Tony Fresco

This league's supplementary discipline is a complete farce.

This league's supplementary discipline is a complete farce.

Fun to sit and watch practice today... Been about 20 years since I was last able.
With respect to the late great Randy Turner, the king of Odds and Sods writing.... here's some thoughts:
-All jokes aside, Jake Thomas looks like he's lost at least 30lbs and maybe 10 years. Not sure it'll translate but he gave himself a chance. 
-There were a number of guys who I thought looked leaner (Adams the DL and Wallace, notably) and I wonder if there's a concerted effort by Brendan the trainer to get guys faster this year
-Makonzo got hurt. Wasnt carted off, but he landed awkwardly in coverage and came up favouring his wrist. Didn't look good. 
-Mitchell looks very smooth and runs good routes.
-If Vaughters can stay healthy, he is just an absolute load. He and Willie would be very hard to handle. That said, they were doing a drill to see who could get off the line fastest without being offsides and Jake beat Vaughters and was giving him a hard time. We'll call that a one off. 
-Both Zach and Strev looked good, tho Strev had a couple brain cramps. One under thrown ball that he was immediately angry about and I think a botched run play that he took the heat for. Patterson definitely has a rifle arm... Accuracy is the question. 
- I have hopes for Keric Wheatfall to take another step this year.
-Our LB corps, as already noted, is very very deep and the coaches have a lot of options. People were shifting around a lot but packages with Kyrie at MACK was interesting.
-Watched a lot of OL/DL 1v1... OL wasn't terrible, though it seemed like there would be holding calls on a number of plays. DL are just so much faster and you're trying to not get put on roller skates. Thought Wallace showed very well and some of the Americans like Randolph, Vanterpool and Lofton as well. In the reps we saw, we didn't think Neufeld looked very good. It was a bit concerning watching him get "walked" by a few DL.
-Its very impressive what Mike Benson does. He really whips that ball and it is so deadly accurate.
-Coaches are all very engaged and animated. Osh was hollering pretty good at one point about a missed tackle "You gotta have that!!" Richie, JY, Costello, among others, very very active and involved. 
-Stan and Willie are both basically coaches. They do a lot of teaching.
 
That's just a few thoughts. I didn't take notes or anything.. just tried to enjoy the sunshine and being at the barn again. 
I love the CFL, I love the Bombers, and I love Manitoba summers.... It's great to be home. 
 

FIFY. 😁
Games like last night are why I love sports. Threads like this are why I hate sports fans
Now I am picking on @captaincanuck12 but I will say to your credit you have been here all year, win or lose, and even if you have thrown in the towel the odd time you speak as a fan who wears their heart on their sleeve and will always come back with hope for the next game. Your negativity is borne of frustration in the moment, but you don’t quit on this team in the big picture. You are good to have around and are ultimately a loyal supporter, no doubt. What drives me nuts are those “fans” who were silent all year when this team marched to the President’s Trophy, and then crawled out of the woodwork after game 4 to remind how lousy this team has always been when the chips are down, how Hellebuyck is a fraud, how Cheveldayoff must be fired, etc. and then constantly disappear and are quiet when the team wins and proves them wrong for the 60th time this year, just waiting for their next chance to say “see I told you they suck” at the next moment of adversity. It’s beyond feeling upset and negative in the moment, it’s like they can’t be happy unless they get to feel validated moaning and bitching about how useless the team is. I will never get those who seem to want to be perpetually angry and prefer to tell everyone “I told you so” if the team doesn’t win it all, which given the pure mathematical stats of it is about as safe a bet as you can make (31 out of 32 teams fail every year). The old adage is true - “sports is not there to make you happy, sports is there for you to be miserable in a large group”. I just don’t get the appeal of watching and acting like you hope they lose so that you have the opportunity to complain about how lousy they perpetually are and validate your negativity to the public at large. Why watch at all? Tough way to go through life. 
Now, the Jets may crash and burn in 4 straight next series, and it won’t change what’s great season this has been, how hard they have worked, and what entertainment they have brought us all year. Their achievement should be celebrated, not maligned. 
Rant over. See you in Round 2. 
 
P.S. It was never in doubt, says this Jets fan. 😉

There are not many teams who would have won this game, minus 2 players of that calibre. Absolute blood and guts effort. Double overtime with 5 D, against a hard hitting group of forwards. 

Lol this thread is awesome ... Relax crew. What happens, happens. Bombers mini camp opens Wednesday. Here's hoping we still have more White Outs happening, but either way, it's gonna be alright!

This is a good point.  I don't understand how there is so little chatter for Arneil for the Jack Adams.  Most so called experts had the Jets as a bubble playoff team at best.  Winning the President's trophy would seem to indicate a coach who elevated his team above expectations.  
Another reason for this team to play the underdog card as motivation. 

Also, I know fans like to **** on Chevy but he should win GM of the year.
For the Jets to win the Presidents' Trophy while being on most players' no trade trade list is an accomplishment to say the least.

