johnzo

After ten years of development, Blue Origin's New Glenn flew for the first time early this morning. It put its second stage smoothly into orbit. We didn't hit our stretch goal of landing the first stage on the recovery barge, but getting into orbit on our first try has us all grinning. (I work for Blue Origin)

speaking of being old, this is where my brain went with that:

Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith was in the Guards ... this year's Damian Jackson?

So much of this varies by situation that it's really tough to talk in general about a living wage (read the wikipedia page on Poverty in Canada for an overview about why poverty and income studies are so complicated) A Blue Bomber who has no obligations beyond his monthly xbox live payment is gonna have a lot easier time living on C$70K than a guy who's supporting his spouse and two kids in Vancouver on that wage, or god forbid sending money back to the USA. The exchange rate is murder these days.

correct. I made it an annual income in order to compare it with Canada's poverty line. The math doesn't change, though. Think about it in terms of month expenses -- Canada's poverty line divided by 12 is $2700-$3300 a month, and the minimum-wage PR player is only making $3000 a month (plus housing expenses) before taxes so they're in the poverty neighborhood during the football season ... unless they get a good housing stipend, PR money over the minimum, or unless they can burn offseason savings during football season.

answering my own question. Practice roster players make $750/week (before taxes) + housing allowance. Housing allowance does not count against the salary cap. As an annual wage that's $39K before taxes. Canada computes the poverty line differently for different regions because cost of living differs between downtown Vancouver and rural Quebec. It varies between $32K and $40K annually as of 2020. So right away you've got 13 guys per team making wages that are right around the Canadian poverty line (without counting housing allowances, which I've got no insight into.)

do practice roster guys still make $500 / week? Were practice roster guys even surveyed by the PA?

Fajardo now an Elk and MBT is an Alouette. Wonder if the Elks will pay Cody's big offseason bonus? Can the Als pay both MBT and Alexander? Per cfl.ca, MBT is a free agent in February.

What bucket does facilities fall into?

I think Maas did a great job rolling out Davis Alexander too. So glad that Maas beat out Mace for COTY. once upon a time the dude was just a jug-eared gatorade destroyer, but now he's the guy who beat us in the Grey Cup with Cody freakin Fajardo. Bragging rights earned.

Dunigan at his best was fantastic, but I don't think you'd ever call him clutch. He laid a lot of playoff / Grey Cup eggs. The one I remember best is the Grey Cup in 1992. Our D was awesome, it held Flutie & Co to just 24 points, but it got zero support from the O. Dunigan only mustered 46 yards of passing in 3+ quarters before he got pulled for Danny Mac. He was worse than numb-thumb Collaros.

speaking of running QBs, Tracy Ham was one of the most complete guys I've ever seen play. He could kill you with his legs or his arm and he was way more consistent than guys like Dunigan and Allen were. Basically a QB designed for the CFL, not a glorified running back. I think Ham is a guy we don't talk about enough when talking about the all-time greats -- he's not a Flutie or Moon but fits real nice in the tier underneath those guys.

The dude's game has changed a bunch in his time as a starter tho -- he used to be at his best running around, scrambling, making DLs look silly with that spin move and making big hay on broken plays. nowadays he's not nearly as zippy as he once was, he plays much more controlled with quick throws from the pocket. Looks like mileage and maturity (and the Maas coaching) has been accumulating.

yup. I don't get why MBT gets no respect around here. Dude delivers.

dude, if I remember right, you ragequit the game broadcast and thread during the @Montreal regular season finale. You cursed the 2024 team as surefire semifinal losers. Maybe it was you who provoked the shenanigans of the wind god? The gods hate a false prophet. I made it thru 1987, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2010, and 2013. I saw Tom Clements put up three points in 60 minutes at a home Western Final. I've eaten playoff 65-burgers, I've watched internally handled circuses and kneeldown shitshows and Jason Boltus. I was there when Travis Lulay painted Swaggerville orange and when Marcus Crandell won his Grey Cup MOP award. I tuned in for every game of the almost-good-enough Lapo squad that lost ten games by a combined thirty points. We were a potential 14-4 team that played down to 4-14 that year. I'm pretty sure I'm a lifer at this point too.