2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[Goalie]

17 hours ago, Brandon said:

Shiny new stadium.... or is it a much much better game day experience  on top of a shiny new stadium with way better food/drink offerings and overall comfort?   

Part of it is definitely value for the money you pay. My daughter and I can go to a bomber game for half of what it costs to go to jets games. That plays a role. I find when we go to jets game I’m wanting more. I feel I don’t get our 300$ worth but at bomber games I can sit in the family zone and get my cash worth by half time. 

[Brandon]

4 hours ago, Goalie said:

Part of it is definitely value for the money you pay. My daughter and I can go to a bomber game for half of what it costs to go to jets games. That plays a role. I find when we go to jets game I’m wanting more. I feel I don’t get our 300$ worth but at bomber games I can sit in the family zone and get my cash worth by half time. 

In fairness Moose games are great for the kids and are much cheaper and on par or possibly a higher level then the CFL would be skill wise.    

Blue Bombers games offer much more then just watching the game ,  it has various things that can appeal to any age from the youngest of kids to the crustiest of old fans.   At the old stadium my memories of "entertainment" was watching a dog run from end zone to end zone or having kids ride goats and then getting kicked in the head by them.   Sitting in a very uncomfortable seat and eating the most stale food and warming up during those late season games by enjoying a hot cup of water with brown powder sprinkled in proclaiming that it was a "hot chocolate".   Pre game and post game entertainment consisted of only drunk people getting into fights, cougars with bouffants that were flammable from all the hairspray walking back and forth hunting for victims,  and if lucky a small fireworks show.   It's night and day different in how much better the gameday experience is these days.   

[Goalie]

CFL and NHL are pro leagues. The moose suck. I’ve been several times. No atmosphere and just not fun. Seabears greater than moose. And it’s not close. 5000 ppl if that. I tried counting once but gave up. Ppl getting up made it difficult but. I just found the on ice product to be lacking. The off ice stuff is solid tho yes. Bombers are pro tho. This is still Canada. There is no nfl here. CFL is Canada’s professional football league really. CFL is really the best of the rest. It’s not a developmental league like the ahl is to the nhl. 

Edited Wednesday at 04:10 AM by Goalie

[Brandon]

29 minutes ago, Goalie said:

CFL and NHL are pro leagues. The moose suck. I’ve been several times. No atmosphere and just not fun. Seabears greater than moose. And it’s not close. 5000 ppl if that. I tried counting once but gave up. Ppl getting up made it difficult but. I just found the on ice product to be lacking. The off ice stuff is solid tho yes. Bombers are pro tho. This is still Canada. There is no nfl here. CFL is Canada’s professional football league really. CFL is really the best of the rest. It’s not a developmental league like the ahl is to the nhl. 

You contradicted yourself...      

Bottom line is the Moose is a great experience for younger children and seniors,  the experience is fun and the on ice product is at a higher level then what we watch in the CFL.  Sorry to burst the bubble but at one point in time Kyle Connor,  Connor Hellebuyck,  Gab Vilardi,  Adam Lowry, Josh Morrissey and others were playing in the AHL and those guys are current superstars playing at the highest levels.  The CFL just doesn't have that same level of talent.  It doesn't mean that the CFL is boring and not a great watch.   But to suggest that the AHL is more of a minor league being further from "the big league" is silly. 

 I've watched the Moose numerous times over the years and never once have I attended a game and thought "Wow these guys are so amateurish and this is such a sloppy game where everyone is making mistakes and looks like ****".    I've always thought the opposite where I'm impressed at just how good these guys are and just how tough it must be to crack an NHL line up considering how sharp these guys play.   

I've also watched plenty of CFL and seen a guy like Jason Boltus line up and me questioning what the hell am I watching? I'll place the odds of any current Moose player cracking an NHL line up as a higher chance then Jake Thomas ever signing with an NFL team.  

[brett_c_b]

On 2025-03-03 at 7:56 PM, Mark H. said:

If you're in downtown Ottawa, absolutely go to a Sens game. Tickets can be found cheap online, and bars in the downtown have shuttle busses to the arena.

When I went for the football game I did a hockey game as well

[SpeedFlex27]

7 hours ago, Goalie said:

CFL and NHL are pro leagues. The moose suck. I’ve been several times. No atmosphere and just not fun. Seabears greater than moose. And it’s not close. 5000 ppl if that. I tried counting once but gave up. Ppl getting up made it difficult but. I just found the on ice product to be lacking. The off ice stuff is solid tho yes. Bombers are pro tho. This is still Canada. There is no nfl here. CFL is Canada’s professional football league really. CFL is really the best of the rest. It’s not a developmental league like the ahl is to the nhl. 

How can you say the CFL is not a developmental league with probably 75% of the players on one year deals hoping to impress some NFL team by playing up here? Or the ones with 2 or even 3 year deals can leave to work out for an NFL team in the off season despite being under contract?

The CFL wasn't considered a developmental league until we went hat in hand in the 90's to the NFL to bail us out after the failed expansion experiment or the CFL would have gone belly up. Even though the CFL paid back every penny of the $$$ owed to the NFL, that's where the one year deals of today & players having a window to try out in the off season comes from. Instead of trying to grow the game in Canada, the CFL has embraced this idea that by becoming a developmental league, it will attract better players at the expense of making it a stronger league nationally.

Even Canadian players who come out of U Sports with dreams of big bucks & fame in their heads just sneer at the CFL as a place to play because they believe that we are nothing but a developmental league. That they are too good for the CFL. 

Edited Wednesday at 11:53 AM by SpeedFlex27

[wbbfan]

I hate the off season 

[rebusrankin]

Bombers and Sea Bears are both a more enjoyable game day experience than the Moose.

