Fatty Liver

Was Lapo still the HC coach when Marcel was brought in to assist Crowton or was he already gone?

It all depends who he's got sitting on the other side of the table, if it's Mike O'Shea we's in trouble.

Is that an "open carry" event?

If the "eye in the sky" can reduce officials huddling together to debate a call, I'm all for it. Eliminate the wordy explanations as well, if the call is wrong pick up the flag and get on with it.

Apparently his family has a huge farm, so it's not like he's giving up his football career to make milk money, he'll be well compensated.

Couple of Bomber notables from the Riders mini-camp in Florida. WR JORDAN REAVES ON HIS SWITCH TO DB JR: Oh I'm having fun. I'm having a lot of fun. Sunday was moreso learning the concepts and today was moreso learning them. When I learn a concept one time, it sticks to me. I'm a quick learner and a good learner. I've never been on the defensive side of the field before so it's definitely a change but I like change. But it's fun. When Coach Jones first told me to go to safety I was a little apprehensive about it but it's fun. I've been smiling the whole time, especially when I understood the concepts and saw it working. RB CHEVON WALKER CW: I feel good just coming out here and picking up the offense and where I left off. It's kind of the same offense we had in Ottawa with Jason Maas so it's second nature to me. I'm just trying to do the things they said I wasn't doing in the past. I'm just playing ball and it's good to be out here with the guys. Honestly I can't even tell you what happened in Ottawa. They said I wasn't doing a couple of things they asked me to do and that's where it's at. But that chapter is closed and I'm trying to open a new chapter. I'm just thankful to be out here with these guys and I'm just happy Coach Jones extended the opportunity for me to be out here. I'm trying to do my best and leave it in the coaches' hands.

Hillary Clinton Verified account ‏@HillaryClinton The top 25 hedge fund managers make more than all of the kindergarten teachers in America combined. That’s not acceptable.

Thought I would revive this old thread with this recent article as it is still newsworthy and ties in with the recent Panama Paper revelations. Canadians need to pay more attention to issues that influence the long-term future of this country and pay less to trivial sparkle dust thrown up by the media and the entertainment industry. TPP 'worst trade deal ever,' says Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says the Trans-Pacific Partnership may well be the worst trade agreement ever negotiated, and he recommends Canada insist on reworking it. "I think what Canada should do is use its influence to begin a renegotiation of TPP to make it an agreement that advances the interests of Canadian citizens and not just the large corporations," he said in an interview with CBC's The Exchange on Thursday. Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York, was a keynote speaker at a conference at the University of Ottawa on Friday about the complex trade deal. International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland put Canada's signature on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but it has yet to be ratified here. The House of Commons trade committee is studying the TPP — a process that Freeland said could take up to nine months. Stiglitz described Freeland as "old friend" in an interview with The Canadian Press and said he has explained some of the pitfalls of the TPP to her, among them its potential to reduce workers' rights. Stiglitz takes issue with the TPP's investment-protection provisions, which he says could interfere with the ability of governments to regulate business or to move toward a low-carbon economy. Multinationals have right to sue It's the "worst part of agreement," he says, because it allows large multinationals to sue the Canadian government. "It used to be the basic principle was polluter pay," Stiglitz said. "If you damaged the environment, then you have to pay. Now if you pass a regulation that restricts ability to pollute or does something about climate change, you could be sued and could pay billions of dollars." There were similar provisions in North American Free Trade Agreement that led to the Canadian government being sued, but the TPP goes even further. He said the provision could be used to prevent raising of minimum wages or to overturn rules that prevent usury or predatory lending practices. Stiglitz argues the deal, which is a 6,000-page mammoth and extremely complex, should have been negotiated openly. "This deal was done in secret with corporate interests at the table," he said. He also forecasts the deal will have little impact on trade volumes, especially in advanced countries like the U.S. and Canada, where mostly capital-intensive goods are exported and labour-intensive goods are imported. Rules of origin provisions But it will change the basic legal framework that governs society, shifting power to corporations, he said. Stiglitz said the "rules of origin" provisions have the ability to hurt North American employment, because they allow "very clever ways of hiding what's going on." "You could have an automobile where the vast majority of the automobile was actually made in China and Thailand [which did not sign the TPP] but it comes into Canada as a Japanese good," he said. All the presidential candidates now are speaking out against the deal and it may never be passed in the U.S. "I'm a little surprised that Canada would seriously consider going through the political fight that is associated with getting this agreement ratified until the U.S. adopts it," he said. He recommended Canada work with the Europeans, who have also objected to the investment protection provisions, to rework the deal. With files from The Canadian Press http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/joseph-stiglitz-tpp-1.3515452

Equally points the finger at coaching when the players don't know what to do.

Eric Matthews.

Wow, terrific analysis. Who is this guy?

