion - though Clement did have the one no-huddle drive. We really need to get people healthy ASAP. A lot of starters hurt right now. Defensively I thought the whole unit(s) flew around today really well. Is there practice tomorrow? Bomber site has nothing - usually it says "no practice" at least.