JuranBoldenRules

wild can also long snap and did it quite a bit last season. True, I think we want a specialist though. Wild would be good in a pinch.

That depth chart is directly from the Bombers? Interesting that they are looking at Swiston as a tackle and Pencer as a guard. Also interesting that we have 3 interior guys who are imports. Import centre looks like a strong possibility, but how the OL comes together is all going to depend on how confident they are in Neufeld at tackle. Looks like we're rolling with one conventional LB and a whole lot of DB's most of the time. Scary that we only have one long-snapper, and he's in his first pro camp, I suppose we could do some maneuvering to get someone else if he struggles.

Haven't seen them in person yet, but damn I don't think they need to take up more concourse space, it's tight as is.

They clearly brought in guys to compete at DB anyways, not sure if they have a specific spot in mind. Washington and Randle should be locks, outside of them I could see anything happening. Basically, the corner jobs are spoken for with Randle and a NI at field corner. Washington should be playing the weak half, strong half has been Suber's spot, import at safety, and potentially a DI in the secondary. Then there's Banks. It'll be interesting to watch it play out.

Madani is a drama queen. He really is. Everyday he has about a dozen posts where all he does is RT somebody involved in the process & add "Boom" or something else stupid to the end of it for dramatic effect. He's dying to break something. I'm waiting for him to go full CNN and break something big from a source that isn't true.

Madani is a drama queen. IRL too. Talked to him a few times when he worked for the Bombers, and that's^ good way to describe him, a little far up his own you know what too. I think he's a good fit for what he's doing now, and Darren Cameron is a great fit in the PR job for the Bombers.

CJOB cheaped out more than anything else with Hal Anderson, shifting two people already on the station into that slot is further proof. The morning show is likely the highest rated show on their station, they are only really competing with CBC on the AM dial in the morning. Both incarnations of 1290's morning show have been awkward and cringe inducing. Arguments that seem to get personal, sometimes kind of felt that Jay Richardson was on the verge of crying, sometimes when he went too strong on an opinion/argument and was called out on it he'd go into a tantrum. The show is better now, but still awkward as all hell. If you're going to have guys bicker about sports, it's better if the audience feels that they actually like and respect each other on a basic level, not that they are personally attacking each other and would literally drop the gloves if it didn't mean the end of their career. Sports talk radio is not a good fit for broadcasters with fragile egos, I think moving Leibl into another role or off the station altogether would make it even better. They haven't found a crew with chemistry yet. TSN dropped the Goldeyes, or more accurately, the Goldeyes dropped TSN because they wouldn't guarantee that all of their games would be aired live on 1290. The Goldeyes are gambling that they have a strong base of listeners who will make the move to 100.7 FM.

It matters because when you put a congregating place at a natural bottleneck, you get a, well, bottleneck. More parking on campus wouldn't make any sense, because you can't get people in and out in a timely fashion, building a barrier to casual fans. They need to make attending games enjoyable to sell tickets, not aggravating. The old stadium was easy. I never approached it from the west, and Route 90 is a disaster at rush hours regardless. From the northeast and southeast it took 30 minutes to be parked or home each way. Never parked in the stadium lot though.

Likely contract directly with school bus companies to run the park and ride. Transit was basically a middle man last year. There were a lot of Winnipeg Transit buses used too. They didn't just charter private buses for the Bombers. They'll never be able to provide the volume of service they did in 2013 without Transit being involved. It will be more like the first pre-season game before they brought in far more buses. I know we discussed this before but the golf course needs to be made into a parking lot. There needs to be more parking available on site. Is it tough to get in & out of IGF? Probably no worse than getting out of Canad Inns onto St James Street or Ellice Avenue. Of course, I've heard that the U of M has some kind of grandiose development plan for the golf course that may never get off the ground. Better hope there's not another fiasco with traffic. It's way worse than the old stadium. Not even comparable. Every vehicle on campus has to enter or exit through 2 intersections. Can only be worse with fewer people able to use Transit.

Likely contract directly with school bus companies to run the park and ride. Transit was basically a middle man last year. There were a lot of Winnipeg Transit buses used too. They didn't just charter private buses for the Bombers. They'll never be able to provide the volume of service they did in 2013 without Transit being involved. It will be more like the first pre-season game before they brought in far more buses.

I hope it was Woods. If he's 100% from that foot injury that's great news.

DB could see a surprise cut too, we have a hell of a lot of rookie DB's. 9 rookie imports, plus guys like Markett, Dunn and a whole bunch of new NI's too. Kent and Hefney cut the last two years in training camp...

I think Thomas and Lucas will both play some, Newman and Bucknor are basically competing for a spot on D, most likely playing passing downs, taking out Thomas/Lucas, potentially swapping out an import DB or LB for another pass rusher. Sherman has an outside shot in that competition too, he wasn't bad playing D a bit last year. If we get any kind of LB play from a NI this year that would be a bonus (other than Newman maybe playing some OLB on passing downs).

That's too expensive for a school bus ride IMO. Plus there isn't really a school bus company in Winnipeg that could handle the demand if it keeps up from last year, they'd basically have to contract every private bus in the city, and there aren't a lot of them because every school division has their own giant fleet. If that's something that ends up happening, they are going to have major problems selling tickets long-term. Tack $80 onto the cost of your season ticket essentially if you're planning to use the bus. They'd probably be better off just raising ticket prices to pay for it in terms of optics.

Wouldn't be much of a practice. They'd have no equipment, they'd have to head to Canadian Tire to buy a ball.

9/10. Got number one wrong. Thought they took out cut blocks outside of the box and away from the line of scrimmage for the coming season. There's pretty much one seemingly minor detail in every question you have to pick out, and if you do it is very straightforward.

