TrueBlue4ever

Remember, God created the platypus, so it shows s/he has a sense of humour.

Jets' 10 game and monthly splits this year: 1-10: 6-3-1 Oct: 7-4-1 11-20: 6-3-1 Nov: 7-4-1 21-30: 7-3-0 Dec: 11-4-0 31-40: 6-4-0 Jan: 7-4-0 with 1 game to go. 41-50: 7-3-0 Pretty consistent for all of teeth gnashing by fans this year.

Maybe we should have a little MBB Oscar contest to see who can call the most winners correctly. I sadly have no prize for the winner, other than bragging rights to the victor. Any interest?

"A Star is Born" sure has lost all of its momentum in the Oscar race. It was the clear-cut favorite when it came out, now it will be hard pressed to win anything other than Best Song. And I'll say now if "Black Panther" wins Best Picture then the Academy's attempt to be more inclusive will have severely overreached.

Got my tickets already. Glad that my kids both want to go and see this.

When the Moose returned the Jets were still a very hot ticket, and with the wait list, some fans saw a Moose season ticket as (a) the only alternative to see hockey, and (b) a way to get a leg up on other fans in the queue. But Jets tickets are much easier to come by now for the casual fan, and I know a bunch of Jets' season ticket holders who were stung by how expensive the playoff games were. I had one friend who sold one playoff game to basically fund the rest of the playoff series for herself, and then sold another couple of playoff games to help afford this year's season tickets. And I have at least a dozen friends who are positing tickets for sale for this year's games to recoup the cost of last year's playoffs. In the past I might see two or three offers for tickets a year, this year I could get tickets to every single game quite easily through those channels (people who put up one or two games for sale are now putting up 10-15 games a year). The upshot is that as the Jets become more accessible, the Moose crowd prefer to go to a few Jets games rather than a season's worth of Moose games. I think adding a WHL team will either fail or sink the Moose. Don't see 3 hockey teams co-existing in Winnipeg.

