Tracker

According to the Freep today, the standouts yesterday were: QB Robert Marve, OL Matthias Goosen, LB Ian Wild, HB Don Unamba. I wonder if Unamba would look good as the free safety? Good to hear that Goossen is doing well and just might be a starter out of training camp. I'm rooting for Marve as this year's dark horse candidate.

We here in Alberta like to think we don't live in some socialist utopia like you guys in Manitoba. We used to be free enterprise, pro business & anti unions. But Red Tories & closest NDPers like Ed Stelmach & Alison Redford changed all that. Now, we're just like everybody else. The Alberta Advantage is dead. As a comparison of economic management, look at Norway vs Alberta. Both have the same amount of conventional petroleum reserves, but Norway has used their revenues to fund free Medicare including eye-care, psychological treatment, dentistry, physio, and pharmacare. They also have free post-secondary education for academically qualified students and transportation infrastructure second to none. Also, no school or property taxes and they have some 50 billion dollars in various ethical investments all around the world. And Alberta has Redford's penthouse and lot of very rich US and Chinese investors. Damn those socialists and their financial responsibilities.

He's got a cold? That's keeping him off the field? I was scared it was a hang-nail, feel better now. JK Tyson - please don't hurt me!! LOL hey man, those colds going around here are pretty vicious. I had one for a good week, it was awful. not fun. Couldn't imagine playing football or honestly doing anything really if you get one of these new ones. No bs, rumors are these vicious flu's are more awful than normal due to all the immigrants coming over here. (not saying i dislike that, just saying, i did read something that mentioned that being a cause) There have always been those kind of rumours about immigrants flocking in, bringing along crime, violence and disease- started by the native population here when the Europeans showed up in the 1500's. They were right- not so sure about the latest round, though.

Great report and thank you for that. Sounds like Goossen is a quick learner, Neufeld is living up to his advance billing, and the whole line has some potential- very welcome news after the Keystone Kops routine for the O-line the past couple of years. Nice to hear that one of the RBs: Cotton is separating himself from his competition, and not so good to hear that our Canuck receivers aren't wowing the coaches.

I imagine the real story about Mr.Smith will leak out in a few weeks or months.

From what I can pick up from the Riderfans website, Etienne's career is continuing as it did here in Winnipeg. He sounds like the #6 NI receiver and nearly invisible- not likely to be around long.

Does anyone else think that Pencer ought to have been a lot more prominent in the training camp reports by now? He's had two years to prepare for his Big Moment and I haven't hear his name mentioned so far.

And Friesen has produced the exact effect he wanted.

Reaching 33 0r 43 or 63 is probably way preferable to the alternative. Getting older is not for sissies.

(Sigh) What some people will do for a plane ticket and a few free meals.

Any relation to Ritchie?

For what its worth, today Arash Madani on the radio said that he sees that both sides are really dug in and he does not know when or how this will end.

I hope Willy shakes this habit of hanging onto the ball too long, if that's what it is. He is going to be behind an O-line which will take time to gel and this sort of thing nearly got Hall dismembered last season.

This is actually a good way to get rid of unwanted callers very quickly- just tell them that your john is clogged and you're waiting for the plumber. That'll get them focused on their bladders and they will be gone in a half hour.

This is what happens when you give people rooms, free food and per diems. Lock 'em up without food or a bathroom and you'd have an agreement in about three hours.

I totally agree on this Me too. I like Hall. Hall ate a lot of Astroturf last season and there were probably mornings after a game when he had trouble moving, so he deserves an honest shot-nothing more. If Brohm or Marve beat him out for the backup spot (unlikely, but it has happened) I would feel for him, but that is the nature of the game. I still feel that Marve will be a gamer once/if he figures out the CFL game, and yes, it is baseless speculation.

No question Willy has to be considered the default starter, and while Hall has CFL experience, Brohm still has to prove he deserves the #3 spot. All we can expect is that it will be an open competition and that no one will be awarded a spot for just showing up.

Marve's resume says he's a competitor with all the basic tools, but adapting to the CFL has been a challenge for a lot of promising quarterbacks. so we shall see. We gotta call him "Captain" if he makes the team, though.

Quelle surprise! But welcome.

It's nice to have some talented NI defensive backs but our NI talent is still horrific. In fact, without Henoc & Labbe you could unfortunately say we've downgraded from last year. It's not a knock on Walters though, he's done all he could. It's tough to re-build a team over one winter. A Canuck middle linebacker is rare enough, but an outstanding one is even more so. He was a ratio-breaker, and we can only hope he will be back.

I'm betting on a resolution late today or tomorrow.

I would like to hear who is standing out and who was expected to but isn't.

Good to hear that our new star QB is taking initiative to try to get his team kick-started.

You gotta kiss a lot of frogs in order to find a prince.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. There is a provincial election now in Ontario and a federal election next year, and politicians always like to hand out cash in these times. Or at least make promises- in the last federal election Harper promised $100,000,000 to Quebec city for a new arena if they got an NHL team.