Noeller

then I have no doubt you'll love this...

This....they're having Wiig and McCarthy play it straight. That's not going to work. This thing looks like a hot mess, but all the people who thought Bridesmaids was funny are going to like this...

Darren Cameron ‏@Darren_Cameron 42m42 minutes ago #Bombers announce mini-camp April 25-27 with all offensive players including newly acquired @ryguy_4 @andrewharris33 @WestonDressler7.

as reported earlier by Bauming, yes.........all offensive passers and catchers will be there....

Bauming says yes. Passers and Pass Catchers all will be there to get a jump start on the season.

To look strictly at stats and say "Oh, goalies suck!" is hilarious and the epitome of some posters on this Jets forum. The entire team isn't playing D well enough, and taking too many penalties, too. It's all a part of it. Pavelec was pretty good last year and Hutch was really good last year. They didn't just suddenly forget how. The whole team needs to be better next year, and everyone knows it.

She's married with a bunch of kids...don't be creepy.

ahh I'm an 80 baby....there we go. Close enough! Gibbler creeps me the **** out.......buhhhhh...

Fwiw, she and I are the same age, I believe.....

the girlfriend wanted to watch Fuller House this weekend, so we sat down and are about 6 eps in, I think. That first one is some of the worst writing I have ever witnessed in TV or Film. Just embarrassingly bad, as they try to shoehorn the "Where Are They Now?" stuff in...God-awful. The upside of course is that Candice Cameron and Jodi Sweetin (my childhood crush...sigh) are outstandingly hot. And things DO get better after awhile. The first ep is by far the worst, and while it never really climbs above Family Channel tripe, it's at least watchable after that first episode. The best review I read started with "Fuller House is basically a porn parody, without the porn"....ha ha.

he was outstanding prior to that, but man that was an ugly one to let in. Still, the speed from McJesus to blow by the D.....Christ that kid is good.

Don't give Buff a letter........just don't. Wheeler's the Captain, and there's no question about it. Scheiff might get a letter next year, and maybe a guy like Myers, depending on his situation....or Little. Wheeler, with Scheiff and Little....I could see that being your leadership core.

^^^ Just in case you thought you were a true cynic, Doug Brown shows you how it's done.....

