blueandgoldguy

The defense on the Bear has been going downhill for at least 3 years now prior to Trestman even being hired by the team. Nothing has improved there, aside from signing declining free agents like Jared Allen (who was not very noticeable in his final season with the Vikings and drafting poorly on the defensive side of the ball. A few weeks back, the Bears lost due to a couple of late costly turnovers by Cutler. Bears were in the lead and those turnovers allowed the opposition to take the lead and win the game.

It's a shame but it looks like the CFL will lose him next year.

Crompton will never be anything more than an average QB. Probably looks better than that because of the horrible display put on by Troy Smith and Alex Brink earlier this season. Of course, you can win with an average Qb provided you have an excellent defense, a good o-line, excellent receivers and great running back. Bombers proved this in 1990 with Burgess at the helm. Als seem to have all the pieces with possible exception of running back (not sure of injury status there) and O-line (not sure if I would categorize as good..say top 3 in the league, or average..say top 4-5 in the league).

Speaking of ticket prices anyone take a gander at the prices the Als are charging at Percival-Molson Stadium for the East Semi-final. $150 for top ticket prices and 2/3 of the seats are over $95! Not surprisingly, tickets are selling slowly - less than 1/3 sold by my estimate. Talk about misjudging the market. Wouldn't be surprised if that stadium is half empty for the game. Should have bundled playoff tickets with regular season ticketholder packages at a higher price.

Yeah, it's not Rays fault his receivers were injured half the season. Don't think any team suffered as many injuries as the Argos did this year. If they had the league average in man games lost to injury they would have probably ended up with 10-11 wins. What really hurts them though is that loss to RedBlacks earlier in the season. Should have had that one.

I got one better - as a coach I survived not one but TWO 2 - 14 seasons, back to back, with an existing club. Granted, I was a legend in that town, and was fired after the second year, but I learned. I went on to be a very successful Coach in Edmonton and Hamilton, winning a Grey Cup in each city as a coach, in between my gigs as a color commentator on the CBC. Do you know who I am? Jim Spavital went 2-14 in 1970 as the rookie HC of the Bombers. He wasn't fired in the off season which some fans had hoped for but GM EarlLunsford kept him around. He was rewarded for his loyalty to Spav as the team improved to 7-8-1 in 1971 to snag a third place playoff spot in the West for the first time since 1966. Then under Spavital the Bombers improved to 10-6 in 1972. They were the best regular season CFL team that year only to lose the West Final to the Riders at Winnipeg Stadium. A team that just got into the playoffs with an 8-8 record. Massive upset. So, maybe the redblacks improve enough to get a playoff spot next year or win 6 or 7 games. Who knows? But to fire Campbell after a single season? Well, that would be a typical dickish Marcel Desjardins move if he thought he'd be saving his own skin. I'm curious what happened to the Bombers that day in 1972 iso? Before my time. Were you at that game or did you watch it on tv? Edit: Ok I see you were at the game, but I'm not familiar with this phantom call. Can't find any video on youtube either Chances are you'll never see it either anywhere as the CFL as well as the CTV & CBC Networks never saved their game day footage. The CFL HOF probably doesn't have any footage either which is a damned shame. Let me set it up for you. The game was tied 24-24. On the final play of the game Rider kicker Jack Abendschan missed a 35 yard FG. We had 3 returners in the end zone with expressed instructions to kick it out if they couldn't return it out by running as the game would then go to OT. Two of the returners were punter Mike Law & Walt McKee our FG kicker. After a series of punts back & forth in & out of the end zone we were called for no yards on the punt that the Riders had fielded & kicked back into the end zone. Ref blew the play dead & the ball moved to our 20 yard line & Riders kicked the winning FG with no time left after they missed it the first time. They won the game in the shittiest way possible. The season was over because of that ******* bullshit call. The ball was kicked in & out of the end zone at least three times as the game was tied when this was going on. Thing is, the refs called US for No Yards when the Riders were just as guilty of No Yards when we caught the football in the end zone but of course no call vs them. That's what everyone was angry about. The fans were in a frenzy & wanted referees blood. I had been to every game since 1969 & season ticket holder from 1974 to 1990 & I never saw the fans like that before or after. Interesting. Was this a big deal with the media in Winnipeg after it happened? I guess it must have been. I would imagine our play-by-play announcers and the national play-by-play announcers would have made some comments on it as well.

