Start getting excited, Bombers fans

Team's brass knows about Canadian ball, for a change...

By: Gary Lawless

The first thing Kyle Walters did as new GM of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was look at the football operations budget and cut a big chunk out of the department's top salary and then plow it right back into scouting and coaching.

Coupled with a renewed commitment from the front office to spend more on football, the dividends have already been large. With the hiring of Buck Pierce as a running backs coach Friday, Bombers coach Mike O'Shea announced he'll have a coaching staff of 11 this season, which is two more than last year and the largest in club history according to the communications department.

The Bombers also have more scouts than last season and all in all the football operations department looks like a real, live pro-football outfit. Something that couldn't be said the last few years in Winnipeg. I made the statement a number of times during the Joe Mack era that the Bombers were beat long before the game ever got to the field. That can no longer be said.

Walters was handed the budget by CEO Wade Miller last summer during his time as acting GM and asked how he would change it. Walters took $100,000 out of the GMs salary and moved money around on the spreadsheet. And then he asked for even more money to spend on football. He got it.

Miller promised Walters he'd commit to putting the Bombers on a level playing field with the rest of the CFL's football operations departments and he's lived up to it. The Bombers will allocate more than $10 million for all things football this season. More than last year and catching up with most teams in the CFL.

One can argue more coaches and more scouts mean little if they don't add up to wins and that's a fair statement. As important as how much money one has to spend is how well that money gets spent.

This is where the Bombers have made their biggest improvements under Miller and Walters.

When the 2013 season began, the Bombers had a CEO with no football experience, a GM who proved to have little to no understanding of how to build a CFL roster, a head coach with no offensive experience in the CFL and an offensive co-ordinator who admitted he was still learning the CFL game. I couldn't make that up if I tried.

Today, they have a former player in Miller as CEO, a young GM in Walters but one with a lifetime of CIS and CFL roots, Hall of Fame player Mike O'Shea at head coach and two former quarterbacks Pierce and Danny McManus in the coaching and scouting ranks as well as seasoned and experienced CFL men Marcel Bellefeuille and Gary Etcheverry at the offensive and defensive co-ordinator positions.

Off the field, the Bombers are light years ahead of where they were at this time last season and if it doesn't equate to wins right away, it will in time. The Bombers were the worst-run organization in the CFL for a number of years but that can no longer be said.

The Mack era distinguished itself in its stubborn refusal to admit ignorance of the Canadian game. Beyond all of that era's many failings, this is why the team progressively got worse.

No one in Canada understands the nuances of the Canadian game better than Walters and O'Shea. They played three-down football all their lives. Then they moved into coaching it and in Walters' case to management.

I once asked Joe Mack what he thought of Brad Sinopoli as a player, who had been named winner of the Hec Creighton Trophy as Canada's best collegiate player the day before. He looked at me funny and then admitted he didn't know who I was talking about. That's akin to an NFL GM not knowing the Heisman winner. This wasn't a moment of weakness. Mack was a scout and by all accounts a good one. But he ignored the Canadian component of the CFL, which is foolish and unforgiveable.

Last week, I asked Walters about the upcoming CFL draft. He gave me a detailed description of the top five players and then told me he'd be drafting one of three players depending on their availability when he selects second overall. Gave me their names, strengths and weaknesses.

Walters also told me the draft was weak and fell off dramatically after the first five picks which is why he won't capitulate to Ottawa GM Marcel Desjardins' demand for the No. 2 pick for quarterback Kevin Glenn.

Does Walters want Glenn? Sure but he wants to ensure the future of the franchise and not just improve the club for a couple of seasons.

Bombers fans should be enthused but more about the long term health of their team than just this coming summer. The Bombers are back in good CFL hands from Miller to Walters to O'Shea. That's the best news of all.

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

 

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

 

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

 

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

 

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

I wish I was as big a loser as in my field as Gary is in his.

Perhaps people need to differentiate between what a reporter writes and the editorial license of a columnist.

Perhaps people need to differentiate between what a reporter writes and the editorial license of a columnist.

 

ding ding ding, we have a winner.

Until then please again spare me the imagined optimism!

Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Superbowl LIII champions....ahhhh....my imagination is the only thing that has kept me sane since 1990....

