JuranBoldenRules

Signing with Saskatchewan makes almost no sense from Glenn's perspective unless they give him stupid money. Montreal he'll have a pretty good shot to play.

Interesting hire. The AD went against the alumni, huh? SFU was burned badly by Jacques Chapdelaine. I think there's a lot of hesitation by the AD to hire a CFL assistant as a head coach now because of what happened. Jacques promised the university a long term commitment. Then he jumped to the Riders first opportunity he got after only one season as HC. SFU can't afford to be hiring their fourth HC in 4 years if Reinebold decided to jump back to the CFL a year after he was hired. Too risky so this was the safe hire. I just messaged my son what you posted. Thanks. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. I don't think they can ever rely on a good hire to stay very long unless they put massive penalties in their contract for leaving before it expires, like a huge buyout. Which is pretty much the same for every NCAA school outside of the power conferences, and even a bunch of the school lower on the totem pole in those conferences will have guys bolt for better jobs. The guy they hired would probably bolt at the first offer of an OC job at a D1 or 1-AA school.

I'm guessing they'll invite a bunch of guys from the whole midwest to the Fargo tryout camp, but an odd location. You'd think they'd just have it in the Minneapolis area.

One Rider fan and they got torn to shreds by the bulk of the posters.

Run game was fine when a good running back was used. Every OL in the CFL can run block. The ability to actually run the ball with a back who can put the offense in 2nd and 5 or less consistently will be a bigger upgrade than any made on the offensive line. On the whole, Bryant will be an upgrade, the rest depends on guys picking up their game, Greaves and Neufeld specifically. Goossen is a wildcard. Picard for Morley is a wash, Picard's snapping and calls should be more refined given he's spent his whole life playing centre, but he can't block anybody 1 on 1. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they end up in the top half of the league in terms of protecting the QB.

Too soon. There's going to be at least a half dozen guys and probably more who will get drafted/signed by the NFL. I'm guessing Walters won't risk burning the 2nd overall pick on one of those guys, so once we know who is heading south it won't be too hard to piece it together.

They are both attending NFL regional combines. We'll see if they get invited to the Super Regional.

Sherman at safety seems like a really bad idea, like Cauchy Muamba bad. He can't cover man at all. He is extremely good at blitzing and a below average tackler. He's a role player, and he definitely can serve a purpose on defense, but that's like 15 snaps a game.

This draft is going to be hell in terms of the NFL issue. Would almost rather pick later in the first round.

I wouldn't mind adding a guy like Kendial Lawrence, but sounds like he isn't even listening to CFL offers right now. There are also a few import receivers I could see the Bombers having interest in if the prices come down, Wallace Miles and Ellingson. A lot of guys seem to be waiting on the NFL. I think they'll sign a QB, either Brohm or maybe a late entrant into the LeFevour sweepstakes depending on the price, but I think he'll stay in the East. And I hope they re-sign Johnny Sears.

Derick Armstrong type, will likely play the boundary WR, allow Denmark, Moore and Kohlert to play slot most of the time. Those guys took turns at the boundary last year but we didn't have a true fit for that spot, Denmark played it best. Isn't he aporox 40 pounds lighter than Armstrong? I've read more people comparing him to Edwards. 6'3 190-195. Armstrong was 6'2 205-210 I mostly remember him from that pre-season game in Winnipeg last year and the game in Ottawa where he had a bad drop then came back and had a nice TD. He's definitely a guy who is going to be a back shoulder, jump ball type WR, more about using his body to get position and fighting for the ball than a guy running real precise routes to get open. Not much like Edwards at all IMO.

Interior would have to improve a whole hell of a lot from last year. We've basically upgraded one position and added depth.

Derick Armstrong type, will likely play the boundary WR, allow Denmark, Moore and Kohlert to play slot most of the time. Those guys took turns at the boundary last year but we didn't have a true fit for that spot, Denmark played it best.

A bluff for what? Public opinion on this hotel issue?

