SpeedFlex27

But the one shared thing of all CFL teams is the game day experience that depends upon above everything else, having a winning football team. As I mentioned earlier, the Cleveland Browns have sucked the better part of the last 40 years yet they average 60,000 fans a game even when they win 4 games a season. The New York Jets still sell out their stadium in New Jersey. All 78000 seats still sell out despite losing 80% of their games year in & year out. CFL teams like Winnipeg, one season of bad football & all the good things the team did for a decade will be gone. The atmosphere & everything will be a thing of the past. Montreal had a jump in attendance as the team did well on the field finishing first in the CFL East last year. If the Als fall back slightly next season to second or third then so will attendance. If you feel that Calgary isn't a good example then fine. Look at Saskatchewan. The Dickenson years, the Garrett Marino scandal, Duke Williams spitting on an Argo defensive back during the Atlantic Canada game & then to make matters worse while he was injured took a swing at a Blue Bomber standing on the sidelines during Labour Day Sunday a few weeks later. The Riders have a new stadium, the same atmosphere as Winnipeg, the same rabid fans as the Bombers & attendance plummeted from sellouts of 33,000 to between 17-22,000 from 2022-24. They still haven't come back. It's the CFL. In every city except perhaps Toronto a winning team usurps everything. People won't spend $$$ on a losing football team like fans do in the NFL.

Ryan Dinwiddie is the best HC in the CFL & his tree has spawned one very successful rookie HC in Corey Mace who has changed the culture of the team under Craig Dickenson. Just based on whet they did in free agency, they are a better team than they were in 2024.

I know how this place works. Just about everyone who now call Osh a genius coach & are sticking up for him this off season will turn on the guy if we go 0-4 again or are 3-6 at midway point of the season & show little sign of recovery. Unlike last season when we went on a 10 game winning streak to save our season. Seen it many times over the years. Fans turning on their team's HC. Right now, I don't believe that we're better than an 8-10 or 9-9 team fighting for the last playoff spot in the West or the crossover playoff spot. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. The only poster I'll say who won't is Noeller. Even if the Bomber season tanks. I may not agree with his takes but at least he's never been a turncoat. He'll be loyal to the end for Osh. I respect that.

One poor season on the field will erase all those measurables like sellouts, season tickets, atmosphere, merch sales, etc. The Bombers will go back to crowds of 22-24,000 once again. We aren't the Dallas Cowboys or even the Cleveland Browns where fans never stop coming to the games. Where they buy season tickets just to boo. Fans will drop the Bombers like the plague & start cheering for the Vikings. For proof of that, the Stamps made the playoffs every year for over 20 years & until 2018 were the most dominant team in the CFL. They've gone from crowds of 30,000 back then to 15,000 today. Even worse some home games. No one gives a hoot about the Stamps here in YYC. That's the difference between the NFL & CFL when it comes to losing. Most NFL teams, their fans stick with them. CFL fans stay away & forget about their team.

Yeah, this is my thinking right now. I may not be impressed with Osh's coaching right now but I don't believe he should be fired. Yet. However, I do believe the weak link in the organization may now be Walters. I maintain his best years were 2017-19 & 21. The past 4 years we've lost key players to other teams in free agency & never replaced them. Especially on the OL & DL. At least before, he'd go out & sign some A Lister free agents. Expected big things this off season as we are hosting the Grey Cup & poof!! nothing, really. Hard to believe that this is the same guy who signed Stanley Bryant & Adam Bighill.

That league is dead.... But no doubt some others will come along after the UFL folds thinking they have the magic financial formula to draw fnas to games & get incredible ratings. They won't of course.

