TrueBlue4ever

Do they give out rings like this for that? Or just that silly big play chain? Last time I saw it, it was hanging from the north end cross bar after the West Final. 😉

And I know back-to-back games at home a week apart does not help attendance. The drop-off in Winnipeg on what was a pretty great night weather-wise was shocking though. And traditionally attendance drops after Labour Day league-wide.

To win back the title you have to have it in the first place. Judging by this synopsis of the history at new Mosaic: First pre-season game - Winnipeg tie First regular season game - Winnipeg win First playoff game - Winnipeg win First NHL game - Winnipeg win First division final playoff game - Winnipeg win you never held the title. Can’t wait for the first Grey Cup there, when the Bombers three peat. 😁

Win or lose by the Riders tonight it is already looking like a two-horse race in the West. I am betting both IG Field and IG Field west will host playoff games this season.

I get your point, but at the same time, NFL pre game broadcasts run the ticker underneath showing the game lines and over under all the time. Like it or not, gambling is HUGE in sports and may be the lifeblood the league needs, and TSN is the league broadcaster, so they will play ball. I was going to post this in a separate thread, but with this discussion it seems like an OK place. Not sure what the attendance in Sask will be tonight, but Edmonton dipped from 30K to 25K, Calgary had only 23K for it’s opener after the pandemic stole away last year, and dropped to 21 K yesterday. And stunningly, the Bombers had 22,100 fans last night. The Grey Cup champs of Bomber nation could not sell out their banner raising home opener after a lost season, and dropped another 8,000 fans for last night. Other than the frigid Thanksgiving post-snowstorm game in 2019 against the Als, last night was the worst attended Bomber game in IG Field history. I read an article about NHL teams selling more partial season ticket plans because fans do not want to invest in a full 45 game package post-pandemic, and league experts are a bit worried about declining interest in attending live events. So in a league that needs attendance more than any other to meet the bottom line, given these numbers in the “CFL hotbed” of the West, just how much trouble is the league in right now?

That face mask sack should have been a flagrant foul.

My original comment was not intended to be limited to just the playing field.

Must be the water in Alberta. Lots of circus rainbow wigs and big shoes all over the place. Obscure stat of the week in 71 years Edmonton has only started the season 0-2 with both losses at home once (2010). In 75 years Calgary has never started that way. This season Alberta teams are 0-4 at home to start the year.

Could be entertaining, in a blood sport kind of way.

Milt and “butts and guts” as he called him would not get along well on the panel.

This is my understanding. All turnovers are automatically reviewed. The ruling on the field was NOT a turnover but an incompletion, so there is no automatic review. O’Shea challenged without a timeout to burn in case he lost, so by rule he cannot challenge and the team gets dinged for delay of game. So the first good outcome that actually happened (turnover) was missed, the second result of the play (incompletion) gets overturned by the penalty, and the ultimate third result is an advance by the Argos asif the pass was completed in the first place. Gaffe by O’Shea. Now the part I am unsure about. I think they took out the mandatory league review on everything in the last 3 minutes because they changed the rule to allow coaches to still challenge plays inside the last 3 minutes if they have a timeout, and gave coaches more than one challenge if they get the first one right.

Looks like Sewell is ready to step in and take his place as resident idiot.

The more I see Bethel-Thompson, the more I realize he is Trevor Harris lite. Puts up good numbers (but not as gaudy as Harris) but it does not translate into wins (much worse than Harris). Harris will get you 5,000+ yards in an 8-10 season, MBT will get you 4,000+ in a 3-15 season. I was honestly surprised when I heard before the game last night that his record was 2-6 in 2018 and 2-10 in 2019 as a starter.

