WildPath

Are there more practice updates from DT?
Don't have an X account. @DTonOB how about some Bluesky updates too!

Oh have I got some news for you...

This is it. I get why the league and players like it, don't love it as a fan. I'm a guy in his late 40s whose doing well and I'm not sure I'll add DAZN. I can see a lot of people younger than me with kids, a mortgage, other bills also saying no and I think it hurts the CFL long term.

So life is getting more and more expensive and the plan for the CFL is to give fans another expense? Doesn't seem wise.

Bell is gradually extricating itself from producing live sports that it sells direct to consumer. It learned from the NHL it's not the easiest way to make money. Rogers also wants out of producing live sports as they are bleeding cash on NHL. CBC is already 100% out on pro sports.
They want to sell everything to streamers or rebroadcast ESPN/Sky Sports (F1) and other international feeds.
In the long run this is pretty bad news for sustainability of the broadcast market in Canada.
If the streamers lose interest or realize the product doesn't sell, back to square one with limited production capacity existing.

Love that the spot rates for Corus, Harvard and others just went up... Radio broadcasts on Saturday night is A-OK for me ...
The one good thing will be that this is expected to be a significant windfall for the league (I saw the number $500 million over 6 years floated around but that's just baseless Internet talk) and the salary cap will be going way up. It won't last long though when DAZN finds out that nobody's going to pay for their service ..

Yeah I'm not adding yet another subscription just for cfl. Guess it'll be cjob like back in the day and then wait for a pirated copy to hit the interwebs.

I don't like having to pay for another service just to watch all the Bomber ganes.

As far as quarterbacking talent goes, I have a bit of experience there being the father of a D2 qb at SFU before the purge 4 years ago where the university deep sixed football as a sport.
I firmly believe that there are some kids born to play the position. You either have it or you don't. The kids that don't, struggle. Some work hard & make the rise to the top. But it's not easy when someone doesn't have a strong arm. Offenses have to be adjusted. shorter routes, more timing routes, spreading the ball around & not pressing the ball downfield. Then outof nowhere some guy shows up who can throw the ball 60 yards with ease & the kid who worked hard to be a starter with a so so or average arm is benched. I've seen it many times.
My son Tyler at age 10 could throw a football 35 yards with no effort. Anything he picked that was throwable he did. He was a pitcher & outfielder in baseball. At 12, he could drill the ball across the plate with accuracy & strike out his opponents. He was one of those kids who magically was born with a super strong arm who figured out how to use it.. Throwing just came naturally. He could out skip me throwing stones on water when he was a kid & I was in my early 40's.
Then the intangibles took over for Tyler as he went up thru the ranks playing football at all levels here in Calgary, Winnipeg, California & Burnaby. As he got older & physically stronger, Tyler played with confidence & became a leader. His teammates believed in him when he was on the field. Knowing my son the way I do just seeing the transformation from this happy go lucky guy away from football to a qb who hated losing was amazing. His leadership was his play on the field.
His time with the Winnipeg Rifles hit a dead end. He was sharing starting qb duties with another player & both hated it. Tyler had a stronger arm but the other qb also had intangibles that made him successful. Their different styles of play complimented one another. Tyler went in to talk to his head coach at the end of his second season in Winnipeg. The coach indicated that changes would be coming at the qb position next season. As in, they'd pick one guy & stick with him. Tyler being from Calgary got the sense that they'd choose the other qb as he played all of his football in Winnipeg. he also had the advanyage of being coached by some of the guys on the Rifles staff. The other qb would be favoured over him. So, he informed the HC he wasn't coming back. The Head Coach said, "Fine. Good luck to you." So, it turned out he was right after all.
Tyler spoke to his qb coach & mentor in Portland, Oregon, Greg Barton as it looked like his football career was over. Barton was a former qb with the Argos who had a lot of connections all down the West Coast. Greg made a phone call to a JUCO in California called The College Of The Siskiyous. The HC called Tyler & invited him down to see the campus. He went down & agreed to play for them. He redshirted his first year but started in his second season & he led the Eagles to a California JUCO Championship in 2012.
From there, he was offered a walk on opportunity with the University of Oregon by Chip Kelly. Tyler showed me the letter from OSU. I tried calling Kelly but his ******* secretary refused to put me through to him so we never connected & Tyler never went.
He was also being recruited by Texas Tech. The QB Coach came to an Eagles practice to talk to him but that was the last time any coaches from TT spoke with him. Just ghosted him suddenly so they obviously changed their minds.
The University of Akron told him he was their guy & wanted him to play in the MAC Conference but... then the entire coaching staff was fired. So, that fell through.
The University of California at Pennylvania, then called Cal Penn & now Pennwest also recruited him. Tyler went down for a visit & loved it. At the time, Cal Penn was the top D2 school in the US with a number of players in the past who went on to play in both the CFL & NFL. The coaches wanted him & they offered him an athletic scholarship. He accepted but the coach had to clear one thing first before it became an official written offer. The $40,000 International fee we'd have to pay that was not included in the scholarship offer. The HC said he spoke to the Chancellor of Cal Pen earlier who had agreed to waive the fee. However, when he went to verify that to make sure, he found out the Chancellor changed his mind & said we'd have to pay. My wife & I didn't have a spare $40,000 US lying around so that all fell through. That was so disappointing. I remember Tyler being crushed. What might have been...
The only program left that recruited Tyler was Simon Fraser. They knew they were way down the list so they never thought they had any chance of getting Tyler to play at SFU. So, they brought in a qb from the transfer portal who played at Arizona State & NDSU. SFU was his third school in 3 years. When I called HC Dave Johnson checking to see if SFU was still interested, he nearly fell off his chair exclaiming, "I never thought we'd get him!!" However, they already offered a full ride scholarship to the transfer qb & could only offer a half scholarship which Tyler accepted. However, SFU sweetened the deal & by the time he graduated he only had to pay 25% of his tuition & was able to get a student loan. I think they even helped him out with dorm fees as well. He & the kid from Arizona shared qb duties & they battled it out every week for 2 years.
A torn hamstring while training in the off season really set Tyler back. He played with the injury his senior year & it really set him back. His senior year was hard dealing with that injury & not being able to run anymore or evading the rush. When he'd go in, he'd get sacked so his playing time was drastically reduced. After he graduated from SFU, he knew his playing days were over. Tyler went into coaching which is what he still does in Seattle today.
That's my son's story. His strong arm & athleticism carried him to places where other kids wouldn't have been able to go. You either have it or you don't.

