TrueBlue4ever

The fish taco eating contest with Joey Chestnut was a low point as a halftime show. I think one other guy on his (Bombers vs Riders fans) team did OK with something like 17, Joey has 32 or some absurd number, but then one lady had 2 in the same time limit. The all-time worst was the Guitar hero face-off. Two guys at centre field hitting plastic key-tars with the video board showing the computer screen. Need a lot better than something I could watch my kids do in the basement. The club used to bring up a high school marching band from North Dakota and they always killed it. They also got the River East Collegiate jazz band to do a halftime concert and they were outstanding (personal bias kicking in - my brother-in-law is the band teacher there, but that program has won some international competitions). But I wonder if the club prefers getting people to the concessions at the half to spend money instead of keeping them in their seats to be entertained?

Great post with some interesting ideas Speed. I’d love to hear you expand on a couple of things. On the 3rd QB issue, how would you deal with the constant turnover of players if it always had to be a rookie spot? And on your last point about putting the needs of players ahead of the needs of the fans, could you go a little deeper into what issues you are seeing there? Thanks.

Some good ideas here. Would worry about the 3 headed review monster though. More delays and even less authority for the on-field officials, who have already become gun shy. But on that topic, I would add getting rid of video review for illegal contact on a receiver. Hate when coaches fish for a penalty on the opposite side of the field to where the play is. If the on-field refs don’t see it, then it wasn’t egregious enough to call. Keep the human element in a bit.

A mere “disagree” emoji is not suitable enough a reaction for this post. I rate this one “Nick Taylor get that s*** out of here” worthy.

This post started well, then about midway through I sense your own personal brand of gummies kicked in.

He may have done it twice, once in each stadium. We had some lean years there and I have scrubbed out a lot of those memories through intensive therapy.

Don’t mind the idea from a safety point of view, but that would wipe out a ton of field goals. You would have to be inside the opponent‘s 20 yard line to have a reasonably makable kick. But I approve of the talking point. And then there is the problem that we would never get to enjoy this again:

Since we have another week before game related Bomber action, thought I’d throw out a random topic for discussion. You are the commissioner and can change something about the CFL, what would you do? Don’t go for low hanging fruit like “kick the Roughriders out”, “fire Ambrosie”, or “Bombers get the Cup every year”, what rule changes, scheduling, roster moves, or marketing would you implement? I will throw out a few to start: Despite people’s love of the cottage in summer, game attendance actually is highest in those months and drops after Labour Day. So move up the season schedule so the league starts in May, and can be done before November. Get a 10th team in now, or cut back to 16 games, one home and one road game against each team. Two bye weeks per team a year. Bring back the third QB, but mandate that they must be Canadian Open up the NFL option window, but eliminate the one year comtract. Of a player leaves for the NFL, their CFL team retains first refusal of rights unless player is gone for the entire following CFL season. Playoff games on Saturday, especially the Grey Cup. How many fans don’t travel to the big game because they need to be back at work Monday and can’t make the flights out with an evening Sunday game? Saturday late afternoon game allows a lot of Saturday night post-game partying and Sunday is travel day for the fans. Anything else?

Overtime power plays are such an unfair advantage at 4 on 3. San Jose apparently played a clean game, 3 power plays to zero for the Jets. I am not one to blame refs for a loss, but I will say when they call a bad game, and they called a bad game tonight.

Jets score almost in spite of themselves. I was thinking this game has a real Regina Winter Classic feel to it. 1-0 with lots of frustration and questionable reffing calls, but all they need is 1 and then take it in OT. Trending that way. Free hockey!

Jets passing up way too many slot opportunities trying to make the pretty pass. Shoot the puck!!!!!!!

Glover keeping the “fraudulent election” card from the Trump playbook in her back pocket at the moment.

Jets definitely owed a power play in the third for that Ehlers breakaway missed call.

Not once, but twice, right? 😁

We are not going to see BC in the playoffs, and between Sask and Calgary I would much rather face Sask, so anything to give them a better chance to win the west semi a la home field advantage would help that. So go Sask.

KFC still can’t back check.

Kyran Moore on the limp.

Dinwiddie with inexcusably bad clock management in the last minute. Lucky it did not cost them the game.

When does Simoni Lawrence get a meaningful suspension? Dirty play every game.

Fine. People are rushing to judgment without knowing the full story. Don’t do that. And no need to justify my stance, it would be too wordy. Just accept it. Better?

I guess what I am trying to get at is that saying we need to “change the culture” can be difficult to define. FIFO is lauded as a great thing because it speaks to a team mentality where no one is selfish and they work together for a common goal. And because the team won it is seen as an example of how the winning culture of the organization has been built. But the flip side is seeing the Blackhawks not want to disrupt the winning culture of a Stanley Cup contender by having a player.coach incident infect the locker room and having an individual issue overtake the team as a whole. So when we talk about changing the culture at the grassroots, do we take the concept of the team out of it? Do we say each individual should be heard and every issue heard at an individual level rather than looking at the team concept? As an example, Evander Kane shows up late for team meetings and not dressed as per the team dress code. He has been given reprimands but has not been changed his anti-FIFO behaviour. As a message that this guy should step in line, a teammate chucks his clothes on the shower. A much more effective message probably because it is handled on a player level without the need for whistleblowing. But one that certainly shows him disrespect (as he had himself shown disrespect for the team). Should the player or players who initiated the shower prank be punished because it was disrespectful? And if he said it was motivated by racism, should all those players be immediately suspended or shown the door because of Kane’s complaint? Because that is what has been said in some quarters about the BwXh incident. That everyone in the May meeting should have immediately kicked Aldrich off the team, not weeks later. But that is with 11 years of passing time and hindsight. What was known that day is less than what is known now, but some want the actions to be judged on what we know now, not back then. So back to the culture thing. Hard to make a blanket “culture” change because the same thought behind building a team and working together can create a situation where bad things are not spoken about or are “handled internally”, but the original intent of the culture was not to create that type of problem. I wonder if the better approach is to put rules and safeguards in place rather than calling for a “culture” overhaul. Right now in Manitoba junior sports, every prospective coach working with minors requires a background sex abuse registry check, minimal coaching certification training, and take a respect in sport course. And still some will slip through the cracks I am sure. JustA not sure how “changing the culture” and creating a whistleblower approach to everything will work. Open to hearing thoughts, I am not advocating for any approach as right or wrong. Perhaps that should be altered to “he has never spoken about it to the media or the public”, since he has complied and fully cooperated with the private (now very public) investigation and shared what he knew and did not know, by all accounts.

So how does O’Shea’s #FIFO mantra fit within the “culture” of a team. Clearly not intended to extend to sexual assault, but the whole concept of “put the team ahead of yourself”, “don’t be an individual who causes problems, be a team guy and fall in line” creates a mood where players keep quiet and subscribe to the group mentality or get ostracized. Where hazing is shrugged off as “team bonding” or “making sure the rookie shows respect”. Lots of blurry lines can be found, and it’s a lot easier to pick apart the flaws with the benefit of hindsight.

The dogs were epic entertainment.

How could I have forgotten that one? I have posted it a couple of times, but here it is again for our viewing pleasure. Just Google “Fajardo goalpost gif” and look in the images, and you should find it easily enough any time you need it.