One man's take: COACH - Dave Ritchie - Pulled this team from the abyss and helmed one of the great all-time seasons in 2001 that should have resulted in a Grey Cup win. Loyal to his players to a fault, which allegedly led to a split in the locker room between various factions at the end of his tenure, and he always regrets talking his foot off the gas in '01 to rest players (although that bit him in '02 losing Stegall to injury in game 18). He will be #5 in this group. Mike Riley - Younger than more than a few of his veteran squad when he was hired, and many believed it was actually Cal Murphy pulling the strings from behind the curtain as "silent coach", but no one was more adored by his players, or the fan base for that matter. He pre-emptive departure after the '88 season was heartbreaking for many Bomber fans, and his return was feted, especially after the 1990 Grey Cup triumph. The exception to the rule that nice guys finish last. In this case, he is #4, but I like the idea of him being the defensive coordinator of the coaching staff. Reg Threllfall - When your worst season is a .750 winning percentage, you are in rarified air. And it took a wonky rules debate to keep the Bombers out of the 1940 Grey Cup (different league rules between the Western Football Conference and the Ontario Rugby League and the league decided to ban the Bombers from playing in the title game because of it, in spite of the fact that they were allowed to be there the previous two years and the year following), so only a technicality keeps him from getting his team to 4 consecutive Grey Cups (and possibly winning 3 in a row). Give him a longer tenure than 4 years, and his numbers would top Grant or Murphy, and I'd wager he wins this poll. OK, only 2 coaches have statues outside of IGF, so really this has always been a 2 man contest. Cal Murphy deserves a lot of love for many reasons. Native Winnipegger in a league where Canadian head coaches were rare, he knew how to extract the very best from all his players. It was his nuance of the game that stood out. Bob Cameron said he had more of a feel for in game management than any other coach he had seen. Murphy always knew there exact time to call a certain play, especially the surprise gadget ones. Not always loved by his players, but boy did they show up for him. Case in point the mutiny in 1991 when the players whined about the shoddy conditions at CanadInns and how Murphy ran the place like a dictator, cheaping out on stuff and stonewalling on contract negotiations (he was GM and not coach at the time, but ran the show). And yet the next game after this very public internal feud was a 68-14 thrashing of Hamilton at home in the largest Bomber victory of all time. And in the one thing I can put him ahead of Grant for, he never missed the playoffs during his run here. Too many stories to recount, but a few highlights: Chris Walby seeing the pouring rain at training camp one day and figuring it meant indoor film study, Murphy walks in and yells "on the field in 5", and then stands in a golf shirt getting soaked for a 2 a day while miserable players hit each other. Walby said it proved Murphy would accept no excuses, would put himself in the same conditions as the players, and take no shortcuts. It steeled the team for the cold November games when other teams mentally checked out, and the Bombers knew they had the game won before the first snap. The trick plays - Murphy liked running trick plays, but said he liked running them a second time in the same game. He figured that a team wasn't expecting it the first time, but wouldn't dream of the play being run again, so were caught even more off guard. One game he had Shannon Baker back fielding punts with Allan Boyko. Being much slower, Boyko got kicked to by the punter. He fielded the kick and ran left to right, with Baker cutting behind him going the other way, when Boyko flipped it back to Baker for about a 50 yard gain on the reverse, fooling the cover team. Next punt they both converge on the ball, with Boyko again catching it, then handing it off to Baker as they ran in opposite directions, again crossing up the punt cover team for a big gain. This happened a third, fourth, fifth time, etc. and by now everyone in the stadium is waiting for Boyko to catch the punt and just hand it to Baker, as he has done all game. They are literally standing side by side when every punt is fielded. Finally the eighth punt comes down and Boyko again catches it and hands it to Baker, and the whole cover team is aiming for Baker, except Boyko pulls it back and takes off himself with the ball with everyone keyed on Baker, and he scampers for about 30 yards before being tracked down. Cal Murphy completely schooled the other team that day with his trickery. Bud Grant is a legend in 2 football leagues, and transformed the Bombers into the first Western dynasty in the CFL. Holds all the Bomber coaching records, and is the greatest of all time. So Grant will and should win this, and you can see I have a soft spot for Murphy, but I can cheat and vote him in a GM, where he had just as much influence on his teams, and was the key fighter against the American expansion and keeping the Canadian ratio rules, which kept the league from killing itself in the mid-90's. So it can be a win-win. GM Have already sung my praises for Murphy, so won't re-hash it here. It astounds me that Lunsford lasted as long as he did. I guarantee that if he existed in the fishbowl existence we have now with social media, he would have been fired 2 or 3 times over if the MBB fans had their say. His first 3 seasons, the Bombers went 8-39-1, and that wasn't enough to gas him. After finishing first in the West in 1972, the Bombers gave away the West Final at home to Sask. after a no yards penalty on a missed field goal gave the Riders a second chance to win it, and then the team went 4-11-1 the following year and missed the playoffs that season and the next - still not enough to fire him. Still employed despite a 4-12 season in 1979, and he was 0 for his first 6 playoff games. It took 3 more years of frustration to finally pull the plug. Paul Robson was brilliant and just meshed perfectly with Murphy, and found an astounding amount of talent (credit scout Paul Jones - who would lated build the indianapolis Colts into a Super Bowl champion, for a lot of it too), but wasn't around long enough to finish on top. And others have more eloquently spoken about Ausley and Ryan. Completely agree with those takes. So in the end, it is going to be Grant and Murphy if voting stays as it currently stands (and it will), and both deserve to be there. But I want to give some love to the old guard, so I'm going cast my votes to Ryan as GM for creating the team and the Western league, and Threlfall as coach for basically having a perfect track record (League interference notwithstanding) during his tenure, knowing full well neither will win out. But thrilled to see grant and Murphy take this one.

In fairness, he is excellent at branding himself, and has played the media at most turns.

