GCn20

It will take a lot of dollars to pry him away from his home and his farm. Still....he is entering FA for a reason. Likely it's to make the RIders pay top dollar for him. However, at the end of the day even this approach shows that he cares about the money. If he was content with the off-field stuff and the money was secondary his name would be on the dotted line already.

Sure. But the Riders just freed up $175k of cap space while we just lost $195k. So there's that. The Riders have 28 FA's to sign and one of them is Dressler, so there is that as well.

I have awaited the day we would start debating about which quality OL we will keep, which ones we will let go, and how we will fit them all into the lineup for many years now. The nightmare seems like it is close to being at an end. To all my "Nash" brethren on the forum. Khristos Razhdayetsya

Agreed. He is replaceable. I liked him a lot but he plays a position that lends itself well to scouting and to an easy transition to the Canadian game.

A tough loss but one that we should be able to overcome.

Absolutely, worst case scenario is that Picard gets beat out at Centre and we have to send him to the 6 game IR. If that happens then it means that Goosen/Morley have really stepped up their game. I don't see a way we lose with this acquisition.

We wanted to but didn't get around to it. Too busy beating a Labatte dead horse.

Morley had a good year. Picard brings intangibles with him though that are off the charts. He has been the glue guy on every OL he has centred and they have all been successful OLs.

Just saw that too. That's interesting. Does Goosen stay as 6th OL or do they think he can start at guard? I guess another follow up question is, "what the hell do I know about OL play?" I thought Morley was every bit as good as he was... Morley makes sense as the #6 OL since he has experience and played C, G and T. I'm guessing, Bob Wylie might have something to do with Picard coming here. Could be Wylie. Heads up I think Morley and Picard were pretty even in play last year. However, Picard brings a raft of intanglibles with him to add to our line. I like the move. A mentor for Goosen and a bonafide leader for our OL.

9600 seats....sounds about right. The Argos might get a few sellouts.

I would sign Picard in a heart beat if the price is reasonable. Morley can play guard.

Yep. A player is only out to lunch if there is truly no one who will pay him that money. Ottawa offering Dressler 250k last year kind of dispels that notion. Look for both Dressler and SJ to be in the 200k range this offseason to the teams that sign them.

Not sure how that relates in any way to the discussion at hand but it was entertaining.

Couple things ISO, mentioning race is not racism. Also, I at no point suggested that we hire a black coach for recruitment purposes. Let me clarify. My belief that a black coach can benefit a team is not my own. I attended a coaching seminar about 10 years ago in which Herm Edwards was the keynote speaker. At this time, one of the hot button issues was the lack of black coaches at every level of football. He spoke at great length about how an increase of black coaches could benefit the NFL and other pro leagues because many of the black players came from backgrounds where racism was rampant and how he has seen many young black players "wash out" because they could not get past the racial barriers (his words not mine) that are prevalent in pro sports. He said that many young black men come from hard backgrounds and need guidance and will feel more trustful of a black coach they perceive as more understanding of their problems. What's ironic is that there was a Q&A after his speech and one guy asked, " Isn't discussing this issue also racist. Isn't it wrong to look at the color of a persons skin when hiring someone?" Herm's response was along these lines and I am quite sure that I am pretty close with his words because his speech that day really made me think differently, " In a perfect world we could all walk around and not notice race. This isn't a perfect world. Trust me....a young black man from Southern Alabama does not see the world the same way you do. That's just the reality. If a team is smart they will definitely look at a black coach as adding value to the dressing room if all things are equal....and no that's not racist." Also, ISO you decided to put words in my mouth even though I had clearly qualified my statement. I said in my initial post on the matter that it should not be a big factor in our recruitment of coaches. Just one that shouldn't be ignored. You went off on some ridiculous diatribe accusing me of racism and suggesting that I advocated hiring Hall solely on the color of his skin. Both being grossly incorrect interpretations of my post. All I said is that it could be an added value if we were to go with Hall. I am not alone in that opinion. Many, many black athletes in all sports have advocated for more black coaches. I guess they are racist too. Guess the outreach workers are racist when they send a native worker to a reserve, guess the police are racist when they send a Pakistani officer out to patrol Pakistani neighborhoods. Racism is rampant I tell you. There is no good reason other than bigotry to do such things. You asked me why I brought up racism? I'll tell you why...because it's real and the effects of it exist....yes, even within the Bomber locker room.

