SpeedFlex27

I describe it as sleep walking thru the off season.

A couple of years ago, my son had flown to Winnipeg from Seattle to visit family. On his way back, he had to change planes in Vancouver. His late afternoon/early evening flight out of Winnipeg was late leaving & he missed his connection to Seattle. Westjet gave him taxi & hotel vouchers to stay at a hotel in Vancouver where he could catch another flight to Seattle in the morning. When he checked into his hotel, he found out that all the electricity was turned off because of renovations & he had to use his phone's flashlight to move around in his pitch black hotel room.

BC Lions owner Doman is a rich owner & has a lot of cash. We're flush with cash as well after so many great seasons. With the Grey Cup here, I was hoping we'd use a bit of that money to go after some CFL free agents but it doesn't look like Walters will. I'm not an advocate of cheating but WTH??? if other teams are doing it then we should be as well especially this year. I know loyalty doesn't count for much with players these days with the 1 year contracts but dammit, we stood by him as a team & as a fanbase after that DUI & broken arm. Guess it works one way. Just let him go wherever he wants. I could care less.

Thank you but I already knew that however I appreciate your explanation. My cynicism comes from the fact that reports from TSN reporters like Farhan Lalji & Dave Naylor as well as social media stories all said that last season the BC LIons were considerably over the cap to the point that they may lose a draft pick. That would be in the neighbourhood of $100,000 or more. Vancouver was hosting the Grey Cup last season & Lions owner Amar Doman's team was hell bent on getting his team into the game to ensure a sell out. He didn't care financially how much he was over when it came to the salary cap. Teams don't care about losing a draft pick anymore. Why should they when they can poach a bunch of players to make up for it in free agency? It seems that this type of thing is going on more & more so as a fan it's hard for me to trust that other teams aren't doing it as well.

Well, explain it then instead of complaining. Tell us how the Elks can continue to sign players in free agency with a salary cap of $5.9 million? if you can explain it, then I'm all ears. Or in this case, eyes as you're posting an answer. The more Hervey spends, the more they have to subtract at some point later. Like I said, explain it.

Breaking News: The CFL has allotted a special "**** You" salary cap exemption to the new Edmonton Elks owner Larry Thompson of 15.5 million thereby thanking him for his taking over the disastrous franchise when nobody would. "We're just getting started. I might even buy a few star players under contract with other teams now. No one can stop me!!!" Said Ed Hervey excitedly as he grabbed a helmet & flung it through his office wall.

I read on X today that the Ti Cats are pursuing Lawler "hard". Most of the best players are gone now to the Elks ( of course we won't ask how they can afford it with the salary cap). Will we lose him now?

This used to be a company that prided itself on customer service. Now it prides itself on excuses.

I hope not We lost Ford. We really can't afford to lose another quality Canadian.

That comment wasn't aimed at you in particular, However, since you brought it up... You're opinionated more than a lot of people here. I know that I am as well. However, I don't have any particular grievance with you nor do I disagree a lot with what you say. I probably agree with you 75% of the time, maybe more. There are 3 camps here. The ones that support Osh & the ones that don't. Then there are the ones who seem neutral. We're in opposite camps, that's all. BTW, I don't want Osh fired. My complaint is the way he handles personnel mostly. We knew it was coming but it still sucks.

Now, don't ask questions like that as you'll upset some people here who think Osh does no wrong. They'll roll their eyes.

