TrueBlue4ever

Mike uses the pseudonym John Barron for his 3Down blog posts, as I understand it. Photo link here:

Outstanding detective work Mike. And I appreciate you sourcing your evidence to explain your assumptions. Gives your prediction more credibility than the standard “people are saying” or the anonymous “I know a guy” gossip. Thanks for the insider info!

Haven’t you just described the entire Province of Alberta?

This sounds exactly like what was said about Collaros after he got hurt in Saskatchewan.

Paul LaPolice?

SJR grad, class of ‘84.

Yeah, but who are you going to trust, them or me? That can’t even make a schedule properly. And Toronto has already clinched a home playoff date. They have won the season series (and this the tiebreaker) against both Ottawa and Hamilton, and neither team can win more games than Toronto already has.

Well it certainly has “bugged” you.

Did I say that? No I did not. But since not saying it doesn’t allow you to pick a fight and throw stones at someone with a different take, you twist words and make up stuff that wasn’t said. Convince me again that you don’t hate LaPo and this isn’t personal. Because you sure chafe at anyone who doesn’t give 100% of the blame and 0% of the credit to him for any and everything, or offers a counter-narrative to every criticism (some valid, some totally overblown) that you repeat over and over and over again. If you had even a half moderate response to those who say anything nice about the guy, or could allow yourself to concede anything negative isn’t totally on him or anything positive is partially credited to him, you might not come across as so over the top and angry, and could be taken seriously. But with you it’s nothing but an unbroken record of “sucks, loser, most overrated ever, arrogant, **** for receivers, wrecks QBs, useless play-calling, any success is due to everything else around him and in spite of his failure”. Your contempt for him and anyone who tells you what you say is exaggerated is bordering on pathological at this point. And as a personal aside, accusing others of gaslighting is pretty rich coming from a guy who has thrown out some version of “your opinion is bad and you should feel bad” more than any other poster has over the years.

Yeah, I am trying to do the mathematical possibilities (with varying degrees of success #Monday). If assessing chances based on logic and common sense, Bombers in extremely good shape for 1st and honestly a lock for at least 2nd. Sask has some work to do to get a crossover and probably needs assistance to get there rather than doing it all on their own, Edmonton and Ottawa need lots of help, Hamilton has a shot to get in and can really help themselves. BC has a leg up on Calgary that is to the season series but the injury situation could quite easily see a flip of positions there. Barring a collapse Toronto should be pencilled in at #1 in the East again. Montreal has enough cushion already to make the playoffs.

Dammit! Corrected. Thanks. My bad.

They don’t need us to lose any games other than the ones where they play us, so they control their destiny in that they can win out and pass us. They don’t need another team to beat us for them. We are only 2 losses ahead, and that is the number to focus on. Since there are two games left against them and we haven’t clinch the season series yet, they win out, tie us at 14-4, and win the tiebreaker.

The big game is the head-to-head match-up. If Hamilton loses their path becomes a lot tougher, but not impossible (they need to win out and have Saskatchewan lose out). Calgary will have an impact on both teams, and may have more to play for when they meet Hamilton than when they face Saskatchewan at year’s end. Should be interesting, but the Riders are definitely trending down, and always a question of which Hamilton team shows up (the Bomber destroyers or the Alouette *****-cats). Selfishly, would still love to see the Riders sneak in to the 4 spot and pull an upset run through the East to get a home Grey Cup, provided the Bombers are there too. I am in Regina for the Cup this year and the energy would be sky-high that week for a Bomber-Rider Grey Cup, TV ratings would likely be through the roof based on how these teams always draw eyeballs, plus a win at IG Field West would continue the tradition (1st exhibition game there we tied, 1st regular season game, 1st playoff game, 1st West Final, and first NHL hockey game Winnipeg won all, so 1st Grey Cup there would complete the cycle) and wash away 2007 forever.

