From the Hamilton Spectator:

 

"When the opposition dresses one man who will start next week, it's difficult to get any kind of definitive read on the 2013 Hamilton Tiger-Cats"

 

"Not sure if the CFL can do anything about this, but you can't have a team coming into the final exhibition game with virtually no starters in the dressing room. One of the contributors to that is the short time between the last pre-season games and the first in-season one. The league has to look this one directly in the eye, to see if it can prevent this insult to the paying fans. No one learned much about anything Thursday night, which isn't much return from half the available exhibition games."

 

"The Blue Bombers brought just 41 players to Guelph — one less than the roster limit for the regular season, never mind the usually bloated rosters of exhibition play — and were without a single marquee player. Their No. 1 quarterback, Buck Pierce, didn't even make the trip and many of the players in the Bomber lineup may have just played their last professional."

 

I don't really think there is a need for each viewpoint to be so extreme.  I think we all know the score itself is irrelevant and understand that only a few players from the roster last night will actually make the team. 

 

Still, I understand the concern with the roster too.  Injuries are inevitable and obviously it'd be a lot better if some of the young guys played well.  At some point this year we may need these backups to win a game...or several.  The "big" position being QB, I think people have valid concerns and worries about the backups. 

 

I guess to sum up I don't think its time to panic, but I also don't think anyone needs to plug their ears and pretend that absolutely, positively everything about preseason games are meaningless.  That's false.  Scores and schemes are (since most playbooks are vanilla at this point) but player evaluation is important in the exhibitions.  That's really the whole point of them.

I think the most alarming thing about the pre-season was the special teams.  Lots of our potential real special teams guys were out there.... Labbe, Fitzgerald, Pontbriand, West, Sherman, Markett, Volny, Woodson, Thomas... these are some of the guys we will be relying on in the regular season.  After all the talk about Dickenson, you'd hope they'd be a little better.

I think the most alarming thing about the pre-season was the special teams.  Lots of our potential real special teams guys were out there.... Labbe, Fitzgerald, Pontbriand, West, Sherman, Markett, Volny, Woodson, Thomas... these are some of the guys we will be relying on in the regular season.  After all the talk about Dickenson, you'd hope they'd be a little better.

but without knowing who blew their assignments it's hard to say stuff like that. They call it a team for a reason, everyone has to do their jobs or it breaks down. 

From the Hamilton Spectator: The league has to look this one directly in the eye, to see if it can prevent this insult to the paying fans.

 

All 8,000 of the poor fans who watched their team win 52-0 should be mightily PO'd!

Oh, is it the Grey Cup next week?  Nope, wait, still 17 more games after that one.  Win or lose I'll still be on an even keel.  Maybe start panicking after 0-4 but if we're 0-1. you'll have to excuse me for not freaking out.  And if we're 1-0. I won't be planning a parade, either.  It's one game.

 

I'll be planning the parade.  I love parades.

I think the most alarming thing about the pre-season was the special teams. Lots of our potential real special teams guys were out there.... Labbe, Fitzgerald, Pontbriand, West, Sherman, Markett, Volny, Woodson, Thomas... these are some of the guys we will be relying on in the regular season. After all the talk about Dickenson, you'd hope they'd be a little better.

There are some key people missing from that list. Assignment wise there were some breakdowns. But as mentioned its hard from what we didn't see to gauge what exactly happened.

All 8,000 of the poor fans who watched their team win 52-0 should be mightily PO'd!

Stadium looked pretty good on TV, tiny and old-timey but very tidy .Much like the Moncton games.

It's all well and good to say don't worry we didn't play the starters....but practice speed and game speed are two entirely different things. Part of the preseason is evaluating players another critical aspect is getting a TEAM prepared to play. I'm not sure that component was fulfilled. Time will tell.

The CFL panel blasted Burke. Both Schultz & Climie. The only one who supported Burke was Dunigan but I got the impression he did that only to try to balance things out discussion wise. 

The CFL panel blasted Burke. Both Schultz & Climie. The only one who supported Burke was Dunigan but I got the impression he did that only to try to balance things out discussion wise.

Because that would be the only logical answer. Dunigan would have to be insane to actually agree with Burke, right?

Actually, the panel didn't BLAST anyone. Schultz didn't agree with the Bombers move. Climie was mostly on the fence leaning towards disagreeing. Dunigan agreed with the Bombers move.

Dunning an (downagain) is egotistical enough to fancy himself as the next Bomber GM. How scary is that?

The CFL panel blasted Burke. Both Schultz & Climie. The only one who supported Burke was Dunigan but I got the impression he did that only to try to balance things out discussion wise. 

But Schultz is an absolute moron. Seriously I don't think he really follows the league at all he just gets a point and they let him talk even if he has no clue. 

 

Climies point I can at least understand. He said that when he was a player he wanted to play, that's fine. 

 

Ultimately we won't know if it was a mistake or not until we see what the starters do. 

Sounds like most agree with the Wally school of thought, you play to win every game, pre-season or not, you expect to win every game, so you're going to play that way and expect it out of whatever players you line up that night.

 

The Burke school of thought, I have my team picked already, let's just get on with the season, I don't want to waste my time with preseason games, here's what I think of your preseason, a line up of no-names with no chance of even scoring a point let alone being competitive.

 

I can see the league being slightly po'd about it but, since it was southern Ont team doing the pounding, I suspect they were happy about it to raise hopes in that area. Still a pretty arrogant move on the part of Burke/Bombers imo.

Gee Burke migh secretly be a league innovator and start a new trend. Next year dress the office staff or sell spots to the fans and run it like a fantasy camp.