mbrg

Or a means of converting currencies back and forth. Exchanging them. An "exchange rate", if you will... Nah, that's just too crazy to work. CAN'T BE DONE!!!!! Huh? Who's lawn am I on? Better get off it...

Sure wish I also could have been in on those discusions like everyone else seems to have been. I didn't know they were like an open practise. It's unlikely that they re-sign him, but certainly not impossible. They want him here and he wants to be here. The money part has to work with the long term plan or otherwise the long term plan is meaningless and doomed to fail. That is the only reason he was traded and it is the only sticking point on an otherwise happy relationship between the two parties. I'd still give it a 25% chance he re-signs here in the offseason, because there isn't necessarily any team that will want to go substantially higher than what the Jets are willing to offer. The most likely suitors for someone like Ladd who would spend significantly more than us would be a team that feels they have a leadership problem in their dressing room. A player like Ladd "checks all the boxes" as Bowman said, so if a team needs a stronger leadership group, why not get a guy who also scores and is physical and plays on both special teams and is great in the community? And to a team like that, a player like Ladd might be worth the extra half mil per (or whatever, because I'm not going to pretend I was in that room) that he is seeking. If there isn't a team like that? Ladd coming back to play here is entirely plausible.

And St. Louis is just trying to get some football revenge sex against the NFL.

Yes, it really missed the mark when it comes to knowing your audience. I doubt they would ever make a ratio concession in the US, but the only thing that has ever had any traction at all in those discussions is the world of professional sports. It's not up to us to change their labour laws. If there are groups of owners down there who want some sweet sweet CFL action, let them fight that battle. Give us a call when it's taken care of. They will also be required to spell "labour" with the proper Queen's English spelling when they make that change.

There will be 250 to 300 import players with CFL contracts playing in the league this season who will somehow manage to "ignore the low dollar". What's the cap this year? $5.1M, somewhere around there? Exchange rate is around .73-ish (haven't looked lately)? So the cap for a US team in 2016 is $3.7M USD. That's your cap Mr. US owner. Work with it. I don't think it's a particularly good idea, I'm just not going to pretend that the reason it shouldn't be done is because it "can't be done".

If he was looking for a defenceman who skates the puck up to center, meets light resistance, turns around and skates it back into his own end and then turns it over, he should have seen all he needs to. Enstrom is his man.

Expansion into the US may not be a good idea, but some people are just listing the obstacles faced last time and saying it can't be done to avoid evaluating the idea. Obstacles can be overcome. The rules of the league are the rules of the league. Take it or leave it. Currency can be "exchanged" at market rates on an agreed upon date to create a US funds payroll equivalent to the cap. Find a local senator to advocate for a league specific labour exemption (once the election is over). It is by far the biggest obstacle, and the only real one, but if someone with pull cares enough to make it happen, it might happen. It likely wouldn't stand up to a court challenge, but that will only happen if there's someone who thinks they should challenge it. It still might be a lousy idea, but far more important than obsessing over the challenges is finding a reason why to do it. Is there a great city with a decent stadium, an owner who gets it and fans who will embrace it? Fans who will embrace the CFL is entirely different than people who love football. If we can find a place like that, then their might be a reason to do it. I have no idea if St. Louis is that kind of place, but it would take more than a cobbled together website to convince me.

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210563831&DB_OEM_ID=13500 73 shots attempted in that game sounds about right to me. Very tilted ice.

Got to see a UND game earlier in the season. I don't specifically remember Schmaltz but I remember his line was completely dominant against Denver, a traditional NCAA powerhouse program. A 4-0 game that could have been 9-0, and that line was driving the bus. Jets prospect Tucker Poolman had a pair of assists that night (as did Schmaltz apparently).

The Jets.

Gets a like just for making the effort to find a CFL fan site.