 

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

 

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

 

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

 

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

 

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

I wish I was as big a loser as in my field as Gary is in his.

 

 

So being a Burke apologist got old, and your trolling ways have lead you to being a Lawless supporter now?

 

I've enjoyed seeing that Lawless' latest Bomber articles have been upbeat... but dude, a spade's a spade.  To state that it was Walters' decision to take a discounted salary (for his rookie GM gig) so that he could redirect the funds to football ops seems like a very illogical premise.  The rest of the article is fine, if you don't mind articles that are written on illogical premises. 

 

Give credit where it's due.  Walters is being painted as a charitable figure.  If he does a good enough job to earn a raise and extension, he surely won't be turning it away to instead allocate to football ops.  Walters and Miller should be praised for the valuable things they've done, namely convincing the BoD to open the purse strings to hire more coaches and personnel guys.  Lawless glosses over that. 

 

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

 

If by lead you mean the chemical element, whereby, lead reporter means he's capable of "killing" a story with the angle he chooses to write, then I would agree with your point.

The fact is, in an analogy, that if Lawless were our starting or 'lead' QB, we would not settle for this mediocrity, but rather would demand a change.

He is the Steven Jyles of writers, when we really want the Tom Clements or Khari Jones.

Just because he "is" where he is doesn't mean he should be.

 

 

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

 

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

 

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

 

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

 

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

I wish I was as big a loser as in my field as Gary is in his.

 

 

So being a Burke apologist got old, and your trolling ways have lead you to being a Lawless supporter now?

 

I've enjoyed seeing that Lawless' latest Bomber articles have been upbeat... but dude, a spade's a spade.  To state that it was Walters' decision to take a discounted salary (for his rookie GM gig) so that he could redirect the funds to football ops seems like a very illogical premise.  The rest of the article is fine, if you don't mind articles that are written on illogical premises. 

 

Give credit where it's due.  Walters is being painted as a charitable figure.  If he does a good enough job to earn a raise and extension, he surely won't be turning it away to instead allocate to football ops.  Walters and Miller should be praised for the valuable things they've done, namely convincing the BoD to open the purse strings to hire more coaches and personnel guys.  Lawless glosses over that. 

 

 

I'm a troll?  Why is that the immediate response for people too stupid to engage in a thoughtful discussion?  Maybe go back to OB where the discussion will be more to your liking.

 

 

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

 

If by lead you mean the chemical element, whereby, lead reporter means he's capable of "killing" a story with the angle he chooses to write, then I would agree with your point.

The fact is, in an analogy, that if Lawless were our starting or 'lead' QB, we would not settle for this mediocrity, but rather would demand a change.

He is the Steven Jyles of writers, when we really want the Tom Clements or Khari Jones.

Just because he "is" where he is doesn't mean he should be.

 

The people making those decisions who have money on it disagree with you.

 

I suppose I could be wrong.  Its possible that people who's only medium for expressing their sports opinion is a message board are in fact, far more insightful than the guy being paid by the Free Press and TSN.  But I doubt it.

 

 

 

I for one will not get all giddy and excited about something Lawless writes.  The guy is a clown & will turn on anyone in a heartbeat if they do something he doesn't like.

 

Yay!! Gary Lawless says we're light years ahead of where we were last year!!... I am so far past any BS imagined optimism!!  Truth is that we have 3 rookies running the team in the 3 most important off field positions!!  Which = no optimism earned what so ever until they show us where it matters most!!  ON THE FIELD!!!

 

Until then...we have little to be optimistic about.

Part of a reporter's job is to stir up enough controversy to make the read interesting, whether you agree or disagree, and Lawless seems to have done that. As far as optimism for the upcoming season is concerned- set your WABAC machine to 2013 at this time and look at the gloom that surrounded the team then. Mack was  spinning his wheels, the QB situation was a laughing-stock of the league, and just about everyone knew the Bombers were going to implode. I'll take 2014, thank you very much.

