Rich

New normal for now. Time will tell if teams who give out these huge contracts to unproven players (ie. not a Crosby / McDavid type) can win the cup. Blackhawks have not been the same since Kane and Toews have gone onto their huge contracts. Here is a graph of the cap over time. The only reason it has gone up since 2014 is because the PA has forced it to because of a built in escalator clause, otherwise, based on revenues, it would have been flat or gone down. What new revenues are going to come into the NHL to make the cap suddenly start to go up?

Checked out the reaction from Boston fans on HFBoards. General consensus seems to be he wasn't ready to be an NHL goalie, had some injuries that held him back and needed more time as a #1 in the AHL. Though they aren't happy about losing him. Interesting that Boston didn't think he was ready to be a backup to Rask, but Vegas is ready to give him a chance as the backup to the face of their franchise Fleury. How much longer till we have this issue with Comrie?

http://www.tsn.ca/lupul-fails-independent-medical-evaluation-1.874271 Lupul has failed an independent medical evaluation and will go onto LTIR.

Are you finally getting into these movies? You are becoming a nerd, aren't you.

How is the defender supposed to know he is going to cut right there? The receivers cuts right and runs into the DB.

Interesting article on the officiating in the Hamilton / Toronto game. http://3downnation.com/2017/10/01/questionable-officiating-costs-ticats-dearly-loss-argos/ Some video clips and screen shots in there that show some clearly wrong calls, including the phantom PI call on SJ Green that the league has since said shouldn't have been PI (even though the command centre ruled it as PI on a review) The fumble knocked out of bounds by Lawrence should have been called Hamilton's ball as well IMO. Also a couple of screenshots of blatant offsides by Toronto that were never called. Some theories out there that the officials are being biased to Toronto. After watching bad Bomber teams for years, I think the refs tend to not give the benefit of the doubt to "bad' teams. Either way, another game with horrible officiating in the CFL.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2017/10/02/upon-review-wpg-28-edm-19/

Poolman makes the team.

An interesting discussion on TSN 1290 this morning. If you look back at the 2016 NHL draft, Edmonton actually owned the 2nd overall pick. If the draft lottery had unfolded according to the standings, Edmonton could have had Laine and McDavid. Don’t know if they would have ultimately been able to afford both of them, but that would be a hell of a line for a few years.

He is done for the year. When he gets back to the city we are supposed to learn some details on the why.

Congratulations to KBF! Now a proud recipient of a $50 Bomber Store gift certificate.

Preseason is over. Time to get to the real season and do it in style like only Jagr can.

Picks this week need to be in by Friday @ 7:30 PM

Cost would definitely be the biggest issue. Here is an article from 2014 and the cost for disability insurance for NFL players. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-nfl-players-dont-buy-disability-insurance/ Rookies get paid $400k if you don't count bonuses. So you are looking at losing an additional 5 - 10% of your gross pay taken out of you net pay. Not crippling, but not peanuts either. Wonder if the CFL would ever be in a position to split that cost 50/50.

Montreal is a disaster... http://3downnation.com/2017/09/28/bears-woods-released-alouettes-reporting-safety-violations-union/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4927082/Silicon-Valley-engineer-founds-religion-worship-AI.html

Ticats release Ricky Collins Jr.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/saskatchewan/riders-lottery-president-makes-waves-with-pro-trump-comments-1.4305907

Yep. Remind me I forget at the end of the week and enter your pick in wrong.

The True North chant at Bomber games has been slowly losing momentum, not as loud as it used to be. Won’t be much longer until it is gone. Was mentioned earlier in the thread, but my biggest pet peeve with it at Jets games is the crowd cheering themselves for chanting it.