TrueBlue4ever

Brady Oliveira.

You’ve just given me an idea for the “random question of the week”. Thanks!

I’m just going to focus on the rest of 2023 before worrying too much about 2025. I suspect Miller, Walters, and O’Shea are taking the same approach.

Roster management. 😊

Maybe try a Dr. Seuss rhyme. 😁

Fans are being totally consistent…….in complaining each week. 😁

Me too, so that Leaf fans wouldn’t have the pretend “we totally would have won” fantasy when they could still have lost the game, conveniently forget the egg they laid in game 7, and ignore the fact that they still would have likely lost to Patrick Roy in the Finals anyway, and couldn’t manufacture an excuse. 😉 Don’t forget that they had already given up the tying run before that play, so Buckner’s gaffe did not cost them the win automatically.

Had not thought of Glenn’s injury at first but now that it has been brought up, hard to argue that. Probably the fairest “wish that play was different” because it doesn’t actually change the result of the game that it occurred in, and doesn’t automatically guarantee a changed outcome in the next one, but gives us a fair fighting chance. Younger me would probably say Ben Johnson doesn’t test positive since it was such a blow to the country’s psyche, but I’d be a hypocrite hoping he got away with it when I have disdain for others who cheat, so I guess I could say I wish Carl Lewis’ positive result at the US Trials was not swept under the rug, and he would not have gotten away with his cheating. Other nominee would be Bob Cameron’s punt not being blocked in the Grey Cup in 2001.

I think O’Shea’s record of being successful at challenges is pretty good, if TSN’s tracking is to be believed, and my memory of same is accurate. However, I would also say it is skewed because he is ultra cautious about throwing the flag in the first place, IMO way too much so. So he does well winning a challenge because he only goes after the obvious ones, unlike say a Dave Dickinson who throws out a flag almost whenever he can. O’Shea certainly could be more assertive when it comes to challenges, the feel for in-game situations and exploiting them is an area he is not the strongest in as a head coach, which is odd because as a special teams coach in Toronto he had a knack for almost always knowing exactly when to throw in a fake play and take advantage of a game situation, which he did frequently.

Unfortunately with the current state of the CFL stats page, no game stats are currently available beyond this season, and the CFL record book does not list the fewest kickoffs in a game (record for the most is 12 BTW). So unless I can find the game stats from a different site, that question will remain a mystery for the moment. I’ll see if Steve Daniel has any idea. I can say there have been a number of “only one kickoff in a game” situations just this year. I’ll keep digging, but I am not certain the answer will be easily found with the change in stats platforms. Boo-urns!

Time for another random question. This one was courtesy of Super 70’s Sports: If you could change just one play in sports history, what would it be?

The Botanist. A friend who was a wine sommelier at Banville and Jones and does a lot of liquor tastings (especially scotch) recommended it. I have much more of a sweet tooth so I prefer ameretto, but when doing O&S, one must pay homage to the OG Do or Die.

What Bison info do you want? Next home game is Sep. 23 @ 2 pm vs. Regina.

Sorry I missed you Speed. Too busy tailgating to check the GDT beforehand. You should come on down to Winnipeg more often, you are clearly good karma.