 

Yeah and...our new guys still have "0" PROVEN qb's (although the QB's we have now should be better, that doesn't say anything at all as it shouldn't take much at all to get better there!  Release Goltz & Boltus and bam!! we're better at QB)  Our O-line isn't any better at all!  We lost our best Canadian.  We only really have maybe 3 Canadian Starters worth anything (Watson, Greaves and...hmmm maybe Kohlert & maybe Alexander.. borderline) We are still not a good football team!!  No one can say we are until we see it on the FIELD!! 

 

Until then please again spare me the imagined optimism!

 

 

 

You like to use your exclamation points pretty haphazardly, don't you?  

 

 

when I feel like it sure.  It's not like I'm writing a business letter...

 

 

 

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

 

If by lead you mean the chemical element, whereby, lead reporter means he's capable of "killing" a story with the angle he chooses to write, then I would agree with your point.

The fact is, in an analogy, that if Lawless were our starting or 'lead' QB, we would not settle for this mediocrity, but rather would demand a change.

He is the Steven Jyles of writers, when we really want the Tom Clements or Khari Jones.

Just because he "is" where he is doesn't mean he should be.

 

The people making those decisions who have money on it disagree with you.

 

I suppose I could be wrong.  Its possible that people who's only medium for expressing their sports opinion is a message board are in fact, far more insightful than the guy being paid by the Free Press and TSN.  But I doubt it.

 

 

Chill with the appeal to authority schtick. Lawless is a lazy reporter -- when was the last time he even had a quote, much less figures and stats?

 

You are correct, he is a big deal in WPG with multiple channels, which likely explains why he only has time to pen opinion pieces masquerading as reporting, but he is certainly no Ed Tait. 

I for one will not get all giddy and excited about something Lawless writes. The guy is a clown & will turn on anyone in a heartbeat if they do something he doesn't like.

Yay!! Gary Lawless says we're light years ahead of where we were last year!!... I am so far past any BS imagined optimism!! Truth is that we have 3 rookies running the team in the 3 most important off field positions!! Which = no optimism earned what so ever until they show us where it matters most!! ON THE FIELD!!!

Until then...we have little to be optimistic about.

Part of a reporter's job is to stir up enough controversy to make the read interesting, whether you agree or disagree, and Lawless seems to have done that. As far as optimism for the upcoming season is concerned- set your WABAC machine to 2013 at this time and look at the gloom that surrounded the team then. Mack was spinning his wheels, the QB situation was a laughing-stock of the league, and just about everyone knew the Bombers were going to implode. I'll take 2014, thank you very much.

Yeah and...our new guys still have "0" PROVEN qb's (although the QB's we have now should be better, that doesn't say anything at all as it shouldn't take much at all to get better there! Release Goltz & Boltus and bam!! we're better at QB) Our O-line isn't any better at all! We lost our best Canadian. We only really have maybe 3 Canadian Starters worth anything (Watson, Greaves and...hmmm maybe Kohlert & maybe Alexander.. borderline) We are still not a good football team!! No one can say we are until we see it on the FIELD!!

Until then please again spare me the imagined optimism!

Since the coaching staff, management and roster is so drastically different you can spare us your condesending pessimistic negative rants as well if you cant handle the optimism...

See, this is exactly what I was talking about. The same people criticize & insult Lawless even when he has a positive article yet object to any ongoing criticism of Joe Mack. The same old **** gets stirred round & round by the same people. Yet, here we have the same people criticizing & name calling Lawless also have a major hard on for Joe Mack. Dare not criticize Joe because the hair on the back of their necks go up in anger. Yet, they make fun of Lawless any chance they get. Totally hypocritical if you ask me. Well too, too bad. It's a football website & as long as the comments are within the rules & the subject of Joe Mack comes up & you don't like it's just too bad. Any subject is fair game. Stop talking about Lawless in a negative manner with insults if you don't like criticism of Mack in any way, shape or form. You can't have it both ways so don't expect it. 

I'm not defending Lawless & the content he writes. Not saying it's good or bad. just expressing an opinion.  

 

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame. 

Lawless is a loser?

 

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

 

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

 

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

 

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

 

I wish I was as big a loser as in my field as Gary is in his.

