TrueBlue4ever

Depends what we give in return, and how our ratio would be altered if we still have injury issues.

Bob Irving is from Regina. So if you are shitting on him because he is part of the “everything from Saskatchewan” are you really even a Bomber fan? Not even joking.

As someone who had had to craft schedules for various amateur leagues in my life, it’s hardly as straightforward as one would think. One team in an odd-numbered league will always get the first week off, one will always get the last week off, and saying “every team should get every 7th week off” is nice in theory but almost impossible to pull of in practice, unless one wants the dreaded back-to-backs pretty much all the time. Then factor in the balance of home-road contests so a team isn’t playing nine in a row on the road, and having to accommodate every team’s tenancy issues (BC, Winnipeg, and Toronto are all teams who share their stadium with soccer teams, would not surprise me if a bunch of the others do too) and other issues like conflicting dates for things like concerts, trade shows, etc. as well as accommodating the league broadcaster and it’s scheduling, and it can get complicated pretty quickly. People quick to criticize the schedule-maker should try it themselves if they think it is so simple, you would likely be surprised. Ad for those who say the schedule-makers are trying to stack the deck against the Bombers just to keep things balanced and give the rest of the league an advantage to beat them, well there’s a reason the eye roll emoji has now been added to the site. Take the foil hats off for a moment.

The corruption in the GOP is so transparent at this point I don’t know why the Dems are so worried about hurting their feelings. If the Republicans want a civil war they will choose one to stay in power whether Trump goes down or not. The decision to prosecute should be about protecting the institution of US democracy or correcting the many flaws in the US electoral, administrative, and judicial systems that the past election and administration exposed. Going on the honour system of “peaceful transfer or power” has turned into a joke, so future Presidents need the precedent of going to jail for insurrection to discourage them from following Trump’s lead. And if Democrats are worried about the Repubs exacting revenge when they are in power if the Dems go on the attack now, they need to realize the GOP will attack anyway. Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed articles of impeachment against Joe Biden in the House 9 separate times already since he has been President, it has just never been voted on.

What did I miss happening to Ellingson?

Absolutely true. That’s why is hard to compare eras as “best ever” and why I try to look at how they fared against and dominated their peers at the time as a comparable over eras. Like comparing McDavid to Gretzky. Connor is bigger, faster, more well-conditioned, and in his current body would probably dominate in the 1980’s compared to 1980’s Gretzky playing in 2022, but Wayne’s performance in his era was so much more dominant than anyone else that I don’t think there is much debate about who the all-time best was. But seeing last year’s defence dominate games and put up zero after zero in the second half and especially the 4th quarter puts them ahead of the turnover machine that was the 1990 squad for me.

Hard to compare names. But that 1990 team had Mike Grey and Stan Mikawos on the d-line with Quency Williams and Leon Hatziannou as the third option. The line backing crew of Ty Jones, James West, Greg Battle and Paul Randolph is the best foursome I can ever think of off the top of my head, certainly for a Bomber team. And the secondary had Darryl Sampson, Ken Hailey, Dave Bovell at safety, and was anchored by arguably the two best Bomber DBs ever in Rod Hill and Les Browne. CFL record 48 interceptions (not total turnovers, just INTs - almost 3 a game) and also CFL record for total turnovers at 89, basically 5 every game. That club in 1990 gave up 398 points, or about 65.4% of the league average of 581 that season. Last year’s club gave up 188, or 59.6% of the league average of 315. It’s close, and I think the 1990 club had more big names, but as a group last year’s squad is the best overall defence the Blue Bombers have ever fielded.

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Great thanks. Are there any “don’ts” in your mind for either job, as it seems that is what upsets people the most - things that are done that shouldn’t be rather than not done? Like the “holier than thou” comment made about Suitor (not by you), what is that about? Just trying to get a picture of people’s preferences to understand why every Suitor game brings such outrage as to make half the game comments about him and not the teams, and why Dunigan’s gaffes are lovable while other broadcasters get picked apart, and why some actually seem to prefer to complain about a broadcaster and be angry rather than just tune them out and focus on the game itself.

Not looking for a comparison. Asking you for your requirements in your mind. What do you look for in each?

What do you see as the requirements for a play-by-play guy vs an analyst? Can a play-by-play guy not be enthusiastic? Should they all be Pat Summerall clones? CN they offer any opinion on the game or just stick to rigidly calling the play between the whistles and nothing more? Should an analyst be allowed to be a cheerleader, or should they be limited to breaking down what happened on a play? What kind of personality should each have?

Maybe it’s city more than dressing room. Of all the cities to spend a winter in while playing, where do you think Winnipeg ranks? Dead last across the board every year. And the only way to rectify that is overpaying. And with a hard cap, for every overpay you have to sacrifice salary elsewhere. Maybe drafting fewer Americans and more Canadians could help keep some locals here. Maybe not.

