Nasty Nate

Gooch is a certified NHL rounder. A 700k guy who won't get a sniff near a 1st or 2nd line. Even in a dumpster program like Calgary. Still might pocket 12 to 15 goals, more than some of our current rounders!

Ehlers seems to like his chances to crack main roster but Chevy prolly wants him seasoned up in St. Johns. That said, he possesses an awful lot of pure talent, whether he's 18, 19 or 20, whether he's 5'11 and 155, 165 or 175. We'll end up with the guy scoring 25 to 35 goals in St. J and our plutzkies on the 3rd or 4th line with the usual 3 to 8 goals. Of course, the main reason Chevy will send him down is to protect him physically from NHL monsters trying to scare him off the ice.

I agree. You and me mighta been the only posters not full bore shilling for the H-Bomber. He was obviously superior to a hobo like Kuale - almost as intense but able to cut thru fat and clutter on the line to get to the ball carrier. Personally, I thought he was weak in intermediate coverage and of course, given his main asset was quickness around the line he was useless in intermediate to long coverage. Until I saw him in his last exhibition for Indy. Unless he was playing in garbage time vs. hobos he was tremendous. Put on 15 to 20 lbs. and he's formidable on the line - even vs. heavier NFL monsters. What sealed it was seeing him actually dominate in intermediate to long coverage. A heavy LB, not known for speed or a good dropback covering guys like glue downfield. Impressed to say the least. Bombers knew they were gonna be hard-pressed to replace him. They gave up on finding a canuck replacement and the only guy they could find was one of O'Shea's old Argo rounders. They've been able to hide Kuale well in Etch's wild-minded schemes but against a pure road-grader offense they're dying out there with Kuale.

One day in the future all CFL injury lists will be re-named for Watson!!

I still remember the days when guys like Herb Grey, Phil Minnick, etc. would stuff legends like George Reed, Earl "Earthquake' Lunsford, Lovell Coleman, George Dixon, etc. As for a previous poster stating Zack Anderson was a big guy - he sure got swallowed up big-time in Benny Heenan's basket. Looked pretty small and ineffective against a monster like Heenan. I think Kromah and Kuale might be solid for the first half Sunday. Then who knows?

only thing worse than Leibl is Leibl subbing for Hussler when Huss is under the weather. Or anytime they have to sub Remis in for anyone. Remis is awful - knowledgeable sports fan but awful as an on-air personality.... Leibl, Westwood, Rewucki are the 3 weakest voices at 1290. I give Troy passing grades cuz his content is solid and you can never question his heart. He's actually improved his presentation since first signing on - about the only other ex-graduate of the Vienna Boys Choir, other than Chris Cuthbert....

I always liked Lysko as a commish. Always did what he could under difficult circumstances. I think it will come to a crisis point over the upcoming off-season. Whether it will be resolved or not remains to be seen. Plan B is MLSE hammering out a deal with Big Dave to take the thing off his hands. Plan C is someone else (maybe a hick like Bob Young who just sold his hi-tech company for nearly a billion) Plan D would be the CFL operating them with monies originally destined for the other 8 teams going directly into a pot to keep the Argos afloat. Plan E and this would be a complete dog's breakfast would be for Braley to put in a fixed amount for 2015 (approx. 1 million), the league pumping in 2 million with the rest coming from seat sales and promotions; perhaps Mark Cohon could be interim CEO of the argos until the ownership situation resolves.

I think TSN will hold the fort with Leibl, Westy and Rewucki cuz two of them are cheap and Troy is one of their so-called big-time hires (others being Shane Hnidy and Walby). They also got good mileage out of the TSN guys across the country who are able to kick into their shows with short notice. Now, I don't think Elliotte Friedman will be appearing much (if any) on 1290 due to his contract with Sportsnet/HNIC They might be in trouble this year with Sportsnet getting the bulk of NHL hockey and hiring a few go-to guys that TSN liked to control while CJOB had to go to Sportsnet mopes. Not anymore. The situation is reversed. Rick Ralph will still go to some of his connections in print media plus his old swimming buddy Bill Watters. TSN had a nice coup this a.m. as they got Joe Montana on the Big Show. Not that good a segment cuz the guys were mostly in awe about having Joe on the air. But it worked out OK.

One of the best things I've heard on CJOB in a long time. Nobody does retro interviews better than Irving. Asks the right questions and really tries hard to make the player feel good about the city they once proudly played for. The Henoc interview can prolly be heard on CJOB's audiovault at www.cjob.com It went today (Thursday) sometime between 6:00pm and 6:45pm

Perhaps they should share Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton until further notice. Tiny problem when Toronto plays Hamilton but I suspect Hammy doesn't have more than 14,000 season ticket holders and Toronto might have 2,000. If its a big playoff game (eastern final) and Toronto has home field advantage then use the bloody Skydome and jam 20,000 fans into that cavern of doom. Only thing you'd have to do is enhance bus transport to Hamilton for the 2,000 or so season ticket holders - whats Hammy to Toronto? about 40 miles?

