TrueBlue4ever

Choose 2 from the following list of bios: Roy Bennett – 51 games in 3 seasons (1985-87), 26 Int., 455 yards, 2 TDs (long 101 yds.), led CFL with 13 Int. in 1987, divisional and CFL all-star in 1986 and 1987, Bomber rookie of the year nominee in 1985, 2 career fumble recoveries, 67 tackles in 1987 Less Browne – 51 games in 3 seasons (1989-91), 27 Int., 571 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble recovery, 112 tackles, holds club record with 14 Int. in 1990, set CFL record (since broken) with 273 yards in Int. returns in 1990, divisional and CFL all-star in 1990 and 1991, 1990 Grey Cup champion, CFL Hall of Fame. Paul Brule - 63 games in 4 seasons (1968-71), 14 Int., 238 yards, 1970 divisional all-star, led club with 9 Int. in 1970 Rod Hill – 90 games in 5 seasons (1988-92), all-time club leader with 47 Int., 482 yards and 2 TDs, 190 tackles, 5 fumble recoveries for 82 yards and 1 TD, divisional all star in 1989, 1990, and 1992, CFL all-star in 1989 and 1990, played in 3 Grey Cups and won 2, never had less than 7 Ints. In any season, set CFL record with 5 Int. in 1 game James Jefferson – 49 games in 3 seasons (1986-88), 12 Int., 193 yards, 2 TDs, 105 tackles in final 2 years, 4 fumble recoveries for 1 TD, divisional all-star 1987 and 1988, CFL all-star 1987, set CFL record with 4 TDs by a defensive player in 1 game, 1988 Grey Cup champion Jovon Johnson – 107 games in 6 seasons (2008-13), 23 Int., 510 yards, 6 TDs, 370 tackles, 8 fumble recoveries, 1 TD, divisional all-star 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, CFL all-star 2009 and 2011, team nominee for outstanding player in 2009 and 2011, team nominee for outstanding defensive player in 2011, CFL outstanding defensive player in 2011 (first and so far only defensive back to ever win the award), led CFL in Int. with 8 in 2011, led CFL in fumble recoveries with 5 in 2012 Reggie Pierson – 91 games in 6 seasons (1978-83), 27 Int., 439 yards, 4 fumble recoveries David Shaw – 52 games in 4 seasons, 13 Int., 360 yards, 3TDs, 1 sack, set club record (since broken) with 108 yard Int. return in 1985, divisional all-star 1983, 1984, and 1985, CFL all-star 1984, 1984 Grey Cup champion

On a club website they list him as a halfback during his exceptional 2001 season, so I will defer to that source, but he was a true "rover" who would play whatever position the opposing team's best receiver was at, and he was a true "shutdown" DB because teams actively avoided throwing to him because he was a threat to pick off every pass. He "only" had 6 ints. that year, because teams only threw in his direction maybe once a game at most. Thanks for you input - he will be featured in the "halfback" nominees for sure.

Bennett will get listed. I show Rowland as a Linebacker/running back, so he won't be on this list. Paul Brule was listed as a free safety (although he makes mention of being converted to a cornerback in an interview) so I will consider him in the "safety" category (as I will for Thornton, as I indicated earlier). Paul Williams had his greatest success with Saskatchewan (his 2 all-star nods came while playing for the Roughies) so I will exclude him due to little info on his Winnipeg contributions. Doug Strong played 5 years and had 15 total Ints., with zero team award nominations, divisional or CFL all-star nods, so in my humble opinion he falls short of the "all-time great" nominees. But I thank you for bringing each case to my attention. Furthermore, if anyone feels I have omitted a player in the final "voting" thread (coming soon!) I invite you make a case for them for inclusion in your own response. Glad to see people invested in this exercise.

Overruling myself, I have seen places where Bolden was listed as a halfback, so I will consider him for that position instead. of at cornerback, so he will not appear on this week's list of nominees.

