TrueBlue4ever

Merci.

BC is the home team in this one, just to make it tougher. Always felt the Lions were better than their record shows, but at some point you are what your record says you are, and they are 1-5 in their last 6. That loss to Hamilton really has me scratching my head about them. But teams coming out of the bye are 9-4 this year, so say BC in a close one.

Better?

The focus on this record has to be the receiving. If the Bombers are up late and killing the clock, then the rushing attempts and yards will come in garbage time, on top of whatever "establish the run game" attempts are part of the game plan. Two big factors that will impact the receiving yards are (1) the passes where Harris is primary target, like a set-up screen, as opposed to where he is simply the outlet valve when all other receiving options are covered - obviously that will affect the total number of targets he is getting, and (2) the YAC yards (is that redundant?) factor. Unlike a "normal" receiver, a running back is not running a deep route or a 10 yard out typically, so their yards are pretty much all after the catch close to the line of scrimmage, with a sizeable portion of the defence still between them and the goal line trying to make the tackle, and not in chase position. There are 5 receivers over 1,000 yards right now, and Brandon Zylstra leads that group with 330 YAC yards, or 29% of his total. Brad Sinopoli is #2 in YAC yards with 376, or 38% of his 989 total yards. Bakari Grant has 374 YAC yards out of 802 total, an impressive 46% (2nd best). Any guesses as to where Harris is? 564 of his 718 yards are YAC, or a ridiculous 78.6%. For comparison's sake, consider Milt Stegall, the greatest deep threat receiver in history. His YAC yards were typically gained after he had already beat the defender deep, and was just outrunning them to the end zone. I could not find career stats including YAC yards for him (they only really started seriously tracking this stuff last year), but think of his two greatest games. First, his 4 catch 4 TD game against BC. Of his 234 yards, 134 were YAC, or 57%. On his "miracle" catch in Edmonton, 68 of the 100 yards (68% for the mathematically challenged) were after the catch. Now those are the most extreme examples of YAC yards I can think of - Stegall's career percentage will be much lower than those gaudy numbers. And in all instances, he caught the ball behind the defenders and just outran them. Compare that to Harris' almost 79% achievement and remember that he's not outrunning tacklers from behind him in a foot race so much as dodging and straight-arming (and dragging) them as they appear in front of him. I'm not even sure a 1,000 receiving season has yet been registered in the CFL by a running back, much less 1,000/1,000. Craig Ellis is recorded as having the record for receptions by a running back in a season at 102, and that was in 1985 in Saskatchewan when he didn't break 1,000 yards. He later went over 1,000 receiving three times with Edmonton from 1989-91, but he was regarded as a slotback then, I believe. Likewise for Pinball Clemons in 1996-97 with Toronto, where he had converted to slotback. Just so we can put this all into context when debating our MOP candidate. If Harris achieves this (or even if he comes up just short), then there should be no debate as to who has had the most impressive (and historically greatest possibly ever) season in this regard.

Well, if he's coming from Southern Illinois, he may have flown over both Lake Michigan and lake Superior. Or if he was vacationing in Puerto Rico....it's an island....surrounded by...water......ocean water.

I think he is referring to the playoff bonus money they can make, and not wanting to jeopardize a playoff run with the potential of an injury in a meaningless game for the sake of a record. BTW, did a quick breakdown of our remaining opponents and Harris' performance against each of them so far to calculate if he would hit 1,000/1,000 if he repeats his efforts. Broke down this way: Currently at 793 rushing/718 receiving last game against Hamilton, was 107/21 (would take him to 900/739) last game against BC, was 29/85 (would take him to 929/824) last game against Toronto, was 81/13 (would take him to 1,010/837) BC again (would take him to 1,039/922) last game against Calgary, was 32/69 (would take him to 1,071/991).

You have a van full of candy, don't you?

My exhaustive post is better, if not as colourful. :-P

Really wish the CFL would, for the awards at least, do away with the west vs east mentality and name 3 finalists in each category. They do it for the coach of the year, why not here? Would be neat to see Harris vs Nicholls vs whomever this year, just like last year easily could have been Bo Levi vs Messam vs Reilly as a much more interesting final 3 as opposed to eliminating 2 of them and throwing in Ernest Jackson in a non-contest.

