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Etchevary was clearly a dumpster diving hire though, he was literally the last choice when everyone else turned them down. They didn't waste time upgrading when someone better was available

Haha oh my stars you actually said that... I don't think you remember how hit or miss the offense was in 2007, or how dominant the defense was on that 2001 team. 2007 was bolstered bigtime by Gauthier being one of the better tackles in the league and a canadian. They paid a big price to get that guy too don't forget. Picard was still good back then, Andrew Greene was really the unsung hero there too. Guy was a real quality vet on the interior. Rounded it out with Dan Goodspeed at the other tackle who in his day was a good american tackle. 2007 was also a long time ago, the CFL has changed Canadians are playing more and more skill positions and playing them better and better. You don't need to put all your canadians on the OL. It's not the most efficient use of the roster when you don't have those quality veterans to fill the positions. As much as we dislike Bucknor he's still playing maybe the easiest position to hide a Canadian in, much moreso than safety. The additional designated imports make a rotation on the defense a very viable option as well which many teams are taking advantage of. The idea that you MUST use as many canadians on the offensive line is outdated thinking. The key is you must have as many good canadians as possible and where they specifically play doesn't really matter as long as they can play. Right now we don't have enough Canadians who are simply good enough players.

..... what? The offense was by far the biggest sore spot on the team and you don't think the OC should have been taking the fall? Come on now Iso, I know you want to fire everyone and blow it all up but the offensive coordinator wasn't a fall guy on this team, he was a guy needing to be fired. We know O'Shea is a good coach because the STs got a lot better when he got more involved and we know players have said they came here because of him. Why fire a guy like that when he has been hampered by a shitty offense for which he fired his offensive coordinator? You need to give people chances to rebound or improve but you seem hell bent on firing people for the first mistakes which doesn't work in the long run. I count at least TWO mistakes. 2014 2015 which is really just one mistake in keeping Bellefool. They tried to spend money on the OL thinking that would help the offense and it didn't so they went to the root of the problem and made that change this year. People need to be patient and don't give me that 25 years crap. Not being patient in that span is the biggest reason why things got as bad as they did.

Is there an import ol making more than Elimimian? Or SJ Green or Nic Moore? Bryants making $160K and SV Rogers north of that. My point is that you spend the money on the best linemen as it's easier to find a Khalil Bass for $60K and still get performance at the position. Over paying internationals at those positions you mentioned is what I'm against, it's idiotic when they grow on trees down south. Tackles are getting paid the big bucks, but do american guards or centres get paid that much? I seem to recall Brendan Taman bringing in guys for the interior who could play without any issues and that says something cause Taman was pretty hit or miss with scouting. No one really tries to find guards and centres down south preferring to put the Canadians there. I guarantee that if there was a bigger push to use more Americans on the offensive line you'd see less money spent in free agency on the good ones.

..... what? The offense was by far the biggest sore spot on the team and you don't think the OC should have been taking the fall? Come on now Iso, I know you want to fire everyone and blow it all up but the offensive coordinator wasn't a fall guy on this team, he was a guy needing to be fired. We know O'Shea is a good coach because the STs got a lot better when he got more involved and we know players have said they came here because of him. Why fire a guy like that when he has been hampered by a shitty offense for which he fired his offensive coordinator? You need to give people chances to rebound or improve but you seem hell bent on firing people for the first mistakes which doesn't work in the long run.

And it really shouldn't even be close, but the media has ragers for everything RedBlacks so what should be likely won't be and a guy having a good season might win over a guy having a great season.

NE Calgary born and bred.

Most of those were done after the first couple games when he wasn't doing squat. Everyone with sense has said that he stepped up big and has been maybe the teams best player since.

Ya luckily it'll be the first two hours on the Friday so she should be alright.... Not based on what I saw at Oktoberfest.....

Oh please, Richard and I haven't missed a Beerfest since before you lived out here I ain't about to start now. I only laugh at the idea because I doubt Heather's ability to be sober enough to remember what the hell she's been drinking.

I definitely have my favourites that I go to, but it's mostly because in the stores closest to me I've tried most of the stuff I'd want to try anyway and there's not a lot that's really new that seems like something I'd want. Honestly Bigrock always has a soft spot being the brand that started me down the path but there's a few that have become go to beers as well. Did they really ask you two to be judges at beerfest? Cause I'm going to guffaw at that notion.

Agreed. The girlfriend has a tough time with some of the graphic violence in this. It can definitely be dark sometimes. Have been a big Donal Logue (Bullock) fan since his arc started on Law and Order: SVU and Ben McKenzie since the OC days. Both really great actors. The kid playing Cobblepot should be getting Emmy nom's....he's been outstanding from Day 1. I love Logue. I remember first seeing him in Blade back in the 90's. I was going to give him **** for knowing the guy from Law and Order... **** sakes he was in Blade and that's the only place people are allowed to have seen him first.