I will try to reflect that in the bios. Hopefully listing divisional and CFL all-star nods will reflect how they stacked up against their peers at that time.

One final thing, the nomination and bio will only consider the player's time with the Blue Bombers, so for example someone like Geroy Simon may be excluded despite a great career if the bulk of his accomplishments come with another club.

I will throw out a bunch of names for nomination at the start, and then wait for other suggestions. I will then put out a formal poll on a Friday and people have one week to vote from that list. I will try to give a brief bio of each candidate so people can analyze the options. So tomorrow I will actually put out a list of candidates to vote on, and people will have until next Friday to vote. At the same time as the voting list comes out, I will post the next list of candidates for the another post for nominations for the next category. Debate and discussion can take place on the "nomination" post over the course of the week, and then a formal voting list will occur the next Friday. So one week to nominate and discuss, one week to vote. I will keep those posts separate, so the voting post can be just for voting, to keep things clean. If I find that the voting happens quickly, I will shorten the voting timeline to expedite things (maybe have nominations and discussion from Monday to Friday, and voting from Friday to Sunday - I'll play it by ear as we go along).

No jumping ahead!

Bolden usually covered the opposition’s best receiver so he was interchangeable, but he was listed as a corner, so I will stick with him in that spot.

My search had Listed Thornton as a cornerback, but he played a bunch of positions, so I will move him to safety. Thanks for the clarification.

As we settle in for the long off-season, and add another year to the futility chart for no Grey Cup championship, I thought a little winter project may keep things interesting. So I propose to create "the definitive" list of the all-time greatest Blue Bombers by position, as voted on by MBB members, covering all 89 years of this team's existence. Each week from now through April, we will focus on one position and decide who are the best all-time Bombers at that spot, completing the whole team as we enter training camp for 2019. The team will be position-specific, so rather than, for example, picking 3 middle linebackers in the "linebacker" spot, I will focus one week on middle/inside linebackers and one week on outside linebackers. Same will go for slotback/wide receiver rather than just "receiver", safety/halfback/cornerback vs. "defensive back", and fullback and tailback vs. "running back". Also, where a player may have excelled in 2 areas, you are only to judge their merit for the position that they are nominated for that week (ex. Charlie Roberts could show up both as a running back or special teams returner, but when voting for him as a returner, do NOT consider his contributions as a running back in your overall estimation of him, and vice versa. Same would go for Rod Hill - ignore his special teams ability to block punts when considering his abilities as a defensive back, and if a kicker did both punting and placekicking, analyze each facet separately rather than their overall impact). Because of changing offensive and defensive philosophies, I am going to expand the team in a couple of ways. On defence, rather than deciding between a 3-4 or a 4-3 defence, I will pick 2 inside/middle linebackers and two outside linebackers, and also two rush end/linemen and two interior linemen/nose tackles. To balance this on offence, there will be a tailback, fullback, slotback and wide receiver position, but also a #5 receiver position to account for the newer 5-1 offensive set. The defence will be chosen first, then special teams, then offence, and finally coach and GM. I will try to dig into the archives so as not to omit any candidates, but I may miss a few, so send in a nomination either as a response to this message or as a PM to me, and I will include that person on the list and try to highlight their accomplishments for your consideration .Then everybody votes and the top vote getter (or two in some cases) will be on the team. We will start with the cornerback position. You can nominate any cornerback from any era from today up until this Friday, and I will compile the list. On this Friday (December 7) I will post the nominees for people to vote on, and the following Friday (December 14th) the voting will close, with the top 2 vote getters being selected. Also this Friday (the 7th) I will open the nominations for defensive halfback, and that list of candidates will be open for voting on the 14th, and so on. The order will be: Cornerbacks (2), Defensive Halfbacks (2), Safety (1), Outside Linebackers (2), Middle/Inside Linebackers (2), Defensive Ends (2), Defensive Tackles (2) Place kicker (1), Punter (1), Returner (both punt and kick) (1), Special Teamer (includes long snapper, special teams tackler, or punt block specialist) (1) Centre (1), Offensive Guards (2), Offensive Tackles (2), Wide Receivers (2), Slotbacks (2), 5th receiver (#3 vote getter in Wide Receiver vs. #3 vote getter at Slotback in a special head-to-head runoff vote), Fullback (1), Tailback/Running Back (1), Quarterback (1) Coach (1), GM (1) Hopefully this piques people's interest, and gets us through the snowy season. So off the top of my head for Cornerback nominees, I would suggest, in alpahabetical order: Roy Bennett, Juran Bolden, Less Browne, Rod Hill, Jovon Johnson, Reggie Pierson, David Shaw (believe he played corner), **** Thornton. Not on this list because I THINK they played halfback were Ken Hailey, James Jefferson and Ken Ploen, but I stand to be corrected. I cannot think of anyone else who jumps out at me, but I am certain that I have forgotten someone (and please be mindful of the distinction of cornerback vs. halfback - if I have made an error let me know!). Keep sending in suggestions for nominations and I will create the voting list on Friday. I promise future postings on this thread will be shorter.

