Mike

Do I have a source regarding his concussion having nothing to do with retirement? Yes. Do I have a source that Walters knew about this before the draft? No. And that's my fault for wording it in a way that made it sound like it was more than just my opinion.

Surprises me. But I guess the team is pretty high on some of the new guys.

I just so happen to know two things when it comes to the Waggoner thread 1) I know a concussion is not why he retired 2) I know it really irks many, many players when media, fans, public forums, Twitterheads or anybody else speculates about their health and well-being, especially as it relates to a decision like retirement I'm not asking anybody to believe me. It doesn't really matter to me one way or another. But I put that info out there for those who want to take it at face value. For the rest ... that's cool too.

I'm still a bit confused as to why you're so invested in this, other than it gives you an excuse to take a run at me. Odd, because that's exactly what you're criticizing me for doing to Garrett. All I'm doing here is addressing the mistakes you've made on this. You said I jumped all over him, I posted the thread showing you I did not. You then said I made a joke about excluding him from an event, I pointed out I did not. I didn't say all he needed to do was remain calm. I'm sure you've been here long enough to know "calm" is not really a descriptive word for the way we ask people to act around here. There's a LOT of leash that gets given out around here, especially when you compare it to other forums out there. A better way to put it would be that we asked him to stop causing us so much work because he's not able to come to grips with the idea that we're not "out to get him". You want another example of the headache that he caused some of our staff? He literally accused us of deleting a post of his, then when we checked our moderator logs to see what happened, we explained to him that he'd actually deleted it himself (presumably by accident) and he cried conspiracy. He also refused to speak to roughly 47.2% of our staff and would only respond to one or two members when they reached out to him to ask about his behavior. Why should volunteers have to put up with that nonsense? Sad thing is, that's nowhere near the worst of it. I have to admit though, I am getting a bit of a chuckle out of your efforts to egg me on today. Either you're unable to notice the similarities between what you're doing and what you are criticizing me for doing or you're doing some grade A trolling. Well done, whichever it is.

You are aware that when I talk in a general sense, I'm not talking specifically about you, right? Plenty of people are doing this. Is it you? No, it's not.

I "planned" a meetup night and joked about not inviting him? It's funny how you can still read the thread and get it wrong. I never made a joke about not inviting anybody. I made an off-hand comment about how it'd be a cool idea. It would be a cool idea. I've met quite a few people from this community before and they're all really good guys. Hell, now that I think about it, I went to a member's wedding last summer. I've been on vacation with guys I've met through this community. Lots of friendships built from this place. Plus, I want to find out if MOBomberFan is as weird as I think he is. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I didn't needle Garrett. Of course I did. If you knew half as much as you think you do about the guy, you'd understand why entirely. You can take his side all you want, that's your prerogative. I think what he has contributed in the past has been awesome. I really enjoyed the camp reports that he puts together and I do agree that if all things were equal, I'd rather have his reports here than not. But what we can't have is the other stuff. The other stuff is why Garrett is no longer here. Without going into detail about it, literally all he had to do to remain welcome here was agree to stop insulting staff members. Pretty much as low as you can go as far as expectations go, especially when you consider he was far and away the most high maintenance member we had from a staff point of view.

Major camp battles in my mind: There are two big ones, in terms of impact on the starting lineup. Faith Ekakitie vs. Jake Thomas - this is more about snaps, as in who is going to get more. They'll both play but how much? Kyle Knox vs. Nick Temple vs. George Stone vs. Kyrie Wilson - this is the big one, as I would imagine only one of these guys makes the roster and one makes the PR but two will go home. Dark horse in my mind is Kyrie Wilson, I think he's got a sneaky chance to win the job. Other than that ... Green vs. Jeffcoat, Apodaca vs. Bell, Stafford (or Denmark, truthfully) vs. Burton/Lowder/Thorpe I think we'll see a surprise or two. But the roster is mostly set. (Obligatory Bruce Johnson vs. the World also)

