Tracker

And how many "promising" players have we had that just didn't pan out. Thorpe wasn't good enough to displace any of the Rider receivers, although they were a darned good bunch. The sample size was just too small to make a definitive judgement.

But the second mouse gets the cheese.

Hall's record has been consistent over his career as a DC, and therefore unlikely to change. What you see is what you are going to get, and is a far more likely reason for the Bomber's defensive woes than all the players he has gone through.

The jury is still out on Thorpe. He looked okay in his limited playing time but was hardly a dominant receiver.

Being fired from the current circus in Montreal could actually be considered a plus.

Damn. And I would bet the Bombers did not speak to Thorpe.

I would think that the Bombers owe it to their fans and Hall to come out with a definitive statement regarding Hall's status with the club soon. That way we would know when to heat up the bitumen and plucking fowls.

To throw a cat in among the pigeons, as much as I like Flanders, I think we may be overlooking a piece of the puzzle. Rainey in BC and Christian Jones in Regina and a couple of other speed demons in the CFL are capable of breaking off huge gains and Jones damned nearly won the game for the Riders over the Argos. That sort of player would be very useful.

I think you underestimate the impact the head coach has when he chooses his subordinate staff.

He was a linebacker(Trevis Smith) who was convicted with a six-year sentence. He served two years and was deported. There were other players of that era rumoured to have been caught doing stupid things but things got hushed up.

Shivers brought in some good players but didn't care about their attitudes or thugishness- strongly reminiscent of Chris Jones' attitude.

And borderline urinary incontinence.

Well, well, well. I cannot see how this could work. Ed Hervey had the reputation in Edmonton of being very prickly and dictatorial and Wally would have had to been slipped a lot of roofies to hold still for this. When he finishes jonesing, he is gonna be a very unhappy camper. Not going to end well, IMO.

When Medlock was interviewed, he said something to the effect that he was looking forward to coming back healthy. There may have been an injury at play in his slump.

I did not suggest that only experienced coaches ought to be hired- that would depend on who is available at the moment and what the team they are asked to take over. There are examples of rookie coaches/Gms doing well, but I would bet that their success rate is way lower than veterans who have had success elsewhere. The Bombers when Sleepy Joe left were in as bad a state as any CFL team in the past. Logic would indicate that bringing in relatively inexperienced (or totally inexperienced, in the case of O'Shea) head coach and GM was a guarantee that the team would struggle, and it has. The thinking that "Gee, we made the playoffs, so that's good enough" gets old real fast- ask the Stampeders. Walters and O'Shea should be as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs in 2018.

By your logic, Toronto should never have hired either Popp or Trestman and the Lions should have passed on Buono because their previous HC jobs did not end well.

Boooooo....

I am of the opinion that if we'd had a seasoned head coach or a seasoned GM, our wandering in the wilderness would have been shorter, and we're still not at the edge of the promised land yet. Walters and O'Shea deserve one more year, but that's it, with the caveat that if, O'Shea decides to hang onto Hall, then it's time to roll the tumbrel up.

For your side, pretty good. I would like to state for the record that all of the playoffs games were great drama if not great footyball.

Where is the "WTF" button ?

Maybe the Bobby Orr syndrome is kicking in. Orr decided to pack it in when he realized he had to choose between being able to play with his kids and walk with them or play hockey. Orr was class all the way and if I remember correctly, he even gave money back to the Red Wings when he chose to retire.

Are you seriously blaming him for the gong show that was going on in Montreal, or fault him for firing a subordinate coach for coming into a morning meeting drinking? If you want to compare him to other coaches, perhaps you should consider how many Grey Cups he has won compared to Jones, O'Shea , Dickinson, Maas etc. Higgins has been the recipient of some bad organizational politics and may or may not be a great coach, but there is reason to believe he is a good one.

Reported today on 3downnation that DesJardins stated that negotiations with Harris are proceeding well, so there's that.

Tom Higgins.