There would still be a rebuild as a new HC & his staff would want "their guys" at different playing positions on the team. So, if a free agent became available that the new HC liked, the Bombers would sign him to replace a player already on the roster. Maybe the new OC wants to fill the air with football & the run game then becomes secondary. Or used just to prop up the pass as in BC last year. So then, the CFL's leading rusher Brady Oliveira is suddenly not as important anymore. His salary now becomes a liability. So Oliveira is now too expensive. The OC decides to flip the roster at that position to an Amercan for a much cheaper price. So, someone like Peyton Logan takes over from Oliveira who either leaves in free agency or is traded. Defensively, a different DC means a different scheme & players with different skill sets. So, the players there now would be replaced. That's how it works. It's all up to the new coordinators vision of what they want. I remember when Ray Jauch took over from Bud Riley in 1978. The Bombers were a playoff team, Not a great team but always in the hunt. With a little luck going their way, a Grey Cup contender. I believe they were 9-7 in 1978 & just couldn't win a playoff game when Riley was HC so he walked the plank. Riley just didn't seem he could get the job done & after 5 seasons of failure he was fired. The team had a lot of talent already. Most fans & pundits thought that with Jauch's steady guiding hand & his experience, he would let that same talent rise even further to the top & with the help of scouting find even more talent to become Grey Cup winners. Jauch kept Riley's team together for the most part in 1978. They had another decent 9-7 regular season but after another playoff exit vs the Stamps, Jauch decided to gut the team in 1979 & start over. We fell to 4-12 that year & some popular veterans were traded away or released. Three player I remember in particular, two from Winnipeg & both popular teammates & players were gone. They were TE Leo Ezerins & SB Gord Patterson both traded in separate deals to the Ti Cats prior to the 79 season. The other trade was a shocker as immensely popular & gregarious Lyall Woznesensky, an Canadian All Star Defensive End... "The Wizard of Woz" as he was called was traded to the Stamps for another All Star & HOFer John Helton. It was a monster trade that was so tipped in Winnipeg's favour. Helton gave the Bombers another 4 great seasons retiring in 1982. We signed Elton Brown an All Star DT from the Argos. A thousand yard rusher in RB William Miller as a free agent. Others as well. There must have been at least a dozen changes. The Bombers missed the playoffs in 1979 but then qualified for it every year after that for over a decade. We won three Grey Cups. Those players in 1979 & 80 never got the chance to sip from Lord Earl Grey's Cup but they established a winning culture that contributed to our success in the years to come. Jauch tried to keep things the same but it didn't work. So, he went with his instincts & really did change things up. He got rid of a lot of deadwood on the roster & recruited other players that fulfilled his vision of what a winner really was.

Bobby was a damned good wrestler. He played the villain perfectly every time. I remember when Greg Gagne beat him in a match & he had to put on a weasel suit. He wrestled that same match all over the AWA as everyone wanted to see it.

Singing national anthems will be a thing of the past, soon.

It's always easier to replace bottom end guys with more bottom end guys. It's the top end that's the problem. We haven't replaced anyone of note on the top end because for some reason the Bombers decided to be active in free agency by keeping the team's wallet in Walters pocket. . We have a bunch of B list receivers that we hope at least one develops into a star player at a cheap price since Kenny Lawler went to Hamilton. Our OL lost a big chunk in the off season with Liam Dobson & hasn't been replaced. The DL still needs at least one DT that makes a difference but we've been waiting for Walters to do that now since the end of 2021. We finally replaced Janarion Grant with Peyton Logan so we'll see if he is the answer on returns since Grant was inexplicably allowed to leave. It doesn't get corrected, though. That's the problem. And whenever these things do get discussed publicly by the Bombers, you get the typical Osh smirk saying he'd do it over again. That's not a sign of a coach learning from his mistakes. It's just plain stupid arrogance.

Uh-oh, the acolytes are getting stirred up tonight. Like a hornet's nest.

You're talking about the HC who in 2023 played 4 players who physically couldn't play. Then last year put Zach back in the game with an injured & bloodied finger on his throwing hand. Blind leading the blind. Both Osh & Buck let everyone down.

Lots of questions & police say little.

Our DL other than Jefferson did nothing especially our NG's Schmeckel & Thomas.

Buck's offense went off the rails at times last season. His playcalling at times left a lot to be desired. Not sorry to see him go.

Hackman dies, his wife & dog die yet no foul play suspected, No mention of a natural gas or methane leak.

I'm not a regular viewer of the show but it's sad that the dog playing Rex died.