You ever been married?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...+Article+Links Top hockey producer’s firing before NHL playoffs hints at Rogers turmoil DAVID SHOALTS TORONTO — The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Apr. 07, 2016 5:00AM EDT Last updated Thursday, Apr. 07, 2016 5:35PM EDT An Angus Reid Institute poll has driven an exclamation point into what executives at beleaguered Rogers Media already know – most Canadians will not be watching the NHL playoffs this spring. But at Rogers, the blood was already on the floor thanks to the fact that none of the seven Canadian NHL teams will be in the playoffs for the first time since 1970. On Tuesday, the man in charge of hockey production at Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada, senior vice-president Gord Cutler, was fired. Before that, several staffers in the hockey department were laid off. While company insiders said Cutler’s dismissal was a financial move since he was undoubtedly hired away from rival Bell Media’s TSN two years ago with a healthy salary, the timing was extraordinary. No one could remember a network firing its head of production with the NHL playoffs days away. The move hinted at the turmoil in Rogers Media, which has seen even more ratings trouble in the second season of its $5.2-billion, 12-year contract with the NHL for the national Canadian broadcast rights. While Cutler cannot be held responsible for a 16-per-cent decline in Hockey Night In Canada ratings through late March, which follows a 16-per-cent decline in the first year of the deal from the 2013-14 season, CBC’s last year broadcasting the show, his departure is a sign there may be unhappiness with the on-air product at the highest level of Rogers, even above Sportsnet president Scott Moore and Rogers Media president Rick Brace. A Rogers spokeswoman said Moore would not be available for comment until later this week. When ratings do not reach the projections given to advertisers, broadcasters have to give their clients free commercial time as compensation, known as make-goods. The problem for Rogers is that the loss of viewers is so severe that it has to give out far more make-goods than was planned. One source in the advertising industry and one in the broadcast industry say the free spots, two of which are being given for every paid ad, have eaten up a significant portion of Rogers’s playoff hockey inventory. This means there is much less to sell to paying clients, which further hurts revenue when Rogers usually would expect to sell playoff advertising at a significant premium. The company is putting some make-goods on its Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts and entertainment shows, and that, too, cuts into the sales of advertising time. “It is kind of grim, but unlike the fairy tales, it is reality,” said the advertising source, who requested not to be identified because of a business relationship with Rogers. Hockey fans’ unhappiness has been building since late January, when all seven Canadian teams started wobbling. Of the 1,522 Canadian adults Angus Reid surveyed from March 28 to 31, 54 per cent said they planned to watch either less of the NHL playoffs than they did a year ago or none. Only 30 per cent of the respondents said they plan to watch the same amount they did in 2015. Nineteen per cent said they will watch no playoff hockey, while 35 per cent said they will watch less than a year ago. All of the respondents said they usually watch the playoffs. The full results of the survey, released on Thursday, are on Angus Reid’s web site. The trouble signs for Sportsnet began at the start of the 2015-16 NHL season thanks to the network’s unexpected success story, the Toronto Blue Jays. According to multiple sources, some major advertisers took advantage of provisions in their contracts with Rogers that allowed them to switch their commercials from the hockey broadcasts to the Blue Jays as they went on their run through the baseball playoffs in October. According to another advertising source (who also requested anonymity because of direct dealings with Rogers), some companies could do this, but they had to pay a premium, because the Jays were getting audiences of three million or more. Another source said the audience numbers for hockey reached only 77 per cent of the projections Rogers gave advertisers in the fall of 2015. Rogers was also hit by a drop in ratings for its conventional shows on its City channels and specialty networks such as OLN, the source said. This makes it difficult to satisfy advertisers who demand a certain audience level for make-goods on those channels. It also eats into the advertising inventory for those shows. Broadcasting insiders have suggested Rogers could get some revenue relief by selling games from its national package to TSN. However, a source close to senior management at TSN said the network, which remains profitable, is not interested in buying any NHL games. This is not surprising given the ratings tumble for Rogers. By late March, the average audience for the early game on Saturday’s Hockey Night In Canada was down to 1.66 million from more than 1.9 million in 2014-15. When the biggest driver of hockey ratings, the Toronto Maple Leafs, were competitive, audiences for those games routinely exceeded two million. However, the largest audience for a Leafs game between Jan. 3 and April 2 was the 1.8 million who watched on Saturday, Jan. 23. That may look good compared with this season’s average, but it was against the Montreal Canadiens, a matchup that used to draw more than two million viewers. By April 2, the viewers were down to 826,500 on both the CBC and City for a game between the Leafs and another strong rival, the Detroit Red Wings. Moore acknowledged the problems of poor ratings and falling advertising revenue caused by the Canadian teams’ lacklustre play in a recent memo to Sportsnet staff. He also mentioned layoffs, part of Rogers’s announcement a few months ago of 200 job losses, that hit the hockey department for the first time. But he did not draw a direct link between the Canadian teams and the layoffs. However, Sportsnet staffers see the connection and it has not been good for morale. This was compounded by Cutler’s firing, which came long after Moore’s memo. There is much fear at the network about more layoffs once the hockey season is over. “There’s tons of concern about that,” one Rogers employee said. “That’s all anybody talks about.” Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated the last time no Canadian NHL teams made the playoffs was 1969. The last time there were no Canadian teams in the playoffs was 1970. This is a corrected version.

