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The MBB All-Time Blue Bomber team

TrueBlue4ever

By TrueBlue4ever
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Rich
Message added by Rich

RESULTS

Coach: Bud Grant

GM: Cal Murphy

QB: Ken Ploen

 RB: Leo Lewis

RB: Charles Roberts

C:  John Bonk

G: Nick Bastaja

G: David Black

T: Stanley Bryant

T: Chris Walby

SB: Milt Stegall

SB: Joe Poplawski

WR: James Murphy

WR: Jeff Boyd

TE: Ernie Pitts

REC: Terrence Edwards

DT: Doug Brown

DT: Stan Mikawos

DE: Herb Gray

DE: Tony Norman

ILB: Greg Battle

ILB: Barrin Simpson

OLB: Tyrone Jones

OLB: James West

CB: Rod Hill

CB: Less Browne

HB: Juran Bolden

HB: Jonathan Hefney

S: Paul Bennett

PK: Justin Medlock

P: Bob Cameron

PR: Keith Stokes

KR: Albert Johnson III

ST: Wade Miller

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TrueBlue4ever Grand Master

TrueBlue4ever

Posted
Posted (edited)

As we settle in for the long off-season, and add another year to the futility chart for no Grey Cup championship, I thought a little winter project may keep things interesting. So I propose to create "the definitive" list of the all-time greatest Blue Bombers by position, as voted on by MBB members, covering all 89 years of this team's existence. Each week from now through April, we will focus on one position and decide who are the best all-time Bombers at that spot, completing the whole team as we enter training camp for 2019.

The team will be position-specific, so rather than, for example, picking 3 middle linebackers in the "linebacker" spot, I will focus one week on middle/inside linebackers and one week on outside linebackers. Same will go for slotback/wide receiver rather than just "receiver", safety/halfback/cornerback vs. "defensive back", and fullback and tailback vs. "running back". Also, where a player may have excelled in 2 areas, you are only to judge their merit for the position that they are nominated for that week (ex. Charlie Roberts could show up both as a running back or special teams returner, but when voting for him as a returner, do NOT consider his contributions as a running back in your overall estimation of him, and vice versa. Same would go for Rod Hill - ignore his special teams ability to block punts when considering his abilities as a defensive back, and if a kicker did both punting and placekicking, analyze each facet separately rather than their overall impact).

Because of changing offensive and defensive philosophies, I am going to expand the team in a couple of ways. On defence, rather than deciding between a 3-4 or a 4-3 defence, I will pick 2 inside/middle linebackers and two outside linebackers, and also two rush end/linemen and two interior linemen/nose tackles. To balance this on offence, there will be a tailback, fullback, slotback and wide receiver position, but also a #5 receiver position to account for the newer 5-1 offensive set.

The defence will be chosen first, then special teams, then offence, and finally coach and GM. I will try to dig into the archives so as not to omit any candidates, but I may miss a few, so send in a nomination either as a response to this message or as a PM to me, and I will include that person on the list and try to highlight their accomplishments for your consideration .Then everybody votes and the top vote getter (or two in some cases) will be on the team.

We will start with the cornerback position. You can nominate any cornerback from any era from today up until this Friday, and I will compile the list. On this Friday (December 7) I will post the nominees for people to vote on, and the following Friday (December 14th) the voting will close, with the top 2 vote getters being selected. Also this Friday (the 7th) I will open the nominations for defensive halfback, and that list of candidates will be open for voting on the 14th, and so on.

The order will be:

Cornerbacks (2), Defensive Halfbacks (2), Safety (1), Outside Linebackers (2), Middle/Inside Linebackers (2), Defensive Ends (2), Defensive Tackles (2)

Place kicker (1), Punter (1), Returner (both punt and kick) (1), Special Teamer (includes long snapper, special teams tackler, or punt block specialist) (1)

Centre (1), Offensive Guards (2), Offensive Tackles (2), Wide Receivers (2), Slotbacks (2), 5th receiver (#3 vote getter in Wide Receiver vs. #3 vote getter at Slotback in a special head-to-head runoff vote), Fullback (1), Tailback/Running Back (1), Quarterback (1)

Coach (1), GM (1)

Hopefully this piques people's interest, and gets us through the snowy season.

So off the top of my head for Cornerback nominees, I would suggest, in alpahabetical order:

Roy Bennett, Juran Bolden, Less Browne, Rod Hill, Jovon Johnson, Reggie Pierson, David Shaw (believe he played corner), **** Thornton.

Not on this list because I THINK they played halfback were Ken Hailey, James Jefferson and Ken Ploen, but I stand to be corrected.

I cannot think of anyone else who jumps out at me, but I am certain that I have forgotten someone (and please be mindful of the distinction of cornerback vs. halfback - if I have made an error let me know!). Keep sending in suggestions for nominations and I will create the voting list on Friday.

I promise future postings on this thread will be shorter.

