Rich

Then we get a week of "I told ya so" and "We need to keep this group together" and "We're on the right track" and "O'Shea's a great HC" and so on before we fall back to earth the week after. Honestly, we should win this week. Regina's only won a single game all year, it's very hard to win back to back and we're at home. Agreed 100%. That's what will make a loss that much harder to take as fan. As for MOS, the rest of the coaching staff, and the Bomber management, another loss to SK at home means that there is no place for them to hide. The "I gotta watch the game film" cliche they use every week shouldn't even be brought up. Suitor had an interesting comment on MOS yesterday here on 1260 in Edmonton - he said that MOS's policy of only talking to him (and not his other coaches) has a negativec affect in the locker room. He feels since the coach doesn't trust his assistants, why would the players? He's only speaking as a former player of course but makes me wonder, how much credibility in the room does MB even have? I don't understand how a media policy would affect the players. Why would the players even care if a coordinator was allowed to talk to the media or not unless that coordinator was talking about them to the media. This sounds more like Suitor the media person speaking and not Suitor the player. If MOS didn't allow the players to talk to Marcel without going through him, that would be a problem

Putting a limit on it is a huge pain when you want to quote a post over the max and have to manually prune it, and then the next person to comment / quote having to do the same thing, so I am reluctant to change it. There is a new version of the boards software out that I am considering upgrading to in the off season (a complete rewrite from the ground up), I'm hoping they've addressed the issue by having the software prune the posts over the max setting (which is the way it should be done).

Wouldn't it be the 9th overall pick? Our 1st rounder is forfeited, not traded. Or are you assuming they end up with more wins then us?

Just a what if question...what if we just wanted to just get rid of him? Could we just send him to the minors and have him get picked up on waivers and bypass the no-trade clause? As I understand it, if you have a no movement clause in your contract, you cannot be put on waivers nor sent down to the minors.

A board of directors for any professional organization does not ever meddle in day to day affairs. Do you think, for example, that the members of the board of directors for IBM are all computer experts and make the decisions to decide which products get developed and how to design them? No. They hire a CEO. He doesn't do that stuff either. He hires the experts that oversee the departments that do those things. That's how businesses work. The Bombers board likely does care about the bottom line and making sure that bottom lines are being taken care of, in other words, profits. But they also know that the Bombers are an entertainment business and nothing sells tickets and generates income better than success on the field. They'll be asking the CEO what plans are in place to "increase productivity" (ie. win more) and if they aren't satisfied with his answers and steps are not being taken, then they will look at him. Not the GM, not the coach, because the GM and HC do NOT answer directly to the board. It will be left to the CEO to look at the GM and for the GM to look at the HC and his staff. It's called a chain of command and it's used because it works. So screaming about the BoD will do nothing because the on field product is not controlled by them at all, and it never will be. Every year it seems we have two or three people who want to rage about the Board and demand that they get involved without understanding that that will never ever happen, nor should it. I agree with what you suggest on how a boards should be run but I will put a few caveats in there. When firing a coach with term left on his contract, the GM (Walters) would have to go to the CEO (Miller) who may need board approval because of the cost of the payout of firing the coach. And while the board should not meddle in day-to-day operations of the club, The Blue Bomber board has shown in the past that they will meddle. When Bauer left after the Mike Kelly season, it was the board who brought Mack in as GM and vice president of football operations. At that point in time (2010) they put Mack in charge of football ops and put Jim Bell in as president. Then in 2012, Bell was demoted to Vice President and COO and Buchko brought in as President in CEO, hailed as having the background to promote and sell the advertising and sponsorships needed heading into the new stadium. Buchko, new to the job kept Mack as GM. Then when Buchko went to the board to have Mac fired a year and a half into his tenure as CEO, the board decided Buchko had to go as well. So for the 2 years when Bell was president, they really segregated the duties of Bell and Mack to running the business side of the club and football ops, and I don't believe Mack really even reported to Bell. Then the board brings in Buchko as CEO (won't even talk about that being announced so close to the long term deal CJOB got on the clubs radio rights) and lets him inherit Mack as GM. Not that I was a fan of Buchko, but he was given a bad deal. He inherited a GM that the BoD originally hired in his first year on the job, decided to keep him for that first year, then when he wanted to fire Mack a year and a half later, the BoD decided Buchko had to go as well. So Buchko never even got the chance to hire his own GM. I'm not saying Buchko should have stayed, it seems to me he was in over his head, but he was another mistake made by the board. So I agree that the BoD shouldn't meddle, but part of the problems with this club in the past 5 years is that they have meddled way too much. Things are probably back on the course to where they should be with Wade in as CEO, but the board is a big reason this club is where it is today. And when I've seen people rage against the board, it has mostly been for these reasons.