I thought I read somewhere that he wasn't going to be taking another contract in TO....I'll try to find the link If Milo exits Toronto I suspect its either head coach in Montreal or OC in Wpg. Let the Als have Marcel B. - O'Shea and Milanovich would be kegs of dyno mite...... that said, still need significant personnel upgrades.

If there's anyone who knows about wrong decisions it's Lapolice. I really, really like Plop but the last 3 minutes of any of his close games are destined for a CFL Coaching bloopers hi-lite reel. The guy really got antsy when the pressure torqued and always seemed to be on the verge of having his head explode! Well, at least it was entertaining. Watching mopes like Burke, Maggy Kelly, Ricky Campbell, Higgins, etc. is NOT entertaining. Two most entertaining guys on the sidelines this year are Chris Jones and MonkeyBoy (Benevides). Coaches like Hufnagel, Chamblin and O'Shea seem to have a high degree of self-control and they almost seem comatose at times.

Just listened to a couple days of Big Show without Pauly Edmonds. One word - unlistenable. Matt Leibl kills the show. Period.

Steinhauer coached up that Hamilton defense to absolutely ravage the argos. Yeah, I know Ricky Ray didn't have Owens or any of his canuck scat backs but Hamilton just laid waste to the Toronto offense. After gaining his sea legs Steinhauer seems to be coming into his own. O'Shea knows a lot of guys but he's broken bread with Orlando before - might do so again if he figures there's no future in Etch. If Milo gets fed up in Toronto without a practice facility and an owner who isn't putting much money into the team maybe he'd come here as O'Shea's OC . . . . now I know that's major dreaming!

Tim Burke? NO.... I was actually thinking of Steinhauer who I now realize is with Austin in Hamilton. Noeller Thorpe would be another guy I'd try for if Steinhauer was too green. No question Etcheverry gets the rest of the season to showcase his wares. If the bomber d continues to barf up big chunks of yardage and craps out in key late situations I suspect his term ends shortly after Game 18.

Bryant certainly not the long-term answer to our receiving problem but he's the best journeyman we have right now and still might be capable of delivering a solid outing if Willy drills the ball into his facemask. Moore seemed to get open a lot but his ball-handling abilities are highly suspect. Romby also drops the odd one when he tracks back after gaining 1st down yardage and tries to turn an 11 yd gain into an 8 yd gain. At least Watson, Guardino, Denmark, etc. seem to know how to fall forward and maximize gains. Romby and Moore (particularly Romby) have developed nasty habits of thinking their 4.8 speed legs can out run 4.6 and 4.7 guys with the advantage of closing angles!

Black looked like he was shaking in his boots. Forde was pretty much out of it. John Saunders was interesting. Boomer obviously didn't take any time to learn player names/numbers and Black let him die on the vine a couple times (like Black does a hundred times a week). But Boomer's perspective is always interesting and out weighs not having a dwerkin like Black miss a few meaningless plays between 2 meaningless teams.

I wouldn't hold my breath on anything changing. I can see us going 2 - 6 down the stretch mostly due to other teams have figured out our weakness. You're pretty much on the money. If we TKO Sask'n this weekend that all changes but if we succumb to the riders for the 3rd time this year I can only see 2 more wins down the stretch --- thus 8-10 looms and I don't think that will get us 4th in west and the crossover. Unless BC collapses and goes 7-11 with Lulay still not right and Glenn having problems. Must say I love how O'Shea protects his players.... almost indifferent to their weaknesses. At least in public. If he's like that behind closed doors we got problems!

I think Mike O'Shea has been the best thing to happen to this organization in many, many years. Places #1 against #2 which is firing Joe Mack out the bloody door. Walters is a good replace but he's young - he's also super-committed. Etcheverry was pretty much the only available d-coordinator out there (with experience) and he was a good fit as the bombers obviously suffer from mass-muscle and size deficiency on their d-line (Etch's specialty is temporary cover-ups of defensive deficiencies). Suspect if Riders take us down at Banjo Bowl we'll end up being an 8-10 team. We really need to eviscerate the riders in front of a steaming hot home crowd but I have my doubts. O'Shea knows his o-line and d-line are garbage - but he's also protecting his current roster by not admitting to defects. That's what the great coaches do. No doubt he's told Ky Walters and McManus privately to go get some heavy ballers. But for now, he must live with what he's got. To be 6-4 and last week on precipice of being 7-3 is testimony to O'Shea's coaching potential. Carrying a wild-minded hag like Etcheverry is what he's gonna do. I suspect he might want to get the d-guy from Toronto on board next year. Marcel might be a different story - he won't be getting many head coaching offers but there isn't much out there (other than Plop who's happy with the paycheques derived from TV) that's better.

