TrueBlue4ever

Read the whole Hamilton article. A bit of fear mongering in it. Like a move away from Harris, despite all the logical points involving cost, age, and injury, would be a PR disaster and spell possible doom for the team. “Just imagine his first press conference, complaining about Winnipeg’s unwillingness to make room for him, while dressed in Riders green. Imagine trying to stop a revitalized Andrew Harris with a giant chip on his shoulder. The Bombers have built up plenty of good will over the years – winning will do that. But it seems unwise to test that by saying goodbye to, unquestionably, one of the most popular players in team history. Simply put, Harris is quite likely the only player capable of defeating the Bombers in the court of public opinion. For it to even get to that point would be a big mistake. The good news is there are some options that could still be in play. Maybe club president and CEO Wade Miller decides to step in. If there’s anything Miller cares most about, it’s the financial health of the team. Bottom line: Harris puts butts in seats, and no jersey is more prominent at home games than his No. 33. Or, perhaps, Walters and O’Shea come to their senses and a deal gets done.” Hey, if he is so wanted by all of his teammates that they have voiced their displeasure with the club, then surely they would all be more than willing to take a pay cut to pay him his salary. 0.25% per player would do it. Who wants to ask Adam Bighill, who forfeited 60% of his salary to help the team through the pandemic year, and left another $65,000 minimum on the table this year, to hand over more of his salary so Andrew doesn’t get his nose out of joint. Or if Harris is such a consummate team leader, maybe he follows Bighill’s lead and reduces his ask in the spirit of team harmony. This isn’t show friends, it is show business, and Harris is asking a lot for a 35 year old coming off a knee and ankle injury who missed half the (already shortened) season and skipped the vast majority of practice while his teammates went through the daily grind. If he wants to still play and another team wants to sign him, I wish him all the best and thank him for his service. But his money is much better spent on replacing a suddenly much thinner receiving corps, a more stable kicking option, and run stoppers on the d-line. Or trade Oliviera and ride Harris for another year for a short term Grey Cup defence, knowing it will harm them in the longer term. Which approach do folks around here want?

I‘ll agree except I’ll use the word “opponent” instead of “enemy”.

Maybe Jeff could have convinced the media not to piss off Harris by excluding him from all-star and Schenley voting a few years back, since he’s so concerned about how to keep Andrew here.

I don’t think this hurts Harris’ legacy unless he burns bridges on his way out (rips the city like Brock or runs down the team like Mike Kelly after his first departure or Gerald Wilcox). Simply leaving for another team won’t damage him. Martin Brodeur left for a short stint in St. Louis and Michael Jordan went to Washington - neither of them were stained by that unsuccessful last act. Tom Brady went on and it only enhanced his legacy by winning elsewhere. Harris apparently wants to still play and the Bombers apparently want to save his salary for something else. Any fans who think that him going elsewhere damages his legacy are simply taking a page from the Boston butt-hurt fan playbook who whined about Brady’s retirement speech not giving enough credit to the Patriot organization, or giving any to the Bucs. Had nothing to really do with “legacy” and more to do with emotions and hurt feelings. Yeah, (not to mention) him too. 😁

Maybe before the Grey Cups, but now I believe the team could survive in keeping interest and gaining revenue without his image. They can plaster the reigning MOP on posters if they want, use Willie J as the charismatic face of the team, and sell Demski and Oliviera as the hometown heroes.

Probably better to keep O’Shea at arms length. This is contract negotiations, all about dollars and cents. The head coach needs to motivate his player to play and fit whatever role is needed on the field, not to sign for less money off it. Keep that relationship strong on the field and let Walters/Miller take the heat and resentment for any alleged shortchanging in the boardroom.

The league can void a contract that is offered (like a domestic violence situation) but have zero interest in doing it for big payday deals. They shrug and give minimal penalties if anything at all for salary cap violators, and allowed Edmonton to delay a Jason Maas trade to Hamilton to let them load up on defence and keep him for a Grey Cup run while giving nothing back in return until after the season. League has no interest in policing itself where player deals are involved based on past precedent.

Harris’ 2016 season was pretty stellar. Only a 3 game injury, and not the o-line, kept him from the rushing title, and he got more touches as a receiver those first two years, which would also keep his running numbers down. You are right that both elements are important, but Harris should not be viewed as being the beneficiary of a good line and otherwise only so-so, IMO.

Careful. If you are wishing for karmic payback, remember that the botched Durant move freed up the cash to pick up Adam Bighill in the end. I would hate to see a similar karmic end result for the Riders just for us to have a short term laugh.

Wow, not even gone yet and already trying to find a way to diminish what he did here with the “maybe it was the o-line and not him ” angle, just because he may end up a Rider. Wonder when the PED Harris posts will start here If he goes over one province.

No, no - truckin’ convoy. Actually, you may have got it right the first time. You know, I don’t advocate any violent actions against the protestors, but the ones who got run over are lucky they were able to get medical aid at the hospital despite the overcrowding caused by those who refuse to get vaxxed clogging up the ICUs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1991/04/21/ismail-signs-262-million-deal-to-rocket-to-canada/468e3da8-2fc4-4b53-985a-93babdd89863/ Sorry, couldn’t resist. 😁

You’re spitting into the wind trying to get this board to apply unbiased logic where the Riders are concerned, emotion fuels the large majority of opinion about them.