With apologies to Do or Die for the plagerism and not matching your masterful brevity: Bombers come home, looking to avenge the LDC, clinch a playoff spot, and once again quiet the narrative that they are on the decline after a loss. Perfect weather for a game, and pre-game tailgate with the Strevelation in the house….. Castillo with the 9 iron chip shot kickoff and the Riders are immediately at midfield…… And a couple of short passes and a Walker Jr. head slap for an RTP later, and the Green gang are quickly into the red zone….. Where Dolegala misses a wide open KSB on the goal line, the the Bombers dodge an early bullet, 3-0 Sask….. Bombers take it at the 40 and Brady O wastes no time picking up where he left off last week….run of 9…..catch of 10…..run of 11….and a rare Zach scramble, and the offence is off and rolling The inevitable Rider discipline rears its ugly head with a helmet tear-off and Winnipeg works its way down to the 1….. Where Prukop follows the Tui Eli and Damian Jackson blocking across the line….Bombers up 7-3 Another short kickoff - this Bomber kick coverage still leaving lots to be desired……. Quick 2 and out courtesy of a solid open-field tackle by Holm on Sterns, the waif does not let many get away or give up yac yards…… Parker showing more assertiveness on his first return than he did all last week, and the Bomber offence is back on the turf starting at midfield…… Brady O has decided to own this game early….gashing and exploding for 36 on the ground….. And after a Dalton Schoen sweep????, Collaros evades the rush just long enough to shovel it to Brady on the check down, who turns around and sees nothing but open field….and will not be denied, 17 yard TD and a 14-3 lead. No time to rest as Sask goes 2 and out again, Dolegala’s sights starting to look off, and Rider receivers hearing footsteps…… When are coaches going to return to the ancient “let’s put 2 returners back on punts to cover the entire width of the field”? These Aussie punters and their sidewinder kicks to the far side are the new flavour of the day…a second returner would destroy that play’s usefulness pretty quickly…… Someone in green might want to cover Oliviera, who starts off drive #3 with a simple swing pass and charges up the sidelines for 23 more….. Demski in on the act after a well-placed ball by Collaros and the short pass offence continues to move…..,Buck clearly talked to LaPo about returning to a run-heavy, ball control, simplified offence during the week and has gotten away with the long bomb misses that plagued the offence last week…. More simplicity with Bailey on a couple of crossers to keep the chains moving…. And then a classic Rasheed block to seal the end while Prukop goes around the corner for 7….. Before Zach finally throws a pass beyond 10 yards to Kenny Lawler, who spins, pushes, and (with an assist from Jackson pushing the would-be tacklers) stretches down to the 1…,.but wait….. and wait….. and wait…… while the command centre looks for a knee to the turf and can’t find it…,TD Lawler, and this game is on the verge of becoming a blowout…3 drives, 3 scores, 21-3 Bombers. Kick coverage marginally better with Castillo getting it deeper, and Parker looking much more settled this week on both ends of the return/coverage game with a sweet tackle…… More huddles from the refs, who must be making dinner plans and are asking command centre for suggestions……… Dolegala does have a decent arm when he dials in his accuracy….. Redha Kramdi sighting, as he cleans up the Walker-Jake Thomas pocket collapse for a sack, and Saskatchewan settles for a mere 3, now down 21-6…..now, if their defence could get a stop……. And they might after Collaros throws his first incompletion of the game 22 minutes in (what a difference from last week’s zero yard first quarter performance)… But he is now hitting some intermediate throws, finding Lawler for 25 before offsetting fouls give the Bombers a 5 years advantage but wipe out the pass gain…. Oh yeah, we still have Oliviera, who is chewing up real estate, run or pass….. Buck has kept it mostly short, simple, and high percentage with his play calls today. to great effect…… Finally, a deep shot on 1st and 20, and Schoen out-positions the defender for 42….. Before completing the drive with a corner route and a 16 yard TD…. My lock of the week comes through , and the Bombers are fast locking down a playoff spot, up 28-6. Riders can’t get anything deep on their passes with a swarming secondary, and find themselves 3 down at midfield….. Where behind a deafening crowd, Pipkin gets nowhere, and this game has spiralled out of control at the 3 minute warning of the first half…. The less said about the TSN panel shenanigans, the better…. Collaros dinking and dunking the Riders apart, Brady sapping their will to live….. And Roadhouse with the kill shot over Nick Marshall, 31 yard TD, 35-6, 5 drives, 5 touchdowns, and a near flawless first half….. And we’re not done yet, as the kick cover team finally pins the Riders behind their 20, and the D forces a punt after a thundering Kramdi hit. Can this offence pull one more score out of their hat with only 47 seconds from their own 37? Why not? After looking like they are content to run out the clock with Brady, Zach decides to heave it downfield to Kenny Lawler….. Who gets behind the oft picked-on Nick Marshall, having a half to forget….. And suddenly a 60 yard bomb later, Winnipeg knocking on the door again…. And Schoen answers with an 8 yard crosser over the line….40 seconds, 73 yards, turn out the lights,42-6 Blue at the half. 3 TDs for Schoen, who now has a league-leading 10, one more than teammate Brady Oliviera. Collaros an unconscious 16/17, 285 yards, and 5 (5!) TD passes in the first half……… Whole Bomber offence tied a club record with 42 points in the half……clearly, reports of their downward spiral have been exaggerated, at least this week….. Nice halftime tribute and speech by Ring of Honour inductee James Murphy…..the pre-Milt GOAT of the Bomber receiving corps…..you young’uns who never experienced the 1980’s era missed seeing a real gem in Murph…….. Bombers start on D again for the second half, and the Riders look like they aren’t ready to quit yet, stringing together some first downs, before another KSB missed goal line pass…. And then Jackson Jeffcoat blows through his block for a sack, and was that a fumble?….. Break out a novel while the command centre looks at it…… Bomber ball. What is John Lu wearing? Hoodie suit jacket with Rider Grey cup tribute striping?……. Another TSN third quarter interview while the game may not may not be going on, who knows?….but it’s James Murphy, so I’ll allow it….. O’Shea seems content to play 30 minutes of kill-the-clock keep away, with Oliviera grinding out yards and burning time….. Short yardage offence seems to be finding its footing with Prukop and the Eli-Dobson-Jackson heavy set……. Zach finally tries to stretch the field to Lawler twice….. And despite a mugging on the second throw, Lawler gets behind coverage and has one drop into his bread basket…… Drop being the key word, as he muffs the sure TD catch….. First mistake on offence all day, but we’ll take the 3, now 45-6… Willie J time, annihilating the Schafer-Baker jet sweep, then blowing around the edge to set up another Kramdi sack……according to the in-house stats feed, the Riders are ahead in time of possession (hmm, maybe the CFL stats team has been flown in to run the IG Field scoreboard today), but no sign of fatigue from the Bomber D….. TSN with their “Coors Moment of Chill” featuring two Riders, well the Bombers certainly have put them on ice today….. More Brady, because why not? Tack on another 33…….. Woli-world sighting as Guitarsky gets in on the fun….. Injury spotters now saying “you know what this game needs? Another 5 minute command centre delay”. I’m all for safety, but could these breaks be measured in faster intervals than hour glass?…….. Prukop again making short yardage look easy, and though it won’t show up in the stats sheet, you can bet seal Jackson will get props in the film room for his blocking on these plays, as he and Eli manhandle the Rider front…… Final 15 and time for the reserves to come in and give the roster depth some reps…… Castillo chip shot to start the 4th, and the Bombers inch closer to the big 5-0 once more……48-6…. Another TSN in-game interview instead of watching the plays. Wonder if MBB will complain since it’s Streveler? Sarcasm aside, that’s how you do it in a blowout game, short and sweet by John Lu, no real game action overlooked…., Dolegala outmuscling Jefferson to avoid a sack….give him time to grow, and we may have a future competant CFL QB…… Dru Brown in and quickly adds to the Bomber rushing totals…. Bailey the smoothest of the jet sweep runners, great vision, speed, and timing on his cuts….. Another back-up steps up, as Johnny Augustine comes in and knocks off a 34 yard carry on first touch……. Drive stalls as Lawler can’t make what would have been a great but makable catch, and Sergio knocks in another trey as the rout is complete at 51-6…… Rider scrubs in at last as the Bomber D chase yet another starting QB from the game this year…… Dickenson doing his flock of seagulls impression and calls for the morale-building “let’s keep it to 6 scores” field goal, but the Roder humiliation is capped off with a miss, and Parker finishes a nice bounce-back game with the return. Simple, straight ahead, effective……. Augustine showing nice bursts….8 different Bombers ran the ball today…… With 20 seconds left, the 9 for 9 drive scoring streak ends as Sheehan comes on to punt (dammit! - does O’Shea have no sense of the moment?)……and skys one 56 yards with a picture-perfect coverage tackle by Hallett - all 3 phases now checked all the boxes…… 51-6 final. Bombers again show who is the top dog and quiet the doubters following a loss, Collaros still has never lost 2 in a row as a Bomber starter….. Playoffs clinched, step one accomplished…, Blowing out the Riders, always satisfying….gin consumption, always satisfying.