Right now teams that control their destiny (don’t need other teams to lose to advance their position) are everyone but Edmonton. But Ottawa and Hamilton also need help to guarantee a playoff spot: Winnipeg (4 games left) - win 1 game to clinch 2nd, win 3 to clinch 1st BC (5 games left) - win 4 to clinch 2nd, win 5 to clinch 1st Calgary (5 games left) - win 2 to clinch 3rd (or 1 if that win is against Saskatchewan), need help to get 2nd or 1st Saskatchewan (4 games left) - win 3 to clinch a crossover, need help to get 3rd or 2nd Edmonton (4 games left) - Need help, period. Win 4 and need minimum 4 other specific outcomes in other games to make playoffs, or win 3 and need minimum 8 other specific outcomes in other games to make playoffs Toronto (5 games left) - win 4 to clinch 1st (or 2 if 1 win is against Montreal) Montreal (5 games left) - win 5 to clinch 1st, win 3 to clinch 2nd (or 2 if 1 win is against Ottawa), win 2 to clinch 3rd. Hamilton (4 games left) - win 3 to clinch 3rd (or 2 if both wins are against Ottawa), need help to make playoffs Ottawa (5 games left) - win 5 to finish 3rd, need help to make playoffs

This is true only if we beat BC in one of our games. We could go .500 and still finish 2nd if BC runs the table. We control our destiny but so does BC.

Sorry, but Father Time is the GOAT. Undefeated.

FIFY.

Sorry, I jumped the gun and made a mistake when I meant to write “can clinch 4th in the West”. Thanks for the audit, I have made the correction.

It has been trending down though. Was 72% a decade ago, and whites are projected to be a minority in the US by 2045. And immigrants and minorities typically vote Democrat.

Those polls that are showing a bump for the CPC also show that Trudeau is favoured over Pollievre as PM personally. So the bump may be in spite of Pierre rather than because of him, and is due to the CPC changing leaders and getting attention for their new direction (and claims of unity, despite an MP resigning right after). In any event, the election is 3 years away, so I don’t put much stock in a snapshot poll taken today having much significance about the national mood on the “fatigue of the Trudeau government”.

Week 17 update: this week’s playoff clinching scenarios - Winnipeg: has clinched a West playoff spot. Can clinch a home playoff game this week with a win OR a Calgary loss. BC: Clinched a crossover playoff spot. Can clinch a West playoff spot with a win OR a Saskatchewan loss. Calgary: Clinched a crossover playoff spot Can clinch a West playoff spot with a win AND a Saskatchewan loss. Saskatchewan: Can finish no better than 2nd in the West. Will finish no better than 3rd with a loss OR a BC win. Will finish no better than 4th with a loss AND a Calgary win. Can clinch 4th in the West with a win AND an Edmonton loss. Edmonton: Can finish no better than 4th in the West. Will be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss AND a Saskatchewan win. There are no East crossover possibilities. Toronto: Clinched 2nd in the East and a home playoff game. Montreal: Can clinch 3rd in the East with a win. Hamilton: Can finish no better than 2nd in the East. No clinching or elimination scenarios this week. Ottawa: Can finish no better than 2nd in the East. No clinching or elimination scenarios this week.

I’ll never get why the hate of him is so personal for some of you here. Like you want him to fail and revel in it. And root for him to get fired. It will happen and is part of the game, and his record shows he’s not a head coach, but the glee some post about his inevitable demise makes no sense to me. If people are bitter about the time he was here and didn’t deliver a win, it should have washed away in 2019. If he had a big character flaw like he beat his wife, quit on a contract and walked out, was demeaning to the media or fans, or got busted for drug use I might understand it. Why is your hate so personal?

The Republicans are taking this approach because they know that white people are becoming a minority in the US, and they can no longer rely on having the pure numbers on their side, so they don’t try to court the majority because they know they will never have it. So they divide to strengthen their base and hope that the moderates and progressives split the liberal vote. Is the same cultural shift occurring in Canada, where immigrants are the coming majority?

I’d take a Grey Cup winning co-ordinartor back. Good players make good coaches. So said O’Shea himself. And if he wants LaPo back, I’d trust his judgment over yours 7 days a week and twice on Sundays.