One more year of this sweet gif

No more skewed than removing a game performance to under-inflate stats. It’s like taking Lawler’s big game in BC out of the equation and saying he was the 5th best receiver last year. Williams came in in limited time and over that time put up numbers that would put him right around the top of the league pro-rated over a full season last year. When he left in 2018 he was the top receiver in the league. He can justify being the highest paid receiver, whether 260,000 is appropriate is up for debate but that is the market rate right now given Whitehead’s contract and Lawler’s offer, as well as Derel Walker’s past contracts. And

I love what Demski brings,but this statement is a real reach. He has never topped 660 yards receiving in a season, and seen spot duty returning and rushing. Joe Pop was miles ahead of him as a receiver and also kicked FGs for us once upon a time. Gerald Wilcox had monster numbers that make Demski’s pale in comparison. And Jeff Nicklin played both ways including as an inside receiver, got his number retired, and was a war hero. even Rick House put up more dominant seasons. I would place Demski behind all of them in the pantheon of greatest Canuck slots for the Bombers, even if he plays another 6 years and doubles his current stats.

Leo Lewis then? I mean, it’s kind of like debating which is the best vacation spot, Hawaii, Turks and Caicos, or Jamaica?

We still have 4 Canadian running backs if they re-sign Oliviera (I’m counting Demski here) so we still have tons of flexibility that other teams don’t have. The one issue another team may have in signing Harris is that he takes up a starting Canadian spot, so if he gets hurt then the team must replace him with another Canadian, and no other team has the luxury of another quality Canadian RB like we do. Could actually make him less valuable elsewhere. Also, with his age and passport, would be surprised to see another team drop a bundle on him when a younger, cheaper American tailback would be easy to pluck from the college system. Unless of course his full skill set of running, receiving and pass blocking was exploited by a coach who knows how to maximize his talents and would be able to build an offence around him rather than loading up on receivers. Now which team/coach fits that description? Hmmmm……….

Listen to what? This?

Two questions: 1) Would most of the Looney Tunes cartoons be banned today for some form of offensive content as deemed by the PC crowd (acts of violence with coyote/road runner or Daffy Duck hunting, Bugs in drag insulting the transgender crowd, Porky Pig being an insensitive caricature of the disability of stuttering, Pepe le Pew being a sexual predator, etc? 2) Is it still the funniest most subversively clever cartoon series out there (if we agree that it once was)?

They seem to vote a surprising number of those folks into power, though. New interim leader being just another example. One interesting early (conspiracy?) theory on Twitter - Bergen is going to go even more hard right, and when a new leader is elected they will scale back to where they are now to correct the trajectory and look “moderate” by comparison to woo voters.

And if you open the link and read the comments afterwards, one of the messages from a Marc Luscher rips this “critic” for his bitter rantings from the “unwanted less-favoured adopted son and not the truly loved natural-born offspring” - signed Marc (and most certainly not Joel). Nice to see sibling rivalry alive and well. marc luscher Feb 1·edited Feb 1 ah, yes. the bitter rantings of the less-favored *adopted* "twin", the useless appendage finally forced off the coattails of his more successful "twin" (whom Mother ACTIALLY pushed out her birth canal, by the way, who WAS loved, who did NOT sleep in a dog cage in the garage, who was NOT given the same second-hand Lite-Brite for three consecutive Christmas’s) ... but he who by means of a sad attempt at barely recognizable humor wishes to lash out at his handsome, loved, talented "twin" - NOT chosen from a budget orphanage catalog - in the pathetic hope of seeming relevant. get a life, get a solo hit movie, and get on without me, already ! -marc (and most certainly not Joel)

The convoy went to Ottawa to oust the PM. Got Scheer instead, the only leader to meet with them. And the guy millions of Canadians supposedly despise or hate, and who was “just not ready”, has now seen the backs of 3 Conservative leaders during his tenure.

Updated list: 5 days left until free agency. As far as I can tell from the roster on blue bombers.com and the free agent list on cfl.ca, here is where we are at: Bold = confirmed signed Plain = pending free agent Italics = on roster, presumably signed but contract status not reported (any help to clarify would be appreciated) Underlined = released QB - D. Brown, Collaros, McGuire RB - Augustine, Borsa, Harris, M. Miller, Oliveira WR - Adams, Bailey, Demski, Grant, Jackson, Lawler, McKnight, O’Leary-Orange, Wolitarsky OL - Bryant, Burks, Couture, Desjarlais, Eli, Gray, Hardrick, Kolankowski, Neufeld, Richmond DL - Antigua, Jeffcoat, Jefferson, Kongbo, Richardson, E. Rose, Sayles, Thomas, Walker, Wicker, Wilcots II LB - Bighill, Briggs, K. Brown, Cadwaller, Gauthier, Hansen, Lowes, Maruo, Wilson DB - Alexander, Alford, Darby, Ni. Hallett, No. Hallett, Hampton, Houston, Johnson, Jones, Kramdi, Matson, J. Miller, Nichols, W. Rose, Taylor, Thompson K - Castillo, Crapigna, Liegghio, Mourtada LS - Benson

Great signing for a guy some wanted cut after a few drops to start the year last season. Glad that the coaching staff’s patience was rewarded.