I don’t want to hear one ******* word about roster management this upcoming week.

The question is: what standard are you holding this team to? You are comparing this edition to a magical 4 game run in 2019 where we all got to exhale after 3 decades of failure, then a generational defensive juggernaut that the league has not seen the likes of in maybe 60 years, followed by the single best regular season in the 93 year history of the club. So compared to that level of excellence, anything will suffer by comparison. IMO you are mistaking perfection with competence, and it comes across as “if we can’t win every game, and win by 30+, then there must be a serious flaw and our fate is sealed, our doom is inevitable”. It’s an unrealistic mindset to expect that level of absolute flawlessness, and that is where the real cognitive dissonance lies. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win every game, but when it skews your judgment to the point that any loss is seen as proof of a fatal flaw that will lead to doom, and every win is due to luck, and the only logical solution is to fire or punch the coach in the face because he is so oblivious to this colossal problem, no matter how much the winning might suggest the problem is being blown out of proportion, then the middle ground argument that could provide a good debate is lost in hyperbole, and the discussion turns into sniping between the “blind not to see it” and the “whiners”.

Like win the game?

It’s cute that you think this week’s game will stop the “roster management” tirades from happening again next week. Given how worked up you get about O’Shea’s roster management and “smug non-answers”, you may want to double your dose of weed, or check it for traces of bath salts. I don’t think it’s working the way it should for you.

But you do spew it at times.

Dalton Schoen

Beyond the two rouges, Parker let at least one if not two other punts bounce in front of him, and tried east-west a bit too much. Let’s face it, neither is in the same universe as Grant, and O’Shea will show him that loyalty you seem to hate and give Parker another chance this week if the coach’s show comment is to be believed, but he was hardly the saviour you’ve been touting with your weekly rants for the past 6 games. And Parker also made the single biggest gaffe on coverage teams when he tripped his own player. He was not good last game, and was less of a difference maker in the secondary than McCrae has been on offence, and that is a low bar. But hey, one game. Let’s see how he does this week.

DaVaris Daniels - Toronto