I got one better - as a coach I survived not one but TWO 2 - 14 seasons, back to back, with an existing club. Granted, I was a legend in that town, and was fired after the second year, but I learned. I went on to be a very successful Coach in Edmonton and Hamilton, winning a Grey Cup in each city as a coach, in between my gigs as a color commentator on the CBC. Do you know who I am? Jim Spavital went 2-14 in 1970 as the rookie HC of the Bombers. He wasn't fired in the off season which some fans had hoped for but GM EarlLunsford kept him around. He was rewarded for his loyalty to Spav as the team improved to 7-8-1 in 1971 to snag a third place playoff spot in the West for the first time since 1966. Then under Spavital the Bombers improved to 10-6 in 1972. They were the best regular season CFL team that year only to lose the West Final to the Riders at Winnipeg Stadium. A team that just got into the playoffs with an 8-8 record. Massive upset. So, maybe the redblacks improve enough to get a playoff spot next year or win 6 or 7 games. Who knows? But to fire Campbell after a single season? Well, that would be a typical dickish Marcel Desjardins move if he thought he'd be saving his own skin. I'm curious what happened to the Bombers that day in 1972 iso? Before my time. Were you at that game or did you watch it on tv? Edit: Ok I see you were at the game, but I'm not familiar with this phantom call. Can't find any video on youtube either

I'll go with a Montreal victory by 11 in this one. 25-14

Probably zero of three who went to the police. Sorry I missed that detail, I was unaware that any of them went to the police. They seemed to come out of the woodwork when one decided to cooperate with the Toronto Star. Frankly a lot of your assumptions are making you look rather ignorant.

A few groupies? *shakes head* Having sex with a famous person without any semblance of a relationship, I don't know but how else can they be classified? How many endured his abuse and came back multiple times for more? . Who were the individuals who came back for more after abuse? You do realize that sexual predators can have power over individuals they abuse right? Blame themselves, might come back to the predator thinking the abuse will stop if they are the ones that change their behaviour, not the abuser. I remember hearing from Theo Fleury being asked why he hired Graham James to be coach of the Calgary Hitman after suffering years of abuse at his hands, and his reponse was, "That's the kind of power he had over me." The reason other people come forward after the initial charge is filed is not jumping on the bandwagon to get noticed, it's because someone took the courageous step to come forward knowing the risks involved - damage to their professional careers, embarrassment of having details of their private moments revealed to public, being doubted (like in this forum with some of the subtle or not-so-subtle misogynistic comments) and ridiculed. Those others know they are not alone in their suffering at the hands of the predator. I can only imagine the stress involved in coming public with something like this and I'm sure many victims would rather suffer in silence - not worth the trouble to go public in many minds.

Lowering the GST was a dumb move. Purely political and not something any economist would advocate. It's a consumption tax. Would have mitigated the annual deficit we have had since 2009. Reducing corporate taxes to their current rate is also questionable as it hasn't really led to lower employment rates. Instead of investing in their workers the money has been hoarded by corporations in the form of dividends to their shareholders. Obviously need to keep rates competitive with other countries, but it would have been in the country's best interest to keep the rates at previous levels to eliminate the deficit (which we were promised would never have happened back in 2008). Still undecided who I will vote for come election time. Right now, I think we will see a minority government - liberal or conservative.

Sad but probably true. And that means he will eventually revert back to the starting goalie with the worst or second-worst save percentage in the league just like last year.

Is Chad Johnson even starting with the Als right now or is he injured? Talk about Mr. Invisible.

Mack was so focused on signing Labatte (which he managed NOT to do anyways) that he lost out on Picard in free agency when he was ripe for the picking. That's probably what iso is referring to.