I agree with the initial premise that the system is flawed and can be unfair to players. Beyond that? Don't PR campaign me. What the Riders do with their scouts is in no way indicative of the financial health of the league, and the TSN contract is already being viewed as a massive overpayment on their part. Don't point to IGF and say the Bombers are rolling in cash. Giving terrible examples doesn't help your argument, it undercuts it. Players who are in the prime of their career like Muamba should not get cut because a GM didn't have any foresight or self-control when he offered a contract 6 months ago. That GM should have to live with his mistake, and it should not be the player's neck on the line to correct the GM's mistake. The financial protection afforded an injured player once the season is over is laughable, and should be improved. In any other industry there would be a viable human rights complaint pursued if an employee was just shown the door with a pittance of injury settlement after suffering a permanently debilitating injury, with a thank-you and "good luck figuring out the next 60 years of your life" as the only other things to show for it. This is a real problem. But that's not what he's talking about here, and when he got close to making those points he mostly missed the mark. Most of this isn't about the rights of the player or the flaws in the system, it's just another round of "need more money".

The curtain is pulled back to reveal.....stuff we already knew.

It's the start of that time of year again, when bad things happen to good people. Greatest of appreciation to Zach and his contributions; hope he springboards this into success elsewhere. See, this is why I don't put a name on the back of the jersey. Could be Anderson, could be Canada, could be Carter. If anyone asks, I'll tell them it's Thaine.

I keep telling my wife I'm setting up to buy her something nice on the back half of our marriage. Like the stuff they advertise in those Franklin Mint commercials. All in the name of value. Whomever signs Chad Owens for $200k+ will win the honorary Taman award for 2016. So it's still up for grabs.

Considering not a single Calgary player has signed with another CFL team, I doubt any of Huffnagel's comments reflect bitterness. Mitchell is the one behaving like a tool for some reason.

Same "paying starter money for a non-starter" concern as I had with Norman, but at least he's not a long haired turnstyle like Norman is. I'd be more concerned if they hadn't signed one of the four NI options out there. Still gets a thumb up based on need.

We already have the best NI defensive end in the league. Adding a starting calibre defensive tackle seems like a good route to go. While Jake Thomas has always exceeded my expectations, he's not at that level. Much like Harris has come home to Winnipeg and Lirim has returned home to Ontario, Cappiciotti looks likely to return home to BC. Sometimes we have to accept that our love (and money) will go unrequited.

While I'm no fan of Norman at all, the Bombers only have 3 NI Olinemen on their roster. Even if they're planning to start 3 imports along the line it would be insane of them to not have 5 NI's somewhere on their roster, 4 of which are not projects. If we draft one decent development guy who's not ready now but we'd stick in as a backup for a game or two if fate frowns on us, we still need another guy who can be at least a game day backup for week 1. No real chance we'll find that in the draft. So while I'll hold my nose, signing Norman makes some sense for the Bombers. The biggest problem I have with him is I don't want him to start and don't think he's good enough to start, but the nature of free agency means we probably will have to offer him starter money to get him.

They're just frisking him down for hundreds.

Stephan and Greenwood have re-signed with the Cats and Argos, respectively.

F N A !

Each team will make offers to multiple players once free agency starts, not knowing which ones will come off the board early and which ones will have extended bidding wars, creating uncertainty both in terms of roster goals and budget. Or to look at it from the opposite direction, signing Dressler before free agency gives the Bombers some certainty at that position that they otherwise would not have had at the start of free agency, both for securing a starting receiver and budget. Now they can cross a position off the list and have a better idea how much money is left to play with when there are multiple irons in the fire that require quick reactions. By keeping Moore on our roster until the start of free agency, we help contribute some uncertainty to the other 8 teams free agency plans. By keeping Harris from signing here (for example) early, Buono makes it harder for us to have a concrete plan of how much we can offer Bourke (for example), which could be the advantage they need to swoop in and sign him there. It's a minor advantage, but they'll take any advantage they can get.

They needed to sign any random player to a 1 year $20 million contract. Simple.

There are still advantages to having a NI doing the work, but with the 4th DI on the roster they aren't as great as they used to be. The hierarchy of optimal kicker situations used to be pretty straightforward; now things are a little more smudged. If you can find an import who can do all three kicking jobs at a high level, the roster flexibility issue becomes a wash (at worst) compared to using two separate NI's, and it could end up as a cap management win. There's still greater value in keeping that 4th DI spot for a positional player and paying a little extra to have a NI who does all three jobs at a high level, but not so much that the quality of the job can be allowed to suffer for it. The kicks have to get made.