This could end up being better for the Argos in the long run. Avoid a "mistake by the lake." Wonder if they'll be able to play a few cities/municipalities off each other to get some tax money.

The funniest part of that article is when Bourke says "look at the numbers, they don't lie. It's not like we're asking for a crazy amount." Followed by, I've never actually looked at the numbers. Only 4 members of the PA executive have access to the audited financial statements of the private teams, but still, it's kind of a funny way to put it and then contradict yourself in the next quote. The numbers are almost becoming mythical outside of the negotiating table. But as you said, the more the PA speaks, the more ignorant they sound. Their policy of telling players to take any and every opportunity to speak to media and vent on Twitter is really backfiring, you'd think there'd be enough media consultant's itching for a small consulting fee and the CFLPA on their resume that they could take advantage of for some basic media policy advice. Bourke's played in every CFL city multiple times, spent several days in all of them, and he really wonders how the Alouettes would struggle to "do at least fairly well?" They are the second team in a one team city. They play in one of the oldest standing stadiums in North America, which is also damn near inaccessible by any modern mode of transportation. When they were selling out they were selling an amount of tickets that would have put the Bombers on the brink of folding. They also lack control over a bunch of ancillary revenues. The Rolling Stones aren't playing Percival Molson if they come to Montreal. Since Wetenhall sunk a bunch of money into upgrading the stadium a bit and adding some seats, they haven't been selling out. It's pretty simple math. A team selling 22,000 seats isn't going to post strong revenues in a league where 25,000 is the relative breakeven point.

I was hoping for "Boltus fumbled ginger snaps."

Got a bit of a laugh with them listing Watson at 285, if he's more than 260 he's really packed on the pounds fast. Goodrich is a guy with pro potential for sure. Not sure about his eligibility as a territorial exemption because I believe he spent at least one season with the Bisons, and I think part of last season too before he went back to the Rifles. I've watched Goodrich since he was 14, coached teams that have played against him. He's as dominant as a receiver as there's been in Winnipeg at the high school level in a long time, keeping in mind a guy like Demski who came through as a tailback, but has mostly played receiver for the Bisons and likely will in the CFL too.

The FACTs contradict each other. Business models differ, but new stadiums in Hamilton and Ottawa should equal comparable revenue to the new stadium in Winnipeg. Here's a FACT I'm interested in, does the CFLPA at least consult with an economist? Interesting numbers with the community owned teams in terms % of team revenue would go to player salaries. What's the % for Toronto or Montreal? I suppose they can't release that number because it would break the confidentiality they agreed to with financial statements. It would likely be upwards of 50%.

I'm pro-union, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for the CFLPA given how poorly they are handling negotiations, consistently flip-flopping each time the CBA is reopened on how they wish to be compensated based on how they can get the most money the next season (which is totally fair). What I can't stand is the calling out of the league for being greedy and unwilling to partner with the players, when really history suggests the opposite is at least equally true. In the last CBA, the league gave the players more money than they would have got had compensation linked to revenue continued. The CFLPA knew that stadiums were planned in Winnipeg, Hamilton, BC and most likely Saskatchewan last time around. Rather than take a longview, they took the immediate money and ran, giving up compensation linked to revenue. You change something fundamental like how compensation is determined, you can't expect to change it back to suit you best the next time it comes around. You reap what you sow. Unfortunately I believe most CFL players are in the dark (which is not unusual for any labour negotiation) and their executive/legal counsel is severely lacking in expertise, and they don't have the money to bring in someone who can handle this situation properly. They've likely seen the best offer from the CFL, and if this goes on much longer they'll be taken to the woodshed.

This is reminding me a lot of the breakdown of the NHLPA in 2005. Small group of players, along with the PA executive willing to die on the hill of absolutely no salary cap, even if that extended the lockout into a second season, larger group of players eventually freeze out that faction and take over negotiations. The league side also brought in more moderate negotiators. I don't know how accurate Harris' estimates are, but I think they are favouring the right sides in terms of most players and most owners wanting to compromise. Problem is it gets very personal, basically a clash of personalities among the people from both sides at the table, and you're looking at a group of competitive people on both sides.

The players should vote to strike but show up for camp with the strike looming, basically they can walk out at any point without a current CBA. That to me would be the only leverage they could hold over the league at this point. MLBPA and NHLPA have both used this tactic to varying success. Imagine if the players said two weeks before Labour Day that they won't play starting that week if there is no deal...leverage. Even that might not be enough to move the league, but it's something. I'm not sure their leadership is savvy enough to organize something like that.

The players actually asked to remove the revenue sharing in 2010, it was their idea. At least that's the impression I get from Doug Brown and the CFLPA counsel currently and at that time, Ed Molstad. At that point revenue was stagnant and they wanted more real dollars tacked on to the SMS limit. Penton and Toth were giving Doug Brown a pretty good ribbing about it last night. Goes to show how narrow the view of the CFLPA is, and I guess that makes sense since most of them aren't around more than a few years. I also listened to that conversation last night between Toth, Brown and Penton. That's definitely not the impression I got. My understanding was that the PA allowed the owners to go back to a fixed cap because the league was in hard times and that the league would consider a cap tied to revenue in the future if revenues increased. But the hard cap was requested by the owners. I'm sure if the PA requested the removal of revenue sharing last time and now want it back, that the owners would be making a bigger deal about it, during these negotiations. The switch to a fixed cap was sort of the $3,000 bonus and immediate raise of that negotiation. Have some money now, and you have can probably get some more later, but lets just get it done on the league's part. Like now, the players wanted more money, but the revenue sharing agreement wouldn't give that to them. The PA only deals in the here and now, which is difficult when the league is dealing with sustainability. I don't think any pro league has the same dynamic, ones with collective bargaining anyways.