 

 

He is really hard to listen to on the radio.. on H and L i end up switching it  off once he is on and oges  off on a tangent.. He doesn't have the speaking ability to be on radio.. He may be a very knowledgable sports reporter, but he isn't very eloquent when speaking or trying to get his point out.. Alot of  blah blah blah, "look, the facts are"  or " my sources tell me" blah blah etc.  Its like he struggles horribly to get out what he is thinking.. Hustler on the otherhand is the complete oppoiste and has no issues talking on the radio. 

 

Lawless seems to be a bit bi-polar is his media reports.. He can go from one extreme to the other from day to day, and i for one don't appreciate, or enjoy reading these types of reporting.. I rather the report report the facts, offer some opinion and leave enough for the reader (me) to make my own opinion of the situation... For the most part he goes blasting off attacking something without laying out a complete argument as to how he formed his opinion.

 

Lots of "losers" get promoted based on office politics or other reasons, then based soley on their skill.

For me, it comes down to this. I could really care less what a sportswriter says or writes. I do care when a General Manager doesn't do a good enough job & it affects the team I support. That's way more important than what is written in a newspaper in my opinion. 

 

Mack was ignorant of the CDN game and, seemingly, too arrogant to let others in his employ who did understand it (Walters) make decisions. 

 

He was also completely out of touch when it came to Free Agency and obviously was above or didn't understand the importance of working with GM's from rival clubs. 

 

Thats on him. 

 

However, its come out his wife is/was battling cancer, and speaking from experience I can see how his focus might've been elsewhere.

 

He simply was not the right man or in the right position to do the job. 

 

However, the media -- especially Neckless -- does seem to have a boner for Walters, simply because he gives interviews and returns calls. And I agree with 17-85, some of his decisions have been fair at best. 

his big flaw was not hiring the right coach. Fundamentally his approach was not that dissimilar from Popp or Buono, but he didn't have an all time great coach like Buono who always developed a qb or Calvillo for decades. The guy had the approach that you can replace players which isn't wrong but you need a good teacher and leader at head coach if you're going to do that and he failed spectacularly at that aspect. 

 

His bigtime flaw was his inability to get a decent QB or provide the QB with decent protection.  The latter goes hand-in-hand with his inability to accumulate good Canadian depth despite being given 4 years to do so.  The fact that he didn't even know who Brad Sinopli was shows how little knowledge he had of the CIS.  Jade Etienne anyone? 

 

 

He is really hard to listen to on the radio.. on H and L i end up switching it  off once he is on and oges  off on a tangent.. He doesn't have the speaking ability to be on radio.. He may be a very knowledgable sports reporter, but he isn't very eloquent when speaking or trying to get his point out.. Alot of  blah blah blah, "look, the facts are"  or " my sources tell me" blah blah etc.  Its like he struggles horribly to get out what he is thinking.. Hustler on the otherhand is the complete oppoiste and has no issues talking on the radio. 

 

He's a terrible interviewer. He doesn't know how to ask a proper question. He starts almost everything with "Tell me about..." rather than asking an actual question.

 

Lawless is too agressive and gets caught up in his own ramblings. He'll lose what he's taking about when he goes off on his rants. He's also bad for cutting Hustler off. He can't handle having to wait a few seconds to say what's just come into his mind.

 

He's better in print b/c he has time to put his thoughts together.

He is really hard to listen to on the radio.. on H and L i end up switching it  off once he is on and oges  off on a tangent.. He doesn't have the speaking ability to be on radio.. He may be a very knowledgable sports reporter, but he isn't very eloquent when speaking or trying to get his point out.. Alot of  blah blah blah, "look, the facts are"  or " my sources tell me" blah blah etc.  Its like he struggles horribly to get out what he is thinking.. Hustler on the otherhand is the complete oppoiste and has no issues talking on the radio. 

He's a terrible interviewer. He doesn't know how to ask a proper question. He starts almost everything with "Tell me about..." rather than asking an actual question.

 

Lawless is too agressive and gets caught up in his own ramblings. He'll lose what he's taking about when he goes off on his rants. He's also bad for cutting Hustler off. He can't handle having to wait a few seconds to say what's just come into his mind.

 

He's better in print b/c he has time to put his thoughts together.

I agree. But his columns in the paper are long winded and not to the point. Very similar to how I would pad 18 page essays in university to meet the 18 page requirements.

