TBURGESS

Standard salary negotiation stuff. The league wants the players to work more hours for as little as possible. The players want to just play the games and make as much money as possible. The league isn't as strong as the players make it out to be. They want a share of the profits, but no part of any of the deficits. The league isn't as weak as the owners make it out to be. They want to make as much money as possible to pay them back for all the losses they've had to eat in the past. I firmly believe that a deal will get done without a strike and both sides will say they won.

The point is some of you took the Etienne thing so personally that you wanted him run out of town but are perfectly happy to entertain the thought of bringing in another shitty receiver just because. I don't know why you're including me in that group. I always thought he was a dumb choice where we picked him, but I hoped he'd eventually become worthwhile. I was happy for the 2 games he played well, except for all the 'I told you so's' from the 'I love Jade' group.

I don't know why you have your panties in knot 17. Jade and Bauman were both bad picks. Most teams thought Bauman was a good 1st round pick. Mack was the only one to think that Jade was.

I'd take Bauman at the right price. We need special teams players and our backup NI receivers are completely untested. Jade, I only had 2 decent games, Etienne was a dumb choice as high as he was picked. We basically paid him for 3 years to play 3 games. Poor use of our money and our draft pick IMHO.

I wasn't as high on him as others around here, but Parker being cut still surprises me, especially since we aren't where we need to be LB wise.

Not surprised. He never played well enough to earn the contract we gave him.

Stoned drivers think they are OK to drive, but driving stoned is no safer than driving drunk.

They look a lot like Calgary's black unis to me.

LOL - face it, you just come here to pick fights don't you? LOL - Face it.... It's 17 trying to pick a fight, not me.

Yes you can. It's in the Video section - highlights and features are there. Under the home section - Scoreboard - Headlines - Videos - Blogs - etc. I just went to Video->CFL and I couldn't play any of the videos. I can't play the latest Videos either. (I'm on Telus)

TSN sucks. I'm already paying for their channel, so I'd expect to get the Videos too. They've locked all video out if you're not in Canada, so no watching the CFL on vacation. I get that it's their content, but once you pay for it, you should have access to it no matter how you choose to.

They're just numbers as I've said many times, no one is trying to say they say anything, you're just making assumptions like you always do. The % of draft picks still in the CFL by team doesn't mean much. That's not an assumption. It's a fact. You're just showing that you don't know the meaning of the word assumption. you're the only one trying to pretend that they do mean a lot here though.... all I see are the numbers (which are the facts here) being presented. I'm not trying to pretend they mean a lot. Re-read the bolded part again, slowly.

They're just numbers as I've said many times, no one is trying to say they say anything, you're just making assumptions like you always do. The % of draft picks still in the CFL by team doesn't mean much. That's not an assumption. It's a fact. You're just showing that you don't know the meaning of the word assumption.

There is nothing wrong with the numbers. They just don't say what you think they do.

So a fifth rounder who doesn't become a starter but is a special teams stud, is a bad draft pick? Nope. Pretty much any 5th rounder who becomes a stud in the CFL is a good draft pick. All draft picks aren't equal and Rid's stats treat them as equal. Good starters are worth more than average starters, who are worth more than just starting because they are an NI or because teams need a 7th starter, who are worth more than a good backup, who are worth more than fringe players. First rounders are expected to become starters. If they don't then they are bad picks, even if they stay on the team for a while. There are draft picks who hang on for a few years just because the NI's on a specific team aren't very good. I wouldn't call them good draft picks they just got lucky t be drafted by the right team. There are high draft picks who teams keep around mostly because they were drafted high. They take up a roster spot for a couple of years, but aren't good draft picks. Being a starter means a lot. It means your one of the top 7 NI's on the team. These are the guys we really need to draft.

Interesting info. Thanks Rids. 'In the CFL' isn't a very good indication of how good the draft pick is. What's the % of starters from each teams drafts? For example: Swiston, Pencer, Jade and Kito all show as in the CFL, but none are starters.

If Ottawa takes Lavertu, I have no problem with us taking Goosen at #2 as he would become the best available center. Drafting the best guy for our biggest need isn't the same as going off the chart like Mack did.

If the Bombers want Glenn, it would make sense to trade something for him, but not the #2 overall pick or any NI starters. If Glenn is released, he will have choices as to where he plays and Winnipeg won't be his top team. His contract will likely be more too.

Smith is a Mack type of pick, like Pencer. A guy who showed well in E Camp, but wasn't on anyones radar as a first rounder before that. O'Shea wants a starter with our first round pick. Trying to make Smith learn the Center spot and start in his rookie year when he hasn't played the center before is laughable. Smith's a project. I doubt he's a starter in year one, unless the team who picks him has no other choices.

