Monthly Archives: July 2009

NHL Says No to Balsillie. Accepts Offer for Coyotes That is $64 Million Less. Is That Good Business?

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

So it’s official. Er, sort of. The Phoenix Coyotes will be sold to Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox, while Jerry Moyes, the guy who has lost more than $300 million on this dog of a franchise, has to sit back and watch as a man, handpicked by the commissioner, a guy who bid $64 million less than Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, gets to take over the team.

Wow! It would appear that for the first time in the history of the business of sports, a franchise for sale was purchased for 64 MILLION freakin’ dollars less than the highest bid. WTF! Meanwhile, the poor guy who tried to make ice hockey work in the desert appears to have no say in the sale of HIS team. Get the feeling that anyone who would EVER do business with the National Hockey League is little more than a sucker that Bernie Madoff missed.

On Wednesday, the NHL’s board of governors unanimously rejected Balsillie’s $212.5 million application to become owner of the Desert Dogs while “unanimously(?)” approving Reinsdorf’s $148 million bid.

According to Canadian Press, “NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the process was necessary to comply with the league’s constitution and bylaws and an order by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield T. Baum.”

“We will so advise the bankruptcy court and we will move this process forward,” Bettman told the New York Post.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Balsillie told the CP that Wednesday’s decision would not stop the RIM CEO from his pursuit of the Coyotes. An auction for bidders who would commit to keeping the team in Glendale, Ariz., will be held this coming Wednesday, provided the judge finds “the bids satisfactorily meet the demands of the team’s creditors.”

That means, of course, that Balsillie’s bid is not dead. One can’t imagine the creditors would be happy with a bid that is $64 million less, a bid that would probably cost most of the creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And so not surprsingly, Moyes filed a suit claiming that Reinsdorf’s offer “cannot be approved as a matter of law” and that “there are no qualified bidders” based on terms set by the court.

Get the sense this mess is a long way from over?

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Favre Says No Thanks. Will the Vikes Actually Start the Season with Jackson or Rosenfels?

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Brett Favre has told the Minnesota Vikings that he won’t return to the National Football League this year or any other year in the future. He’s retired, period.

Wonder what Reebok and the NFL are going to do with all those FAVRE No. 4 Vikings jerseys that are already being sold in places like Shanghai and Hong Kong?

Oh well, that means Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson or maybe even John David Booty will start at quarterback this year for the Vikings. While I, frankly, believe that Jackson was capable of being a winner two years ago, Vikings fans think otherwise so we’ll see what happens. But somehow, I don’t see the Vikes starting the season with any one of those three guys at the helm.

Call me crazy, but if Jackson was good enough last year, there would have no pursuit of Favre in the first place. Or even Rosenfels.

Meanwhile, Rosenfels has shown a great deal of maturity and class. In an interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he said: “I don’t think it’s necessary to give me an explanation because I understand the situation. I’ve been around the league long enough. … I feel no animosity toward players or coaches.”

That’s a solid response to an otherwise difficult scenario. It’s hard not to root for the guy. But somehow, he just doesn’t appear to me to be the starter on a team that has Super Bowl aspirations. Call me crazy. Trent Dilfer of all people, won a Super Bowl in Baltimore, but I’m sure this Vikings team and its three-headed monster of Rosenfels/Jackson/Booty doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of the Bears or Packers.

And that’s why I still believe the Vikings are going to make some news before Sunday, Sept. 13. Whether that news is spelled F-A-V-R-E or V-I-C-K or something else altogether, I just can’t for the life of me see Sage Rosenfels or T-Jack under centre on Opening Sunday in Cleveland.

How about Favre coming in about Week 3 of training camp?

* * *

THE OTHER MICHAEL

No not Michael Vick, Michael Bishop.

On Monday, the replacement for Lefty Lefors went to his first Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice and took nearly every snap. Still, head coach Mike Kelly hinted that (and I’m paraphrasing), “Oh, perhaps Michael won’t be ready to start on Saturday in Toronto and maybe, just maybe, we’ll go with Lefty again this week.”

Kelly is not insane. He was just playing the local rubes. ‘Cause if Bishop doesn’t start on Saturday at Rogers Centre, the Bombers will be down 5-0 before they can blink — and 5-0 oughtta do it with Lefors at QB.

If Michael Bishop isn’t the answer for the Bombers, Lefors still won’t be. If Bishop fails, Casey Printers will be on the next plane. As much as Mike Kelly likes and even admires Lefors, he’s not going to allow the guy to cost him his job.

And if the Lefors experiement isn’t over, it will. Cost Kelly his job, that is.