Two small men with good hearts being traded for each other. Suber is a poor man's Richie Hall - Hall was small but fairly effective over his career. Suber is enthusiastic but too often found himself in chase positon. Perhaps a product of working behind suspect d-lines. Thaddeus doesn't really fit the profile of what the Bombers need most. A heavy set killer who can push back strong o-line blockers and create mayhem in the opponent's backfield (ie. Doug Brown type, Bill Baker, that guy who breaks arms in BC) Even our best bullrushing d-lineman Zach Anderson was pretty much controlled and over-powered by Bigboy Heenan. .... so I suspect Gibson is one of those guys who rarely takes the bull route to the QB - more of a juke 'n jagger like O'Dell Willis. Trouble is by the time this type of guy takes his circuitious route to the QB too much time has elapsed and most CFL QBs have released the pigskin by the time a perimeter guy arrives.

They must know Joey is moody and somewhat egomaniacal - a perfect fit to work behind Burris!

If the Bombers would have gone for it and got stuffed people would be screaming for his head. It was a full yard which is far from a gimme. I'm okay with O'Shea's decision, but on TSN it looked like it was definitely less than a yard. It was definitely less than a yard - but not that much less. That said, a difficult decision that has to be made instantaneously - with Lirjam he knew a 40 yd FG was prolly 90% or better..... with a deficient o-line pitted up against sask's monster d (with elephants added) I suspect gaining 2 and a half feet was no better than 50%. If you get stiffed at the Sask. 34 I don't think Sask. takes the same chances with a 1 point lead as they do being 2 down. Essentially, Sask. burned out the clock (all 3 minutes on the bombers via their ground game, our d-line was gassed and our guys were getting shoved around by monsters like Labatte, Heenan, Fulton, Picard, Clark. O'Shea made a calculated risk-reward situation. He balanced off the fact his o-line probably couldn't produce a full yard on 3rd down (remember we lost Grigsby just before that, too) and he knew his wobbly defense was gonna be in for a tough go once Messam, Allen and their road graders were shoving our d around. The only thing that gave us a chance was Allen actually erred on that great ground spin move to our endzone - he gave us nearly 30 seconds to go full field vs. dropping down and draining the clock, kicking the winning field goal with no time left. . . . in the end Sask. was able to control the line of scrimmage when it counted and O'Shea was trying like the dickens to plot against that factor. Hard to plot against power!

Agreed Tom. Kuale is a massive personnel mistake and its really starting to haunt the bombers. Romby Bryant is just an expendable hobo (who still has some decent speed) and will probably draw into the lineup if Moore is down again. Bombers don't seem to have much interest in bringing more players into town - however, circumstances change and if the riders shellack our side next week, I'm sure some 'air-lifting' is in the near future. Guys like Alex Hall who has the focus of a Henry Burris (ie. poor) is talented. Chris Matthews is an upgrade over Bryant but I don't know if he's on McManus's list! A monster DT (even one that gasses out) should be a priority cuz our guys are getting road-graded by the better o-lines. Even if we lucked out on H Muamba I don't think he'd make that much of a difference in an Etcheverrian defense. Better than Kuale and Kromah, you bet but tackling 8 to 12 yards downfield isn't a difference-making tackle.

C'mon Al - I understand the disappointment but what in the world did you expect? I think Etch actually went conservative today and that's the main reason the bombers hung in like they did. Bomber d just made a couple more mistakes than Rider d and special teams. O'Shea is getting some great value out of hobo like personnel. Guys who try to rip pigskin vs. wrapping the ball carrier. They can talk all they want about correcting the deficiency but its more inferior personnel that aren't able to execute techniques they understand. Just can't do it. Bomber o-line actually did well today (some good run-blocking, average pass blocking) but you could see they're not near the level of the rider o-line who were nullifying our strongest rushers one on one. Henny Muamba would be a godsend in that bomber d. He actually has the instincts, talent and speed to cut thru sewage and get to the ball. Kuale was just tucked behind the arse of one of his d-linemen. If O'Shea deserves scolding for one particular decision its the one to roster Kuale. He's not a difference-maker.

Anderson and Heenan had some epic battles out there. Reminded me of Doug Brown - winning the test of strength with an o-lineman but seldom getting to the QB.