17to85

Not all of us have that much faith in the media.... Honestly I'm not sure a lot of the CFL media are capable of tying their own shoes let alone correctly picking the most outstanding players in the league.

All I’ve heard for three years is how no one wants to sit in minus-30 conditions for playoff games in CGY. Fair. I guess plus-10, too. — Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) November 16, 2015 When the marquee franchise can't get 35k or so to a semi final their is something wrong Look back over the past couple decades and see how attendance was for semi-finals in both conferences. 26 is probably right around the median, maybe slightly above. For back-to back semis in 2002 and 2003, the Bombers drew 22,000 - 23,000. For the 2007 semi-final Bombers drew 23,000. BC, Edmonton and Calgary have never been know to draw great crowds for semi-finals either. Sasky was 3000 short of a sellout in 2013 for the semi. Seems like a reasonably fixable problem for the spiffy new commish. to solve...seriously. Makes no sense that attendance drops off for playoff games. To start with don't crank playoff ticket prices up above regular season prices and start the season 2-4 weeks earlier to keep the fair-weather fans interested. They didn't crank ticket prices up in Calgary though. Tonnes of $35 - $45 tickets available too which is the same price those seats sell for in the regular season. If teams choose not to sell playoff games as part of their regular season packages, which I believe Calgary does not do, then it will be tough to sell 35,000 individual tickets for semi-final games. The best the league will do is move the season up one more week so the first week of the regular season does not overlap with the final week of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Another factor is the draft. The league will not move the season up any earlier than mid-June (late-May for training camp) due to the NFL and CFL draft. People need to accept this. If by some crazy chance we see a 10th team in the CFL, the Grey Cup will happen an additional week earlier in mid-November. Here's hoping... Calgary isn't as rock solid in their attendance as people want to believe. Too many NFL only douchebags in this town who don't give a **** about the CFL.

If you read between the lines on that though he doesn't come across as saying "no problems here" I do believe when referencing the OL he was placing plenty of blame on the scheme. Saying "my players are fine it's the scheme not letting them work. Which is a sentiment many here have echoed.

O'Shea's never been a DC so it would be unrealistic for them to expect he'd be able to fix Etch's D by mid-season. I disagree. Due to his experience as a player. He has been a part of some great defenses. And if you hear his former team mates speak, he was basically a coach on the field. He knows the CFL defense and could design one if needed. I have a hard time believing a future HOF MLB wouldn't know how. Especially one that spent basically his entire life around the Canadian game. I'm also pretty sure that if he could pick any defensive coordinator in the league to run his defence it'd be Steinhauer and everyone here loves his defense right? O'Shea knows what he's doing, a lot of people spouting off on here though don't really know the ins and outs of what goes on in hiring decisions.What do you base that MOS knows what he is doing on?His record?His hiring of assistant coaches?I would suggest you don't know a lot of the in and outs any better than the naysayers.Just saying. I'm not pretending like I know the ins and outs. That's the difference. I base O'Sheas knowing what he's doing on the improvements in the defence when he didn't have to hire a last choice after being turned down by everyone else of interest. I base it on the way he speaks about the defense in Hamilton and specifically mentioning how well Steinhauer has those guys playing. Mike O'Shea is not a dummy. He didn't get where he is by being a dummy. Even when he talks about Bellefeuille he mentions continuity being important for Willy in his mind. Not a bad point, they tried to spend their way into better protection for him and it didn't work so he fired the guy. Just because he is more patient than people here doesn't mean he's not a good coach, just means he isn't the knee jerk reaction type.

We need a game breaking interception... Juran Bolden I'm looking at you

He's a smart cookie for sure and I get the sense that he knows what the problems with the team are, it's just a matter of whether or not he can actually address them.

We aren't discussing whether or not he would be a good DC. Just whether or not it would be unrealistic to expect him to know how to Design a Defense along with another DC (Etch), which is what your original statement was. That it would be unrealistic to assume so. I'm simply stating that since he's already shown he can take on field experience and transfer that to a playbook via Special teams. It isn't unrealistic that he could also do that for a Defense. Whether or not it would work out is another discussion all together. If he were a former DC at any level then I'd agree with you. As he wasn't I don't. So only DC's can recognize or design defensive schemes then? I'm betting that lots of defensive position coaches can, to various degrees do it, and I'm willing to bet that some players can too. I know this because there is no "magic" that happens once someone is named defensive coordinator. They are not suddenly able to do things that they couldn't do before, it's just that they are now being paid and given the responsibility for doing it. So does O'shea have a background that might allow him to help a DC put together a defensive package? Of course he does. Arguing that he doesn't is just plain silly. Would O'Shea be really good at doing it? Maybe, maybe not. Sure that's how it works. Once someone has enough experience points they level up and gain new skills that they don't have access to before.