Four or 5 years ago, a community football team lost all of it's equipment worth over a hundred thousand dollars when it was stolen. For spring league (15-18 yrs of age), bantam 13-14), Pee Wee (11 &12) & atoms (8-10). Helmets, shoulder pads, soft pads, bags, etc... Thieves broke into the shack where the equipment was stored outside of a community club & cleaned everything out. The organization had to take most of the blame as they didn't have anything insured (which I find unbelievable). I never heard one story about the Stamps stepping up & donating equipment & money to help the team get back on its feet. The club folded which affected over 120 kids as they had to play elsewhere. No doubt some kids quit. That's the way Murray Edwards runs the Stamps. Meanwhile, former Stamps owners Ted Hellard & John Forzani helped fund Shouldice Park in NW Calgary when they owned the team. They helped pay for three artificial turf fields with stands & locker room facilities. Their financial contribution helped get the $10-15 million facility over the top as fund raising for that facility took years.

Don't take this the wrong way, Tracker. I'm just clarifying a few points that have always bothered me about this, "He can't play so he coaches stuff". Some of the best coaches that exist coach high school & community sports. My AD at Centennial High School in Calgary when I worked as as an Educational Assistant there was on Canada's Olympic Volleyball Team in 1976. Also playd for a couple of years on Canada's National Volleyball team. He went to the U of Wpg & was Garth Pischke's teammate there & when they represented Canada. The HC of the senior football team at Centennial was a star linebacker at Acadia. Tore his knee up his senior year which ended his career. He turned the football program around at our high school from a team that couldn't win a game. They had maybe 30 kids at practice on a good day playing in Division 3 ball & there wa sapathy a plenty whn it came to football. He transformed his sad sack senior team into one that rose to Div 1 with 65 players wanting to play within 3 years of him taking over. He had an infectious personality & was always positive even when they struggled on the field. His players loved him. Especially on defense as he was also the DC. He also convinced the entire team to get into the weight room for off season workouts where the previous coach had failed. We had a couple of excellent basketball coaches coaching the boys & girls teams who certainly raised the profile of the sport in our school. As well as soccer & rugby, too. In community football here in Calgary, I've had the pleasure to be on the staff of coaches who were great players in their day. One in particular is a City of Calgary Police Officer who is retiring at the end of June but is still coaching into his late 60's. He won 2 Vanier Cups back to back in 1984 & 85, I believe with the U of C Dinos. From everything I heard about him, he was a tiger on the field & loved to crash & bang. He's been coaching football since the late 1990's. One of Tyler's teammates back in high school is now the HC of the University of Regina. Another friend of his who was a qb for another HS team in Calgary is now the OC at the University of Saskatchewan. A former bantam teammate is also DC at the U of C. There others I just can't remember. My response to the, "If you can't play then coach" BS is the people who say that are people who can't play OR coach. They'd have a hard time even managing a pee wee team. None of these guys should be made to feel like they're somehow faiures because they coach. It's just a natural progression for all of them.

The only thing I miss is Select A Seat. They built the new arena downtown. Now people don't feel safe walking back to their cars or taking a bus to & from the games to get home. Never felt that way with the old Arena.

What is it with you? If anyone here criticizes Osh you get all worked up because we're not being nice to him. Then when we are being nice & saying good things, you get all worked up again claiming he gets disgusted when people compliment him or say nice things about him. We know Osh is humble but you take it to the nth degree. Just enjoy it when we are being nice here.

That's why they become gym teachers. they study sports movement & performance called Kinesiology.

You'd think he'd want to have coached linebackers as he is in the CFHOF as a linebacker. When you think of everything a qb has to know it also makes sene.

Good teams find ways to win. Bad teams find ways to lose. Oh & one more thing this comment was not meant for Mike O'Shea. So, chill acolytes.

Yeah, Tyler's private qb coach was former Cal Head Coach Roger Theder. He wanted both him & us out of there as the sun was beginning to set. While we were there, the cops were arresting folks on the street around the stadium everyday for 4 days. I watched 3 or 4 arrests go down. A couple were violent take downs. I was glad when that camp was over with. I kept worrying my car would be stolen or vandalized. From what I've read & seen on the news that area is even worse than it was back then. Hard to imagine it could be any worse around that campus but I guess it is. Very sad.