Incorrect. The top ticket price (excluding club seats) for season ticket holders in BC is $315 and that does not require a 3-year commitment to get a discount. In Saskatchewan for the 2013 Grey Cup, the top ticket price (excluding club seats) was $349 for season ticket holders. The top ticket price for the Bombers (again excluding club seats which will probably be $500) will be $399 IF the ticket holder commits to three seasons.http://www.bclions.com/102greycup http://riderville.com/article/saskatchewan-unveils-grey-cup-101-ticket-information A more apt comparison would be the season ticket holder who chooses not to commit for three seasons, but merely the season ahead. They will receive a $50 discount so the price will actually be $449 - an incredibly high price charged by an organization that has pissed away the goodwill of the community through incompetent management and season after season of losing. The Lions and Riders, on the other hand have had recent success with Saskatchewan being in the Grey Cup in 3 of the previous 6 seasons prior to last year while the Lions won the Grey Cup as recently as 2011 and have qualified for the playoffs for 18 consecutive seasons. They can justify the higher prices, Bombers not so much. Again $449 to a season ticket holder with no 3 year commitment!! That's more expensive than the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto! Top ticket price was $399 to season ticket holders for that one by the way and no 3-year commitment required either. Miller and the Bomber organization are taking a big risk with these price points. With a minimum price of $199 (for those willing to stomach the three year commitment and $249 for a non-committed season ticket holder) I'd venture to guess that the 2015 Grey Cup will have the highest average ticket price in CFL history. It would be great if the organization can pull off a Grey Cup sellout prior to the beginning of the 2015 season - it would fill up their coffers nicely even with the annual payments towards the stadium. However, I think they may be overestimating the demand for Grey Cup tickets in this market at those prices...even with the 10 year gap between games. Where are you getting the $50 discount from? My P1 non-club seats are $499 if I don't commit for 3 years. I thought if you are a season ticket holder for the 2015 season, but do not want to commit for 3 years that you would still get a discount of approx. $50 on the Grey Cup tickets. Thought I read that somewhere else?

$399 is with a 3-year commitment though. If you are a season ticket holder who does not want to commit for more than one year at a time the price will be $449. That is a HUGE difference compared to the last 2 Grey Cups or really any Grey Cup in history. Risky proposition considering the state of the team the last 7 years (1 winning season). They will really need the corporate community to step up to sellout the game prior to the beginning of the 2015 season. It's worth noting that the last Grey Cup in Winnipeg back in 2006 did not sellout until the week of the game. Back then tickets were considerably cheaper - North endzone seats - $100, Temporary south endzone seats - $130

Highest price for a Grey Cup ticket in BC this year is $360. The $499 is a joke. Ticketmaster says otherwise. $440 for the high end tickets for this year. That's for club seats though. Bombers will probably charge $500 plus fees and taxes for club seats at the Grey Cup next year so around $550 - $600 per seat

Incorrect. The top ticket price (excluding club seats) for season ticket holders in BC is $315 and that does not require a 3-year commitment to get a discount. In Saskatchewan for the 2013 Grey Cup, the top ticket price (excluding club seats) was $349 for season ticket holders. The top ticket price for the Bombers (again excluding club seats which will probably be $500) will be $399 IF the ticket holder commits to three seasons. http://www.bclions.com/102greycup http://riderville.com/article/saskatchewan-unveils-grey-cup-101-ticket-information A more apt comparison would be the season ticket holder who chooses not to commit for three seasons, but merely the season ahead. They will receive a $50 discount so the price will actually be $449 - an incredibly high price charged by an organization that has pissed away the goodwill of the community through incompetent management and season after season of losing. The Lions and Riders, on the other hand have had recent success with Saskatchewan being in the Grey Cup in 3 of the previous 6 seasons prior to last year while the Lions won the Grey Cup as recently as 2011 and have qualified for the playoffs for 18 consecutive seasons. They can justify the higher prices, Bombers not so much. Again $449 to a season ticket holder with no 3 year commitment!! That's more expensive than the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto! Top ticket price was $399 to season ticket holders for that one by the way and no 3-year commitment required either. Miller and the Bomber organization are taking a big risk with these price points. With a minimum price of $199 (for those willing to stomach the three year commitment and $249 for a non-committed season ticket holder) I'd venture to guess that the 2015 Grey Cup will have the highest average ticket price in CFL history. It would be great if the organization can pull off a Grey Cup sellout prior to the beginning of the 2015 season - it would fill up their coffers nicely even with the annual payments towards the stadium. However, I think they may be overestimating the demand for Grey Cup tickets in this market at those prices...even with the 10 year gap between games.