A few posts asking about when we can clinch, so here is a breakdown of all CFL teams' situations as of week 17. All scenarios assume no ties in any future games. Calgary: 3 games left. Has clinched a home playoff game. Can clinch first in the west and a bye with a win or a Winnipeg loss. Winnipeg: 3 games left. Has clinched a western semi-final playoff spot and no worse than 3rd in the west. Can clinch a home playoff game with a win or an Edmonton loss. Can clinch first and a bye with any combination of wins and Calgary losses totalling 6. Edmonton: 3 games left. Cannot finish first in west. Has clinched a crossover playoff spot at worst. Can clinch a home playoff game with any combination of wins and Winnipeg losses totalling 6. Saskatchewan: 3 games left. Cannot finish first or second in west. Can clinch a playoff berth with a win or a BC loss. BC: 3 games left. Cannot finish higher than 4th in west. Can clinch a crossover playoff berth with any combination of wins and Saskatchewan losses totalling 6. Toronto: 2 games left. Has clinched 2nd in the east and a home playoff game. Can clinch first in the east and a bye with any combination of wins and Ottawa losses totaling 2. Ottawa: 1 game left. Has clinched 2nd in the east and a home playoff game. Can clinch first in the east and a bye with any combination of wins and Toronto losses totaling 2. Hamilton: 3 games left. Eliminated from playoffs. Montreal: 3 games left. Eliminated from playoffs. Week 18 clinching scenarios: Calgary clinches first place and a bye with a win OR a Winnipeg loss. Winnipeg clinches a home playoff spot with a win OR an Edmonton loss. Saskatchewan clinches a playoff spot with a win OR a BC loss. BC is eliminated from the playoffs and finishes 5th in West with a loss OR a Saskatchewan win.

Hey, I've just got to take this one game at a time. I'm just happy to be here, hope I can help the message board. I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things will work out.

There actually is a Bomber fight song that they played back at old Winnipeg Stadium (before the CanadInns rebranding) in the 1980's when I first followed the Blue and Gold. Real quaint college fight song feel to it, with male and female chorus: "We're proud of the Blue Bomber name....So proud of it's glory and fame. We're the best in the West, and we'll take on the rest....'Til we get to that East-West (later re-worded as "Grey Cup") game *FIGHT* *FIGHT* (yelled, not sung) We'll fight through that line down the field.....Our Blue Bomber teams never yield. Let's fight on to victory, for great is our destiny.......So fight on, Blue Bombers, fi-i-ight" (pom pom shaking in the stands to follow the beat). I think they pulled the song after the Bombers flipped to the east division the first time in 1987, tried to briefly resurrect it in the Jim Daley era, and then buried it. Two other traditions I loved. One was Jack Skelly (so I'm told) in the east side upper deck with a voice so loud he didn't need a megaphone to be heard throughout the entire stadium. He would scream "Give me a B!' and the whole upper deck would yell "B!" "Give me an O!" " O!" Give me an M!" "M!" etc. until they got to "Give me an S!" "S!" "WHAT DO YOU GOT?" "BOMBERS!" "WHAT DO YOU GOT?" "BOMBERS!" "WHAT DO YOU GOT?" "BOMBERS!!!" Followed by loud roar and banging on their metal benches with their plastic pom pom handles. Super loud and got the whole stadium jacked up. The other one was an invention of a group of 4 season ticket holders about two rows behind me in the old joint, who had a touchdown cheer that they would only break out when the Bombers scored to take the lead or started pulling away in the contest: "Cigarettes and ashes, cigarettes and butts! We've got the 'Riders (or insert other opposing team name here) by the NUTS! SQUEEEEEZE 'EM! SQUEEEEEEZE 'EM! SQUEEEEEZE 'EM! (with a visual grasping in the air above one's head of some invisible junk) And kick 'em in the cup too!!" (Toast with a beer, and drink)