I hate this AI ****.

typical ai quality lmao. makes 3dn/cfl.ca look like the pinnacle of media reporting

Got two tickets to Touchdown Kelowna on June 27th which is my birthday. A friend of mine is a Stamps STH & since he was going with his 2 young sons, he got two tickets for my wife & I. That should be a fun weekend. We haven't been to Kelowna since 2017 when my son was an Asst Coach with the Okanagan Sun. Be interesting to attend one of these CFL niche games. More power to Lions owner Amar Doman for trying to grow the game in BC. Unlike that trash ownership in Toronto who do virtually nothing for the Argos in Southern Ontario.

Do not like how he lumped Corcoran in with Clericius. Clercius is a wr with tremendous raw tools who has caught everything thrown his way. Corcoran is like Wade Miller on a low-battery mobility scooter.

blind side tackle isn’t what it used to be, and was not as big a deal in the cfl with 5 ol and no te.
Plus, with the massive prominence of pistol and shotgun up here over the past 20-25 years, you haven’t been able to sneak up on and burry the qb from behind. From the pistol/gun you have equal view of the ends through out the whole play.
Down south, especially in the past, they played a massive amount of passing snaps from under the gun, and once you turned to throwing position and took a step back you turned your back to the rusher on the lt side. Because of that, in the nfl, they heavily pressed the end on the offensive left side to be a premier rusher. but that passed down there 10-15 years ago.
The Rt side was often the run side and so has the te a lot of the time on his shoulder, which helped as well.

Buddies and I laughing about it being the most Osh move ever... "If our aging vet goes down, we need another equally aging vet to replace him!"
"But Osh, we drafted two young stud LBs that need the reps...."
"Aging Vets!!!"

