GCn20

As a former resident of Calgary myself, I think that interprovincial migration definitely hurts the Stamps somewhat. They do nothing to lure new residents to their team. I, also, think that a lot of long time Calgarians have a sort of elitist attitude towards the rest of Canada in general and believe that they are too cool for school and do not want to associate with a league in Canada. I spent a year and a half in Calgary, albeit 25 years ago, running a couple of bars on what was Electric Avenue. People were great until they found out you were from Manitoba or Saskatchewan and then they shunned you. I couldn't take the clique like culture there anymore and went home. Best decision I ever made.

That's exactly right Dr.CFL. As a former Head Coach, I can tell you that the more cooks you add to your kitchen the more potential there is for confusion. Whenever I was assembling a new staff I only built the staff as big as it needed to be to cover what I needed. If I had an OC with good experience as a QB coach then why not let him do both jobs and take away any potential for confusion. Same on defence or STs etc. People seem to think that a coordinator doesn't have the time to work with players on the fundamentals. That's just not true if he is committed. At any rate, I often (due to lack of volunteers, or volunteers taking vacation etc.) had myself, and assistants doing several tasks. With proper time management and commitment from both staff and players we were able to get it done.

Calgary is a pretty fickle CFL town by Western Canada standards. In the West their fan interest ranks last imo. It is so bad that Stampeder fans who want to talk football must visit other fan forums.

Oh gawd. So Mike O'Shea, a reputed leader both as a player and coach, is a poorly qualified HC, because he's never been in a co-ordinator position? Can I get you some Burke or some Stubler as HC to appease you? If you can find me a hot-shot co-ordinator who's also a leader, I'll take him. But I'll take the leader over the co-ordinator... all day, every day First of all O'Shea was a coordinator. He was ST coordinator in Toronto. Even if he wasn't it is irrelevant. One has nothing to do with the other. A HC does not necessarily need coordinator experience nor does being a high level coordinator necessarily make someone a good HC. Too many examples to list that prove this. Richard Harris was a positional coach with no coordinator experience, I defy anyone to come on here and seriously suggest that he would have been a poor HCing candidate.

Besides, could anything be worse than watching the wounded puppy dog look in Burke's eyes as he threw yet another player under the bus for failing to execute a ******** play call by Crowton/Creehan? I will take this year's staff over last year's every single day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

I am about as non-plussed about our offseason so far as anyone. I think it has been a borderline failure thus far, in regards, to the amount of ground we needed to gain. This offseason was like being in 2nd and 25, and unless things change on the player front, it looks like we called a running play for 8 yards. Positive yardage to be sure...but nowhere near enough. However, I am a little more optimistic about the coaching staff than many people. I believe that a coaching staff's biggest strength is in the collective. Coaches need to be on the same page philosophically, and preach the same message to the club. Oshea, Etcheverry, and even Bellefeuille are all known for instilling work ethic into their groups. They are also known for being taskmasters and holding players accountable. I think the sum of their strengths working together will make up for the flaws they show as individuals. One of the toughest, yet most necessary, aspects of coaching is getting your players to believe in your program. I think with the experience these men have in handling a locker room, which can be very political at times, will pay dividends. Believe it or not I think Etcheverry's mad scientist ways will keep the players interested and motivated once they start seeing the dividends that the mad doctor's defences almost always bring in the early part of the season. I think Bellefeuille will be a steady, but firm hand, on a somewhat fragile offence. I think O'Shea brings a boatload of attitude, respect, and mystique to the job. Players will listen to him. Tracey is an unknown really at this point, but brings a very impressive resume. If we can add Wylie/Himebauch, and McDiarmid to the mix it will round out a nice stable of position coaches. I see this group collectively as better than the sum of it's parts.

Actually saw that he asked how the search for a DC was going .. *shrug* I think Sears could be one of the big beneficiaries of an Etcheverry defence. He is just the type of player that Etch loves.

That certainly was a big fault of his early in his career. However, he has improved greatly in that area over the past few years. He is not the same QB we let go of in 2009. Not saying he is the answer either, but I would gladly welcome him back.