With Do or Die going all "Dante's Peak" on us for the next month, I thought I'd do what I do best and plagiarize someone else's great work and give this O & S a try in his absence (hope no one takes offence, 'tis easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission in my experience). So here goes: I crack the lid on some Crown Royal and raise a toast to Do or Die (not a gin guy, sorry).... And the Bombers trek to the City of Champions gift high draft choices, trying to sweep the Esks for the first time since the Kevin Glenn 1.0 era....... But get off to a slow start, feeding Flanders and resting Harris..... Winning the field position battle on punts sets up a 54 yard FG....but the ever reliable "Lock" registers a rare miss..... Edmonton sacrifices field position to deny the single point, giving "Mr. Automatic" a second crack closer in.... But that drives straight and true on the over-correction to the outside of the opposite post, Justin 0/2 and still scoreless... Early pressure by the Bomber front causes another sack, and another bad punt by Edmonton, kickers having a quarter to forget.... But Fogg's big return sets up the Bombers to march in for points, looks promising as Feioli-Gudino makes a nice catch in traffic.... And then bounces off a tackle...before pinwheeling and fumbling on the second hit, causing a turnover......and an injury Bombers' three trips in Edmonton territory have yielded nothing, can't afford to give away points and win in Commonwealth... Fortunately, Reilly likes this "2 and out" style of offence, and O'Neill is punting like a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest... Nicholls ducks into a sack and earns a roughing the passer helmet shot...but only because of a burned challenge to correct an obvious miss... So Medlock FG again from convert range, and WTH another miss??????????? His first 3 miss game ever leaves us up 1-0 in a shockingly defensive battle. Edmonton tests their running game with Van reeling off big plays....but the kicking woes continue as "Patrick" Swazye Waters dings one off the post Bombers finally remember they have Andrew Harris, who responds with 3 big plays to march us down the field.... Until he pounces on a fumble and gets kneed in the back for his troubles, when a penalty makes it a moot play.... And Nicholls hits Denmark with seconds left to finally produce a score, Bombers pitch a first half shutout, up 8-0. Eskimos make adjustments and put up a quick score, but Reilly can't throw the 2 point try with Sam Hurl wrestling him like a steer....8-6 Bombers really swarming to the ball on the short swing passes, and sure tackling this week...a refreshing change. Esks punting is truly atrocious, Bombers owning the field position battle, but little to show so far. Textbook stop and go route by Adams, and pinpoint accuracy by Nicholls on the pass sets up Andrew Harris... Who is making the most of every touch and punches in a response TD, Bombers up 15-6... Edmonton rides the Van down the field, but he goes out with a knee injury and the drive stalls...FG, 15-9 as we hit the 4th quarter With Andrew Harris now fully in control of the offence, and another perfectly placed pass by Nicholls to Adams..... In the corner of the end zone for a one-hand, one foot TD, at least that's what the eye in the sky determines.... And of course Medlock cranks the convert attempt off the goal post, because freaky Friday on a Saturday....but 21-9 looks pretty comfortable right now Brandon Zylstra the only thing keeping Edmonton in this game right now, but Bombers winning the majority of the 50/50 balls..... As the Esk receivers are not getting away with the push off like they usually do... Fake reverse and throw by Langford looks pretty, but just fails to connect, and a 2 and out, bad punt and iffy no yards set up Reilly at centre field Maas tries another ticky-tack PI challenge that fails......but no matter as the deep passes finally connect and the Esks are suddenly within 2 points at 21-19.... Offence stalling now as they have forgotten Harris again......but a big punt and outstanding cover teams keep Edmonton on a long field... Hurl actually getting some pressure on Reilly, who is mis-firing because of all the hurries and heat..... Randle island with a knockdown that could swat a hurricane away, and we trade punts again but keep gaining field position on the exchange.... Defence still giving up the odd big run, but out of the 3 minute warning....... The death blow by Randle again, as Reilly telegraphs one pass too many and this one goes the other way to the house...37 yards on the pick-6 and 28-19...... Nothing left to do, but book the road win, count the two points, and savour the series win Bombers now can safely dream of a home playoff game.....I can head off to dreamland now that the Crown is finished.

