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I think O'Shea is the real deal. I like how in the media he keeps it positive. When the media asked him where the problem spots were and he refused to play that game it's good. If he comes out and says "well our o-line is ****" or "the receivers are terrible" or something like that then all of a sudden you got the media talking about the players who aren't good enough and they hear that. This way the coach doesn't give the media anything to pick on players for before games even start. I have no doubts that if there's guys not playing up to snuff MOS will tell them to pull up their socks in the locker room but the key is that it stays there. That's how a coach earns a teams respect and trust.

I'm chuckling over here. No. He proved that he doesn't have the tools to be a head coach in this league, not even close, but for him to crack that top echelon of Bart Andrus awfulness? No, he just wasn't that interesting. His time as head coach will be a footnote in Bomber history. The truly awful ones get their own chapters. A head coach with zero positive attributes. Yep, Burke is one of the worst ever, the only one in his league in Bomber history is Reinebold, and even though his teams sucked his players would have tried to run through a brick wall if that was the play call, so he had some positive attributes. The only head coach I can remember in my time who was worse than Burke is John Huard. I'd but Burke at par with Andrus, Paopao and the American Greg Marshall as head coaches as the next tier of garbage head coaches after Huard. We'll see if Chris Jones joins that crew. Burke IS the worst. Followed by clueless Joe Zaleski & Reinebold. The Top 3 Worst Bomber Coaches of all time. Jim Daley doesn't get a mention in there? Daley's an Epstein compared to those others. jeeze I'd have a hard time picking between Daley and Reinbold for worst, I might lean towards Daley just because he had a lot of the Burke defeatist in him... plus that whole nonsense about not liking the way the D-coordinator was running the D and thinking he could do it better himself leading to record setting bad defence...

I'm chuckling over here. No. He proved that he doesn't have the tools to be a head coach in this league, not even close, but for him to crack that top echelon of Bart Andrus awfulness? No, he just wasn't that interesting. His time as head coach will be a footnote in Bomber history. The truly awful ones get their own chapters. A head coach with zero positive attributes. Yep, Burke is one of the worst ever, the only one in his league in Bomber history is Reinebold, and even though his teams sucked his players would have tried to run through a brick wall if that was the play call, so he had some positive attributes. The only head coach I can remember in my time who was worse than Burke is John Huard. I'd but Burke at par with Andrus, Paopao and the American Greg Marshall as head coaches as the next tier of garbage head coaches after Huard. We'll see if Chris Jones joins that crew. Burke IS the worst. Followed by clueless Joe Zaleski & Reinebold. The Top 3 Worst Bomber Coaches of all time. Jim Daley doesn't get a mention in there?

you see what I mean about the rider fan base being built on the backs of band wagon jumpers?

Tim "The Bus Driver" Burke why inspire players to play well when you can throw them under the bus and then back it up just to make sure they stay down?

I think I got it exactly at the cap on the first try.... OK so my first try would have had me way way over the cap but hey if it works for the riders why shouldn't I try it?

Vancouver definitely wants Reinhart if they move up. It seems like for some reason his value has fallen off in the eyes of everyone making the rankings but I can't for the life of me figure out why.... puts up good numbers offensively, has decent size at 6'1 180ish pounds and is apparently a very smart player... what's not to like about a prospect like that?

Seems to me the defense is going to be predicated on confusion, trouble with Toronto of course is that Ray is not easily confused. Will need to get to him before he can throw the ball I suspect because chances are there's going to be places for him to place the ball to make plays.

well Tallon did say that he only had one serious offer for the pick, I suspect that a lot of the talk about teams other than Vancouver is simply trying to generate more interest in it.

and that's why all the talk about the Jets making a trade for first overall is ridiculous. Hell the offer Vancouver apparently made is ridiculous and it still wasn't enough for Florida to move the pick.

There is no evidence to support that statement.

You mean I get to tune in to watch Chris Schultz provide valuable and knowledgeable insight into what's going to happen in the CFL this year? "You know Jocko, the team that is going to win the Grey Cup is the team that not only wins the division final, but also wins the Grey Cup game"

No that's only an opinion that you formed quickly and refuse even question again because like I said, you decide things instantly and nothing ever changes.

Did you listen to what Tallon said on TSN last night on their mock draft show? said he wants a good young player who can play and contribute for years to come and a draft pick. Straight from the horses mouth. I get it, you think Kane is the cats ass, he's the Jets best player so I don't blame you, but the Jets don't have a lot of talent, Kane isn't as good as you think. First overalls these days get you better players than Evander Kane, especially when the top of this draft is 3 centres and a defenseman, all of which are valued much more highly than wingers who only score goals.

