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I hate that team.

Can you imagine the conversation betweeon Jones and ZC if Saskatchewan strikes out on Trevor Harris and Mike Reilly?

It'll never happen . But it would be nice to see Riders cut their own throat cap wise.

One man's take: Herb Gray, as I said, is a runaway winner here, or certainly should be. I pray he does not suffer from recency bias, because like Rod Hill at cornerback, Greg Battle at middle linebacker and Ty Jones at outside linebacker, he is head and shoulders above the competition. 6 straight all-star nods and 7 overall is unparalleled on this or almost any club at this position. Bomber defensive player of the half century, 'nuff said. And all the team success to boot. One of the greatest players on the greatest Bomber era of all. Vote him in, people. As for #2, there is no clear favourite. I will put them in groups, but not necessarily worst to first. The older guard: Nicklin and Marquandt both played in the 30's and 40's when the role of a defensive lineman was different, and two-way players were the standard. Impossible to compare eras in this way, and the important tackle and sack stats did not exist, so I cannot properly judge. What I can say in Nicklin's case is that he's the only Bomber with a league trophy named after him, and my everlasting respect and gratitude for his military service. God bless. Whisler in the 60's and Heighton in the 70's both had strong achievements in all-star nom and league award areas, and again the lack of tackle or sack stats make it hard to grade them against the others. A lack of team success for most of both of their careers lowers their profile. I would encourage any who saw them play to give them a fair shout out, as I cannot. So I am not dismissing their merits, I simply cannot judge them fairly and don't have a league success or "Legend" context to categorize them in like Herb Gray, so I will not personally consider them as my second choice. Of the remaining 7 players I have seen, here is how I view them: Pete Catan - with Tony Norman on the other side, gave the early '80's Bombers a great outside push on the line (both players had multiple 10+sack seasons playing together). He gets bonus points for being a model rocket enthusiast who attached rockets to his helmet at practice and fired them off into the stands on occasion. But he played for fewer years and had smaller stats that his teammate Tony, so he will not make the top 2. Odell Willis and Jamaal Westerman - both were very impressive in short spurts, and their sack totals look impressive for the limited number of career games they played, but each loses out to me because they just weren't here long enough and 40-some games is not the stuff of an all-timer for me. Willis may gain or lose points depending on your perspective of the whole "Mayor of Swaggerville" phenomenon (if you like or dislike trash talk and boasting with your play). Tom Canada - People loved his motor, but I wonder if he would be a fan favourite if his name was "Tom Germany" or some other country's moniker? Still, he put up some good numbers but just below the stats and all-star noms of the remaining 3, so I put him just behind them. That leaves me with 3 co-favourites for one spot, and any of these 3 would be a fine choice. Starting with: The Dark Horse: Gavin Walls - does not have the name recognition of the other 2, and pure reputation carries a lot of weight when voting on all-time best. But I look at his numbers and they speak well to his talent, overall skill set and athleticism. Bigger tackle numbers per games played than the others, and big fumble return yards and TDs speak of his speed off the edge and nose for the ball, and he had more sacks in fewer games (1.5 season's worth) than Mike Gray. Playing in a dead era of Bomber football, devoid of team success, probably sinks his chances to be considered, but he was consistently strong from start to almost finish of his time here. Maybe deserves a better fate than #4 in my ranking, but that is where I put him. The Immaculate: Mike Gray will forever be known for one play. He could live to be 200 years old, and in his obituary the first line will read "The Immaculate Interception". This cuts 2 ways, as it raises his street cred and his profile more than all other players and gives him a voting boost (winning an MVP award in a Grey Cup should count for more when measuring achievements, though), but may hurt him for those who believe he isn't more than that one play. Well, #1 in tackles, #2 in fumble recoveries and Grey Cup appearances, #3 in games played, sacks, and Grey Cups won, and #4 in seasons played put him near the top of most categories when compared to his competition on this list. Never a team nominee for defensive player of the year, but when your competition is Battle, West, Jones, Hill and Payton, just being a known name with that group speaks volumes. Again, only one divisional all-star nod hurts his cause. Depending on my mood, could slot below Walls or ahead of Norman, so split the difference and put him at #3 all-time. The foundation for greatness: Tony Norman - as Speedflex will agree, we are drawn to those we grow up watching first when we look at our perceived "best ever", so like his justifiable promotion of 70's players not to be overlooked, I was weaned on the early '80's stars and have a bias for them. Tony Norman straddled those two eras, and brought the Bomber defence back to prominence as the team returned to glory in 1984. He defined what a rush end should be in that era, and was to the d-line what Jones and Brown were to the linebacking corps at that time. Most sacks by far of any player on this list whose stats were recorded, and shouldn't that be the biggest criteria to consider for a rush end? Had the longevity and sustained success (3 straight all-star nods) to warrant consideration for all-timer. Never "the" superstar, but more than a solid contributor his whole time here. But for all the talent around him, would have had a higher profile as "the leader" on most defences, IMO. And bonus points for officially ending the Eskimo dynasty (his 4th quarter sack, forced fumble, and fumble recovery all on one play against Warren Moon while being double-teamed was one of the most athletic plays I have ever witnessed live, and sealed the 1983 semi-final win against Edmonton and ended their 5 year reign as Grey Cup champions). The early voting seems to favour Norman, and I won't disagree with that sentiment, but if Gray and Gray ended up together, or Gavin Walls snuck in, I'd have no problem with that either. But again, Herb Gray, make it happen. Anything less than #1 in votes is an injustice to him.