Thought he was already declared done for the year. Or are you referring to something else?

No Cactus Jack ramblings today (I'll save it for the home games, like he did) as a busy weekend continues, but he would have praised Harris and Randle before waxing poetic on Darvin Adams' phenomenal one-handed one foot down sideline TD catch that provided the winning points as the Happy Honker player and play of the game. As an aside, the precision of Nicholls' throw on that and many other passes was highly under appreciated in the commentary about the game. Tremendous ball protection.

Messam injured, will not play! http://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-rb-messam-out-vs-alouettes-1.869808

If we beat the Eskimos, then yes the number to clinch a home game is 2. And the number to clinch a playoff spot will be one, provided there are no more ties in the CFL season.

2006.

"My ding-a-ling. My ding-a-ling. I want you to play, with my ding-a-ling" "THIS SHOW IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!" God, the Simpsons is just brilliant.

The True North chant was started by a couple of fans who wanted to offer a salute to the ownership group for bringing NHL hockey back to Winnipeg and tossed it out at the very first pre-season game. It has now organically morphed into a "Winnipeg" thing where fans yell it to announce their presence at and support for a Winnipeg's team's game, home or road. The cheer afterwards really is just more of that organic morphing, the fans acknowledging that they are there with their "brotherhood" (sisterhood) and ready to cheer loudly for their team, even in a hostile location. Of course it is more pronounced at Jets games, since that is its origin, but it really is more about a way of saying "We are Winnipeg, we are loud, and we are ready to cheer on our team". Hokey to some, I guess, but pretty harmless IMO. The yelling of "Blue" at Bomber games during the anthem is exactly the same concept, albeit more forced (since it was not organically created but a copycat move - see below). So if you hate the "True North" chant, you should logically hate the "Blue" chant as it is designed to elicit the same emotion. It's not about bowing to the corporate overlords. I get the sense that it is a sore spot of petty jealousy by some who don't like the idea that a "Jets" chant carries more power than a Bombers chant at a Bomber game, like the fans are rivals or something. You do know that the entire "glorious and BLUE" chant is a direct rip-off of the "glorious and GREEN" chant Saskatchewan fans have been saying for years at Rider games, don't you? Except their chant makes slightly more sense, since "green" at least sounds like "free", while "blue" completely doesn't fit and is truly just a copycat idea. So if it is such a bad "Saskatchewan" idea to do it, what does that say about Bomber fans who bash it as being self-glorification but feel the need to mimic it during their own anthem? People don't yell it because it would sound stupid and out of context. The "True North" chant works because it fits directly into the anthem and has a link to the team and the ownership who brought them back, so it carries over to other sporting events. The "BLUE" chant doesn't even fit the song. But it's meant to show support for our team, I guess, so the sentiment is good, even if the execution sounds ridiculous. If Bomber fans wanted something a bit more creative and unique to the anthem at their games, perhaps rather than yelling "glorious and blue" (which really makes no sense and has no semblance of any connection to the anthem other than to copy the Rider tradition), maybe fans should yell "BLUE North" instead. At least that rhymes, reflects the team colour and our geographic location as a football city, and has a nice tie-in to a Winnipeg tradition rather than another city's, but adds a Bomber spin to it.

Boy, the Bombers must be having a really good season if this is the kind of stuff we are grousing about today.