Bad news for the Riders is always good news for the Bombers.

Lapo can become interim whatever he wants to if Walters decides to can O'Shea mid-season but I hope they wait till the next off-season and acquire the best available HC. Worst case scenario there should be a couple of good coordinators looking for HC positions in the next few years.

Merle was one of the very best.

I still don't understand how they think they can start 3 Natls. on the O-line. As soon as one of them goes down (hello Patty), they have to go shopping for a replacement as a backup even if they flip over to 3 imports. God forbid they lose 2 Natl. O-linemen to injury. Unless they can pick up a cast off from other teams TC's that barrel is empty.

I like Doug Brown whether his opinions are popular or not. He's the only writer/broadcaster we have (bad lot) with any inside football knowledge worthy of thought. I think what he said holds fairly true for any team in transition, not just the Bombers.

Link?

Three keys to Blue Bombers' success During a recent four-minute radio bit, I was asked to come up with three of the most imperative, actionable items the local professional football squad needs to deliver on for a successful 2016. While it can be difficult to sort through the chaff and identify these key kernels — as an obscene number of variables can impact a football season — it is an interesting and thought-provoking exercise. It’s easiest to begin with what is sure to be a consensus factor for success for most any CFL team: the task of keeping your starting pivot clean and upright for 18 games. With all due respect to Matt Nichols — who does give the Winnipeg Blue Bombers an opportunity to win should a piece of starter Drew Willy break again — the franchise quarterback is still the quickest road to competence and to redeeming a ticket to the playoffs. While the play of the offensive line is critical in keeping any pivot functional, the line should never carry this burden alone. If you give most defences enough of the same looks as to how and where your quarterback will operate in predictable scenarios, regardless of whom you have on your line, they will find a way to get to him. The challenge will be as much about forcing defences to respect the run, having the entire offence understand the protection schemes, moving the pocket and changing the launch points, and having a crew of receivers that can recognize and adjust to the coverages and imbalances that occur. It all starts with the five men up front but it will take the entire unit to help keep Willy healthy. The second core factor is the lag time it usually takes a new offence, with new players, to get up to speed. The Bombers simply don’t have the luxury of growing pains this year. Each season, you are certain to hear defensive players play at a higher level faster than their counterparts on offence due to the different nature of these phases of football. Smart defensive co-ordinators working with a number of new players (Winnipeg’s defensive line will have three new starters) keep things simple at the beginning of the year and gradually add complexities and wrinkles. If your starting 12 on defence play fast and react instinctually, they are already three-quarters of the way to tapping their potential as a unit. Conversely, because things such as timing, recognition and rhythm are critical for an offence to be productive (and there is a new playbook to be learned as Paul LaPolice takes over plotting the Bombers’ attack) this will be a large obstacle to surmount. Add to the equation they will be competing against some of the best defences in the CFL last year, starting in week 1, and this learning curve needs to be short and sweet — or it could be over before it begins. Finally, the third major variable deals with the many new, high-profile players that joined in the off-season the Bombers via free agency. From a leadership standpoint, there is a fine line between a player joining a football team and wanting to step up and lead and contribute, and a disastrous Casey Printers-type scenario (circa 2007, when he reportedly alienated three-quarters of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ room by assuming a mantle of leadership that had not yet been granted to him). Rarely do all new additions understand the size of the contract you wield does not automatically garner you authority and a platform on a new team. When existing leadership ranks are merged with new personalities that are also used to leading the way, it is up to the head coach to clearly define roles and ensure group dynamics are as harmonious as they can be in such a testosterone-laden environment. Outside of navigating these three ominous factors, a return to prominence for the Blue Bombers should be a piece of cake. Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears weekly in the Free Press. Twitter: @DougBrown97

I get the impression that Trump does not have a team of "deep thinkers" behind him, he's a blustering one man show and doesn't have enough policy to cover the bases. In the end his campaign will prove to be nothing more than a publicity event to garner himself more attention.

Apparently the woman on the left is Georgia Ling the woman Bubbles is accused of choking. Two things. I don't think Bubbles could taker her and I suspect Georgia is not officially a woman.

In a related story. Lucy DeCoutere says she has resigned from the “Trailer Park Boys” just hours after one of its principal actors denied assaulting a woman in the U.S. DeCoutere, who co-stars in the show, testified against Jian Ghomeshi in the former CBC host’s highly-publicized sexual assault trial.

Idiotic. Can't even say the Riders will make the playoffs, on paper way too many unknowns and hopefuls. Jones and Murphy are good but their rebuild is massive and will take a couple of years before they reap rewards.

Bubbles shoulda stuck with his cats.