Tracker

Canada's economy is struggling at the moment, but it does not have the structural weaknesses that the US dollar does, so a 70 cent Canuck buck is not likely. The US economy has deteriorated to the point where almost 50 cents of each dollar spent is borrowed. That, plus military spending and dramatic deterioration of much infrastructure means very bad news for the US dollar.

Not everyone worries about that Yes, you're right, that's pretty much what I said. Try this: draw a circle with a radius of about a day's drive -- say 800km -- centered on Edmonton or Calgary or Regina. Then draw the same radius around Montreal. See how many more cities and people are in the Montreal radius?I've driven the country coast-to-coast and it's astonishing how wonderful the west is. FYP.

Benevides has announced his intent to take a year off and get to know his family.

Lawless has also said this PM that Benevides has withdrawn his name from consideration in the competition for the vacant DC job. This leaves only Hall and apparently he and the Bombers have agreed to terms and will be announced early next week. Hall was said to have the inside track from Day One.

Its a bad news/good news scenario. Lower energy prices mean household budgets are not as stressed and the Canadian dollar will find a resting spot around 0.90 USD, which will make exports more competitive. Bad News:The tar sands are largely owned by Chinese and they have no problem shuttering a bad investment until things improve. There are major black clouds on the horizon- the European enconomies actually shrank last quarter, Canadian real estate is about 30% overvalued ond overdue for a "correction", and the American Economy is teetering, due in no small part to the antagonistic political climate there and military adventures which have bled some 1.5 TRILLION dollars out of the economy. The biggest,most successful US investor, Warren Buffet (no relation to Jimmy) has pulled about 34 billion dollars out of the stock market in expectation of a crash.

In Alberta we have a deficit of $6-7 BILLION dollars.... Just this year. You guys have it good. And the Flames want a new arena? Good luck with that. This has been brewing for the past two years and its gonna get worse in Alberta. There are problems with a one-source economy, and the forecasts are for at least two more years of low oil and gas problems. Just wait until the tar sands start shutting down- they take years to get back up to full production.

Hmmmmm...if Benevides really wanted to go to Regina but got bad vibes or such, but Hall wanted to come here all along, I would rather have Hall. Don't like the idea of a coach whose first choice would have been elsewhere.

Blake may or may not make the team, but most athletes have their best years ages 26-29, and linemen often play well into their 30's.

Clearing out the deadwood.

Lets not delude ourselves. If Walters wants to bid up Heenan to force Taman to drain his cap space, thats one thing, but I rather doubt he would do such a thing. For starters ,the CFL is a small fraternity and Walters might need a favour from Taman at some point, so burning that bridge would make no sense. Heenan would need a pretty big raise to move here, and his wife/girlfriend would likely veto that anyways. If we have a legitimate shot at Holmes without breaking the bank, lets go for it. If that doesn't work, lets draft and develop.

Love the name. CRONK. CRONK!!! That he has to compete for his job in training camp. Which he would have had to do anyways. We can add his name to the list of phonetic Bombers: Crump, Bonk and Czap.

Picard has tweeted that he is happy and excited to be coming to Winnipeg. I hope he still has tread on his tires and makes the team.

Or one of the other six dwarves.

Don't bad-mouth Labbe. He might be waiting on the other side of a speed trap some day.

I told you all 6 pages ago that the matter was closed. Nobody listens anymore.....

Does Hall have a good reputation of making effective in-game adjustments? It would seem so. Etch came in with a well-deserved reputation and lived down to it, but I have not read on the Rider website about any troublesome traits for Hall.

What we need from Hall as defensive coordinator is a defence that adapts to the game as it goes along, defends against the inside run, and uses personnel to their strengths. It really doesn't matter if its Benevides or Hall, so long as we don't have a repeat of last season.

And we got a good deal of mileage out of Moe Elowonibi when others said he was washed up, so we have precedents.

Yeah, I remember we tried to re-sign him, some years ago, and he said adios. Good luck Dominic. He didn't show any loyalty to any team he played. The Bombers, Argos or Riders so it's easier to say adios to a player like that. Having said that, he went where the money was & who can blame him? No doubt if he was still a starter he'd go where the money is again. Can't really blame any CFL player for grabbing the bucks when he can. It wasn't as if Picard was a homeboy from Winnipeg who dissed the city and province and then bailed. It was about money and although Picard has had a long career in the CFL, most don't and have to live with a lot of creaks and groans for the rest of their lives.

Talking about Bluto and all, do you know what part of Popeye nevers squeaks? The part that he dips into Olive Oyl.

Maybe they will goaded into building a decent CFL stadium after looking westward and seeing how they are being outdone by their poor cousins here and in Regina.

I vote we bring Picard in to training camp. If he beats out Morely, good on him. Now that I've made this momentous decision, the matter can be considered as settled.

Moore was very good for those short times when he was actually on the field, but I don't know how much longer we can put up with his parade of owies. We need both performance and durability and I hope Walters and the scouts are planning to bring some heat on Moore in training camp.

We would have to be at least 9 & 9 for O'Shea to keep his job and it will take at least 10 & 8 to get into the playoffs with a chance of advancing. 12 & 6 would be a fantasy, but there are so many unknowns at this point that an Ouija board would probably be the best source for a guess.

Maybe O'Shea saw that a big part of the limp defence problem last year was Etch's selection of players to fit his ideas, and is determined that if he sees a problem, he will intervene. O'Shea ought to have a darned good idea of what kind of players will be successful in the CFL. I think we have to keep in mind that O'Shea may well be on some degree of thin ice this year as to whether he will the head coach next year. The team did sort of OK, but the second-half collapse has raised some concerns that O'Shea may not be able to walk on water.