It's no coincidence that the quality of refereeing has dropped since Higgins left to coach the Als.

Willy slots in behind Glenn. I guess as the season progressed Collaros moved ahead of him as well, although he has been rather inconsistent especially with the game on the line. Crompton will top out as nothing more than an average QB imo. Low pass completion percentages for this era, especially when you factor in a decent O-line and one of the better receiving cores in the CFL. Not a very accurate QB, nor is he a great scrambler. I would be surprised if he is still a starter two years from now.

Etcheverry fits that description. Bellefeuille might too. Not sure if anyone else would have been interested in him.

and do you understand why that was? You know how undesirable a place you are for coaches when the average head coach gets 2 or 3 seasons before being fired and coordinators are lucky to get 1? Which proven coordinators do you suppose would want to come here if we fired the ones we have this year? You guys know that the lack of stability in the coacing and GM ranks is the reason guys like Stubler decided not to come here? This happens in other cities and yet they have no problem hiring quality coordinators and coaches afterwards. Ie Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatchewan...pretty much the whole league actually. Does it? BC has been pretty stable with Wally as GM and his guys taking over after him, Hufnagel has been in Calgary for a long time running things, Popp has been in Montreal forever, Barker in Toronto for a long time... Saskatchewan had some turmoil for a while and it got them into a tricky spot but now it's stable again. The Bombers though? 4 different Gms in the past 7 seasons and 5 head coaches in that same time frame. You wonder why we can't get anyone with a proven track record to come here? It's basically been a guarantee to have your reputation trashed. Are we to assume the people we fired have done well in other cities after being fired here? That's what I'm saying, guys who were considered some of the best assistant coaches in the league came here and now are lucky to get work elsewhere. Winnipeg has a reputation of chewing up coaches and spitting them out and leaving them almost unemployable. That's why we need to stick with these guys again. They were not so bad as to warrant dismissal. When I look at this team I see bigger problems with the roster make up than with coaching. So keep the coaches, get that stability and work on getting better players on the team and see where that takes us. If we get to the point where the roster looks really good and the coaches aren't pulling their weight then we can make changes, but right now the roster has too many holes. Burke had no problem getting a job in Toronto. Doug Berry was hired as the offensive coordinator in Regina and also hired by Montreal at the beginning of last season and was let go in both situations - probably has something to do with his demeanour. Marshall (average to below average D-coordinator) went to Hamilton then Saskatchewan, then Edmonton. Reed went to Edmonton for 3 years as head coach. Kelly went to a high school I believe lol which is where he belongs. Lapo (average to above average offensive coordinator and average coach at best) hasn't been hired yet, that's the only one I can think of. However, he is enjoying his TSN gig and still being paid by the Bombers for this year I believe (final year of contract?) He can probably get a job as a coordinator in the next year or so. Who are these assistant coaches the Bombers chewed up and spit out that can no longer get jobs?