 

 

Edited by TrueBlue4ever
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Rich
Rich

Want to thank @TrueBlue4ever for putting the effort in doing this throughout the off season.   Not a small amount of work, and very much appreciated to give us all something else to talk about during

Stats Junkie
Stats Junkie

Here is a little history on the evolution of player positions In the early days, the wingline (O-Line) consisted of 1 x snapback (centre), 2 x inside wing (Guard), 2 x middle wing (Tackle) &

TrueBlue4ever
TrueBlue4ever

This is a fantastic history lesson, and highlights some of the intricacies and difficulties in doing a position by position poll over eras, which is hopefully part of the fun of this exercise. I canno

White Out Mentor

White Out

Posted
Posted

My Mom met Rod Hill and had him sign some stuff she had on her for me and my older brother. She told me the interaction was something like this:
"Oh hi, are you a somebody?"
'Yes I play for the Bombers'

"can you sign these things for my sons they love you guys"

/Cool story bro 

/FU i love my Mom and the Bombers

SpeedFlex27 Grand Master

SpeedFlex27

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, bearpants said:

Just throwing it out there... do we really need a vote for punter?... is there anyone that can compete with Bob Cameron?

Longevity shouldn't be the only determining factor. We've had some very good punters over the years. 

SpeedFlex27 Grand Master

SpeedFlex27

Posted
Posted

My answer:

 

Corners:  Rod Hill

                      Less Browne

Other players that deserve consideration are Paul Brule, Doug Strong, Roy Bennett, Paul Williams & Gord Rowland. **** Thornton was a Safety. 

SpeedFlex27 Grand Master

SpeedFlex27

Posted
Posted
Just now, Noeller said:

You gonna sit there and tell me Cameron is only revered for his Longevity.....??? 🤔 

No, but it it isn't fair to just proclaim him the best punter all time either. I saw some very good punters before Bob play & they deserve consideration as well.  Ed Ulmer, Bob Macoritti, Walt McKee, Bernie Ruoff & Charlie Sheppard.

brett_c_b Collaborator

brett_c_b

Posted
Posted

Interesting thread. I'll observe more than participate. I got into football in the Milt era, so I know I don't have the knowledge to contribute. 

 

However I'm interested to see how the thread goes and how some of my favorites rank.

 

Doug Brown - one of the guys who got me into football other than Milt, how does he rank?

Charles Roberts/Mike Sellers - loved watching those guys in action, curious how they do all time for the bombers

Stegall - ok this one isn't a discussion

Khari Jones - just kidding, I hated him (waits for 17to85 to lose his ****)

 

But for me, Brown/Stegall were the players who got me into football 

Jesse Grand Master

Jesse

Posted
Posted

Going by stats (because I never saw him play) you have to go with Rod Hill as #1. 5 seasons, a couple of Grey Cup wins. Ridiculous numbers.

I have a hard time going with Browne or Bennett because i believe they only played for 3 seasons with the Blue and that takes something off for me as an all time great.

So I’m going to go with the young guy pick of Jovon Johnson. For those years, he was part of an exciting group of Bombers that kept me going to games when our offence wasn’t worth turning on the TV for. Six years in blue and gold. A four time all star and defensive player of the year award ( even though Hefney should have won it). Don’t @ me.

Noeller Grand Master

Noeller

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Sheppard won 2. Just sayin'. But Cameron is the all time punter.

I think the point was more that Cameron SINGLE HANDEDLY won a GC for us......I'd agree that Jon Ryan is the best pure punter we've ever had, then Cameron, then Ruoff......and that's it. Nobody even close.

Bigblue204 Grand Master

Bigblue204

Posted
Posted

Of all the debates we've had. The greatest punter just can not be debated. In the top ten punters in BB history, Cameron holds the top 5 and #7. Ryan can have #6 :)

Longevity isn't the only deciding factor, but it definitely plays a big part. Especially because his record for games played will likely never be broken. It's not like it was just 8 seasons or something. If I've got to pick one punter in their prime to play a one and done game. It's Cameron every single time. 
I'm not trying to take anything away from Ryan either, he was a very talented punter for the bombers. Cameron is just on another level.

TrueBlue4ever Grand Master

TrueBlue4ever

Posted
  • Author
Posted
15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

My answer:

 

Corners:  Rod Hill

                      Less Browne

Other players that deserve consideration are Paul Brule, Doug Strong, Roy Bennett, Paul Williams & Gord Rowland. **** Thornton was a Safety. 

My search had Listed Thornton as a cornerback, but he played a bunch of positions, so I will move him to safety. Thanks for the clarification. 

TrueBlue4ever Grand Master

TrueBlue4ever

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
50 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Rod Hill was the best cb I've seen play for the Bombers. Less Browne would be #2. Bolden was amazing, but wasn't he mostly a db?

Bolden usually covered the opposition’s best receiver so he was interchangeable, but he was listed as a corner, so I will stick with him in that spot. 

Edited by TrueBlue4ever

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