The SOD terms matter because Centreventure doesn't have the authority to change the scope of a project that council already approved, particularly when the city is going to take a huge bath on the deal CV negotiated. They could negotiate with True North, but it would have to come back to council. The money to purchase the Carlton Inn came from the City of Winnipeg, it's a public property now. Centreventure is more like a hype man then an entity that can make multi-million dollar decisions with no oversight. Problem is that previous administrations have allowed Centreventure far too much autonomy and now the lines are extremely blurred. True North and Chipman are bystanders, but they also know the rules of the game. Chipman has been involved with Centreventure for years.

Well, Chipman was serving on the board of Centreventure when SOD came back saying they could not meet the terms of the agreement they had to develop the Carlton Inn site. Chipman knew Centreventure was prone and desperate, he was part of Centreventure. He didn't directly negotiate with himself as he recused himself from the Centreventure board, but he knew the hand Centreventure was playing. Centreventure pulled an end around and skipped the part about having an open proposal process and reporting all the goings on to city council, Centreventure is a creation of city council after all. Council and the mayor cannot view the details of the agreement between True North and Centreventure due to a confidentiality agreement in that deal and review the demands placed on the developer in comparison to the original demands on SOD. As a private businessman, Chipman took advantage of the situation. Fair enough. As a city, we don't know what the options were, because we don't know what the agreement entails and if the demands on the developer were adjusted from original ones placed on SOD, there could have been other parties willing to offer to develop the hotel site, potentially in a way that didn't cost the taxpayer as much. I listened to Chipman on CJOB for about an hour combined this AM, and the more I hear him get defensive the more I wonder what's actually going on here. He really has nothing to put forward in terms of details, it's all bluster. Why would he begrudge the city doing it's due diligence and what is being hidden? I'm not questioning his motives because public money is involved as he would suggest, I'm questioning his motives because he won't disclose them or much else. If you want public money in your developments, you need to be willing to follow the process. If you want to move in secret and below the radar, pay for it yourself.

How about misrepresented? Chipman also said a copy of the option agreement for the project was sent to City Hall and that Bowman and other city councillors had access to it, despite claims made by Bowman the information contained in the agreement hasn’t been handed over. “It was delivered to the city solicitor on December first under conditions that clearly allow it to be used by the city, its administration and the mayor himself for the collective assessment and due diligence on our project.” Chipman's overreaction? Interesting that you should choose to present Chipman in that light. He states that he wanted to present the facts and because of how things were handled..at City Hall, they want to reevaluate what they do going forward. That seems pretty clear and pretty fair. It is in no way Chipman's fault how the matter was handled by CentreVenture, nor should the spotlight be shone on True North when they have presented a viable alternative. Bowman could have easily handled this whole affair in a much better fashion, but rushed into statements that don't present the entire story. His bad. Chipman has a proven record in Winnipeg and his objection to the characterization of True North and this proposed deal is understandable. Bowman doesn't have to rubber stamp anything…but he certainly shouldn't have called True North's intentions into question. Here's Chipman's media address and it is powerful and interesting: https://soundcloud.com/680cjob/mark-chipman-full The confidentiality agreement in the deal signed by Centreventure and True North kind of prevents anyone else from presenting the entire story. Would be nice if Chipman would give us that story instead of getting his back up when the city asks questions about where it's money is going. The only objection by Bowman, and he's quite right to object, is that an arms length corporation went around what the actual elected representatives approved when they panicked. There's some weird stuff there since Chipman was on the board and fully aware of everything going on. Some have suggested that other True North developments and interests scuttled any chance SOD had to find a different partner to run the proposed hotel, but I'm choosing to believe Chipman's version of events on that side of things until the facts prove I shouldn't.