Living here in Calgary & barely interested, I have a couple of friends who are hard core Stamps fans like we are here for the Bombers that keep me abreast of what is going on. There's a lot of anger & frustration with the fanbase. Just about everybody in the City hates the owner Murray Edwards. He's an absentee, non existent owner who lives in Switzerland. He is reputed to be cheap & any money the Stamps do make on their operations goes right to the Flames, supposedly. One friend who is the son of a former player & supposedly in the know told me that they have weekly management meetings for each team Edwards owns during their particular season. Dickenson will tell Stamps ownership representatives like Stamps President Jay McNeil as well as upper Flames management like the CSEC President what he needs money & player wise. Everybody nods in agreement & then that's the last of it as Edwards comes back later with an answer & says no. In fairness, McNeil is actually trying to change things with the Stamps but even as Stamps President, he answered to Calgary Sports & Entertainment Corporation President Robert Bean in 2024 but who has since stepped down & has been replaced by Robert Fraser. Then there's issue with the team itself brought on by years of neglect & John Hufnagel's mantra of "Next Man Up". Huff is like Edwards. He hates free agency & has said publicly in the past that he doesn't like overpaying for players. So when he was GM, he never really took part in the free agent frenzy. Accordingly, he is a team consultant to Edwards as well as the CSEC President & is still Dickenson's boss. Last season, Hufnagel was upstairs in the coaches box with a headset. I was told he was talking to Dave Dickenson telling him what plays to call. The feeling was that Huff was interfering with Dave Dickenson's job as an OC. That the two men clashed over this. Hufnagel still has a lot of influence on what the team does operating wise as he is friends with Edwards. If Huff says don't spend money, then the team doesn't spend the money & players leave which adds to the hard feelings between Huff & Dickenson. Problem is, there's no more "Next Man Up" anymore as the well has run dry. The Next Man is worse that the guy before him. It's a great theory that only works if you have talent & depth. Two things the Stamps don't have anymore. I think a lot of players on the team saw what was going on & just gave up last season. They stopped caring. Dave Dickenson was griping all season long about the way the team played, including one swear fest news conference with the media when he blasted his players. I think they finally just tuned out. Jake Maier would continually throw picks at the worst possible time & lose game after game that they should have won. Yet he'd pass for 300-400 yards in a losing cause. He finished third in the CFL with over 4,000 yards passing with a sub par receiving corps other than Begelton. Yet he ****** up continually. Maier couldn't run & seemed to gain back some of the weight that he had lost in the off season heading into camp. He moved & scrambled less & less as the season went on. RB Diedrick Mills inexplicably left the team for 4 or 5 games due personal reasons. His absence really was the number one reason the Stamps season tanked. They really only had one receiver in Begelton. Offensive & defensive lines were an issue. The trade to get Oromilade for LB Cam Judge may have strengthened the DL but significantly weakened their LB corps. So, one step forward & two steps back with that trade. I can't see how it helps strengthen a defense getting a quality DL when you lose a quality LB like Judge. Judge was their best LB by a wide margin as Awe didn't have as near a great a season as he had in 2023. Their secondary sucked. They have VA & now they're desperately trying to fill the holes to get him some talent to work with. Interestingly, this week short yardage qb specialist Tommy Stevens who is a free agent tweeted on X that there's no way he'll play fullback for the Stamps.

C'mon guys, Osh has it under control. He's in no hurry. So just relax. Right? Isn't that what the Usual Suspects have said around here since Buck left? Just a reminder that legal tampering starts tomorrow & goes to the 12th.

Vaughters didn't have a lot of help. Rose had a down year. Howsare was just horrible.

Having played just 18 games the past 2 seasons, I can't see Lawler asking for $300,000 or more. Even $250,000 is a stretch. You never know, someone may pay. Please do.

Yeah.....

How much does Vaughters have left in the tank? The Stamps DL was invisible last year. The worst in the CFL.

They reupped Rolan Milligan as well.

The Wheat Stompers did sign Mike Rose. I don't think Gino will be here. At least I hope not. We need to spend money resigning Dobson on our OL & still bolster our DL.

Everybody wants to know...

Will he be ready for training camp?

The biggest problem is the Canadian dollar & its devaluation & taxes on both sides of the border. We may have to readjust the salary cap & pay players in US Funds. You can't expect to sign any player tocome up here for a $150,000 one year deal & in the US it's worth less than a hundred grand. Or to offer a CFL minimum deal & the US money is worth half to 2/3 of what these American players signed for . I'm asking him a legit question. He can read it. He responds to other posts when I don't tag him. Why would someone roll his eyes when the discussion comes to scouting & recruiting areas of need? It's not being weird to ask a question except the way I went about it. I can't make him answer if he doesn't want to.

Sure bigblue204, don't engage in a discussion. I've now invited you twice yet you refuse. Why? I'd like to know why you disagree.

So, tell me bigblue204, you rolled your eyes... just who does it fall to when it comes to finding a returner? Or any other player? Who is responsible when the coach says we need a left tackle? The equipment manager?