CFL NOTEBOOK: The Bombers released both DT Tyrone Wlliams and QB Richie Williams yesterday. A lot of Winnipeg newspaper space was wasted on those two clunkers… The Argos dealt Arland Bruce III to Hamilton for the rights to Corey Mace and some draft picks. That Argo outfit still has no offence. Trouble is, with Lefors at QB, six points was enough last week…

* * *

FROM THE READERS:

Got the following note from Jason, a regular reader and listener, on Wednesday:

Mr. Taylor:

With the Goldeyes in first place heading into the final month of regular season Northern League baseball and playing some very exciting baseball these days, it bothers me that they get lost in the mix because of the Blue Bombers.

The Blue Bombers. One of sorriest excuses for a sports franchise, well, ever. Playing out of a building that’s falling apart and should’ve been torn down 10 years ago. A team that hasn’t won a Grey Cup in 19 years (in an 8-team league!). And this season will be no different, as the team stumbles their way through each game. (kind of makes me wonder why every football fan in this city isn’t desperate to see a new owner take over… what’s so great about community ownership again?)

Yet, it’s all the Winnipeg media talks about. The Winnipeg Goldeyes have a real good shot at bringing this city its first championship since 1994. It’s a team with a beautiful venue, rock-solid ownership, and greater value and entertainment for your dollar than a Blue Bombers game. Yet, this city seems to rarely give them the respect they deserve.

Does it frustrate you too?

- Jason

Jason,

The Goldeyes get tremendous support at Shaw TV, 1290 CFRW, Grassroots News, 92-CITI-FM and www.goldeyes.com.

Just make sure you read, watch and listen to what matters and don’t get caught up in the slow, agonizing death of old media.

Thanks for your note, Jason.

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“Man, if we’d pissed one drop of offence in those three losses, we’d be 4-0 now. Just one drop.”

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

You have to hand it to Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly. His team was dreadful on Friday night in a 19-5 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, but it could always have been worse.

After all, his defence and special teams were good to enough to win. However, his offence was so bad, well… no sense beating a dead horse. That was four days ago. Just check out our previous posts and it’s quite obvious how downright brutal his offensive unit has been.

This morning, however, as he talked about bringing in Michael Bishop as the team’s new No. 1 quarterback, Kelly still had enough personality to laugh a little.

“Man, if we’d pissed one drop of offence in those three losses, we’d be 4-0 now,” Kelly told Tom McGouran and I just before an on-air interview at 92-CITI-FM. “Just one drop.

“But we’ll get this thing right. I know we will. And Michael’s acquisition is the first step.”

You have to hand it to Kelly. He has now proven that his reign as head coach will NOT be Reinebold-esque. After all, when Jeff Reinebold’s Reign of Error was in its wildest throes of lunacy, ol’ Jeff wasn’t changing. He’d made a decision to go with T.J. Rubley and it was going to be T.J. Rubley until Jeff was fired.

And it was.

(Note: Reinebold, who had a tremendous personality and is still a person I like a lot, walked up to me at a Super Bowl five or six years later and the first thing out of his mouth was: “Scotty, T.J. Rubley, what was I thinking?” So he wasn’t completely insane.)

Kelly, meanwhile, has not gone the Reinebold route simply because he’s making a change just four games into his first season as head coach. Stefan Lefors was given every opportunity to succeed, he didn’t and Kelly understands that he has to do what he has to do. He still like Lefors, but he’s realized — as has everyone else — that the kid isn’t the answer. So he went out and got a veteran who, at least, gives the Bombers some hope.

“Michael is a great guy and he will fit in very well in the locker room,” Kelly said this morning. “And he should be ready to play quickly. When he was in Toronto and went through that outstanding 11-1 stretch with the Argos, the terminology and philosophy was the same.

“Charlie Carpenter, our line coach, was in Toronto at that time and it turns out that Michael didn’t have to make a big adjustment as we watched film on Sunday night. He knows the terminology and the way we run the offence. He also has the strongest arm in the CFL and that can’t hurt.”

Of course, if Bishop has all this upside, why wasn’t he working in the league?

“I was very much surprised he was out of work and available to us,” said Kelly who has conveniently  ignored Bishop’s follies in Regina last year. “He has an exceptional arm and can make plays with his feet. He has the skill set to be a very successful quarterback in Winnipeg.”

In fairness to many of  the Bomber players, the team played well on defence and on special teams during that offensive debacle on Friday night. And as Meatloaf said, “two out of three ain’t bad.”

“True,” said Kelly, “but we’ll be looking at the dashboard lights as we drive out of town if we don’t get the offence turned around.”