So looking at the defence overall, what a formidable bunch! Screams aggressiveness and athleticism. Any quibbles from anyone? In my one alternative universe, I would move West to inside linebacker in place of Barrin Simpson (who would be brilliant as a spell-off coming in on second down passing plays) and keep Tony Norman as a back-up, and promote Elfrid Payton to starter. That way he could switch from outside back to rush end at will, and we could employ a 4-3 or 3-4 whenever it suited us. And I still want to find a way to get Rowland and Casey on the team, but Hefney does offer the added benefit of both punt returns and punt coverage, so I’m content with his selection. Well done all, and great discussion so far about all positions!

Big for the Tabbies. Great chemistry with Masoli. Is a motivated Brandon Banks the most dangerous player in the CFL?

WHAT????? You mean Wikipedia lied to me? I should have know there were problems when they did not have Paul Robson listed amongst the GM’s (at least I now have a Wikipedia edit to my name). Thanks for checking my work, I have corrected Grant’s bio.

Added.

The voting is closed for defensive tackle, and to no one's surprise Doug Brown is an all-timer, but very impressively, so is Stan Mikawos, with a clear-cut victory, over 3rd place, showing that steady excellence over a long period is valued as much as big flashy numbers. The defence is now set, and I have the coach and GM nominees up for voting this week. We will next consider the special teams, starting with the kicker and punter (where discussion has already commenced in other threads). Punter will be a short list (and even shorter voting argument, I'm sure) with Cameron and Ryan in just so we don't have an acclimation. Kicker has a couple of obvious choices in Kennerd and Westwood, but I'm prepared to add Medlock given his accuracy percentage. Any others?