Mueller will be filing materials in court related to Michael Flynn's convictions today, and materials related to Paul Manafort's backing out of the plea agreement on Friday. If the news is half as juicy as CNN wants it to be, there should be some real heat on Trump. Open question - Which scenario (should any of these come to pass) would be toughest for Trump's ego to take, (a) proof that he is fully involved in the Russian collusion in rigging the 2016 election (thereby outing him as a definitive liar on the one drum he has kept pounding throughout this whole mess), (b) that he has done so as part of a Russian blackmail scheme because of compromising info the Russians have on him (a.k.a. "pee pee tape") (which would display how the self-proclaimed "deal maker" has been played, outsmarted, and controlled by others - in the words of Hillary Clinton, "a puppet", not to mention the embarrassment of the tape, if he is capable of embarrassment) ,(c) no collusion but full exposure of his business dealings and use of the Presidency to line his own pockets via corrupt dealings that undermined the security and stability of the country while shining a bright light on his shady business practices, or (d) that all of this happened around him without his knowledge at all, exonerating him legally but exposing him as a clueless patsy who is the dumbest guy in the room being manipulated by the very "swamp" he promised to run out of Washington?

Manafort lied to Congress to protect Trump. And Trump values loyalty above all else. Remember that nauseating "staff meeting" where Trump had everyone go around the table in full view of the press showering him with all sorts of compliments rather than doing any work? Trump craves adulation and will praise those that stand by him. I read an opinion piece on CNN (take that for what it is worth) that although Manafort lying appears on first blush to hurt Mueller and protect Trump, the fact that Mueller knows he lied and will read in the scope of those lies at his sentencing tells us that Mueller already has the dirt on Trump, and doesn't actually need Manafort to make the case, but basically caught Manafort in a lie based on the solid evidence he already has. I am waiting to see if the Democrat-led House subpoenas Trump's tax returns now that they have the power to do so. Forget Russian collusion, I think that this is the way to expose Trump's dirty business, showing how he has profited personally off of the Presidency/. But why do I feel like the Dems once again will not go to the places the GOP goes to in politics because of some outdated notion of "compromise" and "fairness" and moral superiority, when winning is all that matters in Washington.

Doug Soeteart had the flu (as did half the team), was still recovering, and was supposed to have the night off. Ed Stanowski caught the same flu bug and started throwing up violently about 2 hours or so before the game, and couldn’t even dress. If I recall correctly, they could not get the back-up from the minors to Minneapolis from Springfield in time, and this era pre-dated the emergency one day signing of a back-up goalie practice, so they had no back-up for the game. Soetaert will still super ill and pushing a 100 plus degree fever, but gutted out the first period only down 2-1. The roof caved in during the second period, as the Jets gave up 8 goals and were down 10-2. But they had no options and Soetaert had to go back in for 5 more in the 3rd. I almost wonder if the Jets would have had to forfeit if he’d have been hurt (I think the trainer would have gone in - no goalie coaches in those days either). But the score had everything to do with the team all being so sick.

