TrueBlue4ever

Apparently they were trying to get Verlander yesterday after re-signing Barrios and were in contention, so they seem to be willing to spend. Maybe they can re-up Ray.

I posted the MBB offensive tackle discussion in my last post, here are the discussions on the guard and centre positions:

Thought I would pull up the MBB All-time team discussion on best offensive tackle rather than re-create it: Notable that Bryant was voted in as #2 behind Walby back before the 2019 season by the fine folks at MBB. And here are his updated stats: Stanley Bryant – 101 games in 6 seasons (2015-21), 3 time divisional and CFL all-star (2017-19, 2021 nom pending), 5 time team nominee Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman (2015, 17-19, 21), 3 time Western Division (2017-19) and 2 time CFL Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman (2017, 18, 2021 nom pending), Grey Cup champion. A second Grey Cup and especially a 3rd MOL win would greatly strengthen his case as best ever.

Absolutely. And it was more ridiculous what they did to Harris by voting him to the West all-star team (unanimously, which was weird given the Winnipeg boycott, even their self-righteousness was not as consistent as their hypocrisy), and then bouncing him again for the league-wide team. What was the most insultIng was the CFLPA snubbing Harris for Stanback but voting in fellow PED failed test recipient Louis-Philippe Bourassa from Ottawa as long snapper on the team. Leonard has no chance to beat Bighill so this nom won’t amount to much, it it will be curious to see how the voters handle the all-star and CFLPA all-star team nods. If he gets through, then one has to ask again what kind of hypocrisy is at play, or just how big of an axe to grind did they have against Harris?

Agree for the most part. Collaros should be a lock (best team by a mile, no one had ridiculous stats to stand out, so most important position on the best team, and was the best at his position, and McGuire’s struggles with the same offensive weapons might highlight Zach’s value even more with the voters). Expect him to beat out Stanback from the East. Bighill takes this easily. I suspect the writers were so wowed by the overall domination of the Bomber defence as a whole that they give Bighill the nod as a way to honour the whole team (frankly his biggest competition was his own teammmates In Jefferson, Jeffcoat, and Alexander). Lokombo might ordinarily pose a challenge, but again the overall Bomber dominance will aid Bighill’s case. I see Lokombo beating out Demski for MOC. Demski has been hugely important to the team offence and has good all-around numbers, but I think the writers will spread out the wealth and want to reward Lokombo for a strong defensive performance that would otherwise be overlooked by the Bomber D dominance. MOOL Bryant is really the best, but who knows what writers think? Ed Tait admitted that the writers don’t really know what they are looking for and ask the coaches. So Stan’s reputation is the best AND worst thing he has going for him. When in doubt, go for the familiar name (the good side), but if he has already won maybe they think “time for another hog to be recognized this time around” (the bad side). Wild card is that he lost to Van Zyel in 2019 for precisely that reason (had won twice so the voters wanted to give it to another candidate that time around) and then head-to-head in the Grey Cup the Bomber line dominance on both sides showed what a bad decision that selection was, so maybe voters will offer him a make-up award this time around. It’s all voodoo, so good luck if you can figure it out. MOR Alford has gotten some talk, which is usually how rookies get picked (kind of a “hey I’ve heard that name a few times, they must be good”) but Williams in BC and Shafer-Baker in Greenland also got some press, so likely a 3 way race. So do the Bombers all get swept up in the “this team was so much better we will award them all” kind of wave, like in 2001, or will the writers spread the wealth as they usually do? MOST - I would love to see Mike Miller get the West nom, and because he broke the all-time record for tackles I could almost see the writers finally giving him his due as a sort of lifetime achievement award, and again he could get caught up in the Blue wave of awards, but voters often prefer the simple sexy stats when analyzing these things, so if no dominant returner stands out (like Dedmon in the East, who should win it all in a walk) then kickers get in by default it feels like. By now it should be clear that I don’t have faith in the voters do too much analysis and just go off of easy stats viewing to make their picks in the most simplistic way possible.

Remember that Harris was blackballed by the local writers here (3 of 5) which is what the initial round of voting is limited to. So the Sask writers had the sole power to include or exclude Leonard. A boycott could still come. Also remember that Harris was voted unanimously to the West all-star team, so once the voting went division-wide he had enough to get in (everyone in fact, which makes you wonder why the Winnipeg chapter did not continue their boycott for that selection?) but then was black-balled again for the CFL nod and the CFLPA all-star teams. So Leonard may still be eliminated from the all-star teams (plus he isn’t beating Bighill for MODP anyway).