There were reports that Glenn had a signing bonus come due in the middle of January. Not sure how much it was but the RedBlacks do have some money tied up in him.

Bomber fans have such a defeatist attitude sometimes. Why not see a situation where Tsoumpas signs with us and they keep Scott Mitchell. I think that Winnipeg is a more favorable destination than many here are willing to concede. Our money is as green as anyone else's, our history is as rich as anyone's, our fan base is easily in the top 2 in the league, our facilities are amongst the best in the league, and our cost of living is very favorable. Lots of the naysayers will point to our recent history, and it does make it a sell job by our management to convince pending FA's that we are changing our act, but I like having natural born salesmen like Miller, and highly respected ex-players like McManus and O'Shea in our corner. The hard part will be getting the first big domino to drop. Whether that is Collaros or Burris or someone else, once FA's see that Winnipeg is spending to improve other players will at the very least give us a lot of consideration. There is something very tempting in being on a team on the rise to a player's competitive spirit. If our management can convince pending FA's that we are serious about turning things around with a big splashy signing right out of the gate, they will take our offers very seriously.

Every team in the CFL will have an offer sheet in front of Henoc if he is an unsigned FA in February who is not NFL bound. Even B.C. They may like Bighill but I guarantee they would still go after Henoc. There isn't a team in the league with the exception of whoever has Emry that wouldn't like a high level NI ratio busting MLB. The level of commitment they show to the pursuit is the difference imo. The team that worries me most in competition for him is the Riders. They are likely losing Butler, have an aging, injured vet at MLB that they may not want anymore, and a GM with a history of overpaying if necessary. I will suggest that they may be our direct competition for HM if there is a bidding war for him.

Mike we'll have to agree to disagree on the Riderfans thing. There is a whole thread dedicated to our DC search and many of the posters there suggest that Etch would be a decent hire. I'm not sure if you've had a chance to check it out but you will see many of that forum's more knowledgable posters endorsing the possibility. Thank you for giving a valid criticism to back your opinion. I have heard this as well. However, I have also heard that in the season in question he had one of his veterans who was unhappy with his assignments try to lead a mutiny in the dressing room that affected the defence for a few games in the 2nd half of the season. It was sorted out by the end of the season and Etch's defence went on to dominate in the playoffs and nearly win the Grey Cup. One could make the argument that he is not a popular player's coach that's for sure but I think that hanging the pre-Labor/Post labor day comparison is slightly inaccurate and based on one tumultuous attempted coup d'état in which quite frankly is a case of the HC being guilty for allowing it to take place and the player being selfish. I am not saying that this necessarily absolves Etch of any or all blame for anything in the 2nd half of that year. Just saying that his defence had never been accused of 2nd half collapses prior to that season and that when the HC finally addressed the problem in the dressing room the defence improved dramatically. Take from that what you will. Just so we are clear though, I too, am apprehensive of Etcheverry. I don't necessarily believe he would do a poor job I'm just not sure if we have the right guys to play his style of defence and definitely worry about his locker room prescence. If we get Tibesar I would be much happier. However, if Etch is the guy I am willing to take a wait and see approach. I believe a lot of his criticisms are based more on a lack of social skills in the media and dressing room than in actual football coaching itself.

I hear a lot of negativity over a potential Etcheverry hiring but not a lot of reasons for it. He has run successful defences in this league with his last one going to back to back Grey Cups. I understand he is unconventional but is that a reason to jump off a cliff if we hire him? The majority of RoughRIder fans believe he was a good DC and are suggesting he would be a good hire by the Bombers. I'd like to know what automatically makes this a poor hire in some posters minds here? Please criticize away but elaborate. It's tough to know the difference between the legit concerns and the negatrons in this thread.

I don't know why people automatically assume that if Hamilton tries to pursue Collaros that they will get him and we won't. As with anything else it will likely come down to dollars and term. No reason to believe we can't make a better offer than Hamilton.

