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I am no longer sure that the team believes it can win any more, and that extends right into the coaching ranks, and perhaps even to the GM. 's ability to find the right players to fill the obvious holes.

Damn. Now I have to slay a goat,and read its entrails in order to hunt you down and silence you forever. We Illuminati do not brook intruders.

I've lived through some crappy Bomber regimes and kept the faith that things would improve the next year if not the current one, even though the teams were embarrassing. Maybe I am getting old and cynical or have seen the same scenarios replayed too ofter, but this is as pessimistic as I have ever been. O'Shea's pigheaded stubborness dooms this team to running joke status until he and his subordinates are gone. O'Shea's list of failings should be no surprise to anyone who has watched the team for the past couple of years, listened to the radio coverage or read this forum. There may be hope for Walters but not if he lets this travesty continue to the end of the season. I could accept it if he cleans house (except for Hall) the day after the last game of the season, and I'm pretty sure that game will not be a playoff game.

It was in a distant galaxy long, long ago....

Up until two weeks ago, I was willing to give O'Shea some slack and let him finish the year to show us he deserves to remain the head coach, but he has passed the point of no return. He needs to be fired along with Bellefeuille and whoever the special teams coach is. O'Shea absolutely cannot asses talent and cannot adapt to the game or exploit the other team's weaknesses. The only choce really, is whether to sack O'Shea now or wait until after the next debacle following the Banjo Bowl.

We can't pretend any longer- hiring O'Shea was a colossal mistake, particularly in his choces of underlings and inability to assess player talent in quarterbacks

"Why so many penalties?"- answer: loss of focus "Will there be consequnces?" a: I'm not going to get into that "Will there be a new starting quarterback next week?" a: not going to get into that "What happened in the game?" a: we were doing fine until the penalties. Consider that turd polished. Complete waste of airtime.

I think what they meant to say is that the coaches will never quit, no matter how bad they are.

Here's a jolt of reality: the Bombers have had more blowouts this year than wins, and since going 7and 1 last year, we are 5 and 17.

And they are making it look respectable in garbage time even though they were never really in it from the beginning. The silver lining is that they didn't get embarrassed, although chances are that could happen next week... I disagree with you. This game was a disgrace, from start to finish. The score was close at times, but we were never in the game.

Masochists,we are.

Bad Omen Department: On 1290 radio, both Walby and Westwood expect the Blue to lose by at least 20 points. God, I hope not. Losing to the worst team would be bad enough, but getting trounced would be a season low, maybe a decade low for the Bombers. Even Vegas oddsmakers favour the Riders by four points.

A little while ago, I listened to Chevon Walker being interviewed on 'OB. According to his responses to questions, I would judge him to a touch smarter than the average houseplant. Not a good sign, and reminiscent of a Mack Herron interview I heard waaaay back.

We would have to get Wally really, really really drunk for that one. I would volunteer to buy the booze.

This is the time for the Bombers coaches and players to prove they belong in the playoff hunt. The Riders will probably try to run the ball right at Hurl, and if they can get to 150 yards or so rushing, we will be in trouble. The biggest thing that Skippy has to not do is throw an interception which leads directly to a touchdown. That would kill whatever confidence the team has in him. We need to pressure Smith, early and often as well.

Would LOVE to see Muamba here again and as much as it would be nice to think he would have some loyalty to the team, reality says that he can expect what, 4-6 years before his body says "No Mas"? He is likely to go where the dollar leads him and Ottawa seems to have no limit on their spending. Should Walters be able to sign him to a long-term sane contract, that would be a coup. As far as dumping contracts to make that possible, are not all veterans into guaranteed paydays now? If its just a few dollars more, I say screw the SMS and take the hit- we're halfway thru the season now anyways.

Taman was on a very short leash here under Bauer, so whatever he did has to be assessed in that light. In Regina, with the cup being held there and the team in the hunt, he had a once in a lifetime opportunity to win the Cup at home, so maybe he went all in. And the Riders won, so no matter what he and Chamblin did, they will be immortalized, even after being fired. That said, I do not see how he could fit in here anywhere. Maybe as a short-term consultant. Maybe.

We can dream, can't we?

"Friends" is a relative term. If two people know each other, that doesn't automatically make them friends. And if it does, you'd be hard-pressed to find many working relationships in the CFL that didn't start that way, with someone hiring someone else that they are familiar with. O'Shea was a senior at Guelph when Walters came in as a rookie, and they were on opposite sides of the ball (Walters was an RB at the time). They played a grand total of one season together in Hamilton. Exactly. And when O'Shea was hired, he and Walters said after that the only times they got together was at football conferences. Someone on this forum posted earlier that O'Shea and Walters were roommates in college. Plus they are rumoured (by me) to have lived in a civil union for a couple of weeks.

Gale's been in the CFL for 3 seasons and has 21 pass attempts. He was the short yardage QB in 2014 but otherwise has not had regular reps at QB. Marve alone has more on-field experience than Gale. In his three years, Gale has to have been in film sessions, watched games, and even run scout teams, so I stand by my statement about CFL experience.

Funny, Elemimian and Bighill have looked very ordinary this year. The premier teams seem to be Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton, and at the other end of the scale are the Riders. Everyone else is strung out between- mediocre on good days.

Of all the possible pickups, Gale looks to be the best. He knows, or should know, the CFL and has more CFL experience than Brohm, Marve, And Dominic combined. Then again, he could be another promising bust.

This is what we have come to, that we are reduced to hoping that the Riders suck even more than the Bombers. What makes it real scary is that if the Riders bumble their way to beating the Bombers on Sunday, they will gain enough confidence and the Bombers will be so deflated that the odds of winning the Banjo Bowl will favour the Riders.

Well, this ought to turn the season around.