CodyT

Training camp 1972. St.John's Ravenscourt Boys School. Beautiful campus by the river in Fort Garry. Huge Elm trees so lots of shade to watch the Bombers at training camp. Camp started June 15th. Biked from my house about 5 miles from my place in Riverview almost everyday. Except when I had to write my grade 9 finals. I remember the huge banner HC  Jim Spavital put up that said "Toronto 72" on it. Spavital loved his hitting & 2 a days were brutal. In full pads the entire time. In those days training camp was longer. The exhibition season was 4 games. So, the players were hitting from the first TC practice right thru until the first exhibition game which wasn't for 2-3 weeks. Spavital loved to yell. He was on a metal tower where he could watch the entire practice. Training camps then were nothing like today. It was hit! Hit! Hit!! I saw or met qbs Don Jonas & Ron Johnson. Mack Herron was coming off his rookie all star season. The Bombers were a powerhouse offensively. They had a dominant rusher in Herron, a Schenley Award winning qb in Jonas, a tough offensive line anchored by Bill Frank & Bob Lueck, as well as a bunch of receivers in Bob LaRose, Jim Thorpe, Paul Markle & Bobby Kraemer who could catch. Defensively guys like Joe Critchlow, Jim Sullivan Rob McLaren & Mickey Doyle were studs with our secondary of Paul Brule, Tom Oberg, Grady Cavness, Peter Ribbins & Gene Lakusiak perhaps the strength of that team. the Bombers were loaded & the class of the CFL in 1972. Should have won the Grey Cup that year.

Dwayne Slay - the reason I put zero weight on a player's youtube videos and press clippings.
Unless it's Trent Corney jumping backwards out of a pool.

I can't recall the exact year, I want to say around 2004-2006. We had this middle linebacker Tony Ortiz that everyone on the boards loved but he couldn't stay healthy. I want to say he even joined OB and would make a post every so often. Personally I never understood the hype, but regardless it's a name I remember given the circumstances.
 
I also recall a receiver, Abe Morlu. Ran something like 4.25 in the 40 which had everyone in awe but what came apparent super quick was that he couldn't run a route to safe his life in training camp.
2009, a QB with a cannon arm Darrell Hackney had everyone's attention but never made it out of camp. Damn he could sling it.

I remember Charlie Roberts was all offended when we brought in Onterrio Smith. Thought it was disrespectful when we brought in competition for him.
I really liked Henri Childs when he was here though.

People who aren't Die Hard fans can suck it.  Bruce Willis rules.
 
#hudsonhawkforever

He is a kicker he can kick at very high level for another 10 years.

Morley Scott @Morley_Scott That was a first and kind of weird. -- I was the only media person doing interviews today at Eskimos training camp. #exclusive
 
Pretty sad, the media lobbied to get rid of Hervey, now that they have access they don't care enough to show up.

There really aren't many fans other than the Bombers and the Riders, LOL.  Look at our site, 99% of the fans are either Rider fans or Bomber fans

I've been around for 6 of them myself.  But having said that, I'm sure that the Riders are proud of the fact that they're now tied with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues with four cup wins and are ninth overall in Grey Cup victories for CFL teams!  Attaboy Regina!

A small glimpse of hope...? 11-7 is a "mediocre" record...? Who here has said the Bombers are the best team in the west?
The reality is the same for pretty much every team in the CFL: lose your starting QB and your chances of being successful decrease dramatically. I'll refrain from taking childish digs at your precious team, because then I'd be no better than you.
You keep using your training camp to justify your homer bias. To suggest the Riders are better than last season despite having not even played a single game yet is hilarious. And then you follow it up by saying Glenn looks better than Durant. Comical.
FTR: the Riders were the worst team in the CFL last year. And the year before. There is no debate on that.

I agree with you completely Ripper.   There is no doubt that the Riders will win 8 games.  The only question will be how many seasons it takes.

Been under a rock the last week, have ya...? 

Hence the analytical, logical, measured, gin infused posts...?

Hence the analytical, logical, measured, gin infused posts...?