So, to review: Masoli is chosen over Bo Levi Mitchell, who I'm guessing is going to win MOP tonight over Masoli. (I'll edit after the awards given out if I'm wrong) Neither Andrew Harris (CFL rushing leader) or Brad Sinopoli (most catches by any receiver, and an all-time Canadian record, to boot) both up for outstanding Canadian player, are on this list Neither Stanley Bryant or Brandon Revenberg, both up for most outstanding o-lineman, are on the team Neither Adam Bighill or Larry Dean, both up for defensive MOP, are on the team Ty Long, his team's MOP as a kicker/punter and the west nominee for special teamer, is not on the list in either the kicking or punting spot Lewis Ward is on the list as "special teams" (usually reserved for a returner) but is beaten out by Brett Lauther for the "kicker" spot (remind me what Ward does again?) Saskatchewan and Hamilton, #4 and #5 in points given up, have 7 of the 12 defensive starters, #1 Calgary has 2, #2 Winnipeg has 1, and #3 Ottawa has zero. BC, #7 in points scored, and Toronto, #8, had 2 players each on offence, one more in total than #1 Winnipeg and #2 Calgary had 3 between them (and all 3 of their offensive players were on the o-line) Hamilton has 5 players on the team (more than any other team except Saskatchewan) and yet finished 8-10. So did the coaching hold the talent back? Nope, June Jones was named best coach (ahead of award nominees Chris Jones and Rick Campbell, along with Dave Dickenson and his league-best record). This was the #7 team in the league this year based on their record.

Hope the refs are on top of illegal footwear tricks and we don’t have a repeat of the Edmonton debacle in ‘96

Have a hunch the fly sweep will be used a decent bit today by both teams. Adams, Demski and Dressler vs. Thigpen, maybe Roosevelt for them. Contain on those plays may well determine who wins the run battle.

Good on you for going to the game today. Fans in the stands are the lifeblood of this league over big corporate dollars, and the cold shouldn’t be a factor for a true fan. One thing both Bomber AND Rider fans can hold their heads high about- fan loyalty. Respect.

Brandon Bridge to start, Collaros won’t dress according to Dave Naylor at TSN.

Apparently Brandon Bridge was taking first team reps at Rider practice today. Jones still non-committal about who starts but says he just wants both QBs ready. Expect to see Collaros, but maybe he's unwell enough that they aren't sure he'll play the whole game? Although Collaros hasn't lit it up against Winnipeg, Bridge would be a huge downgrade (IF we can contain his legs and scrambling on stupid broken plays, which we should if we are disciplined). One other factor. O'Shea has lost 2 straight playoff games in no small part because of special teams gambles (61 yard FG instead of 3rd down gamble to get better range in BC, and fake punt that turned into a turnover on downs and subsequent Edmonton TD). Will he play it safe, outthink himself again, or gamble with better results this year? Thoughts?

Marcus Thigpen is also coming back after many weeks off for the 'Riders. He has in the past pulled off the big play against the Bombers as a triple threat (receiving, rushing, returning) so I hope they guard against a bust with him. Not sure if there are any other "big play" threats on that Sask. offence that we fear (now returns and defence are a whole other story).

Bomber offence is the only one in the CFL that scored at least 2 touchdowns in every game this year. So hopefully we can already bank 14 points in this contest.

Settle down there, keyboard warrior.

In the CFL, consecutive games with a catch streaks survive games that you miss due to injury or sitting out. So Dressler’s streak is not in jeopardy if he is sat.

Since Trump has re-jigged the Supreme Court with an addition who has come out and said the sitting President can't be charged with a crime, he could argue that he pretty much can decide what's legal and illegal now.