Just because I like thinking about that 2001 team so much here's this:

started 2-2, won 12 straight, then lost the final 2 games, including the final game of the season to Calgary, which let them into the playoffs and..............well, we don't need to go there....... We shoulda known when half the lights at the old stadium stopped working during the game.

Haha oh my stars you actually said that... I don't think you remember how hit or miss the offense was in 2007, or how dominant the defense was on that 2001 team. 2007 was bolstered bigtime by Gauthier being one of the better tackles in the league and a canadian. They paid a big price to get that guy too don't forget. Picard was still good back then, Andrew Greene was really the unsung hero there too. Guy was a real quality vet on the interior. Rounded it out with Dan Goodspeed at the other tackle who in his day was a good american tackle. 2007 was also a long time ago, the CFL has changed Canadians are playing more and more skill positions and playing them better and better. You don't need to put all your canadians on the OL. It's not the most efficient use of the roster when you don't have those quality veterans to fill the positions. As much as we dislike Bucknor he's still playing maybe the easiest position to hide a Canadian in, much moreso than safety. The additional designated imports make a rotation on the defense a very viable option as well which many teams are taking advantage of. The idea that you MUST use as many canadians on the offensive line is outdated thinking. The key is you must have as many good canadians as possible and where they specifically play doesn't really matter as long as they can play. Right now we don't have enough Canadians who are simply good enough players. 2001 was all kind of special. Should have swept the awards that year. The only team that I'll listen to an argument as being better than 01 since 2001 is 2002. That was a good ******* team that got boned by Ricky Ray showing up and being amazing as a rookie and injuries before the playoffs.

O'Shea's never been a DC so it would be unrealistic for them to expect he'd be able to fix Etch's D by mid-season. I disagree. Due to his experience as a player. He has been a part of some great defenses. And if you hear his former team mates speak, he was basically a coach on the field. He knows the CFL defense and could design one if needed. I have a hard time believing a future HOF MLB wouldn't know how. Especially one that spent basically his entire life around the Canadian game. I'm also pretty sure that if he could pick any defensive coordinator in the league to run his defence it'd be Steinhauer and everyone here loves his defense right? O'Shea knows what he's doing, a lot of people spouting off on here though don't really know the ins and outs of what goes on in hiring decisions.

Etchevary was clearly a dumpster diving hire though, he was literally the last choice when everyone else turned them down. They didn't waste time upgrading when someone better was available

Haha oh my stars you actually said that... I don't think you remember how hit or miss the offense was in 2007, or how dominant the defense was on that 2001 team. 2007 was bolstered bigtime by Gauthier being one of the better tackles in the league and a canadian. They paid a big price to get that guy too don't forget. Picard was still good back then, Andrew Greene was really the unsung hero there too. Guy was a real quality vet on the interior. Rounded it out with Dan Goodspeed at the other tackle who in his day was a good american tackle. 2007 was also a long time ago, the CFL has changed Canadians are playing more and more skill positions and playing them better and better. You don't need to put all your canadians on the OL. It's not the most efficient use of the roster when you don't have those quality veterans to fill the positions. As much as we dislike Bucknor he's still playing maybe the easiest position to hide a Canadian in, much moreso than safety. The additional designated imports make a rotation on the defense a very viable option as well which many teams are taking advantage of. The idea that you MUST use as many canadians on the offensive line is outdated thinking. The key is you must have as many good canadians as possible and where they specifically play doesn't really matter as long as they can play. Right now we don't have enough Canadians who are simply good enough players.

..... what? The offense was by far the biggest sore spot on the team and you don't think the OC should have been taking the fall? Come on now Iso, I know you want to fire everyone and blow it all up but the offensive coordinator wasn't a fall guy on this team, he was a guy needing to be fired. We know O'Shea is a good coach because the STs got a lot better when he got more involved and we know players have said they came here because of him. Why fire a guy like that when he has been hampered by a shitty offense for which he fired his offensive coordinator? You need to give people chances to rebound or improve but you seem hell bent on firing people for the first mistakes which doesn't work in the long run. I count at least TWO mistakes. 2014 2015 which is really just one mistake in keeping Bellefool. They tried to spend money on the OL thinking that would help the offense and it didn't so they went to the root of the problem and made that change this year. People need to be patient and don't give me that 25 years crap. Not being patient in that span is the biggest reason why things got as bad as they did.