Or hyphens. And D-I-c-k Thornton was exactly the name I put in when I discovered the problem, lol!

That’s what made the Jets’ playoff sweep and the Habs comeback in round one so sweet. All the pain from the broadcasters and panels who were praying for the anointed ones, the Leafs and Oilers, to advance. And The Athletic is still whining about how McDavid doesn’t get enough calls (best player should always draw the most penalties, apparently - anything less and the refs are biased), it was a treat to hear Tortarella tell him to shut up and play on ESPN.

I agree it takes time to get going, and I wonder if it would take more quickly if we were on defence. You see some fans trying to get it going and others trying to quiet them down. Honestly to me it seems it always (and I do mean always) starts up when the offence marches on the field. If all fans understood the concept of bringing the noise every time when the defence gets on, maybe I would enjoy it again.

1) Why is it that the Winnipeg Wave always seems to get going when we are on offence, never on defence? (a.k.a. Are Bomber fans that ignorant about the proper use of crowd noise?) 2) Why are we still doing the Winnipeg Wave? (a.k.a. Are Bomber fans that bored/lame/behind the times?)

Ray Ferraro

Wait, what? I thought that was rain! There’s goes one of life’s simple pleasures. Well played, sir. Well played.

Was it Jack Skelly up in the upper deck at old Canadinns who would get the “Gimme a B” chant going? The set of pipes on that guy.

My spies at Ticketmaster say just under 4,100 seats left.

I seem to set him off more than others do though. Not sure if it is personal (not sure why that would be, we don’t know each other at all) or if he just doesn’t have a cloud to yell at today. But it’s OK from my end, we are all here to engage in healthy debate, and won’t agree on everything. My wordy style and penchant for fact checking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’m happy to trade barbs with others so long as it doesn’t get nasty or violate the community standards here. The internet is a playground, after all. Go Blue!

You don’t trust Bob Irving? He’s a Sakatchewite by birth and respects the fan base. Not necessarily a fan boy, but he doesn’t abhor them or the team, he acknowledges the strength they bring to the CFL, as he does with the Bombers and their fans.

I think this is an accurate assessment of momentum. It is psychological more than a tangible effect of play, but psychology plays a huge role in sports. Teams that feel they can steal momentum get on rolls, and even great teams can feel like they lose momentum. Look at playoff runs by lesser teams where their belief in the momentum they have built carries them further than expected. And in 2001 Calgary walked into Winnipeg needing an upset win to just make the playoffs. They did not care that the Bombers were playing their back-ups, to a man they said that winning that game gave them a belief that the Bombers were mortal and could be taken. And Dave Ritchie swears that resting his players lost their edge (call it momentum, call it focus), and that shift led both teams on a changed trajectory that resulted in an upset win for the Stamps in the Grey Cup. I agree that consistently great teams can overcome the momentum loss from a single game, but it absolutely does exist and affects both players and teams.

Voting for each team’s outstanding player noms happens today. And of all the numbers Zach Collaros has to make a case for being his team’s MOP, nothing is a more powerful argument than how Sean McGuire performed on Saturday.

I see the MBB bad language editor is hit and miss again. Can’t write **** (Richard) but #fuckthem sails right through.

If he is just as bad next time, then it wasn’t worse, but is definitely not any better. My question to you though, taking these nit-picky definitions away from the conversation, is what has McGuire shown to suggest that this game was an aberration and there is much more talent there, which is what I assumed your position was? We have seen almost next to nothing of his play, and the first real exposure he got to the game since college looked piss poor. So where does the confidence in his game come from for you? I want to think he is better too, I just didn’t see a template for success from his play today, and have no other point of reference to offer hope.

“It can’t be worse” and “he is better than this” are not the same thing. I love this post because it is funny AND more true than some would care to admit.

I was assured yesterday when I raised this concern that this was a nothing burger. Guess we will see. I know Dave Ritchie would have been worried about this possibility.

I won’t pile on a guy for one bad game, but what in McGuire’s entire career gives you any impression he is better than this?