Yea frustrating for sure. Our organization dug this hole though so it shouldn't be unexpected. Some people are going to be attracted by the challenge ahead and some will run away from it kicking and screaming. I thought Stubler's comments were very telling. He is a guy who obviously does not have the energy or commitment to put in the long days, weeks, or months necessary to accomplish the task our team has before them. I'm glad he didn't come here and then Rod Rust us. I was very disappointed when he turned us down but the more I read his interviews and comments the more I think we may have dodged a bullet.

According to Irving on BB.com the Bombers offered more money. It definitely wasn't a matter of the Bombers cheaping out.

Yea, absolutely. Last time I heard the season doesn't start until June. It would be nice to have new guys in place prior to the draft and FA but that is still a month and a half away.

It's December and we have a new HC, OC, and GM. I would suggest that the Bombers are moving pretty quickly. I know people are getting antsy but the truth is that we may not get a chance to talk to some potential coaches we want until into the new year because they are under contract and permission was not granted by their respective clubs. This nonsense that somehow we are way behind in hiring our DC or filling out our coaching staff is premature. Take a breath people. We hear a couple names like Etcheverry and Marshall and people panic. It could be that these guys are not high on our list but are available so O'Shea does not want to leave any stones unturned.

I attended a lot of that training camp and Paredes was just brutal. Big leg but he was missing everything. Can't blame the Bombers for releasing him. At the time I couldn't understand how he even got invited. Hindsight is 20/20 but the coaches made the right call given the information they had at the time. He rebounded and is doing well...good for him. However, it is ignorant to say that it was a bad decision to keep Palardy over a guy who was shanking everything....especially when you were not around to see what they based their decision on.

Eskfans are saying that their local radio stations are saying that the concussion appears to be mild and although he will sit this week he is probable for the week after.

Wear that Brock jersey with pride and don't forget to numb the pain you will witness tonight with a raft of beers and nachos. Some of us will give you a silent thumbs up as we tuck tail and eat and drink the crap our wives make us as they try to turn us into the men they think we should be.

I am not skinny, I am not fat, although my BMI would probably put me at slightly overweight. I just wanted to pipe in and say that without fat football fans, this and every other football team, would have a pretty hard time filling the seats. We can sit here and grouse about how irresponsible these people are for eating nachos and dogs at every game but instead I will give them all a great big kudos for taking the time and money to come out and eat substandard food watching a substandard club. I would have thought that a football forum could find a little more love for a guy who is over 300 lbs. Even the quinoa and steamed chicken crowd here would be po'ed if we signed a 250 lb lineman.

Here is the big misconception that people are trying to sell. This myth that 6 more starts will suddenly make him this great QB is unrealistic imo. He has started a few games now and has not shown any ability to even come close to winning. It's not like he is tantalizing us with 350 yard games but just barely coming out on the short end of the victory column...his stats are well below average and what will change in 6 games from now? Will he suddenly learn how to throw accurately on the roll out? His flaws are not from a lack of understanding of the game. By all accounts he is making the right reads. His problems are mechanical and that doesn't go away in a half season or with more starts. Most QBs who exhibit poor mechanics are never able to fix them.

What has he shown that makes him deserving of future starts? I am not being sarcastic, I just don't see what others are seeing in him. I have not seen anything, in my mind, that shows he may be close to being a good QB. Please explain what you are seeing that makes you believe this guy is even close to being a consistent starter in this league.

Elliott sucks. He would add no value to our team at all other than a very marginal improvement at QB. I do agree with you that I shake my head in disbelief at the complete double standard people are passing off between Goltz and Elliott though. Goltz and Elliott arrived at around the same time and are almost equal in experience level. For some reason people are suggesting that more time would make Goltz this great QB, yet when the subject of Elliott comes up they believe he had his chance and sucked. They are half right I suppose, but you can't have it both ways. If you are going to lobby for patience with Goltz then you shouldn't be knocking Elliott in the same breath....they are literally almost equal in experience level. Personally, I don't believe either of them will ever amount to anything in this league.