WBBFanWest

Two things come to mind as I read this. The first is this: you're spouting opinion, not "truth". Learn the difference. The second is:

Yes, those 10's of screaming fans will be a sight to behold...

Maybe he was mad because he had to stand facing the wind and was having trouble not lifting off.

Guess you've never heard of special teams players? Or ageing vets, not quite 100% of what they used to be but still good enough for spot duty? Not everyone on a roster is there because they are pegged as a starter. There, was that theatrical enough for you, Mr Peanut?

So did Miller laugh before he hung up on you?

It's too bad that when an obvious mistake is made on the field by an official and the entire stadium sees it on the replay that the Ref can't just go "whoops, we might have an error on the call. give us a sec to check this out" and then ask the command centre to review, rather than just stand there looking at the error on the screen and hearing the entire stadium booing. I know that there's no way the league would ever go for this but I've always wondered what must be going through an official's head when they can look up and see that they made a mistake.

I agree completely. I find it hard to believe that the Bombers are not able to have backups that come in and play every bit as good as the first stringers that they're replacing. I don't understand why Walters is not trying to find top quality starters and then sign them for the price of a rookie backup. I mean that's clearly what everyone else is doing because no other team ever suffers when a few of their starters go down. And clearly, when one of these guys makes a mistake, O'Shea should be on the horn to Walters to get a replacement player in right now, because we all know that replacement players can just step in without any drop off whatsoever. Of course, you're also correct that a coach should be able to take a player and program them so that they are perfect playmaking machines, and any coach that can't get rid of human error in his players on every single play is not worth the money we're paying them. Pigs, you need to call the Bombers right now (I'd start off with Miller) and get them moving in the right direction immediately. Let us know what he says.

Why would anyone preach to tents? They're inanimate.

Then what do you propose they do about illegal contact fishing expeditions? The coaches are the ones who have forced the CFL's hand on this.

Ya, sorry, illegal contact is what I was referring to. The thing is, every team gets the same refs. Ya, they blow calls all the time but I'm pretty sure that it all balances out over the season. For me, the real head scratcher is the C'mon Centre. If you're going to have a review, then get the bloody review right. Hopefully, Ambroise fixes that next. The other time to remember is that while coaches will be limited to one review, there are still automatic reviews. In a perfect world, this should be enough, but we all know that the world ain't perfect...

I can think of two or three "fans" who would be positively giddy at the prospect. Hard to bash the Bombers if they're winning.

With the rules as they now stand regarding PI, I don't think the league has any choice. We know that coaches are setting up receivers to force contact with a DB so that they have a ready made challenge to use anytime they want. I don't think it would be wise to make a major change to the way the PI is called mid season, so this way, those coaches who want to do this will have one and only one opportunity to use it. It will force them to really think over whether or not to throw the challenge flag. Hopefully, they can review the PI stuff at the end of the year and fix it. But until then...

A Harris

The difficulty would be in turning the stadium...

Firstly, O'Shea will never say that, ever. Nor should he. He's a lot of things, but classless is not one of them. Secondly, while I too would like blowout wins, I take 'em however we can get 'em. we were 11-7 last year. I expect we'll be somewhere around there again. I want us in the playoffs and I want us to do well in the playoffs. I think this team can do that if they play to their capabilities.

You are entitled to your opinion, but I think 3-2 is about right for who we are right now. If we get back a few of our key D players, we're going to be all right. But then again, I'm a glass half full sort of guy.

As far as I'm concerned, we lost one we should have won and then we won one we could have easily lost. The team fought hard and grabbed the win in the last seconds vs. the week before. So they improved. Now I'd like to see them completely blow someone out and then, hopefully, we're rolling.

And... if you ignore his td receptions, Stegall didn't contribute much scoring.

Let me know when we can begin!

If that's the case, then why would the Bombers bother with press stuff at all? If the only point of the interview is to sell papers/advertising, why would the Bombers be obligated to help out the Free Press or any other media outlet that they do not hold some sort of partnership with? The answer, to me at least, is because what you are proposing is not really true. The team knows that fans connect with them via the media, and it is therefore in the teams best interests to do these interviews, as painful as they might be. And I have to admit that I don't read or listen to every interview that O'Hea does, I've heard nothing beyond platitudes when it comes to problems with the team. For example, the only thing I've heard about in regards to the 3rd and 15 fiasco is justifications. Or lamentations that things didn't work out exactly as hoped. I've not heard O'Shea even hint that maybe, just maybe, that was a real dumb decision made at the worst possible moment. Look, I do think that Weicek's article was by and large, unfair. You can always go out and find people that are willing to complain about any given thing/person. Nor are comments about O'Shea's facial expressions or wardrobe choices anything more than petty. Likewise, pinning attendance on O'Shea directly. But there are some parts of the article that, for me at least, seem to ring true. As I said, I don't think that O'Shea is a bad coach, but there are blindspots. Weicek does seem to have an agenda, but that doesn't mean that everything he writes is automatically wrong because of it.

Then could you explain to me (and I'm not being facetious) what you think the reporter is doing there? Who exactly is he representing? Because to me, if he asks questions and then writes about them for public consumption he is, de facto, representing those of us who cannot ask direct questions to coaches, politicians and others of power.

I know I'm going to get roasted for this, but here goes... I do see some truth in the way that Weicek describes O'Shea. To me, he really does come across as "talking down" to people. I get the impression that he feels that having to talk to people is beneath him or that, in order to protect the players, he needs to stand there and refuse to acknowledge the painfully obvious. No, I'm not saying that he should get fired, but I'd really like someone, maybe Walters, to take him aside and explain that the media represent the fans and the fans are the ultimate boss because the fans pay the freight. They deserve better than "everything's fine, don't worry yourself about it." even when reporters are asking dumb questions. So it's ok to admit that someone had a bad night when everyone in the entire stadium can see that he did. O'Shea doesn't have to throw anyone under the bus, but to say something like "Ya, Medlock struggled a bit tonight, but we know that he'll bounce back" acknowledges reality, nothing more, nothing less. Or to say something like, "Ya, my decision to gamble on 3rd and 15 is one I'd like to have back. It wasn't a smart decision and I'm disappointed in myself." would demonstrate just a bit of humility. When his QB is willing to step up and do that I'm surprised that O'Shea can't recognize that Nichols is being a true leader and displaying a trait that most adults value: accountability. It's a real ***** in his armour and if he really wants to become a top level coach, he needs to fix it.

Great. Now give me a list of every new coach that hasn't been successful. You might find that list to be a little bit longer.