Just got back from camp. Trying to go in order here but I might be all over the place
QBs - Nichols looked as expected, best of the bunch. DLF looked the worst, tons of wobble in his throw and he doesn't sell the decision to run very well. Dom Davis telegraphed a few throws but made some nice plays as well. Apodaca stands out in the sense that he doesn't look like a rookie and he's got by far the best arm. 
RBs - tough to see much at field level but Flanders had a couple of nice one handed grabs out of the backfield
RECs - interesting bunch. Dressler is what you'd expect, Adams took half of practice off, Stafford is up and down. Of the new guys, the ones that stood out were Lowder, Peterson and the new guy Liggins especially. Liggins runs so smooth and his hands looked super soft ... didn't see a whole lot out of him in volume but when he did make a play, he looked good doing it. JFG also looked real good throughout practice.
OL - I didn't watch much
DL - standouts other than what we'd expect were Jeffcoat and Johnson, to me. Scott wasn't practicing.
LB - Hurl looked bad. Missed an assignment big time on a play Roberson broke for big yards. Stone looks active, Knox looks kind of lost in the shuffle. I also like the looks of Santos-Knox, he flies around and is always mixing it up. 
DB - lots of back and forth with the receivers. Heath is a real leader vocally. Carmichael looks like he really understands the game. Derek Jones very versatile.
trying to think of more ...

I'm not backing anyone. I liked the Gray pick and understand the reasons behind it. However, that does not make it any less of a risk. Trying to portray it as a pick that has no potential to be a blown pick is just plain false. Walters rolled the dice that Gray will be back...hopefully he is...but if he never comes back then he blew a first round pick.
At this point and time, Gray is a first round pick of ours that we do not have under contract. Simple as that. The reasons are irrelevant because the cost was the same. Would any BC Lion fans say that Danny Watkins was not a wasted first round pick? I doubt it.

LOL after all that talk at RF about how we overpaid Ekakitie, they gave Judge $1500 less in guaranteed money this season.

There were a lot of other problems in 2012.  Lapo lost control of the offence to Crowton.  Both our starting tackles got injured and the "depth" behind them was terrible.  We had multiple injuries in the secondary which in addition to cutting Clint Kent really brought us down.  Joe Lobendahn was released after being a key part of the 7-1 run in 2011.  Buck got injured and our backups couldn't cut it.  Just a disaster all around.  I don't see the same lack of player depth and turmoil in the coaching staff this year.

That's how it works, right? If you sign a guy and he underperforms, the next guy you sign for the same amount of money is also going to underperform. It's apples to apples, really. Science. Prove me wrong.

I dunno guys...some pretty "knowledgeable" posters on here said our DL is essentially the same as last year. Just swapped out expensive FAs for other expensive FAs...................................

My father would take me to the Bomber games, in the 60's and by example .....tried to foster an analytical, logical, measured, and even keeled approach.    Took the kid a long time to actually get it, though

Great to hear that someone would bring their knitting to practice.  Great CFL story.
That was my first thought.  My second thought was how could she possibly get knitting needles into a public event.  Sad that we even have to think that way.

THIS is the kind of hard hitting journalism I come here for.
 
But honestly, from a guy who can never make it out to a practice I do appreciate all of the updates!

Watched approx 45 min of camp this morning:
A lady had her kid on a leash watching practice.
Langkford nearly broke Johnson's ankles in a one on one, then dropped the pass. Johnson picked the ball up and flipped it to Langkford,  who dropped it again. Ugly sequence for both guys...
In goal line 12 on 12, Nevis nearly took the handoff he beat his guy so badly. In one one ones, I only saw an OL beat him once, and it was Intzandt. 
Ekakite looked better than Butcher today imo. Based on his size, it seems like he should have a better bullrush than he does. Weird to say of a 300 pound man, but Ekakite looks small.  It's bc he's shortest guy in his group. Thomas looked great. Put two different ol on their backs.
Hardrick is crazy. He'd sprint to the back of the endzone after each rep. He won most of the reps I saw.
I've been to two practices and thought Bostic looked good both times. Winning most of his 1 on 1s. He and Green have both looked better than Jeffcoat in the reps I've watched. Jeffcoat got handled pretty easily in each rep I saw today. Pretty small sample though.
I'm not the biggest Kenny Stafford fan, but he's looked good each time I've watched him.
I'l post more if I think of anything else.
 

15-2-1 & they don't choke in the Grey Cup.