The first sign of adversity happened the second half of last season. I was willing to wait and give them a chance. A full year to scout and recruit and find better players. Heck, it isn't even the record that is the problem with this team. If they were at least competitive in games and still losing, I could see the progression to being a better team. I know this team had a lot to fix and a ways to go, but the problem is this team isn't getting better. They aren't even competitive anymore. And you can throw out the Willy excuse, but how many other teams lost their starting QBs this season. It is football, injuries happen. I'm really on the fence on Walter / O'Shea ... Part of me thinks they still deserve one more year, but I do know that right now there is absolutely zero fun sitting and watching these games in the stands. I'm tired of the mediocrity and I'm not the only one. Proof will be in the pudding with season ticket sales for next season. The team may be forced to make a change just to make their mortgage payment.

It is interesting that the Stampeders had 3 seasons where they were the joke of the league. The last year that Buono was there in 2002 (6 - 12) and the two seasons after that (2003 & 2004) at 5 - 13 and 4 - 14. Those were the Jim Barker and Matt Dunigan seasons. Those were pretty much the years where Feterik owned the team, messed it up big time, and chased Buono away to BC. In 2005 new ownership took over and the team has not missed the playoffs since and only had one sub .500 season since where they were 7 - 10. In that time frame they've been 116-62 with a .652 winning percentage. They made it to 3 Grey Cups, winning 2 of them and made it to the west final 3 more times that they lost. So in the last 10 years, they've made it to the West final 6 times. Maybe the problem with the Bombers really does start with the BOD. Look at what 3 years of bad ownership did to the Stampeders. What has been the one constant in the last 15 years in Bomber land? Certainly not the head coaches, we've had 7 of them, changing them roughly every two years. Could it be the GMs? Well, in that time frame we've gone through Ritchie, Taman, Kelly, Mack, and now Walters. So that is 5 in 15 years. We've changed our GM every 3 years. How about the CEO? Well, in that time we've had Miller, Buchko, then no real CEO for a while, then Bauer. BOD was directly responsible for hiring both Kelly and Mack. Who could it be on the Board of Directors? I really have no clue. Trying to find a history on who has served on the board through the last 15 years is seemingly harder then it should be. The Bombers website doesn't really say how long they've served, especially when they keep changing positions on it Even if you want to blame it on changing the coach and GM every 2 - 3 years, doesn't that still fall to the BOD for either being too impatient or making bad hires? Throw in the whole stadium fiasco which hasn't even been resolved yet, and this organization needs to change from the top down.

Many reasons for it, but all I know is that in the last 7 years we've only had 1 season above .500 (8 if you want to count this season. We would need to go 6 - 2 to hit .500 this year, 7 - 1 to be above it). That is a lot of bad football and there is little confidence that there is an end in sight. Looking to hit a decade of mediocrity. No wonder this fan base is getting apathetic. Can only get your heart pulled out and stomped on so many times before you stop putting your heart out there.

At least we get to see a new QB next week.

And the hits just keep on coming...

What does it matter what people thought at the beginning of the season? Most of the people on this board are fans and for the most part over value the talent we have and want to cheer for the team they follow. Most people on this board who thought these things aren’t in practices to evaluate the QBs. Most people on this board don’t watch game film to dissect the decisions the QB made on the called play and what the defense was showing. Most people on this board were happy with what we had until they had a chance to actually see it. So what exactly is your point here? That people shouldn’t complain about the QBs because they were happy at the beginning of the season? That makes no sense. You really also can’t throw out numbers like 95% of the people thought the QB depth was fine. Maybe 95% of the people who posted thought the QB depth was fine, but that is something entirely different. Unless you go back and can correlate the people who said they were happy with the depth are now the ones complaining about it, it really has no correlation. I’m also sure 95% of those 95% of the people also thought Drew Willy would play for at least 80% of the games…

Yup, he spent four years iirc behind Hamm before he started to play like a starter and them Trestman put him over the top. He spent 5 years with Don Matthews as coach before Trestman took over. No doubt he had huge success with Trestman, but he was already a super star and Grey Cup champion when Trestman came in.

Basically a week away from the Jets first game at the young stars classic in Penticton.

'As long as they are legal and don't harm others' ? Problem is that some think disagreeing is doing harm. And that's wrong. I hear this all the time. People tolerate religion until religion disagrees with something. Freedom of religion is being eroded. What about forcing a bakery to make a cake for a gay wedding? Seems like someone's beliefs are being imposed on others. The person is acting in the offical capacity of the state, not baking cakes. In that capacity, they need to adhere to the laws that are enacted by the elected offcials. If doing that is offensive to them, find another job. They can't arbitrarily make up the laws. That isn't how democracy works.