I like Hall as well. A true professional, former player, former HC who runs a good system. I will just come right out and address the elephant in the room as well. He is black. I say this without one iota of racism. Many young black males would gravitate towards him as a mentor/leader and given his other excellent traits how could that be a bad thing. Not saying it should be a big factor in who we select as our DC, but it should definitely not be a factor that's overlooked.

LOL....my laptop was acting up yesterday every time I was trying to post it would freeze up. Guess the posts made it through after all.

Yeah, we'll have to see what happens. Isn't it amazing that it seems the only team who never has this problem are the Riders? Yet they have more veterans & are an older team across the board so they're payroll should be bigger than the Ti Cats. Actually the Riders had this very problem last season when they lost several players because of cap issues. Craig Butler being a big name that comes to mind. One shouldn`t forget that their 2014 cap woes have even extended unto this year. The Riders have 28 FA`s scheduled to hit the board. They simply didn`t have the cash to extend a lot of these guys during the season when it would have been cheaper to do so. He will now have to pay top value for these guys as they have undoubtedly heard other offers through back channels already. There is still some speculation that the RIders are unlikely to be able to fit a lot of these very good players in under the cap and never mind even discussing adding a couple in FA. It`s why Taman is taking long shot flyers on guys like Richardson.

Yeah, we'll have to see what happens. Isn't it amazing that it seems the only team who never has this problem are the Riders? Yet they have more veterans & are an older team across the board so they're payroll should be bigger than the Ti Cats. Actually the Riders had this very problem last season when they lost several players because of cap issues. Craig Butler being a big name that comes to mind. One shouldn`t forget that their 2014 cap woes have even extended unto this year. The Riders have 28 FA`s scheduled to hit the board. They simply didn`t have the cash to extend a lot of these guys during the season when it would have been cheaper to do so. He will now have to pay top value for these guys as they have undoubtedly heard other offers through back channels already. There is still some speculation that the RIders are unlikely to be able to fit a lot of these very good players in under the cap and never mind even discussing adding a couple in FA. It`s why Taman is taking long shot flyers on guys like Richardson.

Yeah, we'll have to see what happens. Isn't it amazing that it seems the only team who never has this problem are the Riders? Yet they have more veterans & are an older team across the board so they're payroll should be bigger than the Ti Cats. Actually the Riders had this very problem last season when they lost several players because of cap issues. Craig Butler being a big name that comes to mind. One shouldn`t forget that their 2014 cap woes have even extended unto this year. The Riders have 28 FA`s scheduled to hit the board. They simply didn`t have the cash to extend a lot of these guys during the season when it would have been cheaper to do so. There is still some speculation that the RIders are unlikely to be able to fit a lot of these very good players in under the cap and never mind even discussing adding a couple in FA. It`s why Taman is taking long shot flyers on guys like Richardson.

I wonder if Banks really thinks that people will take what he has to say at face value? He's gotta know that most people will just shrug and say that it is one giant, classless bowl of sour grapes he is trying to serve. Is he that self-absorbed he doesn't see that? Gotta wonder what goes through some guys heads sometimes.

Yes. They expire right after the last game of the season. As we saw when we lost Norris to the Als.

Earlier in the season while he was a healthy scratch he had stated that he was frustrated about it. Nothing in his attitude or play reflected that afterwards though. I think there is a possibility he might be disgruntled but I think the probability is pretty low.

Great news about a couple of quality guys. Best of luck!!

Always a pleasure to hear a good news story about someone kicking cancer's ass. Even better when it's a devoted Bomber fan......CHEERS!! (raising my mug right now).

I don't think there are great number of fans who would be happy with the result of our management disclosing everything openly and honestly to them. I am sure that part of the reason they work behind closed doors is to keep the portion of the fan base that thinks they know everything but doesn't have a hot clue at bay. I really don't want our management to have frank and open discussions with the media and fans because I don't feel that either are fully equipped to fully understand what they would be told.