bearpants

When did Burke coach the Esks?

Oh yeah, you definitely round that up!... congratulations

I thought Flanders was one of the better players last night (yeah I know it was 3rd stringers vs 3rd stringers)... he's still a long shot and he'll need to return kicks to make it... but I suspect the coaches will want a long look at him on Monday...

haha said the exact same thing to my friend at the game last night... Now that we have Odds and Sods... Bombers season is officially back...

I believe O'Shea is on record (possibly on the coaches show) as saying he would give Willy enough reps to get into a rhythm, then pull him... so we may only see a few possessions, or possibly the whole half depending on how things go...

The rest of your post kind of contradicts your initial statement... you basically said "I don't care about pre-season games and here's all the reasons I'm excited about tonight's game"... Don't pretend you don't love it as much as the rest of us

I read somewhere (sorry I can't recall where) that O'Shea said Willy would play long enough to get into a rhythm... so theoretically if the offense comes out and dominates on the first drive, he could be one and done...

generally if you have to make that statement... well that speaks for itself.... He also has an impressive ability to take a tough question and dance around it for several minutes without actually answering the question... who says this guy isn't a politician!

Yeah that's exactly the problem... where do you draw the line... I'm sure this debate has been going on in Bomber offices for a while now... and the main reason why I don't see it ever happening...

He was RG for all 18 games last year...

Out of everything he said... this is the one point that really hope turns out to me true... Re: Macho Harris... I was never enthusiastic about this signing.... I generally tend to cede to the "experts" in player analysis... I just hope they're right and all us arm chair coaches gladly look stupid...

that's essentially what I was saying... while I'm normally not in favour of it I would be ok with a few exceptions... as listed above...

I've never been in favour of retiring numbers for the same reasons listed above... I think there could be a few exceptions but they would have to be the best of the best historically... I think you could make a case for permanent retirement of #11, #63 & #85 (not that they use these numbers anyways!)...

If this is true, then St John is being unreasonable and the Riders are in the right... also, if this is true, John Murphy lied in his "tell all" interview with Jamie Nye about offering less as a "market correction"... I have no issue with the Riders offering him whatever they feel is appropriate... I'm just sick of hearing about this market correction BS and how they are arrogant enough to think one deal will completely revamp the rookie pay market... I suspect in the next CBA there will be a rookie pay scale for the first round, there by eliminating a situation like this in the future...

no, no... that can't possibly be right...

Great report, thanks MoD... By the sounds of our competition at DB... I would guess Bruce Johnson is no lock to make the team... I'm starting to get concerned we may only have Corney for 3 years... but what a 3 year stretch it should be... hopefully he'll remember the team that gave him his start when he returns to the CFL...

I've been browsing through these threads the last couple of days out of curiosity... There's becoming a distinct difference between the level-headed ones saying "darn, we seem to have screwed the pooch here. Let's at least try to get a decent return for him"... and the ones saying "yeah, go get em Jones! you guys are the best, no one pushes the Riders around, he can sit an rot for all I care!"... Imagine the panic around here is we had a first overall (or even first rounder) refuse to sign... The one thing the rah-rah rider fans fail to recognize is... if they offered 80k + bonus and incentives (give or take)... he'd be in camp right now, there would literally be no issue... and those same fans would be praising Jones and Co for their work in signing him...

There's no way signing one player at a lower rate will suddenly set a new market for top picks... that's why this whole argument is BS... the market is already set... last year's first few picks and this year's first few signed picks are what the Riders will have to pay St John... otherwise he'll never suit up for them

I agree with you but not in the order you have it stated... I believe you need to find someone you can count on game in and game out... then cut your losses...

I think all (maybe most is more appropriate) Bomber fans will agree it's an excellent "problem" to have...

I honestly thoroughly enjoy reading the interactions between reasonable posters... there's just some guys who start every response with "stop trolling" or "you're just pushing an agenda"... rather than take part in actual discussion... but hey, I don't want to call the kettle black, every forum has them...

One thing I was wondering about this JSJ holdout... Does anyone know approximately how much Gagnon, Revenberg, and Villiancourt (and even Brian Jones) signed for... if Jones and Co think they can sign JSJ for less than the other top picks... I wouldn't expect him to ever play for the Riders...

yes very true... I hope our bickering doesn't come off as childish and petty to outsiders as their does... however I thought it was funny that many Rider fans were defending Mike... turns out there are a few level headed individuals...

I'd argue the rock solid hands part... sure he's improved but he's not as sure-handed as guys like Green or Dressler...

I jumped to about 60 and we're right before camp is about to start and he's not signed... things are starting to heat up...