GCn20

I've been out of the loop on video games since the PS3 really. I own all the consoles since but did very little gaming due to time constraints. I have invested in a decent gaming computer and bought a loaded hdd with Batocera and games so I can catch up on some titles and do some other retro gaming that isn't as time consuming. It took some setting up but I sure love the Batocera front end and ease of use. Having 60000 games at my disposal is fantastic. Now to find the time.....

An interesting read: https://warontherocks.com/2022/03/putin-loses-no-matter-how-this-plays-out-but-we-might-too/

Unfortunately what you are describing is a war crime under the Geneva convention now. You cannot line up people against a wall and shoot them and the world cannot pretend it doesn't know and turn it's back anymore. Life is different than in 1945, the Geneva convention outlawed all the things you are describing as war crimes and life has changed since 1991 because it is near impossible to not have that kind of information leaked and broadcast to the whole world within minutes of it occurring. The world could pretend it didn't know about such atrocities and people couldn't provide proof it was happening. Now these things occur but are broadcast in real time by anyone with an internet connection and a flip phone. Bottom line this is 2022, what was done in the past is no longer relevant. The world has changed. So long as Russia is occupying a sovereign nation with no pretext for doing so they will be sanctioned. The longer the sanctions go the more it weakens Putin's grip on power. Eventually. either his own people remove him or he can no longer fund his war machine and the rest of the world steps in and gives him his day at the end of the rope in The Hague. His only path to victory was a combination of Ukraine not putting up any resistance, and the West sitting idly by. He grieviously miscalculated on both fronts.

No. I see that as a lost battle, but certainly not the war. What is different about your scenario than what has been in place since 2014. Putin cannot win this war because the international community will never recognize his borders or sovereignty over the region. They are occupiers of Ukrainian territory and nothing more in the eyes of the world. Secondly, the need for Russia to leave massive amounts of troops in place is not f'ing off home. It is occupation...nothing more and that is not a won war.

Different now. You can't control things without at least some level of compliance from the people you are trying to control. Ukraine and it's army will not ever follow the direction of Putin or any of his puppets. In order for Putin or his puppet to have control it will take military occupation by Russia to gain compliance of the people. Russia's economy cannot survive it.

How do you suggest that there is no forseeable win condition for them? The longer this war goes the more likely they win and keep their independance. One country does not have to outgun another to win a war. Ukraine is winning this war right now and will continue to do so. The only way they lose is if they surrender.

Pretty much. The tour bus is what I went on. Got to Regina to find out that my hotel room included a stranger as a room mate for the weekend. Went downstairs to the hotel lobby to see if they had any rooms available by cancellation and was told that the tour bus operator had first dibs on any cancellations as he had overbooked his bus tour. I ended up finding a room at a fleabag hotel, it was old but clean and private, as I did not want to be sleeping with a stranger in the next bed. That was just a start to the nightmare though, throughout the weekend I had a terrible time accessing taxis, or even getting a bite to eat without long lineups. I have been to many LDCs prior, and since, and never experienced anything like that in Regina. They can handle a football game, but they sure as heck can't handle the Grey Cup. It's beyond their scope.

Yep. That is not a possibility anymore. Zelenskyy is insanely popular in Ukraine. They topple him and the Ukrainians will fight to the death, if they don`t the Ukrainians will fight to the death. Putin cannot win this war over the long term. He can occupy Ukraine but he will have to do so forever. Right now, I would think Putin is considering what he needs to do to save face and get the hell out of there. Ukraine would be wise to take that approach in peace talks today, I think the Yanukovych train is dead at the station now no matter what. No way the Ukrainian people support him in any way, they know he is Putin`s puppet.

Ukraine is not going to surrender. I would think that much is clear by now. Russia likely takes military control of Ukraine at some point but there is zero chance of surrender and that is the biggest problem for Putin in all of this. He thought they would surrender and he was wrong. This is either a long term military occupation with severe consequences for Putin and Russia, or he saves face and leaves with some minor concessions from Ukraine. There is no chance that Russia wins the war, plants their flag, takes it`s military home and Ukraine is now part of Russia. That was Putin`s plan and it has badly blown up in his face.

That`s crap, and Hamilton has twice the hospitality infrastructure of Regina so this could get even worse. In 2013, I had the worst experience of my life at a Grey Cup game. I used to go to every Grey Cup and had a great time. The Regina debacle ruined it for me and I have only been to 2 since. It was a nightmare.

They will have to if they want to install a puppet regime. The Ukrainian people will not sit idly by and let Putin install his government and then go home like nothing happened. If Russia kills Zelenskyy he will be a martyr that will galvanize Ukraine, if they don`t there is zero chance anybody could beat him in an election and zero chance that a puppet regime will be in place without vast military support if he is in exile somewhere.

https://3downnation.com/2022/03/02/cfl-fans-accuse-regina-hotel-of-cancelling-grey-cup-reservations-without-notification/ The world is such a different place since 2013....but Regina isn`t. Same old crap and the main reason they shouldn`t be hosting Grey Cups. I am still traumatized by how bad the Grey Cup experience was there in 2013. Price gouging being my main, but not only, complaint....and here we go again.

You are right, your take is unpopular and yes, Ukraine's cities are being rolled up on and some have fallen. Many have not. All of that is irrelevant. A war is not won when one side occupies the other, a war is won when the people being occupied lay down their weapons and no longer resist the occupation. Russia may occupy Ukraine but the Ukrainians have made it very clear they will not be conquered and they will not live peacefully under a Russian banner. This war will be fought for many, many years just less publicly, and it will take significant Russian military engagement to hold Ukraine.