Not quite true. His lack of threat had little to do with Nichols as the sole factor. He was hurt early in the year so that affected his numbers, but in 7 games with Matt he had 16 catches for 263 yards, 15.9 yard average, on 32 targets, so Matt went to him but he was not catching half those passes. With Streveler in 8 games he had 22 catches for 315 yards, 14.3 average, on 26 targets, and those numbers are skewed by one big game against Hamilton where he caught 10 for 144 (and skewed even more when you realize 7 of those catches came in the last drive in garbage time with multiple catches in a row). With Collaros, including playoffs, 4 games, 13 catches, 185 yards, 14.0 average, 15 targets. So Nichols tried to utilize him more, and on deeper passes, than the other two. He just got more polished as the year went along and caught more of what came his way. And since Nichols had a higher completion percentage than either Streveler or Collaros, it’s hard to argue that Lawler’s incomplete targets were all Marty’s fault by being inaccurate. His success this year has as much to do with his own maturity and personal improvement as it does having a different QB (although I will agree that he is better off with Collaros than he was with Streveler).

Or where their hands can be when lined up a yard off the ball. 3 offside calls on short yardage (I think on the same player) where he lined up in the neutral zone before the snap. Just gifting us first downs all night.

The player’s ring was white and yellow gold with their name in yellow gold and their number in diamonds, and the inside personalized engraving, with the 11 sapphires along the bottom of the rim for each of the team’s championships. The deluxe replica ring had 3 options: metallic alloy instead of gold and zirconium instead of diamonds and sapphires for $500, real white gold (no yellow) and zirconium for $5800, or white gold and diamonds for $7500. Some versions of the fan replica ring did not have the 11 blue stones along the bottom of the rim. The fan rings did not have the game score or engraving on the inside, and slight modifications on the sides compared to the player rings. On one side where the players had their name and number, the fan rings have “Winnipeg” in place of the name, and the CFL logo in place of the number. In both versions of the ring, the player number or Logo is bracketed by the roof line of IG Field as viewed from the end zone, simulating the view the players would have coming out of the tunnel to start the game. On the other side, the player’s ring had the Grey Cup there with “107” on it, bracketed by the words “Blue” and “Bombers” and the Golden Boy on one side and Esplanade Reil on the other behind the Cup. The fan ring did not have the 107 on the Cup or the words Blue Bombers, and added the Provincial crest and the year 2019. The player’s ring had the “Grey Cup Champions” along the rim in yellow gold with the sapphires, and the deluxe fan ring added the words Blue Bombers, but again that ring is only white gold. The non-deluxe fan ring removed the sapphires and made the rim typing bigger. The faces of all the rings were identical with the “W” in blue enamel surrounded by diamonds or zirconium. There were also a bunch of other pendants and such that could be bought, and of course all are personally sized. The replica ring ($50 and re-issued and in stock at the Bomber store now) is metallic alloy and zirconium and comes only in size 10, meant more for display than wearing. Full details on all the jewelry here: https://www.bluebombers.com/greycuprings/ My ring pictured above is a different thing altogether. It was a limited edition 90th anniversary ring offered to select fans for purchase. Modelled after the player’s Cup ring with the same “W” face (but only zirconium, diamonds not available) but in pure white and yellow gold. The rim is yellow gold with each of the 11 Grey Cup winning years and the sapphires placed in between each year and not all along the bottom. One side of the white gold ring has the CFL logo, with “Grey Cup Champions” over top of it. On the other side is the Grey Cup, Golden Boy, and Esplanade Riel bracketed by the stadium arches, and my personalized name in yellow gold above it. On the bottom of the ring the words Blue Bombers are engraved, and in the inside of the ring, the specific lot number is stamped. Only 90 maximum were being made, first come first served. I am aware of at least a dozen that were ordered. Felt very lucky to be one of those to whom the offer to purchase was made. Don’t ask the cost, my wife does not like to talk about such things (“Will it really make you happy, dear?” was all the permission I needed). But with no football last year, my season ticket money for 2020 was put to good use covering a decent chunk of the cost, and the club said they had a good deal with the supplier to get a cut of the profits. Did not feel right getting a replica of a championship ring for a team I did not play on, but was happy to buy a team ring for their anniversary and help support the club that way.

Replicas are available. And the money helps the club.

