johnzo

There was a story on slam.ca about Toronto not being in a hurry to hire a general manager ... yikes.

How good is that line when it's healthy? They were missing two canadian starters for a bunch of last year, that'd be tough sledding for any team. (Except for Calgary, because apparently Hufnagel has a special lawn where starting-calibre CFL players grow like dandelions.)

Reinbold has been a good STC, hasn't he? I think the Duron Carter signing makes sense in one light. The guy is like Milt* in that he'll get his thousand yards and his TDs no matter who is throwing the ball. Carter could be a fantastic security blanket for a baby QB. All he needs to do to succeed is be a good teammate and not say things that make his baby QB punch him. * of course he is unlike Milt in just about every other way.

EXCLUSIVE FIRST GLIMPSE FROM INSIDE THE NEW MOSAIC STADIUM AS IT IS READIED FOR GAME DAY:

If we were having this conversation in 2008 we'd be talking about how the Bush years destroyed the Republican party -- it's a very similar dynamic to 2016. American politics, for the past couple of decades or so, have been extremely cyclical. That said, it was Republican dominance in state governments in 2010 that allowed them to gerrymander the hell out of the House and cement their decade of dominance there. If Democrats had more state game, the House would be in play. That's the important thing for the next four years -- make the Dems more competitive in the minors, make the federal House look more like the popular vote, and then start the sepinas. As an example of gerrymandering: Pennsylvania has some seriously funky looking congressional districts. Here's a map of how the southeast part of the state is carved up. Check out districts 7 and 16. Especially 7, it's the green area splotched at random through the southern half of the region. In 2012, Dems won the popular vote 50-48 but only won 7/19 seats. In 2016, the Dems had even bigger problems, they lost the popular congressional vote and got completely skunked, winning only 5/19. So yeah, like KBF says, much work needs to be done on the Dem side.

That doesn't sound like a fake number. The Democrats have been eating it lately. A lot of their problems in the House are due to gerrymandering ... Republican state governments have arranged congressional districts along ridiculous partisan lines. But if the Democrats weren't getting trounced at the state level, the GOP wouldn't have that opportunity, so yeah, you're right. Lots of work to do.

Is Jones gonna be VP / GM / HC / DC again this year? Are we sure that Chris Jones isn't Mike Kelly in a Chris Jones mask? (though Kelly was not the VPFO in 2009, and he had the sense to bring in a dedicated OC during the season) Makes me think about a recent article about Blake Wheeler, he said that one of his jobs as Jets captain was to rein in players who were trying to do too much... maybe the Roughrider brass needs to bring in Blake Wheeler to help Jones get his mind right.

KBF, you're right in one way ... this is all fresh and new and we'll see if this energy level is sustainable. People get distracted and complacent, especially lefties. Follow-through is not a strong suit here (and I say this as someone who's pretty left-wing.) And even if there's a lot of enthusiasm, sometimes that isn't enough. This country re-elected Bush in 2004 despite very vigorous opposition by the left. First election I ever volunteered for. Lucky, life as a Bomber fan has conditioned me to heartbreak. In another way, you're wrong -- the US elects the entire Congress and a third of the Senate every two years. Next federal election is next year in 2018. Plus there are regular state and local elections, which in a lot of ways are even more important than the federal elections. There is a ****-ton of democracy down here! What I'm saying is, it won't take three whole years to see if that energy can be harvested to useful political purpose.

From your lips to God's ears, man, but alas the US Constitution says we got four more years of this, barring death, resignation, or impeachment (and then we get Pence, who is a tool as well, just a different kind) Huge women's marches and rallies all across the world today .... at least 150K in Seattle ... hopefully that energy will rejuvenate the opposition down here.

What's a good over/under for the number of different Rider quarterbacks who start games in 2017? 3 sounds about right to me.

Durant throws Jones under the bus. http://leaderpost.com/sports/football/cfl/saskatchewan-roughriders/darian-durant-comes-out-firing-after-signing-with-montreal Money quote: Alienating the one guy who is absolutely critical to your team's turnaround? That is some top calibre people skills right there.

"Eight year olds, Dude."

Nice, Floyd. Take that burn to the doctor because it is sick.

Lulay's a Grey Cup winner who's probably got some game left and he's on a contract that lets the Lions pay Jennings like a starter. Doesn't seem like a guy Wally would part with, although Wally is known for being a little ahead of the curve on cutting veterans.

Don't mind the Stafford signing. Montreal was such a gong show last year, tough to judge any player under those conditions, and the guy had a nose for the endzone when he played in Edmonton. I think that Denmark is gone. Why would he want to sign with a team that's so crowded at import receiver, especially when there are clean slates out east? Were the Bombers even talking to him before they brought in Stafford? Denny is the receiver version of Kevin Glenn, good player with flashes of brilliance who gets no respect.

Funny how Smith's game suddenly caught fire as soon as they stopped throwing him dumb little 5 yard curls and ins and started sending him vertical... I suspect Denmark won't be here next year. Could see him getting some heavy FA love from out east, they're all depleted at receiver, esp. Toronto and Ottawa, and Montreal won't have SJG before labour day. Or maybe we trade Smith out east and resign Denny? That'd be the fan-pleasing move.

We don't know much about what happened with the Kylo's Knights of Ren buddies that we see in TFA's flashback. The rule with these new darkside guys might not be "one master, one apprentice." There might be a whole bunch of Rens out there mopefucking the galaxy.

People who are good at cybersecurity don't work for governments. The private sector pays way, way more.

Definitely want to see James Murphy's #21 up on the Ring of Honor at some point. We were stacked with receivers in the eighties and he was the best of them. He accounted for pretty much all of our offense in the 1988 Grey Cup.

This move is worse than Kelly cutting Glenn in 2009. At least Mike Kelly had his chosen successor in hand when he moved on from his established starter.

Funny post, but I think that Jade Etienne for Willy is a more apt comparison.

Good on Lirim H. He was just as accurate on field goals as Medlock last year (albeit he only had 2/3 as many attempts) and was 100% on one-point converts. Pretty special when you think back to how he was snakebit on converts in 2015. Nothing better than seeing a kicked-around player kill it like that. (edit: the CFL website is confused about whether he missed any converts, http://www.cfl.ca/stats/?stat_category=field_goals&season=2016 says he was 28/28 but http://www.cfl.ca/players/lirim-hajrullahu/160189/ says he was 32/34. No idea which is right. Anyway, congrats to him on the extension)

Can't say much about Forest Whittaker's acting, but I gotta say I really liked Saw Gererra's look. Dude had some serious mileage on him. He's what Vader would look like if the Emperor had built him in the garage. I like FW generally, though. I thought he was great in Arrival, which is a great movie that everyone should see.

The thing that is frustrating about all this Trump-centred discussion ... is that while the Trump circus is putting up its tents, no one is noticing that across town, Paul Ryan is pouring gasoline in hospital basements. The guy intends to privatize Medicare and Social Security and repeal the ACA. He's terrifying lots of Americans who depend on government services. As scary as Trump is, I'm more worried about what's going to come out of Congress. At least Trump has a patina of independence to him that might lead him to object when Congress takes away the health insurance of millions.

I know that this is the CFL and there's lots of player migration, but it's totally weird to imagine Durant in a Montreal uniform after all the great Durant / Calvillo duels back in the day. Kinda like seeing Roy Dewalt in blue and gold.