and do you understand why that was? You know how undesirable a place you are for coaches when the average head coach gets 2 or 3 seasons before being fired and coordinators are lucky to get 1? Which proven coordinators do you suppose would want to come here if we fired the ones we have this year? You guys know that the lack of stability in the coacing and GM ranks is the reason guys like Stubler decided not to come here? This happens in other cities and yet they have no problem hiring quality coordinators and coaches afterwards. Ie Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatchewan...pretty much the whole league actually. Does it? BC has been pretty stable with Wally as GM and his guys taking over after him, Hufnagel has been in Calgary for a long time running things, Popp has been in Montreal forever, Barker in Toronto for a long time... Saskatchewan had some turmoil for a while and it got them into a tricky spot but now it's stable again. The Bombers though? 4 different Gms in the past 7 seasons and 5 head coaches in that same time frame. You wonder why we can't get anyone with a proven track record to come here? It's basically been a guarantee to have your reputation trashed. Wally and HUfnagel had success right out of the gate as coaches and it never really stopped. Playoffs every year. Dominating win-loss records pretty well every year too. Guys who are successful and have proven to be successful in the past like Wally aren't going to be fired. Toronto hired that highly touted coach from the US in 2009, Bart Andrus, and when he didn't work out after one season, they canned him and hired Jim Barker. When Jim Barker had a poor second season as coach he concentrated on Gm duties and hired Milanovich and the Argos won the Grey Cup in 2012. 3 coaches in 4 seasons. From 6-12 and out of the playoffs one year to Grey Cup victory the following year. Jim Popp struggles as head coach in 2007 and the Als finish 8-10 and lose in the Eastern Semi-Finals. This is one year after taking over for Don Matthews. He hires a highly touted NFL coach/coordinator in Marc Trestman who leads the team to an 11-7 record and the Grey Cup game. Follows that up with 15-3 and 12-6 records and two Grey Cups. Again 3 coaches in 4 years. Hamilton goes through coaches like no other team, yet they have no problem hiring the hottest candidate available. Fire Bellefeuille after three seasons in the playoffs, including a playoff victory in his final season, and move on to Cortez. Team goes 6-12 so the team fires him and hires Austin who happens to be the hottest commodity in the 2012 off-season. Team finishes 10-8 and goes to the Grey Cup for the first time in 14 years. Saskatchewan fired Marshall when it was clear things weren't working after 6 games. Miller took over to finish the season and they hired a coach, Chamblin, who had six years experience in other positions prior to. Marshall getting fired after a few games didn't scare off this candidate. And he won the Grey Cup 2 seasons after the team won 5 games. Bombers shouldn't be afraid to fire coaches if it becomes clear he isn't working out...even after 1.5 - 2 years. And as presented above, it won't prevent an organization from hiring highly sought after coaches provided the organization is willing to pay the price.

It's short sighted and doesn't take into account the starting point, and it's part of the reason why we've had this 25 year drought. Too many people have been fired because the instant results weren't there, or the team took a slight step back. All these knee jerk reactions because people only looked at wins and losses has done more damage to this team than anything.This.. Omg so much this.. If previous regimes hadn't mortgaged the future so often to try and appease the filthy unwashed masses,.maybe the drought would have ended years ago... But because they got so caught up on wins and losses, draft picks a plenty were traded or burned... QBs crushed without getting ample time to acclimate...A rebuild will never take a season or two... Especially after the destruction of our core like we have seen over and over again. It HAS happened before, yes... But that's the exception, not the norm.. Nope. Edmonton did it in one season. Not the exception at all either. Soooo deliberately ignoring what ive typed or just being obtuse? Edmonton was never as badly off as we were at oline, QB and overall canadian depth.. We signed one of their castoffs to start for crying out loud.... If you wanna argue, at least research what your arguing about.. Two completely different scenarios.. There is a turn around and then there is a rebuild.. You're mostly wrong (QB the exception which we hopefully have fixed this year). Their O-line was every bit as bad as ours last year. Rielly was absolutely mauled back there. Only reason he wasn't sacked as much as Willy this year is due to scrambling ability. Canadian depth similar to ours except our best Canadian was better than their best Canadian. They also signed a few of our castoffs over the past few years if you had been paying attention. Hate to break it to you; it's the CFL - 9 teams and 6 of those make the playoffs and the majority of the players come from the same pool (American colleges and castoffs from the NFL) that every team has equal access to. Teams don't really rebuild like they do in the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA where half the teams or less make the playoffs. Teams reload. Rebuilding over more than one season is an excuse trotted out by inferior management. This is what we had with the previous regime. A 4 - year "rebuild" and we are marginally better depth-wise than 2009. No need for the same excuses this time around.

and do you understand why that was? You know how undesirable a place you are for coaches when the average head coach gets 2 or 3 seasons before being fired and coordinators are lucky to get 1? Which proven coordinators do you suppose would want to come here if we fired the ones we have this year? You guys know that the lack of stability in the coacing and GM ranks is the reason guys like Stubler decided not to come here? This happens in other cities and yet they have no problem hiring quality coordinators and coaches afterwards. Ie Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal, Edmonton, Saskatchewan...pretty much the whole league actually.