Never understood the fascination with sitting here bemoaning the what if's of a draft class, especially when we've had the success we've had. We're averaging a starter a year from the draft and we're complaining? This is not exclusive to the Bombers. It happens to every single team. BC chose Mrabure-Ajufo 5th overall in 2015, he's not even on their roster anymore. Hamilton had 8th and 9th overall in 2014 and took Beau Landry and Evan Gill, who have taken (rough estimate) zero defensive snaps for them. The entire first round of the 2013 draft would look a lot better if you reversed the order, because MacMillan (9th) is a far better player than Gaydosh (1st) and there are blown picks all over that round. And my favorite - EVERY SINGLE TEAM passed on Taylor Loffler last year multiple times (except SSK, cuz they suck and give away their picks) It's not a Winnipeg thing. It's a CFL Draft thing.

I went back and looked at the thread. I definitely did jump all over Gbill - let's take a look back at this reckless display of unwarranted aggression:

Wrong. You used the word "schlemiels". What is wrong with you that you couldn't even remember that?

You're more than entitled to your opinion and if you want to believe that's what happened, all the power to you.

I like the sounds of this Chance Casey fella

I've long given up. I have better things to do. Like drink.

What they really need to do is develop a QBR type formula that uses advanced statistics to come to it's conclusion. Then you'll be getting somewhere. Combine (Completion % - Expected Completion %), At-fault interception throws, yards per attempt, sacks per snap, etc. It's nearly impossible to develop a formula to rate quarterbacks based on the raw, preliminary numbers we accept as the standard. A quarterback's individual success is too dependent on the result at the other end of his throw and without coming up with a way to define that, you're not going to get anywhere. Quarterback throws the ball, it's tipped by the receiver into a defender's hands. QB's fault? No, but it has a negative impact on his statistics. Quarterback takes the snap, LT blows the edge and allows the rush to get through, QB sails it out of bounds. QB's fault? No, but it has a negative impact on his statistics. It works in the other direction too. Quarterback throws the ball right to a DB because he misread a coverage. DB drops it. QB's fault? Yes, but no negative impact. TLDR: Football is the toughest sport to analyze statistically. We're nowhere even close to being able to do it.

I would be A-OK with us signing Spencer Watt.

He was measured at the combine. I'd say that's as official as it gets unless you believe his height is like his shirt and he can change it every day.

Corney is 6'3", 254; Boateng is 6', 233 - they're not even close to the same size. What is there to like about Boateng? Seriously. He's slow, he's not explosive and he made his mark at Wilfrid Laurier being able to out-athlete guys who aren't athletes. He's a less athletic version of a guy like Evan Foster, who nobody views as a serious threat to be anything but a special teams guy. Is it any surprise that he was ranked as a top prospect until teams found out he was basically 2 1/2 inches shorter than what his university team touted him as? I'm not trying to tell anyone their opinion is wrong. I just don't see what the difference is between a guy like Boateng and a guy like, let's say ... Mark Mackie, who was touted as the "not good enough, underdog, too small" guy all combine long.

Marty Scurll joining Bullet Club good lord I can only be so aroused

I just don't see it in him as a pro player. Canadian defensive ends in his body just don't seem to make the transition.

I'll be surprised if he gets more than 3 career sacks.

To all new members seeking Bomber discussion while the team's official forum is down: Welcome. We're not so bad here. Stick around, maybe you'll enjoy it.

For the record, I don't really agree with the way you handled it. I know how his words came across and for the record, I think both forums have their place in our online community and don't think it's necessary to proclaim one as superior to the other. But you really went after him there.

8 edits, that's gotta be a record.

"I'm curious about the roster bonus" is such a strange thing to say. It's like ever since it happened with Mo Price, it's become this strange obsession Rider fans had. Why in the world do you think for even a second that a rookie would have a roster bonus of any significant consequence to the salary cap.

Probably one of those unexpected downtime things that they then turned into a whole lot more.