BigBlue

Perhaps we could bid a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him ..... don't have to offer our first

The delight of today's opening camp for me was #4 Austin Apodaca QB ... i just loved his strong accurate arm and I couldn't wait till it was his turn to throw it again ... Nichols looked very sharp as well .... Lefevour & Davis looked ok but not nearly as impressive as Nichols & Apodaca No shoulder pads today & Medlock wore a funny hat while he boomed his punts into the coffin corner Andrew Harris made a number of nice moves during the running game rehearsal; Dressler & Denmark seemed very good ..... hardly noticed Thorpe today Wondering if Apodaca is our QB of the future ... maybe he becomes our # 3 or even # 2 this year but that's pretty far fetched; haven't seen him under fire with a big lineman rushing up his nose ... just dreaming

Here is smiling at you .... at Pier 7 PC

My son & I are planning yo go to Pier 7 Pony Corral for wings after Sunday practice ... feel free to drop in for a Brewski or a .... I love meeting Bomber fans

Neufeld = Depth for early pat of season and a trade when some team loses half its O line later in season

Twas the night before Training camp and all through the site ...

BOMBERS ROOKIE CAMP Schedule Wednesday, May 24 (At Subway Soccer South, University of Manitoba) Practice: 3-4:45 p.m. Thursday, May 25 (At Investors Group Field) Practice: 10:15 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, May 26 (At Investors Group Field) Practice: 10:15 a.m.-11:55 a.m. I was surprised rookie camp is so short ... teaching opportunity Wondering why ... new rules, budget, taking it easy on staff , or ....

By that reasoning then we should have stuck with Doug Berry ... how would have that turned out?

In the post Bud Grant era the longest term we had was Dave Ritchie ..... nearly 5 years .... IMHO we would have done well to stick with him even longer (possibly for a rebuild) Off and on Cal Murphy got nearly 7 years of coaching in ... possibly the best we had outside of Mike Reilly

I stand corrected .... must have been the coach we fired a season later .... that angry looking Berry type

The year Glenn broke his arm before we got to the GC .... Glenn till then was a wild card ..... Lapo taught him the quick short game which stuck with Glenn forever after ... not that he became a superstar but he was a serviceable QB after that season

Only rarely does the starting QB play all 18 games .... Lapo did a good job turning Glenn into a real QB .... I hope he can do this with Davis & Lefevour this year ... I expect they will both get time but this might be the year that Lefevour turns the corner .... otherwise he is just a hack and we will need Davis to step up

Maybe we should be having this party out west ,,,, wait, why don't you host one at your local pub?

no one to share my French Fries with now

If worse came to worse I would be willing to share a pitcher of beer with you Mark but I am not so sure about sharing my French Fries

have fun

Pony Corral Pier 7 (204) 275-3687 1700 Pembina Hwy. Winnipeg, MB R3T 2G2 Sunday May 28 12:30 Reserved under "Morning Big Blue" Right after SUNDAY morning practice It's been a while since we have had a get together so I am suggesting we party right after the first full training camp practice .... to make a decision I picked the Pony Corral as good a spot as any (but we could go elsewhere) I reserved for 24 people but we might be more or less (they can accommodate a lot of people) so let us know if you are interested (or not) and how committed you are to coming so we can set up the venue right. I think this will be a lot of fun for all of us.

"Since passer rating is just an average of four statistics, there’s a better way to analyze the four inputs. You can run a multiple regression analysis to see how much weight should be placed on each variable, with future wins (i.e., wins in the other half-season) as the output. The P-values on the completion percentage and interception rate variables were not significant at the 1%, 5% or 10% levels. Essentially, this means that for predictive purposes, two of the four inputs in passer rating are meaningless.... What does make the formula predictive? Using net yards per attempt — which deducts sacks from a passer’s production — is the simplest and best way to predict future performance." (your http://www.footballperspective.com/correlating-passing-stats-with-wins/ )

"That means that we can predict a teams's future 3rd down percentage with almost crystal ball-like accuracy using passing efficiency stats.... So if we want to know a team's ability to covert 3rd downs, we're far better off looking at passing stats than previous 3rd down conversion rates. And a prediction model is far better off using those passing stats (pass efficiency, interception rate, sack rate) and excluding to-date 3rd down percentage." (your http://archive.advancedfootballanalytics.com/2008/01/is-3rd-down-conversion-percentage-good.html)

I am just trying to isolate predictors instead of coincedental and lagging indicators ... I don't believe efficiency rating is a predictor .... I am suggesting 2nd down performance is one, even when things may not be turning out very well at the moment .... QBs with good 2nd down stats are eventually going to have a great deal of success in the future .... I don't know what other stat predicts as well as that one

My point is to let our site evolve and not have agendas at all ..... let the members decide what they want to do and what they want to support Of course we don't need an identical piece of news to be the source of 3 different start up threads ... neither do we need to merge every thread that is even slightly tangentially related ... if a member thinks an item discussion worthy let them post : it will thrive or sputter and die .... both are fine ... its the posters' interest that determines and no one seems to be able to predict what will catch the members' fancy ... its all about what is fun and interesting, not about artificial rules otherr than we have to keep order and social norms The thing that has to go on this site is ego-ism ..... its the opposite of humility and mutual respect ... on promotes discussion and exchange the other kills it As to you Mike you are a leader on this site and what you say counts for a lot .... your opinion is highly respected but that doesn't always make it right or the best, its just good ... sometimes someone else's opinion is better, every once in a while .... more often it is just different ... if you a leader you are going to take some heat, its just the nature of the beast, and we do need leadership So Mike you can take this personally or you can continue to lead and I hope your choice is leadership however uncomfortable that may be .... you are a difference maker

I believe the opposite is true Mike .... no body wants to go through long long threads .... the only way is to start on the last page and go backwards towards the middle ... very frustrating You also can not see the differing sub thread topics that occur in the giant thread ... the ones that interest you and the ones that don't We used to have a lot of topics but originators kept getting chided by mods as "covered elsewhere" or out rigy merged one thread into another without our say in the matter .... having a thread closed or frozen was considered punishment for being a bad do-bee. Long threads are an enforced culture around here and if we want to be happy we can't really change it Mike let it be known it was better for him to have fewer threads and thats what we have evolved to .... as Mike likes ... for better or for worse

This topic isn't football and its starting to bug me .... I wish the mods would move it to general discussion

Thanks ... corrected

I am feeling good about yesterday's draft, not so much about what we did but rather about what we didn't do. Our picks seemed to reflect that we have most of our pieces in place and I can't remember that since the "Swaggerrville" year when we last visited the Grey Cup. In fact we seem better now than then. Now every spring some poster boldly predicts this is THE YEAR we are going to win the Grey Cup, but it is almost always based on emotion, "gut feel" and fond wishes. Do we have any real facts supported by tough analysis that the Blue could actually bring the Cup back to River City this November?