This is a good point.  I don't understand how there is so little chatter for Arneil for the Jack Adams.  Most so called experts had the Jets as a bubble playoff team at best.  Winning the President's trophy would seem to indicate a coach who elevated his team above expectations.  
Another reason for this team to play the underdog card as motivation. 

This is a good point.  I don't understand how there is so little chatter for Arneil for the Jack Adams.  Most so called experts had the Jets as a bubble playoff team at best.  Winning the President's trophy would seem to indicate a coach who elevated his team above expectations.  
Another reason for this team to play the underdog card as motivation. 

This is a good point.  I don't understand how there is so little chatter for Arneil for the Jack Adams.  Most so called experts had the Jets as a bubble playoff team at best.  Winning the President's trophy would seem to indicate a coach who elevated his team above expectations.  
Another reason for this team to play the underdog card as motivation. 

Calgary won Sunday so they are still in.
They basically need to win their last 2 games to have a chance and have Minni lose in regulation or St Louis lose in OT/shootout.
If Calgary loses in regulation on Tuesday night we will find out who the Jets are up against.

Actually, Calgary still has a chance to catch St Louis as well.  Still some final slots to be finalized.

Actually, Calgary still has a chance to catch St Louis as well.  Still some final slots to be finalized.

Actually, Calgary still has a chance to catch St Louis as well.  Still some final slots to be finalized.

Me sitting here with tickets for a dozen rock concerts and comedy shows in 2025 and it's only March

Interesting perspective, but then why all the narrative around goaltenders stealing games?   I was a hardcore Senators fan and I remember the series against Laff Nation in 2004 (yes I am old).  Game 7 in Toronto.  Patrick Lalime let in 2 soft goals and before you knew it  it was 3-0 and the Sens eventually lost the game.   There is nothing the Sens team could have done to make up for that clusterfuck from Lalime.
Looking back to Game 1 last year against the Avs, Helle let in 6 goals.   But most times, he was able to see the puck.  I would argue 4 of those goals came from clear sightlines.   We were fortunate that the Jets offence was on fire, and Gorgiev was also just as brutal.
Even in game 2,   Helle makes a disastrous play to giveaway the puck that puts the Avs up 3-2.    Then with 10 secs to go, there's a breakaway given to Josh Manson , who is not a sniper, and it's 4-2 avs.    I would have argued that Helle should have stopped Manson.   
Anyways, I really hope we make some noise int he playoffs.   This is OUR YEAR! 

Of all of Hellebuyck’s stats this year (#1 in wins, GAA, save %, shutouts, games and minutes played, goals saved above expected, games with save % above .900, % of games with save % above .900) this might be the most astounding - of his 51 starts, he has given up one goal or less in 21 of them. Imagine going into a game thinking that to have a chance at a win, you will need to basically shut out the 3rd best offence in hockey right now. How he is not the runaway leader for the Hart Trophy right now, especially given his team’s overall success, is beyond me. 

Star Wars has always had a huge British element to it (from the Empire being based on Imperial England, to many actors being British and much of the filming/production being done in England).  Lucas, at times, gets too much credit and not enough blame (IMO).  His writing has always been a bit clunky - his ex-wife cleaned up a lot of the dialogue in the original trilogy to make it work.  She did not work on the prequels and it showed. 
You also can't really say anything past 1981 strayed from his vision when then prequels (1999-2005) were 100% him and they were no where near as good as the original trilogy.  The original series had different directors/producers and such so that wasn't a huge change (those 3 films each had a different director, 2 different producers and 3 screenwriters) but Lucas was there to handle the overall story for the first 6 movies, which the last 3 did not. 
I think the last 3 films could have been better if there was some continuity off the screen in overseeing the story to make it consistent.  They started out good on that path by bringing Lawrence Kasdan (co-writer on Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi) to co-write The Force Awakens so they fit well with the original trilogy.  Abrams was offered The Last Jedi but turned it down (because Disney's schedule had no time off between filming the projects & he needed a break) so they brought Rian Johnson in.  Johnson had no connection to the series and he had his own vision, so he went in a different direction with some things.  Abrams came back for Rise of Skywalker but now had to to tie his original story into what Johnson had done and it wasn't great as a result.  I think if Abrams had been able to do all 3, it would have been much better but we'll never know.

Rantanen gives Roslovic a Rolex to give up 96 when he was acquired by the Canes, 6 weeks later, Roslovic has his number back and a new watch.
 

Rantanen gives Roslovic a Rolex to give up 96 when he was acquired by the Canes, 6 weeks later, Roslovic has his number back and a new watch.
 

Rantanen gives Roslovic a Rolex to give up 96 when he was acquired by the Canes, 6 weeks later, Roslovic has his number back and a new watch.
 

Rantanen gives Roslovic a Rolex to give up 96 when he was acquired by the Canes, 6 weeks later, Roslovic has his number back and a new watch.