Well friends, The Winnipeg Blue Bombers returned to the field tonight after a mid-season respite of 13 days to continue their quest for a home playoff date, something that has not been seen in these parts since the days of Buck Pierce and Paul LaPolice. I wonder where they are at now? Hope they are doing well. In any event, they returned to action this evening facing the Ottawa RedBlacks, who we should not forget are the defending Grey Cup champions, so they were prepared for a stiff test. Also stiff was the wind, as the conditions were not the most ideal to hold a football contest, but then again a little rain never hurt anyone, at least that's what the sailor Noah said all those years ago, if I am quoting him directly....the transcript of that conversation is a little spotty, I must confess. But the inclement weather did not dissuade many thousand faithful supporters in blue and gold attire from coming out to support their hometown squad as they attempted to secure a winning record at Investor's Group Field for the first time since this shiny new building opened some 5 years ago. And it was a night of celebration, as we got to see the unveiling of a new statue honouring the late great kindly Cal Murphy, the crusty old Irishman with a heart of gold so big he needed two of them to fill his life's work [Ed. note: not sure if that is "politically insensitive" in this day and age, but Cactus would have said that with nothing but affection], who returned Lord Grey's silver mug to our beautiful province after so many years, and who was befitting of such recognition. And we recognized the accomplishments of our local baseball heroes, the Winnipeg Goldeyes, before the game, saluting them for their victory in the championship game a couple of nights ago, adding to the sports lore of River city. And we even got to see the Winnipeg Police Pipe Band at halftime, always a treat, although I must admit I was a little disappointed not to see their back-up singer Paul McCartney with them. But the excitement was not just confined to the events off the field. The Bombers came out with their tried and true methodical approach, combining strong running from Andrew Harris, ably supported by Timothy Flanders, who I'm told prefers Timothy to Tim, so who am I to argue with him? And of course Matt Nicholls could be counted on to distribute the ball evenly and fairly to all his receivers in a controlled short passing game, although we did see him stretch the field on a few occasions, most notably to Darvin Adams, who had himself quite a game today with almost two hundred yards and a pair of touchdowns, although only one of them counted. And that defence played a steady game in keeping the new RedBlack quarterback, who was it, Jeff Lynne - didn't he front that Electric Light Orchestra band back in the day? ....off balance throughout the contest. And when it was all said and done the local side had emerged victorious, and despite the soggy conditions, it turned out nice again, as I am want to say. Now after the game I am asked to come out and say a few words and reminisce about the events of the day, but beyond that I am here to bestow the privilege of the Happy Honker Award on one lucky individual. Now this award as you may well know goes to the individual who did that little something extra special in the game that made them stand out, and as you may not know has been given out since the days mighty Mac Herron, Don Jonas, and Bernard Ruoff, 3 Bomber players of my vintage for the younger generation who may not know those names, and I guess the younger generation is anyone younger than me, that is to say pretty much everyone, so don't be afraid to dig into the history books to learn about their exploits. But on to the present day, and the individual who tonight distinguished themselves on the field. And I of course mentioned our running backs, who each dug a little deeper with their touchdown scores, especially Mr.Flanders, who would not be denied, shaking off 3 tacklers before crossing the plane and delivering a gift to a deserving young fan in the end zone. But tonight, there was one play that stood out and changed the course of the game. It was late in the second quarter, with the Bombers in command of the play clock and both sides of the ball, but with the score still tight at 9-2. Ottawa's running back William Powell, who was a namesake of a great actor back in the day, but not related to him I believe, had been fairly productive against the Bombers' defence, and was rolling to another impressive gain on a first down play, bouncing off and dragging would-be Bomber tacklers and leaving a trail of Blue and Gold in his wake, when big defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat wrapped his rather large arms around the ball carrier and tore the pigskin loose, preventing more damage on the run. But not satisfied there, he proceeded to recover his own forced fumble in Ottawa territory, giving the Bombers a golden opportunity to break the game open before the half. And of course, as they have done so often, the Bombers capitalized on the turnover as the aforementioned Andrew Harris rumbled 24 yards across the goal line a few plays later, and the contest was really never in doubt after that point. So for a wonderful individual effort, and the play that really set the win in motion for the Blue Bombers, today's Happy Honker Award goes to Jackson Jeffcoat.

OK, I shouldn't laugh at another human being's expense, but that was pretty good.

I wonder how much of a factor it is that Langford is the back-up punter on the team? If he sat out and Medlock goes down mid-game, is there any other player who could step in? Because to lose your kicking game in the middle of a contest could be pretty devastating for any team, for that contest anyway.

The ring came off my pudding can.