I had a good chuckle in the 4th quarter when the score was 17-7 and the video board put up the choices for player of the game. The choices were Lawler, Collaros, Bailey, and Demski. No disrespect to the offence, but the defence carried them all game. 3 stars: 1. Jesse Briggs - finally gets a start and has a huge game with constant pressure, defensive and special teams tackles, and the game changing forced fumble. 2. GM Kyle Walters - hard to single out individual defensive players in another team effort like yesterday, so a salute to the guy who has given us enough depth to not only survive but flourish with the injuries piling up. The rotation system on the defensive front 7 means tons of different looks and constant fresh players bringing pressure. Can’t do that unless your depth players can step in without missing a beat. Kudos to the man who built this squad up from the Joe Mack trash heap he was left (one of the biggest upgrades at a single position in club history) 3. Kenny Lawler - on a night where the offence had trouble getting some traction, despite some fancy stats from Collaros and his 80% pass completion rate, the only true offensive star was Lawler. 9 catches, almost all clutch when we needed to make a big first down, and he fought for every tough yard. Took a pounding and came out on top. HH - Well friends, it was another great night for football and another dominant defensive performance from the local dozen, sprinkled with just enough offence and a dash of solid special teams to produce a victory for the home side. And again there were some standout performances. But this award is about that something extra special. That player or players who did that one little thing, or not so little, that made them stand out. And normally a play like that forced fumble by Jesse Briggs that led to the clinching TD would fit the bill, especially coming with the team only up by 3 points and with the Argos starting to claw back into the game. But Briggs was a strong force all night, so he is honoured with a game star, not a happy honker. Other players like Jackson Jeffcoat and Willie Jefferson were their usual dominant selves but lacked that one WOW play to flip the game that would have pushed them over the top. The secondary, including big hitting Nick Taylor, had its moments as well despite giving up some big completions when the Argos were second and long. On special teams, Marc Legghio deserves credit for literally going toe to toe with Boris Bede’s monster leg, as his punts kept the Argonauts on a long field all night long. And Charles Nelson acquitted himself on the return game in place of the injured Jenarion Grant. Although this understudy was not as dangerous as Grant might have been, he was fairly sure handed and always churned out positive yards on each return. Offensively, the flash was missing tonight but there was steady play for the most part. And leading the charge was offensive coordinator Buck Pierce, who followed in his mentor’s footsteps with a clean, clock chewing game plan of short passing and mixed up the run game enough with Jet sweeps to throw the Argo defence a few curves. Similarly, QB Zachary Collaros, clearly learned something from his predecessor Matt Nichols, with a stable ball control offence, and high passing efficiency and completion percentage, with just enough of a deep ball threat to keep the Argos honest. But he did throw an ill-advised pick when he mistakenly thought he had a free play, so that disqualifies him. And kudos to Rasheed Bailey on his first CFL touchdown that wasn’t called back on review. And the smaller than expected but boisterous group of fans at the game deserve a shout out for their disruptive noise that befuddled an undisciplined Toronto team into many costly penalties. But this game was once again about the defence, and that is where the award goes tonight. Jesse Briggs forced the game changing fumble, but it would mean nothing if Toronto recovered, so we must give credit to Deatrick Nichols for pouncing on the loose pigskin and flipping the script on a game that may have started to get away from the Bombers. And later sealing the victory with his first career interception was just the icing on the cake. Two turnovers that led to 10 Blue Bomber points is certainly Happy Honker worthy. And I must also give recognition to a different team whose contribution at the game was equally important. We had a terrible accident on Pembina Highway just beyond the stadium gates, and our local constabulatory were on the scene for hours doing their duty, and then pulled double duty protecting all the fans at the stadium and then effectively guided the vehicular traffic away from IG Field and into the night. I understand that the bulk of the badged men and women in blue came from the St. Boniface district. Therefore, a double happy honker tonight. A salute to the unheralded, under-appreciated, and often unfairly criticized Nichols and La Police.

Without rules we have anarchy! 5-7-5.

The question is would the failures of the conservative Provincial premiers translate into a Federal Liberal vote? My brother says Doug Ford has done the impossible, made him want to vote Liberal instead of Conservative in Ontario. Whether that carries over to a Federal election remains to be seen.

This is haiku, not free verse.

Whoa, whoa. We meant August 13 on the Mayan calendar. Keep up, would ya?

Is he not also suffering from stomach and ankle problems?