Nope just making a point that there are dark clouds out there everywhere and you seem particularly adept at finding them all and pointing them out. You must be a real hoot at parties. I would say that with Dobson's signing in the USFL that the odds of Tui being resigned went up significantly. We may have been a little gunshy about resigning him before with Dobson expected to come, but now Tui almost becomes a necessity.

Sure does sound like SFU had a terrible time under Bates, and your son had unfortunate timing to transfer there. I am sure many other programs have had similar ups and downs and hopefully SFU recovers fully. Undrafted Canuck, I'd be happy if he had any positive impact on STs and made our team. If he is the next Mike Miller...that would be gravy.

You are the one arguing about it. I'm sorry your son had a bad experience at SFU. It happens to all programs once in a while that they hire a dud. However, I did not state that ALL NCAA teams operate like the pros, I said Div 1 teams do. Massive drop off from Div 1 to Div 2,3 obviously. That's why it's rare air for Div 2 and 3 QBs in the pros. They simply are not the same calibre of QB as a Div 1 QB as a general rule. All the "farm team" time in the world isn't likely to make a difference in their chances of playing any meaningful snaps as a pro unless they are specialists like Streveler etc. With 130 Div 1 teams churning out QBs year nevermind Div2.3 it is simply a numbers game for the vast majority. NFL will almost always take the Div 1 guys, CFL will take what's left and the cream of the crop of Div 2 or 3 and the rest have to look at life after football because they simply weren't good enough to go pro. That's life. No one is going to spend millions of dollars trying to develop Div 2 or 3 QBs, why would they, there is a bumper crop of new Div1 ones every year.

A Div 1 team spends more on player development in a year than any CFL/XFL/USFL team spends on their entire operations. These kids are polished gems or they will never be. Also, being pro ready in other sports is about playing time, in pro football it's about understanding expanded playbooks. Football is about having the skills to play your position, having the physical ability to do so, and demonstrating that you can do it with the Friday night lights on. At 22-23 you either can or you can't. I suppose if one wanted to make the argument that Canadian players could be coached up, I would agree a little more, as they have for the most part been subject to subpar competition and coaching compared to what is needed in the pros. However, that's not the discussion. I suppose if it didn't cost the NFL anything at all, they could probably find some guys with behavioral problems or high measurables/low football IQ and fill some rosters up to see if it works out but realistically they would not spend money on this.

I wouldn't.

True. Might not even be a season for all we know, or maybe Russia goes Nuke crazy by then, or global warming causes environmental catastrophe that changes everything. However, on the assumption that there is one and restrictions are lifted in the next couple months, I think Tui is definitely a possibility.

Football has PRs for those that need pro seasoning....and I didn't call the NCAA a development league, Jerry Jones pres. of the NFL owners association did NUMEROUS times. Go argue with him about it. You are absolutely delusional trying to compare hockey, or basketball 17 and 18 year olds to 23-24 year old NCAA football athletes. First of all the obvious, hockey is a game of split second decisions played at blinding speed at high emotional levels where you must find a role, and then hone it to become a pro. Football is a game of preparation, discipline, and physical ability. A non-pro ready football player is simply cut because if they don't have the attributes at 23 or 24 they are never going to have them. A non-pro ready hockey player can be developed because most of the time it's between the ears, or they simply need to wait for 20 lbs of adulthood. This idea of yours that after 4 years of NCAA has not prepared them for life in the pros is completely inaccurate. By your own admission, you have stated that NCAA operates like a pro league.

I don't think we should be ruling Tui out yet. With restrictions lifting like crazy, the flight ban will likely be long gone by July, and the fact no one else has signed him makes me think that they may have a deal worked out if restrictions are lifted.

NHL players are rarely physically ready when drafted, NCAA football players are. Pretty simple really.

No they didn't. They partnered on innovations but definitely not as a developmental league. The XFL would love everyone to believe that they are, and are marketing it as such, but developing what exactly that is of value to the NFL? Nothing. As a testing ground....sure. Fact remains that no money makes for an ultra-weak partnership. The CFL is as much a player development league for the NFL as the XFL...probably more so even. Football is not a game that even allows a player to ripen on the vine. Players are coming out of college 24-25 years old. They are as ripe as they are going to get. A developmental league for players to do what exactly, come into the league past their prime? This isn't hockey where players are drafted at 18 and need time to grow into their adult bodies. The NCAA churns out more pro ready players than the NFL can handle already. For the odd one that slips through the cracks the CFL was more than enough to find the diamond in the rough. The NFL has zero interest in a player development league because the NFL does not need a player development league. Simple as that. Even Jerry Jones has said so on behalf of the NFL owners who would have to pay for it, but hey...you guys know more than him because some guy in Buffalo wants to see better NFL officiating.

That is exactly what it is. The NFL will let them toss around their illusions of a relationship in exchange for them testing out some rules and giving more coaches a place to get better. No cash, no support otherwise. There is no player sharing, and no money changing hands. The only thing this deal benefits is the NFL and that is why they are allowing it. If the XFL comes hat in hand to the NFL they will have the door slammed in their face. Wrong time of year, and too bad of a history for failure for US sports fans to even give these leagues a fighting chance.

NFL officials are not NFL owners and partnering on developing officials and testing rules is a FAR cry from a player development league. Not even in the same stratosphere. They don't have a developmental partnership with the XFL as far as players go. You made the comparison to NFL Europe which was an NFL funded player development league that was actually even profitable, and the NFL still shut it down because they felt it was a waste of time. The XFL is NOT a developmental league for the NFL no matter how much they claim to be. They have an agreement in place for the XFL to be a testing ground for them and a breeding ground for coaches. Nothing more. That isn't worth a wooden nickel to the NFL.