Tracker

Trying to rate the home-grown talent at this point is about as accurate as using goat entrails. A fair number of them have moved to other teams and some of them were barely serviceable last season, so I would wait until the end of July (at least) before the picture becomes clear enough to see.

Is the team that desperate?

Are these non-imports (nationals) who are on the "taxi" squad?

Oddly enough, the name of Paul Randolph has not come up, and he was as good as they get.

My kids complained when I took them to an evening of Gregorian chants, but they also complained that the singalongs at the Buddhist camps were boring.

Jade Etienne wouldn't be any worse at linebacker than Kuale was.

Kackert ought to be good for Toronto, who will need all the help they can get until Ray gets back, if/when he does. Competitive games are always good for the league and ratings.

Off our meds again, are we?

Brohm looks like one of those players who look like they ought to be able to break out into "starter status" any day now but never quite seem to do it. Marve looks like a QB who will win ugly but win and may well be uncoachable to look to pass first, then consider the run. If Marve didn't have bad knees, I would be a lot more comfortable in seeing him take off a dozen times or so every game. If the coaches can work him into a rolling pocket offense, he might be what we need if Willy doesn't evolve into a premier quarterback this year. Regardless of whether its Marve, Portis or Brohm, none seem to have progressed into a pivot who could challenge Willy or replace him without losing a lot of team momentum, so I hope McManus and Co. are still beating the bushes.

Not a chance the Riders are letting that guy get away. Even if they handle their PR a little differently the message is the same, "hands off". If that were true they wouldn't have cut him. Rider fans are pissed off at Taman for this move. I think that the Rider faithful will have many more opportunities to get ticked at Taman this year unless they go something like 14-4 and into the western final. Rider fans seem to think that once they win the Grey Cup, they ought to do it at least every second year.

I read that and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Why cant we find that again? I suspect that the scouting in both the NFL, CFL and even the Arena league is more thorough and such players are scooped up a lot sooner to different teams. The bottom line: for a few years, we we were very, very fortunate to have that gang on our side.

At this point, it looks like there was not as much talent among the newcomers as I had hoped, so that falls at the feet of the scouting staff. I was really hoping for a dominating receiver and a homicidal linebacker or two.

I wasn't at the game and was able to listen to only the second and third quarters, but it sounded like the glowing optimism many of us had going into training camp may be a bit premature. Granted that these were both pre-season games with a lot of sorting out to do, but it looks like our receivers are not going to be as good as hoped and the defence is going to take both tweaking and time to get up to speed. I'm thinking that the first 3 or 4 games are going to a struggle for the Bombers, so lets not get too down on the team just yet.

From the sounds of it, a very uninspired half of football from the home side. Not a good sign when your kicker is the best player.

We don't have a need for him, but man I'd like to have Edem here. Neufeld for Edem?

Can't see Neufeld being cut. Traded for a bag of nachos, maybe but not cut.

Unless Popp pulls a competitive quarterback out of his butt, its Hamilton in a walk coming out the East and probably getting massacred in the Grey Cup.

Okay! Maybe now Wally will come down off that ledge.

No question that short of the seven plagues hitting the Stamps all at the same time, first place is theirs to lose. However, conceding second to the Esks is premature- Reilly has been injured again and again and their O-line doesn't look all that much better than the one which allowed all those sacks last year. I'm not sold on Durant, but I see the Riders competing with the Blue Bombers for second. And the Lions are boned.

The flaw with this is that the US networks are starting to put their shows under subscription through their websites. It is only a matter of time before that subscription format turns Netflix into the same monthly cost as getting cable. And the horrible truth begins to dawn.....

So you're telling me that Rod Black spends more than three days prepping for a game? In fairness to Rod, most of that time is spent on the pancake makeup. It was worse in the past when he had lip shrubbery.

Its players like Neufeld who make coaches (and GMs) crazy. The size and talent are there, but if you can't depend on them, it really messes with the game plan. We've had a lot of good, even great players here in the CFL who just did not have their parts glued together well enough to have a career- Jesse Lumsden comes to mind. At some point, if Neufeld cannot stay healthy enough to earn his paycheque, he becomes a liability and he will be replaced as soon as someone close enough to his level becomes available..

With his demeanor and reputation Picard is going increase the flag count substantially. Won't be surprised if he doesn't become a fan favourite around this neighborhood. He isn't now?

Harper has been almost as good a Prime Minister as Brian Mulroney. Harper`s church believes that a worldwide nuclear holocaust beginning in Jerusalem will bring Jesus back, He tried to deny Canadian servicemen (and women) proper ramp honours when their bodies were returned to Canada, got 157 military killed, and between 600-800 permanently disabled in an American war which was obviously unwinnable from the start, muzzled scientists who dared to say climate change was real, and spent between 5 and 9 billion dollars in Afghanistan in a lost cause with no tangilble benefit, His people tried to block voters, and suppress voting in the last election. Harper tried to illegally appoint a judge to the Supreme Court against advice, and removed inspectors from meat-packing plants leading to two of the biggest tainted-meat recalls in our history .When he tried to blame torture in Afghanistan on the military, the top general contradicted him with proof that Harper`s government knew all along, so four months later, the general was forcibly `retired`. Harper said that he would get rid of the useless Senate by refusing to appoint any more senators when vacancies were created- Harper has appointed more senators (all Conservative toadies like Duffy and Wallin) than any other Prime Minister since confedation. And his government slashed railway inspection regulations because they were unncessary-remember Lac Megantic,anyone

Good to hear Anerson is back in harness. Sounds like the DB and RB positions are still unsettled with a lot of talent in the defensive backfield to be sorted out. I'm a little concerned that the receiver positions are not yet set, but I guess we will know more after Friday. No real surprises among the QBs or O-line, but Neufeld is looking like a big disappointment.