Doug Brown's (Sort Of) Response To Darren Cameron Blog: "WHEN seven coveted free agents sign with your football franchise — such as what we saw happen a few weeks ago with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — it is easy to infer they saw more benefits than potential pitfalls in doing so. What is much harder to pin down, however, is the exact rationale for making such a determination. The local football team has recently promoted a couple of stories on its webpage that credit the appeal of its head coach as the critical factor in these signings, and that’s a valid point. In spite of losing twice as often as they have won over the last couple of seasons, it has obviously not deterred new players from bringing their talents to Manitoba. In fact, this losing record and substantial coaching and player turnover on a yearly basis makes these free agent signings and comments all the more impressive. It takes charismatic and strong leadership to not waver in the face of adversity and to still present an appealing environment full of possibilities in spite of short returns. The cliché tells us hard times reveal character, and there is seemingly no shortage of that on several rungs of the coaching staff in Blue and Gold. That being said, there are simply too many factors involved in an athlete’s decision to come to terms with a team to conclusively say one factor superseded any other. If you’ve been around the game long enough, you’ve come to learn the most loyal professional athlete is the one who just cashed his bonus cheque with his new team, but hasn’t yet played a down. He hasn’t been late for a meeting yet, he hasn’t fumbled a football or got a penalty, he hasn’t been benched, he hasn’t disagreed with the play calling or argued with a coach. Once these inevitable moments surface — as reality television has taught us — people stop being polite and start being real, but even then you would be hard pressed to find out publicly what players truly feel about their superiors. Having played for eight different head coaches in pro football, no matter what you end up thinking about them by the close of your time together, initially, you are always eager to play for them. When a recruited athlete has yet to earn the money you’ve handed out, or played in a game, they tend to follow most any narrative or directive you put in front of them. When you hear comments from new players about an organization or coach they haven’t gotten into the weeds with yet, it’s better to attribute their comments to the jubilation of the moment. There is no agreed upon order or priority list for what makes a player want to play in any given postal code. Each one factors in money, potential for success, coaches, exposure, teammates and location, and they all weigh differently with each individual. It’s also been reported that free agents chose Winnipeg as a destination for reasons outside of simply a bigger payday, as comparable offers were on the table from multiple suitors. While that is a favourable endorsement of a franchise, few and far between are the occasions when teams can actually authenticate that kind of information, and even rarer, when an agent is completely forthcoming about what other proposals have been made to their client. Not only is it an agent’s job to land his client the best opportunity for a maximum amount of compensation, and to play teams against one another, but it is also in their interests to make their clients look less dollar-driven and to come off as caring about things that will endear them to a community. For what puts a player in a better light: the acknowledgement that he/she signed with the team that made him/her the most outlandish offer, or one that chose a team because of other humanizing considerations? If you truly want to reveal the merit of any organization or coaching staff, you wouldn’t just ask the newly signed players and the people who work in the building. For every player that has just committed and cashed a big cheque, I would suggest you also speak with a player who has spent a season or two playing, and was just released. The same see-saw of opinion should also be weighed when it comes to narratives from employees: they should be measured against those whose positions no longer exist. Most teams are in hype mode right now and eager to share their successes of the off-season, but there is often more to the processes than what is shared and simplified for public consumption. No organization and its coaching staff is as wondrous as players that haven’t even broken a sweat for it yet say it is, and no franchise is probably as dysfunctional as those that are no longer employed claim it is, either. Like most things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle of competing agendas, so it’s too easy to only promote a single side of it. Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears weekly in the Free Press.

For a week? Some kinda funeral....

middle of last week...where the hell were you?

Oilers would deal the 1st for a stud D, I think.....but I'm not sure that deal is out there, even in June/July. And any deal for RNH/Hall/Ebs, happens in the summer...not today.

I like Yak rumoured to be leaving Edm, don't like him going to another one of my teams. Can't we ship him to Washington, Montreal, New York or some other team that's really easy to hate?

