Mike

You "caught" an Eskimos practice once & watched anywhere from 5 minutes to maybe two hours on the field. You based what you consider is his work ethic just on that. One practice for however long you were there. You never sat in on the defensive meetings. You never saw Stubler break down film. You never saw him conduct a defensive meeting with all of his players in the meeting rooms. You never saw the meetings he conducted with his defensive assistants focusing on getting ready for the next opponent. You never saw the discussions he had with the Esks head coach at the time. You never saw the preparation that he may have done in the Eskimo offices. You don't know what was happening behind the scenes nor do you know what the defense was focusing on during practice that day. But simply based on your observations of one practice his potential hire scares you? We could hire Wally Buono & there'd be fans bitching about that, too. No matter what O'Shea does, someone will always be there to say whatever he does is a mistake. Here's what I think. This is O'Shea's first gig as a head coach. He can't afford to make a mistake & screw up hiring his coaches, especially at the coordinator positions. O'Shea trusts Stubler. He already knows the kind of coach that he is. Also, being an assistant coach in the CFL with the Argos he'd know thru the coaches grapevine if Stubler has become lazy & was just mailing it in with the Lions because he's 64. If O'Shea thinks Rich Stubler is the answer than have a little faith that he knows what he's doing hiring the guy. Stubler has proven he can run a great defense. I think having him here will be a great hire by Mike O'Shea. No offense, but we (you included) all do the same thing here every day. We use limited knowledge to form grand opinions about something we know nothing about. You despised Joe Mack and are worried about Kyle Walters in the same way, but you've never spent any time with them either. No different.

When one team goes over the cap over and over again, does that cause it to cross a line from breaking the rules to cheating? As far as I'm concerned, there is no cap. It's not a salary cap, it's a SMS.

I think that retirement is probably the only way Labbe will ever be properly appreciated. We'll notice his absence next year.

I just don't understand how you call it cheating. There's a large difference between cheating and breaking the rules. Cheating would be hiding salaries from the audit by paying the quarterback's wife 200k a year to run the team nursery. Breaking the rules is going over the SMS limit and paying the penalty for doing so.

Not much of a surprise to me, to be honest.

Rumor has it we will be naming Rich Stubler our new DC. Huge if true.

You nailed it. He's backloading the Picard and Bagg deals.

My favorite Jim Toth moment is still when he commented on how consistent and sharp Buck Pierce looked in practice that day. It was the day Buck threw exactly one pass.

I can see it now ... In a sick twist of fate, Andre Proulx is announced as the new director of officiating. Effective immediately, penalties will only be assessed to players with numbers ending in tree.

Walters prefers Collaros that's all that matters at this point.Wanna bet that's who he prefers? Who do you think he prefers? Burris. And it's not even close. Oh, it's close. Besides, maybe it's just me but someone I can't get into the idea of our QB being a guy that's been sacked by our head coach.

I've noticed that a lot of online outlets aren't bothering with the allcaps. Some articles I've seen from the Sun around Canada are going with RedBlacks. Googling REBLACKS this morning, and CBC.ca is also going with RedBlacks. It's such a dumb idea that it might not even gain enough traction to stick til the start of the season. If it were up to me, I'd start having it out there in the media as the "redblacks"

The name isn't bad. Whatever. I've heard worse. They could be the Montgomery Biscuits. Or the Savannah Sand Gnats. So it could be much worse. But what cannot get any worse is their god damn insistence on yelling their name and having it displayed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. THAT is the worst idea I've ever seen. Talk about a great way to immediately become the butt of an infinite amount of jokes.

Why do you say that? Not even as a position coach? I don't know that he'd be my first choice at OC, but I certainly wouldn't object to having him in a different role on the coaching staff, like receivers coach for example. He's not a bad coach I just don't like his philosophies.

I thought Chamblin ordered all his assistants to live in Regina. Pretty sure Chamblin doesn't get to pick where his employees' family lives.

the REDBLACKS just announced they will be making a MAJOR announcement AT 11 in the MORNING tomorrow, probably to ANNOUNCE Rick CAMPBELL as the new HEAD COACH.

Can't see there being a straight shuffle. Someone who has never been an OC before is going to be one now.

Out of the short list they had cut it down to, he's far and away the best candidate in my opinion.

No thanks to Marcel in ANY capacity.

Just thought it'd make for an interesting discussion. Not so much what WE think, but what his peers and students think. Matt Black @MattBlack39 Coach O'Shea u taught me more about this game & how to play this game than you will even know. Thank u 4 everything. U will be missed! Matt Black @MattBlack39 These people that don't think O'Shea is qualified are sorely mistaken. His players will sacrifice their bodies for him. Mark my words... Kerry Joseph @kerryjoseph4 Congrats to Mike O'Shea on being named HC of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Lots of respect for him. Ricky Foley @Foley4Real Congrats2Mike O'Shea,His players will run through walls 4him, Why U ask? 'Cause HE DID in THIS league 4yrs as a D starter & all4 ST's #CFL (Editor's note: pretty sure Foley is drunk) Spencer Watt @swatt89 Sad to see one hell of coach leave. Good luck to Mike O'Shea and his head coaching job. Matt Dominguez @mattdshow Congrats to Mike O'Shea for getting the HC job in Peg. They've already faked a field goal and 2 blocked 2 punts by now. #newlook Trenton Guy @TrentGuy3284 Congrats to Mike O'Shea on being named Head Coach of Winnipeg !! Romby Bryant @tharbryant @TrentGuy3284 O is gone? Damn! Sammy Tranks @OGperspective Congrats Mike O'Shea, on earning the head coaching job for Winnipeg! Had the pleasure to play 2 years under him. Fearless... That guy. #CFL not to mention Ryan Lucas, Terrence Edwards and Chris Cvetkovic all tweeting about how pleased they are too. I think it says a lot that so many players he has coached have spoken up about him leaving. Very excited.

I feel like I know more about who I DON'T want than who I DO want. As far as defensive coordinator goes, I have NO idea. I don't want Kavis, that's for sure.

The only thing I could think of when O'Shea was talking about what kind of players he likes is that he must really REALLY want Henoc back here.

"If the players keep making the same mistakes over and over again, you're not coaching them well enough" Hey Tim Burke, are you listening?

He's doing a Q&A right now.

I think it was closer to when he said "Grey Cup". I missed the end of what he said, but I thought he had said something else. Thanks.