Turned people off when Black exuded excitement. Guess it comes down to style as opposed to ability.

And Warren Moon leaving for the NFL also helped. Lots of the time it’s as much about the teams around you declining as it is your team getting over the hump by being better.

Could be exactly the same sending on how you want to spin it, depending on your pre-conceived bias. Let’s try this shall we? ”Poor vocabulary” - Dunigan is hardly Shakespearean. People say watching him is like having the drunk uncle broadcast (and that’s meant as a compliment), so you can’t tell me he is more articulate than Black was. His replay “analysis” often consisted of “ooh, ahh, bam, Gettin’ er done” and assorted grunts. As was once said of tennis analyst Bud Collins “is he commenting on the match or having a baby?” “Nicknames” - I heard “Kadeem Cash ‘n’ Carey” from Matt at least 4 times during the game. It’s not just a Rod Black trait. “Repeating himself” - At one point Matt said the same thing 3 times on one play. “Middle was blocked so he’s trying to bounce outside, because he couldn’t go up the middle, all blocked up so he takes it outside, see how he goes outside after the middle got blocked up?” My brother watching with me (he’s a hard core CFL critic) literally said to the TV “yeah, we got it the first two times”. Matt will grab a narrative and follow it as much as any other broadcaster. People just go out of their way to cherry pick what Suitor says and make it like that’s all he does, and ignore Dunigan when he does the same thing. Again, easy enough to cherry pick and find the flaws. “Homerism” - People will dump on Suitor as an ex-Rider for any good strokes he gives Saskatchewan, and because of the Rider hatred here I feel they will ascribe that as homerism rather than simply giving props to the team that we loathe. I think he tries to hard at times to deny when responding to the haters, and that does not help his cause. But I have heard him give lots of credit to the Bombers too (he was gushing about Collaros in the BC game in particular) but that seems to go less noticed. Dunigan is a huge rah rah guy in the booth, let’s not pretend he isn’t. He’s the biggest fan boy amongst the analysts out there, but he gets a pass for it because he’s folksy, or has “personality”, or because he’s an ex-Bomber as there is a pro-Dunigan bias here, but I think it’s dead wrong to say he doesn’t do it too. I will agree that the Suitor time can come off as cynical, and I think that’s based on his tone. But I’d hardly call him ill-prepared. He has a narrative he follows, and if people don’t like it, they call it ignorance rather than respectful disagreement. And Matt’s “enthusiasm” and “authenticity” could just as easily be called “unprofessional” if you are looking for solid analysis instead of cheerleading. Like I said, I think during the live pace of the game his hodgepodge style takes over. When he is in studio and he has time to break down a play and script a response, he is excellent at that. But my original point stands that people who pick on Suitor and Black for their perceived faults give Dunigan a pass for doing some of the exact same thing, and I suspect that the ex-Bomber and Rider passports of the respective broadcasters have a lot more to do with it than people would care to admit.

It’s funny that the same criticisms that people have of Suitor (or Rod Black) that they harp on over and over could just as easily be applied to Dunigan if people chose to watch with the same “let’s pick apart everything he says and spin it to the negative” eye.

Matt is great in studio when he has time to collect his thoughts. As a live broadcast colour guy he is more erratic I find and becomes a cheerleader much more than an analyst.

I wouldn’t say we were lucky to win, as the defence limited Bo Levi and Collaros played lights out extending plays, but we did have our fair share of good fortune. So to be fair, I can understand that take. The Stamps dropped 3 touchdown passes, including the last minute gimme. They had a 4th TD wiped off the board with a legit but split second holding call on a punt return. They gave the Bombers a fresh set of downs and a 6 point bonus with a really marginal call on kicker interference (by rule, the technical requirements of contact below the waist behind the line of scrimmage were met, but it happened so late the ball was already through the end zone on the kick and it is arguable the Stamp was blocked into Legghio, who sold it pretty well. Calgary shot themselves in the foot a lot, but good teams find ways to win. But it is a stretch to say to score flattered Calgary as some have said, IMO.

Thanks as always for a great and objective recap of the game.

Commentators still haven’t mentioned the missed convert.

If that roughing the kicker penalty had been called against the Bombers people here would have lost their mind. Garbage call unless you are a complete homer.

The sad and simple answer is that they are there to protect the players’ financial interests, more so than player safety. Masoli still gets paid while on the injured list, Marino won’t because the suspension forfeits his salary. And no, the PA will not consider the murky question of “what about Masoli’s future salaries he loses if his injury knocks him out of football and he cannot get another contract when this one is done?” They are about the here and now.

Amazing exploration of the universe. Now if we could just get our s#it together on this planet. Sorry, just saw the January 6 hearings and saw that there are forest fires and +30 degree temperatures north of the Arctic circle. Feeling a little fatalistic.