Mike

I think O'Shea is just throwing that out there to try to get the NI's to step up. I've seen this as his plan from the beginning. When have we ever brought in import competition at guard and center? There is no way the Bombers can actually afford, ratio wise, to have 3 import olinemen. It's just a matter of which two positions on the line will have imports. Definitely LT, maybe RG, maybe RT. That's why it is so baffling that so many imports are getting the bulk of the practice time... Let's say there are 6 import Olinemen in camp, and let's say the Bombers intend to keep 3 of them. One starts for sure, another may or may not start depending on how the ratio sorts itself out, and a 3rd will be on the practise roster for depth. Now lets say that 2 linemen are head and shoulders above the other 4, for example, January and Jones, but the other 4 are all pretty equal in their ability to play tackle. How to pick the 1 guy out of those 4 to keep on the PR? Gut instinct? Sure, that counts for something. Hundreds of reps at the tackle spot over and over trying to spot mistakes? Well, yes, they'll do that too. But if you're going to keep 1 guy to back up 2, just 1, and all 4 are relatively equal at the tackle spot, wouldn't it be important to find out how those guys handle playing center and guard? Just in case? Even if the ratio makes it terribly unlikely that he would ever line up at those spots, wouldn't finding the most complete and versatile player who can potentially back up all 5 spots on the Oline be really important? The Bombers will keep almost all of their NI Olinemen. They might cut 1. Do we still have Pollywollydoodlealltheday on our roster? Maybe 2. First name Tetris.

NO. yes of course.

hmmmmmmmmmmm ... interesting.

Are you suggesting hosting or panel member? I'd like to see him as a panel member. I always enjoyed his approach when he was with CBC, especially is disjointed fingers holding the mic for everyone to see, priceless. I like how he'd bring his support for the 'hogs' to the discussion. Always enjoyable banter. Plus, being a Bomber Blue and true could help minimize some of that argo feel you sometimes get from TSN. He'd be infinitely more enjoyable to listen to than Schultz. Schultz wrote an article on TSN the other day ... I was laughing my ass off at some of the stuff he wrote. Typical epic Schultz stuff.

Even though I don't always agree with you, I usually can at least admit that you seem to know what you're talking about. Comments like this though ... where do you expect them to find ANY non-imports right now on the open market? Any valuable non-import will likely come from either a) a trade or once other teams start trimming rosters to free up space and/or money. Should they just stop scouting imports until some non-imports come available so that they can appease fans by balancing the signings?

Expect him to be added to the camp roster soon. 4th round pick out of Oklahoma by the Detroit Lions in 2012 ... spent time on Toronto PR last year.

So last week in our one year announcement, we alluded to a new contest that we'd be running this year in place of our fantasy football league. Fantasy sports are always fun to participate in, but what we wanted to do this year was not limit the participation to 8 players (or 16, if we did 2 leagues) and instead, open it up to the whole MBB community. I started learning about daily fantasy sports last year during the NFL season and I thought it would translate well over to the CFL so we figured why not make it a contest? Here's how it works - during each week of the CFL season, you will have an opportunity to draft a team. You will choose a team QB, two running backs, three receivers, a kicker and a team defense. Very similar to a regular fantasy league, except there are no limits on how many people can pick the same player (so we could end up seeing Nick Moore drafted a dozen times in one week, for an example) and you are able to pick a new team every week. Just like regular fantasy, you will receive points based on the performance of your players. Mr. Perfect helped out with a scoring system that we'll post up as well and that is how each team will be scored. Your points will be totaled over the course of the entire season and whoever has the most total points at the end of the year will win the prize we have stashed away for you. For our fantasy leagues last year, we used the Fantaseh platform but this year, we're going to go back to the old pen and paper method of keeping track of scoring. I'll be doing my best to keep scores updated as quickly after the week of games as possible and I know some of the other staff members have already volunteered to help with the scores, but it won't be real time like Fantaseh was. We're toying around with the idea of spreadsheets to make this easier as well. As a participant, you are obviously going to need to participate each week in order to have the best chance possible of winning. One rule I will set in stone right away is that if you do not pick your team each week, we will not be letting you carry over your team from the previous week as a default. You are allowed to pick the same team each week if you'd like to, but you'll have to update us each week that you're doing it. No freebies. Any questions? Suggestions? We'll post the scoring system closer to the start of the season.

I think O'Shea's comments were blown a little out of proportion. When he referred to three import OL, it didn't sound to me like he was strongly considering the idea, just that every option is an option at this point.

To be fair, MOS speaks glowingly of everyone. Exactly. What is coach supposed to say? The truth? That Jake Thomas is nowhere near starter level. At best a back up that can play maybe 10-15 snaps a game. That's an awfully interesting assessment to give of a guy who has played more snaps than that in the past at a fairly decent level.

I wonder if Greg Wojt could be a target. He's no longer been working with the first team offense in Hamilton. ... neither has Sam Giguere.

Can't see them dangling a 2nd round pick for a center when they just drafted a guy they're hoping will man the position for the next 10-15. Guard, probably.

Any more than that, re: names, etc?

I have to be honest, this doesn't really surprise me. I'd love for them to take the approach that you can make all Canadian talent fit but I think if there were a player who was the definition of anti-Etcheverry, Ted Laurent would be close to it. I don't agree with the decision to not go after him, but I'm not really surprised. He should be adapting his scheme to fit his players. Ted Laurent is a special player, if you can't find room to fit a guy like him into your defense Etch should re-evaluate what we're doing. Etcheverry terrifies me. I agree ... to an extent. You can't spend your entire offseason scouting players to fit one scheme and then change it up to adapt to another individual. Ted Laurent is a great player, I'd love to have him. But like MBRG said, he's VERY one dimensional. It's a great dimension but it's not a dimension that fits here. Laurent said the reason he didn't sign in Montreal was because the defense wasn't a good fit for him. It works both ways. Winnipeg probably felt the same about him.

How would they know who came out of which vehicle? It's per person. ... You take $5 from each car as they enter the park n ride? Unless they're giving everyone wristbands.... What if I want to do a walk and ride? Will they deny me because I didn't bring a car? (just playing devil's advocate)

I wouldn't say full time Canadian spot. I still say it's going to be a rotational spot with Thomas at DT, Newman at LB/S, etc.

I have to be honest, this doesn't really surprise me. I'd love for them to take the approach that you can make all Canadian talent fit but I think if there were a player who was the definition of anti-Etcheverry, Ted Laurent would be close to it. I don't agree with the decision to not go after him, but I'm not really surprised.

DB Terry Hawthorne returning to school, no longer with club

Nuh-zay-gwu

Thanks for the reports everybody!

Penton is pretty good. We don't always agree, but he's definitely a thinker. Top 3 Bomber guys in my mind right now are Tait, Bauming and Penton. Irving would be up there but he just doesn't push the volume of coverage that those three do.

Why would Maher be affected at all?

Trade Hamilton for the rights to Evan Gill immediately. He'd play here.

Everyone can breath a sigh of relief ... Pencer has not been taken captive by aliens. He's got the sniffles.

As far as the ratio goes ... if we weren't going 4 OL before, we probably will be now. Or you swing a trade with Hamilton for a DT.

I love O'Shea. His players are going to go to absolute war for him.