Pointless picking any of the remaining scraps up...serves zero purpose really and we need to just go with our guys and like mentioned by other's...give whoever comes out as number 2 actual playtime during the yr when we can....and just doesnt have to be in a blow out, or an end of game pointless reps
Be it Wilson...(does he step up) as he has the best arm in camp, though have yet to see Perkins up close...Or Perkins who I may think actually impresses and isnt the typical kinda first yr i the pro's guy we usually bring in....Looking forward to the battle with him and Wilson...The greek kid gives me no sense of him being anything, and likley cut, and the other nice intriguing rookies we signed are just that....future prospects and a big nothing burger for this yr
Where we failed in past...and not just at QB is giving backups and guys with potential no meaningful reps ...ever....that has to change

Definitely gotta put some love on Alexander's name, not only was he the final piece of our 2019 Grey Cup D, but he also shoved aside that twitter dummy we were starting at safety earlier that year.
basically the ultimate WR3. You got distracted by Lawler or Adams or Schoen and Bailey would make you pay.

Man I wish that Mo Leggett had still been with the team for the Grey Cup wins. Definitely one of my favorites from the Matty Ice era. stupid achilles injuries.

Really going to miss Schoen on the Bombers, it was a treat getting to watch him play when he was fully healthy.   Always going to be a big what if.   If he could have stayed healthy I think he could have turned into one of the greats. Dumb decisions to play him injured, and man the guy took a pounding after the catch on some less than stellar passes. 

Give him a role like Brandon Alexander within the organization.  He doesnt take up a roster spot and is still able to be around the fans.

A few other random thoughts;
Im crazy excited to see lawson and ceresna inside on the DL. We still need a rotational ni inside, and a 2nd de. But I think we will let the rookie crop play for a spot opposite willy. Still need more pass rushing depth though.
Very happy to add nield and white to our wr core. Seems sure we are flipping to 3 canadian wrs, probably 3 imps on the OL too. 
Im not sure we are done. 
Broxton was some one I didn't even dream of us going after.
Broxton and Ceresna are the 2 best free agents in the class. And white was top 5. This is the biggest splash in free agency for us in modern or semi modern history.  
I agree. He isn't the earth mover that yoshi is, but rando is excellent. Take kola off, and add an imp guard and he should be a monster.
 Maybe use the naturalized imp on big stan and carry him as the 6th? 
And worth noting, he says he is allready 100% from it. 
 A fast off season recovery like that could really boost his off season as well. Idk what his is usually like, but a guy that age especially on the line needs to work the whole off season and not go too hard. This slots in very well with that pace and volume imo.
 

History is on your side

He would be the best pass blocker of the 3 from last year's play, but the worst run blocker of the 3. Eli is better overall and needs to step up in the pass game from his guard play to take the job. He should easily be able to do that. Id say Ciraco in pass pro is the bare minimum for what we need at C, and Eli run blocking is the minimum on that side. 
We haven't seen significant snaps from Eli at C in ages. It looked to me that he struggled out of position at Guard, which is not common but does happen (Yoshi is the biggest example). And that he, like everyone else, struggled with kola at C. I expect to see a significant improvement from him going back to his natural position full-time. If not, I'd cut him. I would expect to see that increase in the level of play before the first preseason game. 
Ciraco would be the backup plan imo. If we missed out on Woodmansey, I'd take flyers on guys like McEwen. Failing that, I'd try to target a C in the draft if possible. 
Ciraco would be the guy I would look to bring in during camp, if Eli fails, we don't get another FA, and Vibert doesn't step up. Basically, the contingency plan is the backup plan. 
He's a good pass blocker, but he fits our system really poorly. We'd have to give up on our zone run scheme, and even then, he isn't a guy who is going to feast in any run scheme. 
 
I believe in Eli, and I also really like Vibert. But I would bring in a plan A, and look long and hard at Cs in the draft. 

It's incredible to me that you insist others "look things up" yet still be so confidently wrong.
The $412K and change increase from last year went directly to salary expenditures (salary and bonuses). It explicitly excludes pre / post season compensation, per diems, pension payments and the 6-game injured list. 

I do like Sterns as a back end of the roster guy. Tough blocker, all-around good wr. I'd love to have him back as long as he isn't pencilled into a starting job going into camp.