I've only tried 2 different beers from Muskoka and they were both boring safe types. I forget which ones they were but nothing outrageous. When buying a new type of beer to try there's really no rhyme or reason to it. My brother and I used to do that all the time when I first moved to Calgary, just wander into the beer store and grab something randomly. If there's a style you want just grab something in that style or pick whatever has the best label or best name (I bought a beer called Arrogant Bastard simply because I couldn't pass up that name and I always love Tool Sheds People Skills for obvious reasons)

The sad thing is we're really not. As good as those places are and as many new ones are coming we're still so far behind provinced like BC, Ontario and Quebec that it's not even funny. Phillips is probably my favorite brewery and they're based out in BC ... Really wish I had access to more of their stuff. Really like Parallel 49 too, based out there. Phillips Blue Buck is pretty good for sure and I know they had an ISA or something that I quite enjoyed. Granville Island was bought by a big brewer but they have some good stuff as well that is pretty widely available (English Bay Pale Ale being my favourite) It's nuts though, been to BC a few times over the summer and there are so many more options available that just don't have the distribution out of province. Vancouver is littered with breweries that I'd never heard of before. Luckily the Alberta government is making it easier for Alberta Breweries to grow without penalizing them heavily so hopefully that will let some of the brands that aren't Bigrock spread across the prairies. I love me some Bigrock don't get me wrong but most of their selection is based around the Traditional and it seems that the English style brown ales don't get enough love from the craft beer world. I'd love to see WildRose get some more exposure and maybe start bottling the damned SOB or Wred Wheat again rather than making me drive all the way to their brewery to get it.

Guys who have jobs that they're not likely to leave for a lateral move. Why not just wish for Austin or Hufnagel while we've got our heads in the clouds? Guys who have jobs because other teams want them. That makes them more, not less desirable. It would cost more than picking from the coaches the other teams don't want but that money doesn't come out of the SMS so who cares and they're much more likely to be useful right off the bat. There's lots of reasons one or more might want to take our OC job: Might want to coach where it matters instead of Toronto where they get maybe 10K out to a game. Might want to get out from the shadow of their HC to prove that's not the reason they're good at what they do. Might want to get a direct shot at being an HC sooner than waiting behind their current HC's. They might be able to do that by mid-season next year. Might want more money than they are currently making. Might want to have the Assistant HC title for their resume and O'Shea said he's OK with that. Why not Austin or Hufnagel? Sure if we were replacing O'Shea and Walters, but unfortunately that's not happening. And then come to Winning instead where we fire coaches like it's going out of style? Not great for the resume because a lot of coaches have had their reputations damaged coaching in Winnipeg for a variety of reasons. Even things like token assistant HC titles and more money aren't enough to lure people out of good situations. Be a realist here, would love leave a good stable environment to come to Winnipeg? Is that really the best career move for any of those guys? Better off correctly identifying an up and comer and hiring him.

The sad thing is we're really not. As good as those places are and as many new ones are coming we're still so far behind provinced like BC, Ontario and Quebec that it's not even funny.

Guys who have jobs that they're not likely to leave for a lateral move. Why not just wish for Austin or Hufnagel while we've got our heads in the clouds?

Great players don't always make great coaches. Different sport but look at Wayne Gretzky. Arguably the best hockey mind ever as a player, not a good coach at all. Those that can do, those that can't teach.

So you've forgotten how good Willy has been for us? And forgotten that Bellefeuille made Calvillo look like a slow release slow read drop back pocket passer too? Drew Willy absolutely can be the franchise guy for this team. Willy has shown incredible toughness at times. But I can think of only one or two games when I thought 'Wow - Drew Willy played great and won that game for us." Mostly he's been unable to muster the O when it counts. His lack of success can't be pinned entirely on Bellefeuille though. While it is time for the Bombers to part ways with Marcel, they should have done so last year. Going forward, I worry about cap space and the QB position and whether we can recruit real competition for the #1 QB job when we are committed to paying Willy $400k. It seems ridiculous that MOS would hamstring the incoming OC by declaring Willy the starter since we don't even know if he'll pass the physical come TC 2016. And there's the problem right there. There's been more games than that Drew Willy has played great. Sometimes he was let down by other aspects and lost, some times he's won and yes there have been games he's been bad, mostly games where the defense game planned to stop the offence because it was too predictable. Drew Willy is a ******* good qb though. He's accurate, he's smart, he's a leader and the team responds to him. I have 100% faith in hitching the wagon to Willy as the starter. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence.

I would hope the next OC isn't as closed minded about the QB position as you are. I'll give Drew Willy credit for his unbelievable toughness. But he hasn't played enough to prove he is worth $400k. Which is a problem for Winnipeg going forward. It means they have to allow a big percentage of the cap for QB if they want any real competition at the QB position. For example, let's say Harris or Ray is available. One of those guys could easily come in and beat Willy for the job. But they won't be cheap. (Assuming Wpg wants another pocket passer). How do we know they could? Did Harris do anything Willy isn't capable of? Has Ray been healthy enough to give out the big contract to? You are severely under rating Drew Willy here and I don't understand why. Watch the guy play and you see a guy in total control. He makes good decisions he can make all the throws you need. Give him an offense that doesn't handicap a qb and watch him put up some damned good numbers. You are falling into the grass is greener trap bigtime here.

So you've forgotten how good Willy has been for us? And forgotten that Bellefeuille made Calvillo look like a slow release slow read drop back pocket passer too? Drew Willy absolutely can be the franchise guy for this team.

Chapdelaine is a name I could get behind if the Riders move on from him. He satisfies the desire for experience and he's run some good attacks in the past. I think it's all a moo point anyway because chances are it'll be Khari because of his connections here.

plus you get into the whole lopsided field position game which takes it toll.

Marcel has himself a long track record in the CFL and it's not that pretty. Mediocre at best and consider this, when he was OC in Montreal people thought Calvillo was washed up because he was taking an awful lot of sacks... Marcel gets canned and Montreal is giving up less sacks and Calvillo goes on to have several more highly productive years. Bellefeuille is not a good offensive coordinator and yes there is likely more wrong than just him, but he's a big problem and probably the biggest problem.

So are we at all concerned that Brady is just a coat tail rider? I mean working under coaches like Milanovich and with qbs like Calvillo and Ray is pretty ******* easy no?