The Mother of all CBA's is coming. The NHL. We all know with Bettman & Fehr, there'll be another lockout. The CFL's CBA is lunch money to those two guys.

Time : Sunday 5, TSN3 Stats : 19-18-8 @ 28-14-2

Good call, John Helton could also be in the running for top 2. Even though he did more damage as a Stampeder early in his career, his Bomber legacy is still quite impressive (kind of like Gretzky’s LA Kings legacy - nowhere near his Oiler glory but on its own still remarkable). And I think some experts put Helton above Brown for greatest in CFL history. 9 time CFL all-star, 12 time divisional all-star, 2 time CFL defensive player/lineman of the year.

Time : Friday 7, TSN3 Stars : 16-22-7 @ 27-14-2 Notables : Broissoit to start

Nicklin because there are all stars in games and then there are all stars in life. Greatest Bomber ever.

So Doug Brown and we vote for the second DT.

Welp........... https://3downnation.com/2019/01/11/riders-expected-to-make-strong-play-for-mike-reilly-sources/

Thanks

and there goes our shut out KConn finishes it off 4-2 jets

and it's third jersey night again Tanev scores

I'd be lying if I said I have never been there or done that. Something gets posted in a fit of anger or emotion & then later it's like, why did I say that??? Luckily, the members here are a pretty forgiving bunch for the most part. Tomorrow is a brand new day.

Nah, just my perspective on Grey.

Hear! Hear!! I haven't always agreed with your takes regarding some Bomber players of the past but I do this time. Herb Gray deserves to be on this team!!

If you vote for Grey you wouldn't be wasting your vote. He was absolutely outstanding those Johnny Michels defenses that won 4 Grey Cups during the Bud Grant era. If there is one player from that era I'd like to see win this competition it's Herb Grey. As far as modern day players go... back into the 70's ( yeah, yeah, I'm old myself so the 70's don't seem that long ago ) Tony Norman was just a dominant force for so long on the DL. Just a helluva player. The third on my list but I can't vote for him as I can only pick 2 was Jim Heighton. A mainstay on the Bombers DL for years.

So you're saying I'm right........again. That works for me!

I'll give my full "one man's take" later, but if Herb Gray is not the runaway winner here, I don't know what to say to you people, or why I bothered with this poll in the first place. And he retired before I was born, so I never saw him play. But he is a legendary Bomber figure, so despite the position evolving and the inherent increase in physical skill and size of today's players, it is a crime if he is not on this team. With almost 90 years of history and glory years in the 1960's, we can't just have representation from the 1980's onward on this club. The second player may be a bit of a toss-up, with maybe 2 or 3 co-favorites but possibly 7 in contention jockeying for position. Stay tuned for my analysis.

As have I. From both sides of the table. Here's a primer for people to help them understand how this stuff works:

save for a guy or two we "might " lose to the NFL..I have a pretty good feeling we will be able to sign the free agents of ours that we want to sign...and also have an ace in the hole over the rest of our Western counterparts as we already know where our QB SMS money is allocated for 2019...so we can target certain guys at certain price points knowing it fits our budget, whereas the uncertainty of what QB's will be actually available come free agency and 3-4 teams fighting for them with price obviously being driven up to unknown numbers..will make it hard for some teams to go after other assets they need aggressively as they can't hamstring themselves...so shall be an interesting next couple months

This has been fixed.

send a PM to Rich and ask what's going on

10th goal. in 40 something games. Gonna miss Tanev.