Ridiculous. If your religion doesn't support gay marriage, then you don't have to participate in a gay marriage. It doesn't give you the write to impose that onto someone else. Every person has the right to their own religion and beliefs (as long as they are legal and don't harm others) and you cannot trample on those rights.

The criticism of Brohm is that he can't complete a 10 yard pass without bouncing it off the field in front of his targeted receiver. At least Willy can move the offence. You don't see many other professional QBs have that problem when they come off the bench cold. I think at this point Brohm's problems are mental. There is no doubt he is able to make that pass, he wouldn't be where he is today if he couldn't and from all reports he is very accurate in practice. But I think it is now in his head and is over thinking his throws once he gets in the games. Kind of like the yips with a golfer. Question is how much time can we afford to give him to work himself out of it. Not long. But having said that, I still think the criticism of Brohm is warranted. That display he put on last game was atrocious.

http://deadspin.com/judge-overturns-tom-bradys-suspension-1728456783?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow This is the basic reasons the suspension was overturned. Interesting that the suspension was overturned because of process and not merit.

Lapo wrote an article up on TSN looking back on the Labour day games he has been a part of as a coach, and reminiscing how an American doesn't always appreciate the rivalries when they are new to the league. http://www.tsn.ca/learning-to-love-cfl-s-labour-day-classics-1.354694 This quote made me both laugh and cry....

I understand why with Nichols having little time in the offense. But Brohm has to be on a very short leash. If he is bouncing balls into the turf again, he has to be pulled.

Price is right anyway.

Merits of that trade aside, after making that trade, are you playing Chiarot as our #1 LHD next year or a rookie in Hanifin? And we would still have a bottle neck of RHD.

Very interesting and thought provoking post. Well done. I don’t think you give Walters enough credit for the things he did right. Most of the things he has done right you basically say were gifted to him and anyone in his position would have done it. He did it, he gets credit plain and simple. Same for Hajrullahu. We didn’t get him because every other team was set at kicker, we got him because of Walters. If another team though he was worth it, he would have been put on a PR. I also don’t find it equitable to compare the number of starters that Mack found vs. Walters. Mack had 4 years to build his crew, Walters has had 2 (not including his partial season). Here was the Bomber roster after Mack had it for 2 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Winnipeg_Blue_Bombers_season I can’t remember every player he brought in vs those he inherited, but as far as counting starters, I don’t think it is that far off from where Walters is. However I also don't know if Mack is the bar you want to measure a GM against. Walters took over the GM job in 2013, but that was mid-season and most of the work for GMs and scouts happen before or just as this regime took place. He didn’t put his scouting staff in place until during the 2013 off season. That is too late too really make a difference for 2014. The one interesting piece of information I took from that Ken Moll video that was posted was that all your scouting and recruiting you do, doesn’t pay-off until a year or two later after a player exhausts all NFL hope. I'd like to know what kind of scouting "lists' the current regime brought in with them. You give Walters credit for Justin Veltung, Jace Daniels, Khalil Bass, Johnny Adams, Bruce Johnson, Moe Leggett & Cam Marshall yet when you compare to talent other teams (like the DL) have found you compare to the whole league, not a single GM. That isn't quite fair either. You bring up some interesting points on the draft, but I don’t think a draft can be fully critiqued until two or three years after the fact. Jury is out on those IMO. Walters record is definitely a sore spot as you point out and 12 – 27 is not acceptable. This team had a lot of work to be done when he took over, and it still has a lot more to be done. The product on the field is not entertaining. The import scouting has definitely been under whelming. We have competent players, but I don't see a super star. Other then Willy, this team is missing a superstar. Ask yourself what name you would get on a jersey if you bought one tomorrow? There ain't a lot to pick from. There is no doubt the honeymoon with Walters is over and his teams have to start producing and producing fast. Unless a proven GM becomes available (say a Huff, Austing, or Buono - and who know if Buono at 65 still has the drive in him), which isn't going to happen, then I think he is safe for at least one more year. If we get to this point next year and have a similar record, and a similar product on the field, I think he is gone. I will put one more caveat on that last statement. I think this organization is at a crossroads right now. This team has been so bad for so long, people are getting to the point where they just don’t care anymore. A lot of fans are past anger and they are into apathy, and that is a dangerous thing. I see it in posts on this board, I heard it in conversations walking away from the stadium last game, and I even feel it myself. People don't expect this team to win, they aren't entertained at the games, and I wonder how long before they stop showing up at the gate and decide to buy Moose tickets instead of Bomber tickets. If season tickets drop drastically in the offseason (under 20k) then all bets are off and we are into the lows of Jeff Reinbold territory. The question is who would be our Dave Ritchie to turn it around….