Is there an import ol making more than Elimimian? Or SJ Green or Nic Moore? Bryants making $160K and SV Rogers north of that. My point is that you spend the money on the best linemen as it's easier to find a Khalil Bass for $60K and still get performance at the position. Over paying internationals at those positions you mentioned is what I'm against, it's idiotic when they grow on trees down south. Tackles are getting paid the big bucks, but do american guards or centres get paid that much? I seem to recall Brendan Taman bringing in guys for the interior who could play without any issues and that says something cause Taman was pretty hit or miss with scouting. No one really tries to find guards and centres down south preferring to put the Canadians there. I guarantee that if there was a bigger push to use more Americans on the offensive line you'd see less money spent in free agency on the good ones.

..... what? The offense was by far the biggest sore spot on the team and you don't think the OC should have been taking the fall? Come on now Iso, I know you want to fire everyone and blow it all up but the offensive coordinator wasn't a fall guy on this team, he was a guy needing to be fired. We know O'Shea is a good coach because the STs got a lot better when he got more involved and we know players have said they came here because of him. Why fire a guy like that when he has been hampered by a shitty offense for which he fired his offensive coordinator? You need to give people chances to rebound or improve but you seem hell bent on firing people for the first mistakes which doesn't work in the long run.

And it really shouldn't even be close, but the media has ragers for everything RedBlacks so what should be likely won't be and a guy having a good season might win over a guy having a great season.

NE Calgary born and bred.

Most of those were done after the first couple games when he wasn't doing squat. Everyone with sense has said that he stepped up big and has been maybe the teams best player since.

Ya luckily it'll be the first two hours on the Friday so she should be alright.... Not based on what I saw at Oktoberfest.....

Oh please, Richard and I haven't missed a Beerfest since before you lived out here I ain't about to start now. I only laugh at the idea because I doubt Heather's ability to be sober enough to remember what the hell she's been drinking.

I definitely have my favourites that I go to, but it's mostly because in the stores closest to me I've tried most of the stuff I'd want to try anyway and there's not a lot that's really new that seems like something I'd want. Honestly Bigrock always has a soft spot being the brand that started me down the path but there's a few that have become go to beers as well. Did they really ask you two to be judges at beerfest? Cause I'm going to guffaw at that notion.

Agreed. The girlfriend has a tough time with some of the graphic violence in this. It can definitely be dark sometimes. Have been a big Donal Logue (Bullock) fan since his arc started on Law and Order: SVU and Ben McKenzie since the OC days. Both really great actors. The kid playing Cobblepot should be getting Emmy nom's....he's been outstanding from Day 1. I love Logue. I remember first seeing him in Blade back in the 90's. I was going to give him **** for knowing the guy from Law and Order... **** sakes he was in Blade and that's the only place people are allowed to have seen him first.

I've only tried 2 different beers from Muskoka and they were both boring safe types. I forget which ones they were but nothing outrageous. When buying a new type of beer to try there's really no rhyme or reason to it. My brother and I used to do that all the time when I first moved to Calgary, just wander into the beer store and grab something randomly. If there's a style you want just grab something in that style or pick whatever has the best label or best name (I bought a beer called Arrogant Bastard simply because I couldn't pass up that name and I always love Tool Sheds People Skills for obvious reasons)

The sad thing is we're really not. As good as those places are and as many new ones are coming we're still so far behind provinced like BC, Ontario and Quebec that it's not even funny. Phillips is probably my favorite brewery and they're based out in BC ... Really wish I had access to more of their stuff. Really like Parallel 49 too, based out there. Phillips Blue Buck is pretty good for sure and I know they had an ISA or something that I quite enjoyed. Granville Island was bought by a big brewer but they have some good stuff as well that is pretty widely available (English Bay Pale Ale being my favourite) It's nuts though, been to BC a few times over the summer and there are so many more options available that just don't have the distribution out of province. Vancouver is littered with breweries that I'd never heard of before. Luckily the Alberta government is making it easier for Alberta Breweries to grow without penalizing them heavily so hopefully that will let some of the brands that aren't Bigrock spread across the prairies. I love me some Bigrock don't get me wrong but most of their selection is based around the Traditional and it seems that the English style brown ales don't get enough love from the craft beer world. I'd love to see WildRose get some more exposure and maybe start bottling the damned SOB or Wred Wheat again rather than making me drive all the way to their brewery to get it.