Choose one from each category. Here are the bios: COACHES Bud Grant - Regular Season: 160 games in 10 seasons (1957-66), 102-56-2 (.644), 5 first place finishes (1958-62), best: 14-2 (1960), worst: 1-14-1 (1964) - Playoffs: 31 games in 8 appearances (1957-62, 65, 66), 20-10-1 (.662), 6 Grey Cup appearances (1957-59, 61, 62, 65), 4 Grey Cups (1958, 59, 61, 62) - 1965 Coach of the Year, CFL Hall of Fame Cal Murphy - Regular Season: 138 games in 8 seasons (1983-86, 1993-96), 86-51-1 (.632), 2 first place finishes (1993, 94), best: 14-4 (1993), worst: 7-11 (1995) - Playoffs: 14 games in 8 appearances (1983-86, 93-96), 7-7 (.500), 2 Grey Cup appearances (1984, 93), 1 Grey Cup (1984) - 2 time Coach of the Year (1983, 84), CFL Hall of Fame Mike Riley - Regular Season: 72 games in 4 seasons (1987-90), 40-32 (.556), 2 first place finishes (1987, 90), best: 12-6 (1987, 90), worst: 7-11 (1989) - Playoffs: 8 games in 4 appearances (1987-90), 6-2 (.750), 2 Grey Cup appearances (1988, 90), 2 Grey Cups (1988, 90) - 2 time Coach of the Year (1988, 90) Dave Ritchie - Regular Season: 97 games in 6 seasons (1999-2004), 52-44-1 (.541), 1 first place finish (2001), best: 14-4 (2001), worst: 6-12 (1999) - Playoffs: 7 games in 4 appearances (2000-03), 3-4 (.429), 2001 Grey Cup appearance - 2001 Coach of the Year Reg Threlfall - Regular Season: 36 games in 4 seasons (1938-41), 28-8 (.778), 3 first place finishes (1939-41), best: 10-2 (1939), worst: 6-2 (1938, 40, 41) - Playoffs: 13 games in 4 appearances (1938-41), 10-3 (.769), 3 Grey Cup appearances (1938, 39, 41), 2 Grey Cups (1939, 41) NOTE: Winnipeg was 2-0 in 1940 playoffs, but was denied the opportunity to play in the Grey Cup because of a rules dispute between their Western football league and the Ontario Rugby Union GENERAL MANAGERS Jim Ausley - Regular Season: 112 games in 7 seasons (1958-64), 71-40-1 (.638), 5 first place finishes (1958-62), best: 14-2 (1960), worst: 1-14-1 (1964) - Playoffs: 17 games in 5 appearances (1958-62), 13-4 (.765), 4 Grey Cup appearances (1958, 59, 61, 62), 4 Grey Cups (1958, 59, 61, 62) - 6 Hall of Fame players, 44 divisional all stars (6.3/yr), 5 CFL all stars (1.7/yr)*, 2 CFL award winners *CFL all stars first awarded in 1962 Earl Lunsford - Regular Season: 240 games in 15 seasons (1968-82), 108-127-5 (.460), 1 first place finish (1972), best: 11-5 (1981, 82), worst: 2-14 (1970) - Playoffs: 11 games in 9 appearances (1971, 72, 75-78, 80-82), 2-9 (.182), 0 Grey Cup appearances - 12 Hall of Fame players, 76 divisional all stars (5.1/yr), 41 CFL all stars (2.7/yr), 8 CFL award winners CFL Hall of Fame (Player) Cal Murphy - Regular Season: 180 games in 10 seasons (1987-96), 103-77 (.572), 5 first place finishes (1987, 90, 92, 93, 94), best: 14-4 (1993), worst: 7-11 (1989, 95) - Playoffs: 18 games in 10 appearances (1987-96), 10-8 (.556), 4 Grey Cup appearances (1988, 90, 92, 93), 2 Grey Cups (1988, 90) - 13 Hall of Fame players, 77 divisional all stars (7.7/yr), 39 CFL all stars (3.9/yr), 7 CFL award winners CFL Hall of Fame (Builder) Paul Robson - Regular Season: 64 games in 4 seasons (1983-86), 43-22-1 (.680), 0 first place finishes, best: 12-4 (1985), worst: 9-7 (1983) - Playoffs: 7 games in 4 appearances (1983-86), 4-3 (.571), 1 Grey Cup appearance (1984), 1 Grey Cup (1984) - 10 Hall of Fame players, 37 divisional all stars (9.3/yr), 27 CFL all stars (6.8/yr), 7 CFL award winners Joe Ryan - Regular Season: 36 games in 11 seasons (1931-41), 48-19-2 (.710), 7 first place finishes (1933-36, 39-41), best: 10-2 (1939), worst: 1-3 (1931) - Playoffs: 25 games in 9 appearances (1933-41), 17-8 (.680), 5 Grey Cup appearances (1935, 37, 38, 39, 41), 3 Grey Cups (1935, 39, 41) - 8 Hall of Fame players CFL Hall of Fame (Builder)

I'm prepared to include Medlock if his stats warrant it. I intend to include Andrew Harris with the running backs. Active players are eligible if they are deemed worthy of nomination.

I do realize. Just relaying a story he told. There was great mutual respect between both kicking tandems.

When Ryan was punting with the Bombers, Cameron was the radio colour commentator. Cameron said he'd never seen a punter kick like Ryan. Cameron also told the story about how when Troy Westwood first came to camp. Bob would often try to rattle new kickers, but quickly figured out that Westwood could so easily out-punt him that he would be out of a job, so instead he made friends with him, hoping that Westwood would feel sorry for him and not take his punting job. And it worked, because Westwood said he only wanted to kick field goals and not do both. Westwood told Cameron that when Ryan came along, Westwood saw the same dominance and used the cameron tactic of senior mentor and friend and convinced Ryan only to go out for punting, so he wouldn't lose his placekicking job to a much stronger leg. So if Cameron admitted Westwood could out kick him, and Westwood admitted that Ryan could out kick him, then even Cameron would admit that Ryan would be taken as a punter over him. But I'll say again, BETTER does not equate to GREATER, and Cal Murphy loved Cameron because he was like an extra coach out there. Ryan seemed to handle the same Winnipeg weather conditions just as well as Cameron did.