http://www.bluebombers.com/2016/02/27/blog-patience-is-a-virtue/ Patience is a tough thing to ask of fans that have been longing for a winner for decades. I get it. We get it. Will 2016 be the year our fortunes turn around? I can’t promise you anything, but I can promise you that this franchise is in the right hands and is headed in the right direction. But of course I’m going to say that, right? After all, the team signs my paycheques. They do, but they don’t pay me to spread lies, and I certainly wouldn’t write it if I didn’t believe it. Heck, I wouldn’t have written the above preluding many of the seasons I’ve been here. But something you develop over a long period of countless hours in the sports business, is a strong sense for what feels right or wrong heading into a new season; knowing when things are actually on the right track, or when they aren’t. It’s often people like myself, or Al Couture (Head Therapist), or Brad Fotty (Equipment Manager), who aren’t at the forefront of decision-making but toil behind the scenes and see everything, that know the real state of affairs. CEO Wade Miller? Yes, he’s my boss, but he gets it. He’s implemented things here that fans don’t see but that matter in the long run both on and off the field. He knows it’s the small things that go a long way, like calling a veteran free agent after he’s signed with the team to congratulate him and send his son a Bomber jersey. The player in question told me, “in all my years being in the league, that’s never happened.” Do the small things win you games? Directly, no. Indirectly, yes. They win respect. To Wade, these small gestures are simply second-nature, but that’s another topic. GM Kyle Walters? He knew the state of the roster he took over, specifically the position we were in regarding our Canadian depth and lack of a long-term quarterback. We spend nearly every day talking football, talking about our team, and exhausting every option to improve the roster. He knew from the get-go how he wanted to build his team, but he also knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. I go back to what he told the Winnipeg Free Press in July 2014, after a strong 3-0 start: “You have to count on the draft and overspend in free agency to get better Canadians. You can’t do it in July.” In other words, this takes years to build, not one month and three wins. Not even two years and 12 wins. Finally, this season we are starting to see that development come to fruition. Sukh Chungh (2nd overall, 2015) will return in 2016 after starting every game for us last season at guard. To put that in perspective, and to highlight just how challenging that is to accomplish as a rookie offensive lineman, Sukh is one of only five lineman drafted in the past three years to start ten or more games in a season. Over one spot, Matthias Goossen (2ndoverall, 2014) will take over at centre after being drafted as a 21-year-old. Matthias is one of only three lineman drafted in 2014 who made a start (six total) in 2015. Meanwhile, Derek Jones had a career-high 15 special teams tackles (fourth round, 2014). An example of a what good drafting can do to help your club in time. Head Coach Mike O’Shea? I’ve made my point on Mike in previous blogs. He is the best Head Coach I’ve ever worked with, without question. I thought Pinball Clemons put it very well in the Argos’ video tribute last season: “He made me better as an opponent. He made me better as a teammate. And he made me better as a person. One of my favourite people on the planet, without question.” The guy has passion for the game and our league like nobody I’ve ever known. His compete level, desire to win, and love for the sport is apparent within minutes of meeting him. For example; Friday, August 14, 2015 – our first game following some major injuries to Drew Willy, Darvin Adams and Paris Cotton. Mike walked into the locker room five minutes before team introductions. He called everyone together, and with the fallen guys standing in the circle, addressed each one of their replacements. And with his eyes starting to well-up he said; “this is why, before I had a *** Swiss ball (he sits on a Swiss ball in his office instead of a chair) and a computer, and I had one of those (points to a locker) and a roll of tape, these were my favourite games. It’s your *** chance to honour your teammates. You get to look around and do it for those guys (pointing to Paris, Drew, and Darvin),” his voice now shaky. “These are the best games to play for.” I could write for days of examples like this one, and I will in time, but all this to say that our football team is in great hands with Mike O’Shea as our Head Coach, and I’m excited to see what 2016 brings for him. He deserves the success that will come. With injuries and roster turnover to get the team where it needs to be, the club had 80 different players take the field for at least one game last season, the third-highest total in CFL history. “We knew all along that this was going to take time,” Kyle told me recently when I broached the topic. “Of course the Canadian depth end of things was without question going to take time, but developing the respect to garner interest from players and developing our way of doing things here was going to take time. I think we have finally turned that corner.” It’s true. During free agency in 2014, we sent out offer after offer, only to, for the most part, get a ‘thank you, but no thank you’ reply back. Last season was a bit better. And this season our offers, which were really no different than any other club’s financially, were accepted. One after the other, everything fell into place. Everyone talks about how we were so aggressive in 2016, but the reality is that the past few years have been quite similar in our approach, the only difference is that now players want to play here. With February just about behind us, we look ahead to the Combine, and then mini-camp in April. This year, we won’t be hosting it in Florida but rather here in Winnipeg, so we encourage fans to attend. We’ll get more information out in the coming weeks.

Those guys are "Addition By Subtraction".........

Ryan Rishaug apparently reporting that deals in the works for Oilers to ship Teddy Purcell to LA and Justin Schultz to Pittsburgh....

Hoping he can get back to 100%. If he can, he's one of the best in the CFL, period...

Good deal for both sides. I'm a Hawks fan too, so I'm stoked to see Ladder with Toews on the top line. He's gonna be HUGE for them with no letter, no responsibility, and just getting his game back now after the surgery. He'll be rejuvenated by the winning culture.

Would love for this to be all for naught, and have Ladd sign a last minute deal. Apparently, tho, Darren Dreger is saying he IS scratched tonight......

I always find it interesting to see/hear that the organization is held in such high regard by players both current and former. It can't possibly be true because so many people on here told me this organization is a parriah, and nobody wants to be anywhere near it.