Sard

I'm way more comfortable with the QBs we have than if we had DD. He was total crap in Montreal, and was quite disappointed when I heard we had signed him.

Remember a few years back when BC started the season 0-5? They went on a tear and won the Grey Cup, so starting 0-4 is definitely no the end of the world.

Would you risk putting Nichols in behind that OLine? Not saying the guys aren't good, but that's a lot to risk putting your starting QB in behind that.

I would assume that the voucher for a free pair of tickets that was given to season ticket members probably helped that along. I remember a pretty decent crowd for the pre-season game last year. I do think people are pretty pumped about the season, and with the Jets out of the playoffs, some people may be looking to keep their live sports fix going.

FTFY

Wasn't Mike mostly responsible for that as well since he was also the GM at the time?

Generally don't put much stock in what Friesen has to say, especially regarding the Bombers.

To those people who complain that teams cut players just before bonuses are due, keep in mind that those bonuses are generally requested by agents so that it sort of forces the team to either commit to the player (pay out the bonus), or cut them early enough that they have time to catch on with another team.

I don't care how good he was, I'm not a fan of Micah Awe because he plays dirty. Saw him head hunting too many times.

FTFY

Are you sure it's not the 13th?

You should have done this as 4 separate posts... that would help get to 55 faster

I disagree with the argument that people shouldn't be charged because it will become legal in the future.... it is currently against the law, and should be treated as such.

The difference there is that your employees didn't go crying to the media that they aren't getting what they want.

Totally agree with you that the Argos should have considered re-negotiating the deal. The big problem that I have with the whole thing is running to the media. We don't know what discussions were had between his agent and the team, so no idea what demands were put to the Argos and what they actually said no to. Again, this is the problem with running to the media with it because nobody knows the whole truth, and everyone comes out looking a little worse for it.

By renegotiating, the Argos would be giving in to the ploy of crying out to the media, which I believe does set a bad precedent.

Well, if the preseason is that useless, why don't they just scrap it altogether?

As has been stated a few times already, the earlier start is to accomodate the 3rd bye week that every team will have this year.

You, and others, keep saying that Walters and O'Shea are doing nothing... how do you know that? Just because they don't publicly state every single thing that they are doing doesn't mean that they are doing nothing, and unless you are in their offices with them, you have no clue what's going on over there. The Thorpe hiring in Ottawa is another prime example of this. Many people said we "missed out" and "didn't act fast enough", but nobody actually knows that. Walters could have been negotiating with Thorpe, and Ottawa may have just made a better offer. And before anyone says anything about Winnipeg being too cheap and that's why we can't get "the best talent", there are other factors that a coach would consider, including the level of responsibility that they would be given, as well as the relationship that they have with other coaches on staff and/or players on the existing roster.

You didn't answer the actual question... you have yet to present any reasonable alternatives from the time when Walters and O'Shea were hired, and you haven't presented any possible options if we were in the same situation now. Basically, you're saying the Bombers did it wrong and continue to do it wrong without offering any suggestions on how they may have done it right, other than vague statements about "hiring people with experience", yet you can't identify a single, viable option.

Sounded like it may have had to do with having a new kid. He made a comment about being tired at the start of the season (ie. not getting much sleep with a new baby in the house). I do think that he also had some sort of nagging injury going on through his slump... though his punting looked ok, it seemed like he was wincing in pain on almost every kick through that time.

All I'm saying is that there is no magic formula to choosing the HC who will take the team to the Cup and win it. Hiring experience vs. hiring a new, up and comer doesn't really matter because neither one is a guarantee. You're suggesting that we should have hired experienced guys like Daley, Richie and Murphy, but how many cups did that get us? It's also ridiculous to assert that there's no point in taking a shot on a rookie. By that logic, you should only ever bring in experienced players as well. <sarcasm>Why would any team ever want to put a rookie player on the field?</sarcasm> At some point, someone has to take that shot on the rookie and live through any growing pains. We've done that, and I'm happy that we did. Even in MOS' first 2 years we struggled, and didn't have a very good record, but it was fun to be at the games and watch the team play.

You're absolutely right that it's a ridiculous comparison. That was my point (should have added the <sarcasm> tag. To say that hiring a "proven winner" would have been the answer is just as ridiculous. Someone here suggested Tom Higgins should have been hired over O'Shea, but as proven in his last tenure as HC, it didn't work out. Has the Bombers hired an experienced coach, and it hadn't worked out, everyone on here who is saying O'Shea was the wrong choice would be saying that we shouldn't have hired an old retread who was past his prime, even if he had proven to be successful in the past. Some of you just can be pleased, and unless the Bombers go 18-0 in a season, and shutout their opponents in every game, you won't be happy with what's going on here. The Bombers are in an excellent place right now... winning seasons, playoff appearances, entertaining and exciting product on the field, and an excellent culture to boot.

By that argument, BC should have won this year, and last year, and the year before that, Wally is an experienced coach, why isn't he winning it every year?

Well luck for us we have both wins and culture with O'Shea.