Actually, his CFL career average was 46.9, the same as Cameron's best single season ever. His NFL average was 44.7 (and his net NFL average was 38.7). Cameron's career average was 42.9.

Here's the newest 10 year hour challenge: THEN NOW

FIFY. Edits in italics mine to reflect reality.

My favorite tweet of the day: "Hopefully Trump's supporters who wanted a wall will be satisfied with the big, beautiful cave he just delivered"

Like I said, Cameron is the GREATER punter, but Ryan was the BETTER punter. But let's not get ahead of ourselves in the voting process.

This is all the rage on the right wing tweets. FBI colluding with CNN otherwise they wouldn't have been there, AND an armed assault on an old white man's house, clearly an abuse of power. Mueller must be fired and prosecuted as a deep state operative for such heavy-handed tactics meant to intimidate Trump witnesses. OR Maybe CNN just noticed the late afternoon special courtroom sitting on Thursday, and remembered that the last time this happened was the day indictments were drawn up and presented to the Grand Jury, and the next day Paul Manafort was arrested and charged (CNN actually put this out on their website Thursday afternoon before any news leaked or indictments came out, almost as if they knew what the counter-narrative from Fox and Friends would be, and thus created a paper trail of their investigative journalism to cover their bases and avoid the "fake news" label). So they picked out the most likely suspects for arrest and camped out overnight. Suspect that news crews were stationed at Bannon's, Kushner's, and Don Jr.'s places too.

Punter is really a choice of 2, the obvious call for Cameron, or the wildcard Jon Ryan, who was clearly a better punter, but maybe not a greater punter, if that makes sense. Kicker could come down to 3 or 4 options. I will be doing returners in a separate category (but will be lumping kick returner and punt returner into one category), and then "special teams player" which will be focussed on cover specialists and long snappers.

Random thoughts: -Trump has been strangely very quiet and twitter-free for the last 12 hours. Can't wait for that dam to break. Whatever your political bent or personal views, it is always "entertaining" when he tweets and the responses it generates. -So, who is next on the indictment list? Bannon now seems squarely in the crosshairs, but what of Kushner and Don Jr.? Is Kellyanne just a lackey mouthpiece, or was she part of the mechanism? And does Ivanka get a pass? Given daddy's very creepy praise of her, I wonder if she's the one person he wouldn't throw under the bus and would sacrifice himself for? And, top dawg aside, does anyone have any personal "favorites" they'd like to see get arrested, for simply schadenfraude purposes? -What's the next diversionary tactic, as asked before? Declaring an emergency to get wall funding would be a "win" for Donald in that he didn't back down and keeps his key campaign promise (notwithstanding those pesky "legal challenges", which will likely take away this avenue but let Trump play victim and save face with his base rather than caving), but I think he's more about chaos to deflect, rather than solutions, so he likes the shutdown noise and will keep it up, and scream about another deadly caravan coming our way, is my bet. -Finally, let's just assume for a second Trump himself never colluded and he is telling the truth the whole time. The fact that pretty much every person in his political campaign orbit has been indicted or implicated would mean that, if he wasn't involved, then he is the biggest stooge in history and has been played like a fiddle by those who put him in power to advance their own criminal agenda, and he was too blind and stupid to even see it happening. Is that possibility even more embarrassing to this egomaniac than being caught as the ringleader? Remember how he bristled when Hillary called him a "puppet" in the debates? I would love to see someone in the media take this slant with him and poke the bear with "too dumb to realize he was just a pawn in someone else's master plan", I don't think he could leave that accusation alone and would put his head further in the noose. (Like Sideshow Bob incriminating himself when an 8 year old Lisa said he wasn't smart enough to pull off election fraud himself and was just a stooge for others, causing his ego to break and out himself as the mastermind - yes, I just equated the President to a cartoon villain on the Simpsons - the world we live in)