That alone seems like enough to play in the NFL doesn't it? and can't route running be learned? The Seahawks are very good at taking players that experts say are not good enough, (Richard Sherman) and training them to be more than good enough. And not rewarding Matthews for his great post season play would be out of character for that team. It would be enough if 100 tall and reasonably fast guys didn't graduate from the NCAA every season. Matthews really benefited from New England's defensive gameplan and Seattle's offensive gameplan. New England put their two best corners on Kearse and Baldwin. Once one of those corners was put on Matthews, he didn't make a catch for the rest of the game. But he put his name out there and gave himself another opportunity to prove himself heading into next season, and if nothing else he went for 100 yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Which at this point is basically nothing. Just a shiny video. City already loses money on the proposed hotel deal if it were to go through, although that seems inevitable no matter who develops that site given how CentreVenture has mismanaged this whole situation. Who knows how much public money/subsidy would be required as part of the proposed $400 million development? Council doesn't know. That's why Bowman can't just be a rubber stamp, nor should he be. Next step should be the dismantling of CentreVenture. We also know Bowman lied about seeing the vid. Lied is a strong word. He said he'd heard rumours and rumblings but the details of the development had not be presented to himself or council. That's still where we are at. Bowman has nothing to apologize for except for Chipman's overreaction to anything Chipman views as potentially questioning his reputation. Anything that requires millions of dollars of public money or a change in an already approved plan that will cost the city millions should hit the floor of council. Why is this seen as acting against Chipman? If this development is such a great thing and makes good financial sense for the city, he should have nothing to worry about.

Which at this point is basically nothing. Just a shiny video. City already loses money on the proposed hotel deal if it were to go through, although that seems inevitable no matter who develops that site given how CentreVenture has mismanaged this whole situation. Who knows how much public money/subsidy would be required as part of the proposed $400 million development? Council doesn't know. That's why Bowman can't just be a rubber stamp, nor should he be. Next step should be the dismantling of CentreVenture.

Bowman needs to be careful about setting the same precedent of hiding information from council that his predecessor and his CAO operated with. I'd rather miss out on one good development than hand a scummy CAO carte blanche to the municipal public purse and end up having tens of millions of uncontrollable cost overruns like we've had on pretty much every major development in this city of late. All the details of these deals need to hit the floor of council when they are proposed so that the people representing us can decide. Chipman should respect this process too. I don't believe he did anything wrong, but he's gotta know that logically CentreVenture can't be making major land deals above the city council.

Same goes for Lawless. We've become a loser media market. The good ones move up to Edmonton, Calgary or Toronto in a couple years, the mediocre ones stay and become local stars. The worst part of Wheeler is his ridiculous level of arrogance in real-life. He attended a friend of mine's wedding a few years back when he was still on Power with Hal and got into it with one of the bridesmaids because she didn't know who he was and was completely unimpressed when he kept announcing who he was. This resulted in everyone laughing at him for the rest of the night, which he didn't seem to understand. One of the few times he's made me laugh. I've only met Lawless once, at Labour Day a few years ago. I don't often agree with his takes and don't really respect his point of view, but he at least seems like a normal guy who doesn't take himself seriously in an intense fashion all of the time.

But why does Walters have to replace Watson now? Bombers played half the season last year without Watson and when he did play he didn't do much. JFG filled in admirably. Cause we need to have more than 2 NI receivers who can reasonably play next season, special teams too.

The word is RATIONALE. Not a bad haul for Watson, who is basically done physically, but Walters has to replace him now. Not sure Bastien does that. Think they'll be using a high pick and probably adding a NI receiver in free agency too.

Ya this one isn't really shady as much as it is a major screw-up by Centreventure who got desperate when Stuart Olson Dominion couldn't put a deal together for a chain hotel to operate what was to be built in the original proposal. The major problem here is a lack of oversight (information getting to council) and clear guidelines for arms length governmental agencies like Centreventure or even WFD/WPS to work under when it comes to these land deals. Makes it easy for the Sheegl's and Shindico's of the world to press their personal agendas forward with all the blurred lines and avoid real scrutiny until the deal is already past the point of no return. Stuart Olson Dominion and Abou-Zaid are 5 words I don't want to hear in the same sentence as "Winnipeg" for a long time. A lot of ignorance and incompetence in their work in this city.