This is all sorts of stupid. You're putting the entire blame on Burke so you can justify your online fellating of Mack over the past several years. A 3-15 record tells a story of bad coaching and little talent. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. Good coaches make bad players better and good players great. Tim Burke made good players bad and bad players useless.

but again, the criticism Burke takes isn't because the team lost games, it's how they lost games. That is what shows him to be a poor coach more than anything. No one is as hard on Lapo as they are on burke because at least Lapo lost close games most times.

because a truly honest answer would include recognizing his own failings as a coach of which there were many. Again no one is saying Tim Burke is a crappy head coach because the team lost games, we say he is a crappy head coach because of HOW the team lost games. You can compare similar rosters with Lapo and Burke and Lapos teams at least showed some backbone and some fight even if they lost games they were in games, Burkes teams just rolled over and died and that reflects on the head coach.

you are trying to lecture me on believing things just because you believe them? Give me a break. You are the king of making up your mind quickly and never changing it no matter how much evidence presents itself.

ahh yes, leaving out the games played because of the lockout to try and make it seem like Yakupov accomplished less than he did in his rookie season... How do I know he had a down year? His shooting percentage fell off the map, if you watched him play at all you could see he lost his confidence where as in his first year his confidence was growing and he was playing better as the year went on. When you consider that the entire Oilers team had their confidence broken it makes sense right? Again who else are there excuses for? RNH? Well go look at the numbers, Kanes best year is 57 points, RNH has a best year of 56 points playing a much tougher position in a year that was widely regarded as a year he struggled in. Stop over rating Kane compared to #1 picks.

Difficulty: Macks single biggest mistake was giving Burke the head coaching job. Whether he had the talent to win or not is irrelevant, Burke got nothing out of the talent he did have and many players regressed and showed an alarming tendency to quit at the first sign of adversity. Burke was an abysmal failure of a head coach and that's all on him.

Washington. But I believe Woods will dress. Washington is an unreliable yet occasionally spectacular punt returner, I really don't see him being the guy for that job in O'Shea's eyes unless something changes in-game, like Woods being injured. Not sure if you know this but...Washington has been fielding punts in practice. So,unless O'Shea suddenly doesn't like what he has seen from Washington in practice, I think it's safe to assume he will be used on punt returns during games. How many other guys have been returning punts? IMO, Washington is the next guy up if Woods goes down in game. Not surprising that he'd be fielding punts in practice, but I don't think that will affect our DI's or Woods status on the team. - One other guy -- Leggett. And it wasn't much. I do. With Ford looking ready to backup Grigsby & return kicks I could see Woods sitting out this week, and O'Shea using 3 DI's on D. And with the possibility of Bryant joining the WBB, the BB may be using Washington as a PR more than you think. They got woods into a lot of plays in preseason, I don't see any way they leave him off knowing how much our offensive coordinator likes to have players like that he can use in a variety of different ways. Ford isn't the same kind of player so I don't see him being there to backup the RB position ahead of Woods being on the roster. Now maybe they surprise us, but common sense seems to point to things going one way.

ehh pretty sure Spuds was a big Kelly apologist, it's no wonder he's out of sorts at a player who bailed on that assclown. Players always quit on bad coaches. We had a lot of guys quit on Tim Burke last year and we never see any comments about them because #1 Burke didn't trade them and #2 Burke didn't try and save face by trashing them for it in the media.

2012 # 1: Yak. At this stage I'd rather have Kane. So that year, Kane for #1 would have favoured Edmonton 2011 # 1: RNH. Again, at this stage, I'd rather have Kane. 2006 # 1: Erik Johnson. Rather have Kane. 2003 #1: MAF. Rather have Kane. 2001 #1: Kovalchuk. Points to be made either way but if Kane has a long career and doesnt bolt to the KHL, then Kane's the better deal. 2000 #1: Rick DiPietro. Rather have Kane. 1999 #1: Patrick Stefan. Rather have Kane. 1996 #1: Chris Phillps. Rather have Kane. The list goes on. A player you *know* is a top 5 pick calibre player versus a pick you *hope* is. as I said, you really are over valuing Kane. Yakupov having a down year in a year when most oiler players had down years doesn't diminish his value that much, and if you think Kane is a better player than RNH you clearly don't watch RNH play. His point totals might have lagged lately but he is playing a very tough role as a skinny young centre in the biggest toughest division in hockey. as for the rest of the comparables, 2000 was a hell of a long time ago already so that's what I said, you gotta go back a long way. Fleury I'd have ahead of Kane too because for all his faults the guy is still a cup winning goaltender. Johnson is a tougher one, but this past season he did look like that legit #1 D which is more valuable than Kane. Now granted Johnson had some early issues, but I wonder how much of that was related to screwing up his knee getting out of a golf cart? Now let's look at some others... Hall is way ahead of Kane, Tavares is way ahead of Kane, Mckinnon is way ahead of Kane, Kane is way ahead of Kane, Crosby and Ovechkin no more needs to be said. The fact that you even think Kane is on a comparable level to Kovalchuk says all I need to know about how you over value Kane. Kovalchuk did way more than Kane ever has. Kane is a nice player, but these days the first overall pick is so well scouted it's a gimmie pick.

#1 picks are hardly mystery door #1. You gotta go back a long way to find one that didn't pan out.

what I don't get is why Durant is on a players to watch list... He's been playing at a high level for years now, might as well have put Ricky Ray and Henry Burris on the list as well.