Who cares? I'd expect everyone around here would be happy if we 'overspent' by 18K and won the Grey Cup, especially at home.

i'll mostly agree with this... except West: CGY, SSK, BC, EDM and WPG East: TO, HAM , MTL and OTT I'll put HAM ahead of MTL. Both teams have a young guns at QBs (Smith/Marsh and Collaros/Lefevour). Montreal will be having a new Offense with Worman while it will be the same Austin Offense for HAM with Lefevour have 1 year playing it which is an advantage. As far as I recall, Collaros was not declared as starter yet. I can certainly see why you think that way. How bout Ham and Mtl battling for #2 spot all season like BC and SKN?

Pretty early, but I'll take a shot. Calgary lost Glenn, but not too much else. I expect them to be #1 in the West this year. Regina lost the most in the offseason, but they were so far ahead of us that it won't really matter to us. BC lost the second most in the offseason, but they are also way ahead of us. I see Regina and BC battling for 2nd and 3rd for the whole season. Edmonton is at least a year ahead of us in the QB dept and they made changes to try and fix their O line, so I expect they will be ahead of us in offense. I like Chris Jones as a DC, but HC/DC could be a problem. Still, I see them ahead of us on defense, so I'll pick them as 4th. We've got big ? at QB, O line, and OC at the very least, so I don't see us as an offensive team. I hate Etch as DC, but I expect we will look better on D for the first half of the season. We'll probably have the most changes of any CFL team this year not called the redblacks and that's only because they are starting from nothing. Our season will depend on how well we play Edmonton and Ottawa, rather than how well we play the other teams. I'm expecting about 6 wins, which won't get us into the playoffs. The east is a bit harder IMHO. Ray, assuming he stays healthy elevates Toronto to top spot. Montreal's defence keeps them in the hunt. Their season will hinge on if Smith is the real deal or not. I think he is, so I'm picking them as #2. Hamilton made it to the Grey Cup last year, but I don't see a repeat. Callaros was the best available young QB, but young guns rarely make a smooth transition to starter. They'll be in the hunt all year, but I'm guessing 3rd. Burris will help, but he can't do it on his own so Ottawa will be last in the east, probably last in the league.

The good news is that Marve is playing well. Accuracy is one of the top indicators of a good QB IMHO. The bad news is that Willy wasn't the best QB at mini camp because he will be our starter. Willy has a whole TC to work things out and I expect him to be the starter at least for the first half of the season. If Marve is pushing Willy and showing more in practice and we aren't winning, then I don't see any reason he wouldn't get a chance to show it in a real game, but that's a lot of AND's and a long time from now.

You can't play schoolyard-flip-the-phrase on me on this one because I have not stated how Miller handled it one way or the other. Where my opinion does comes in is related to how Friesen handled, then wrote his article. Pretty evident to me he didn't get his way and so he took it out on Miller. Your You're the one in denial. Pretty evident that you've made up your mind and what you opinion is. No use in pretending you don't think that Miller was right and Friesen was wrong. The article was going to be written no matter what Miller did. His actions guaranteed that it would not be a flattering article. You want to blame Friesen for that. If Miller chose a different route and allowed the press in, then there was at least a chance that the article wouldn't be so negative against the Bombers and a zero percent chance that the article would be negative towards Miller. That's why I think it was the wrong way to handle the situation. It annoys me when the Bombers get bad press that they could have avoided and this is one of those times. It's not just Friesen who's following the story, nor is it just Friesen who wants to be let in to see the damage. It's not just the media who think they should be let in. The mayor and tons of comments in the press. I'd guess that a poll in the papers, not on the Bomber fan sites, would show that most people want to see what's going on and that most feel they have a right to know. The major difference between most folks and Friesen is that Friesen can write about it. I don't usually argue with folks who hate Friesen because I don't particularly like his writing style, and I know he does it to get rise out of folks. That's one way to keep your job in a dying industry I guess. In this case however, the Friesen hate is misplaced. I'm not in denial. I disagree with your opinion. Two very different things.

It is only your opinion and Friesen's spin that Miller handled it incorrectly. Nobody else is fingering Miller..why is that? It's a crock if you think that Miller should have given in to blackmail…."show me or else." It's your opinion that Miller handled it correctly. No one else is fingering Miller because they either didn't talk to MIller directly (My best guess), or Miller told them it was off the record, or they don't have the guts to name Miller. It's not blackmail. No one said 'Show me or else', your just making up stuff now.