He's better then nothing.. But so are a lot of other media types :/

See, this is exactly what I was talking about. The same people criticize & insult Lawless even when he has a positive article yet object to any ongoing criticism of Joe Mack. The same old **** gets stirred round & round by the same people. Yet, here we have the same people criticizing & name calling Lawless also have a major hard on for Joe Mack. Dare not criticize Joe because the hair on the back of their necks go up in anger. Yet, they make fun of Lawless any chance they get. Totally hypocritical if you ask me. Well too, too bad. It's a football website & as long as the comments are within the rules & the subject of Joe Mack comes up & you don't like it's just too bad. Any subject is fair game. Stop talking about Lawless in a negative manner with insults if you don't like criticism of Mack in any way, shape or form. You can't have it both ways so don't expect it. 

I'm not defending Lawless & the content he writes. Not saying it's good or bad. just expressing an opinion.  

Well when you want to stop inventing make believe arguments about Joe Mack I'll stop arguing with you. It's totally different because I'm calling Lawless a terrible writer, which he is. Nothing more nothing less. Just stating the simple fact that since Tait moved to the Jets and Turner stopped doing anything the Free Press coverage has been laughably bad and Lawless is part of that. 

 

 

Mack was ignorant of the CDN game and, seemingly, too arrogant to let others in his employ who did understand it (Walters) make decisions. 

 

He was also completely out of touch when it came to Free Agency and obviously was above or didn't understand the importance of working with GM's from rival clubs. 

 

Thats on him. 

 

However, its come out his wife is/was battling cancer, and speaking from experience I can see how his focus might've been elsewhere.

 

He simply was not the right man or in the right position to do the job. 

 

However, the media -- especially Neckless -- does seem to have a boner for Walters, simply because he gives interviews and returns calls. And I agree with 17-85, some of his decisions have been fair at best. 

his big flaw was not hiring the right coach. Fundamentally his approach was not that dissimilar from Popp or Buono, but he didn't have an all time great coach like Buono who always developed a qb or Calvillo for decades. The guy had the approach that you can replace players which isn't wrong but you need a good teacher and leader at head coach if you're going to do that and he failed spectacularly at that aspect. 

 

His bigtime flaw was his inability to get a decent QB or provide the QB with decent protection.  The latter goes hand-in-hand with his inability to accumulate good Canadian depth despite being given 4 years to do so.  The fact that he didn't even know who Brad Sinopli was shows how little knowledge he had of the CIS.  Jade Etienne anyone? 

 

You mean, Jade "The misunderstood, he's going to come back, bite us in the ass & make us regret the day we traded this untapped potential of a superstar Canadian receiver" Etienne?. 

 

See, this is exactly what I was talking about. The same people criticize & insult Lawless even when he has a positive article yet object to any ongoing criticism of Joe Mack. The same old **** gets stirred round & round by the same people. Yet, here we have the same people criticizing & name calling Lawless also have a major hard on for Joe Mack. Dare not criticize Joe because the hair on the back of their necks go up in anger. Yet, they make fun of Lawless any chance they get. Totally hypocritical if you ask me. Well too, too bad. It's a football website & as long as the comments are within the rules & the subject of Joe Mack comes up & you don't like it's just too bad. Any subject is fair game. Stop talking about Lawless in a negative manner with insults if you don't like criticism of Mack in any way, shape or form. You can't have it both ways so don't expect it. 

I'm not defending Lawless & the content he writes. Not saying it's good or bad. just expressing an opinion.  

Well when you want to stop inventing make believe arguments about Joe Mack I'll stop arguing with you. It's totally different because I'm calling Lawless a terrible writer, which he is. Nothing more nothing less. Just stating the simple fact that since Tait moved to the Jets and Turner stopped doing anything the Free Press coverage has been laughably bad and Lawless is part of that. 

 

No way,man. I'll argue with you till the cows come home about Mack. You get bothered.... and you do get bothered.... even though you deny it...  whenever someone dares to criticize Mack. Yet you criticize Lawless any chance you get which I find hypocritical. So, hey everyone.... Looks like 17 &  I are juuuust getting started.

Jade was going to be a free agent in a few days. He was going back home like LaBatte. How can you complain about getting something for a guy that you were going to lose anyway?

