johnzo

I think the reaction to Poblah vs. Pencer just a matter of the prominence of the different positions. I think it's easier to see when an OL isn't doing their job, especially on TV. The OL is on TV every play. When they screw up, it's usually a sack and the end of a series and an almost certain replay so that the color guy can pin the blame It's harder to see when a receiver's not doing their job. A fourth or fifth option receiver like Poblah draws the crowd's/camera's attention 2-3 times a game. If a guy like Poblah's not productive, maybe it's because he's not getting open, or maybe it's because the QB likes another receiver better, or maybe the offensive scheme never features him. So I think that bad OL are more natural fan hate targets. Receivers are largely invisible and get more patience.

A CFL strike sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud, but this is the Crazy Football League we're talking about, so I never just dismiss potentially bad news out-of-hand.

Re: NI talent, it really hasn't helped that we've lost our top three NIs during the past two off seasons. It's not just bad drafting that hurts us--I'd love to see a draft success breakdown by team because I'm not certain we're the worst drafters in the league. It's the exodus of NI talent that has really killed us.

Called it, and I don't ever get predictions right. Pencer just didn't look like a football player against the Argos.

Yeah, I'm wondering how much more patience we have with Pencer. He looked overmatched out there, just whiffing on guys.

lolFriesen

Fired up!

HBO is owned by Time Warner Cable, which is not exactly a forward-thinking organization.

That wasn't a training camp injury.

Do you know what a jersey devil is? The only people who fight "real" jersey devils are Mulder and Scully on the X-Files. Do Catholic folks also object to tasmanian devils? Devil's food cakes? Dust devils?

You know, I bet Burris sticks around the league for 3-4 more years. He's been so good at avoiding injury that I think he's pretty low mileage for a 38-year old.

Love seeing three new import RBs. Hopefully one or more of the newcomers emerges; we need an upgrade there.

This is super interesting. For all the crap we give to football officials, you've gotta respect the level of book learning an official has to have in the CFL. http://www.cfl.ca/article/test-time-take-the-2014-cfl-rules-exam I got 5/10.

Speaking of fruity beers, the other day a friend of mine put a couple drops of grapefruit bitters in a Ranier and I was surprised at how good it was. Gonna be the taste of summer for me I think. (Ranier is a cheap watery regional lager that we have out here, it's the beer that mustache guy in the Twilight movie drinks. Think of Old Milwaukee or PBR, you're in the neighborhood.)

Yeah, I hate big sigs as well. Luckily, you can suppress sigs per-user thru the "Manage Ignore Prefs" page, available in the menu that pops up when you click on your handle, top right of the page. Or here's a direct link: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=core&module=usercp&tab=core&area=ignoredusers Fine-grained ignorability is one of the super deluxe-est things about MBB!

It's a tough thing to see Ian Wild taken off the field.

It's pretty cool to be able to talk bomber football 24x7x365 with passionate fans. To also have access to knowledgeable football people is amazing for someone like me, who never played but who loves to learn about the game. Thanks MBB people -- admins and community. This place is fantastic. Someday we'll have a winning football team and it'll be great to celebrate with you all.

(never mind, asked and answered)

Why would you say that? CFL first overall picks are pretty much a joke. Let's look at the last few of them: 2013 Gaydosh 2012 Heenan 2011 Muamba 2010 Williams 2009 Rottier 2008 Barker 2007 Baumann 2006 Braidwood 2005 Robede I see only two every-down CFL players in there -- Heenan and Muamba. Everyone else is at best marginal, or in Gaydosh's case, busy in the NFL.

Well, Hage was retired and wasn't ever going to play for the redblacks, so I don't think he's much to give up. I'm definitely not sure about him trading the first overall pick, I think that we'll have to wait for a bit to judge that trade, see how Gott and Lavertu do this season. Gott is a proven starter and I think only about half of CFL first rounders become starters, so I can see the upside for Ottawa. I think it's the same kind of thinking that led us to trade a second rounder for Neufeld last season.

I hope this trade silences some of that Desjardins-is-an-idiot talk that started up when he signed Burris. Turning a backup QB into another first round pick is a pretty sound play for a team that's gonna suck for at least a couple of years. I don't know much about Antoine Pruneau but if he turns out to be a player then no one will care that Desjardins had to **** Kevin Glenn around for a few months to get him. From Wally's POV, having Kevin Glenn is all win and is worth the first-round pick. If Lulay isn't ready to go, Glenn is a perfect bridge QB. When Lulay is ready, Wally just has to wait for some team to have a midseason QB emergency and he can send Glenn packing for an inflated price. If Wally can get a 2015 or 2016 first rounder back for Glenn, then will have paid essentially nothing for Glenn -- and if the 2014 draft was as shallow as people say, Wally's better off having picks in later drafts anyway. I'm gonna predict that barring another long-term injury to Lulay, Glenn won't finish the season in orange.

I think it was a game against Toronto last year, Ray threw a deep shot and Suber picked it off and then quickly lateraled back to Cauchy who just kinda spun out and fell. Like do or die said, very Brock Ralph-ish.

That's how it works here in dope-legal WA state. You can't blaze one anywhere you can't smoke a cigarette. And you can't smoke a cigarette pretty much anywhere in public. Also, the initiative that legalized dope set a ridiculously low DUI threshold for blood THC levels. A lot of the people who legitimately medicate (say what you want, they do exist) were pissed off at the legalization people for throwing them under the bus, saying that THC lingers in the blood and isn't a good measure of intoxication, especially at the trace levels necessary to bust someone for a DUI. I'm sure when legalization comes to Canada it will look somewhat the same with pretty strict DUI laws and education campaigns similar to the anti-drinking-and-driving ones I got pounded with in the 80s and 90s.

I think I'm with tracker. The units aren't great but they're not nearly as bad as they could have been. I was thinking that they were gonna look like the Tampa Bay Bucs of the CFL. The sawblade R looks pretty good on the white helmet, like an update on the classic old roughrider R.