Edited Wednesday at 03:22 PM by rebusrankin

[SpeedFlex27]

17 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Bombers are Sea Bears are both a more enjoyable game day experience than the Moose.

We should have a WHL team but we know how that worked out. They could have played at the canada Life Center the way the Hit Men share the Saddledome with the Flames & Wranglers but Chipman didn't want them. Also, someone bring me up to speed but why couldn't the arena for the Ice ever get built? 

[bryan35]

4 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

We should have a WHL team but we know how that worked out. They could have played at the canada Life Center the way the Hit Men share the Saddledome with the Flames & Wranglers but Chipman didn't want them. Also, someone bring me up to speed but why couldn't the arena for the Ice ever get built? 

lack of funds...lol

[Noeller]

A city of 750k vs a city of nearly 2m. There just isn't the financial appetite for that much hockey in Winnipeg. No way the city could support all 3 leagues. They're barely able to do the two pro hockey league's, never mind major junior. 

Winnipeg just doesn't have the money, both corporate and public, that bigger centres do.

Edited Wednesday at 11:58 PM by Noeller

[HardCoreBlue]

Just now, Noeller said:

Anxiety of 750k vs a city of nearly 2m. There just isn't the financial appetite for that much hockey in Winnipeg. No way the city could support all 3 leagues. They're barely able to do the two pro hockey league's, never mind major junior. 

Winnipeg just doesn't have the money, both corporate and public, that bigger centres do.

Hence why we need to win the Stanley Cup this year as with the salary cap increase, Trumps administration etc we may never have a chance to compete in the near foreseeable future.

[wbbfan]

https://3downnation.com/2025/03/05/b-c-lions-promote-longtime-scout-rob-ralph-to-assistant-general-manager/
 

kind of an odd move for this time of year. 

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

A city of 750k vs a city of nearly 2m. There just isn't the financial appetite for that much hockey in Winnipeg. No way the city could support all 3 leagues. They're barely able to do the two pro hockey league's, never mind major junior. 

Winnipeg just doesn't have the money, both corporate and public, that bigger centres do.

More like 805,000 plus or 890,000 for CMA but whatever...

 

https://data.winnipeg.ca/City-Planning/City-Of-Winnipeg-Population/mhuw-u7yg/data_preview

Edited Thursday at 01:17 AM by SpeedFlex27

[JuranBoldenRules]

On 2025-03-05 at 9:20 AM, SpeedFlex27 said:

We should have a WHL team but we know how that worked out. They could have played at the canada Life Center the way the Hit Men share the Saddledome with the Flames & Wranglers but Chipman didn't want them. Also, someone bring me up to speed but why couldn't the arena for the Ice ever get built? 

The WHL would like to be the BC/Alberta/US PNW league with maybe Regina and Saskatoon.

They allowed the Winnipeg move out of pure desperation but it was never going to be long term.

[17to85]

56 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The WHL would like to be the BC/Alberta/US PNW league with maybe Regina and Saskatoon.

They allowed the Winnipeg move out of pure desperation but it was never going to be long term.

It's a long assed bus ride from winnipeg to washington

[johnzo]

On 2025-03-04 at 8:44 PM, Brandon said:

I've also watched plenty of CFL and seen a guy like Jason Boltus line up and me questioning what the hell am I watching? I'll place the odds of any current Moose player cracking an NHL line up as a higher chance then Jake Thomas ever signing with an NFL team.  

I'd put this down to the difference between sports -- the gap between the AHL and the NHL is way smaller than the gap between college football and pro football. The NFL has had plenty of clueless quarterbacks, guys who just couldn't function at the pro level like Boltus.

[bluto]

1 hour ago, johnzo said:

I'd put this down to the difference between sports -- the gap between the AHL and the NHL is way smaller than the gap between college football and pro football. The NFL has had plenty of clueless quarterbacks, guys who just couldn't function at the pro level like Boltus.

That's a blast from the CFL-Online-Community past... I'm having a flashback

Wasn't there a poster who pumped Jason Boltus' tires in multiple posts/day for basically the entire season we was in Winnipeg??

[rebusrankin]

I still have PTSD from Boltus's game against BC.

[HardCoreBlue]

On 2025-03-05 at 7:15 AM, wbbfan said:

I hate the off season 

Can I introduce you to another spor . . .

I'll grab my jacket and head out the back door, sorry to bother you.

[johnzo]

On 2025-03-05 at 6:15 AM, wbbfan said:

I hate the off season 

what if I told you there was a place where you could enjoy all the great vibes of a CFL bye week .... for seven straight months?

[SpeedFlex27]

46 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I still have PTSD from Boltus's game against BC.

The one game I picked that season to drive in from Calgary by myself to come see with my friend who lived in Winnipeg & it was that one.... 

2 hours ago, bluto said:

That's a blast from the CFL-Online-Community past... I'm having a flashback

Wasn't there a poster who pumped Jason Boltus' tires in multiple posts/day for basically the entire season we was in Winnipeg??

It wasn't Boltus. It was "Big Chris" Streveler. 

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, bluto said:

Wasn't there a poster who pumped Jason Boltus' tires in multiple posts/day for basically the entire season we was in Winnipeg??

Hell no,  Boltus was only ever spoken about being the bottom of the long list of mediocre qbs that came and left post Mike Kelly era.   

Joey Elliott was the guy that was beloved and a few people who are still on these boards used to preach about him on a frequent basis. 

[Goalie]

I miss the days of max hall on cocaine at QB. 

[JohnnyAbonny]

23 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Hell no,  Boltus was only ever spoken about being the bottom of the long list of mediocre qbs that came and left post Mike Kelly era.   

Joey Elliott was the guy that was beloved and a few people who are still on these boards used to preach about him on a frequent basis. 

I’ll die on that hill. Elliot could have been something with a half decent team around him.