Maybe it's not what Lawless writes but how he writes it? You don't need to be an expert to know that he's not a great writer. He always has an agenda he's pushing, he changes his opinions that were oh so strong in one article seemingly at the drop of a hat... he's basically the newspaper version of an internet troll. Guys like Ed Tait and Randy Turner were fantastic covering the Bombers in the paper, now we get this current bunch of losers... it's a damned shame.

Lawless is a loser?

Lead reporter in Winnipeg.

Lead sports guy for lead newspaper

Lead sports guy for only 24 hour sports radio station.

featured on TSN Jets and TSN broadcasts.

If by lead you mean the chemical element, whereby, lead reporter means he's capable of "killing" a story with the angle he chooses to write, then I would agree with your point.

The fact is, in an analogy, that if Lawless were our starting or 'lead' QB, we would not settle for this mediocrity, but rather would demand a change.

He is the Steven Jyles of writers, when we really want the Tom Clements or Khari Jones.

Just because he "is" where he is doesn't mean he should be.

The people making those decisions who have money on it disagree with you.

I suppose I could be wrong. Its possible that people who's only medium for expressing their sports opinion is a message board are in fact, far more insightful than the guy being paid by the Free Press and TSN. But I doubt it.

Chill with the appeal to authority schtick. Lawless is a lazy reporter -- when was the last time he even had a quote, much less figures and stats?

You are correct, he is a big deal in WPG with multiple channels, which likely explains why he only has time to pen opinion pieces masquerading as reporting, but he is certainly no Ed Tait.

What does he masquerade as? He certainly hasn't pretended to be anything other than a columnist. In fact he often mentions exactly what his job is.

Lawless is a bit of a windbag, but I don't hate his stuff.  Since he's been writing with a bit more of a positive attitude, I find it easier to read/listen to.  Negativity will wear on anyone and even though he has a bit of a track record to smooth over, I'm willing to let Gary settle into his role as a main sports "guy" in Winnipeg.  

 

 

I for one will not get all giddy and excited about something Lawless writes.  The guy is a clown & will turn on anyone in a heartbeat if they do something he doesn't like.

 

Yay!! Gary Lawless says we're light years ahead of where we were last year!!... I am so far past any BS imagined optimism!!  Truth is that we have 3 rookies running the team in the 3 most important off field positions!!  Which = no optimism earned what so ever until they show us where it matters most!!  ON THE FIELD!!!

 

Until then...we have little to be optimistic about.

Part of a reporter's job is to stir up enough controversy to make the read interesting, whether you agree or disagree, and Lawless seems to have done that. As far as optimism for the upcoming season is concerned- set your WABAC machine to 2013 at this time and look at the gloom that surrounded the team then. Mack was  spinning his wheels, the QB situation was a laughing-stock of the league, and just about everyone knew the Bombers were going to implode. I'll take 2014, thank you very much.

 

Yeah and...our new guys still have "0" PROVEN qb's (although the QB's we have now should be better, that doesn't say anything at all as it shouldn't take much at all to get better there!  Release Goltz & Boltus and bam!! we're better at QB)  Our O-line isn't any better at all!  We lost our best Canadian.  We only really have maybe 3 Canadian Starters worth anything (Watson, Greaves and...hmmm maybe Kohlert & maybe Alexander.. borderline) We are still not a good football team!!  No one can say we are until we see it on the FIELD!! 

 

Until then please again spare me the imagined optimism!

 

if you want to be spared...don't come and read!

Lawless is a bit of a windbag, but I don't hate his stuff.  Since he's been writing with a bit more of a positive attitude, I find it easier to read/listen to.  Negativity will wear on anyone and even though he has a bit of a track record to smooth over, I'm willing to let Gary settle into his role as a main sports "guy" in Winnipeg.  

 

See, I don't think the problem many have (at least not me) is that he has to be either positive or negative about the team.  As the lead columnist for the Freep, I do however expect him to be educated.  Before the Unknown Poster gets all in a knot and shouts "But it's just his opinion!" I would like to point out that opinions can be both stupid and/or wrong.  That's my problem with Lawless.

 

If you are going to praise or criticize the Bombers or Jets, do it with both logic and evidence.  There are plenty of reasonable arguments to be made off that.