Good for him. Even in the darkest of times, a man has to keep his sense of humour.

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More Stuff: Ricciardi Treats Halladay like Meat. Why Does the Local Media Perpetuate the Myth that Canwest Park Was Built for the 1999 Pan Am Games?

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The things that are banging around in my head today…

1) Roy Halladay is a professional athlete and as a professional athlete he makes a very large amount of money. He certainly makes enough money to put up with all the crap that is flung in his direction and as a result, no one should feel sorry for him.

However, far too often we look at the professional athlete as the bad guy in those potential blockbuster deals that may or may not benefit our favourite teams. We often ask questions like: Did the jerk stand in the way of the deal? Why did he have a no-trade clause? Why did they give him a no-trade clause?

And on and on it goes.

In Halladay’s case, we might be witnessing one of the rare times when the athlete is the good guy and the people running the baseball franchise are little more than loud-mouthed buffoons.

According to ESPN, the Blue Jays turned own another offer for Halladay yesterday. the best pitcher on Toronto’s staff did not ask for a trade, but two weeks ago Ricciardi made it clear that he was going to shop around his ace and see what he might get in return.

Then, a week later, Ricciardi said the team might not get a deal for Halladay and he could stay with the club although Ricciardi also made it clear he wants to deal Halladay because the pitcher will “probably” test the free-agent market after his contract expires.

What a jerk. For one thing, Halladay has never even hinted he won’t re-sign in Toronto.You an go ahead an assume it might happen but don’t go public a year in advance and suggest that he’ll probably leave the team. That Ricciardi remark was made for Ricciardi’s benefit. It was made to make Halladay look like the bad guy and it’s wrong.

It was a stupid statement by a guy who has failed to make the Jays anything better than a fourth-place team in the AL East.

The fact is this: Ricciardi went public with his desire to trade Halladay. Ricciardi tried to make Halladay look like the villain. Ricciardi is the bad guy, not Halladay.

All Halladay has done is say nothing and pitch two gems since he was put on the trade block.

Halladay is the good guy.

2) Originally, Junior Moar’s plan was to fight a non-title “keep-busy” bout in September and then defend his Canadian Boxing Federation light-heavyweight crown in December.

But in boxing, like no other sport, things can change dramatically in a very short time.

Last week, during an exclusive interview with Grassroots News, Moar revealed that he will now defend his belt against Regina brawler Michael (Flash) Walchuk on Sept. 17, at the Red Robinson Theatre in Port Coquitlam, B.C. He signed the contract for the fight this past Friday night.

Check out the latest issue of Grassroots News (available Tuesday) for Junior Moar’s story. It’s one of the greatest stories in all of sports today.

3) I hate reading a newspaper and seeing something passed off as fact that is, at worst, a lie and, at best, a myth.

But that’s what happened on Sunday when the Winnipeg Free Press claimed — once again — that Winnipeg’s Canwest Park was built for the 1999 Pan Am Games.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The baseball park was built for the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Northern Baseball League by the team’s owner Sam Katz. The city of Winnipeg wanted nothing to do with the construction of the ballpark and that is reflected in the fact that the city’s commitment to the building was less than $1 million.

The Goldeyes had been playing at Canwest Global Park (now Canwest Park) for more than two months when the Pan Am Games arrived. The Pan Am Games organization paid rent to use the building while the Goldeyes played an extended road trip.

The Mayor at the time, Susan Thompson, did everything humanly possible to stop construction of the stadium. She even publicly backed away from a pledge to make the ball park happen by telling the Pan Am Games organizers to play in Stonewall. If the Pan Am Games baseball tournament had been played in Stonewall, Winnipeg would have been the laughing stock of the baseball world. At the time, there were considerably  better facilities in Grand Forks, N.D., than in Stonewall, Man.

As it was, the Pan Am Games executives rented Katz’s ballpark and the tournament was sensational. But the ballpark was NOT built for the Pan Am Games.The Pan Am Games had absolutely nothing to do withe building’s construction. Nothing. Those who contend it did — like the folks in Winnipeg’s mainstream media — are nothing more than revisionist historians.

(NOTE: Want the truth? Just go to www.winnipegmen.com and buy a copy of my book Home Run: A History of the Winnipeg Goldeyes and Canwest Global Park. The true story — much of it from the pages of the Winnipeg Free Press in 1999 — is much more fun than the one the paper likes to sell to its readers today)

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Four Games In: It’s Already Time for the Bombers to Overhaul the Mike Kelly Machine.

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have a lousy football team. No sense trying to sugarcoat it. The local 12 isn’t very good and head coach Mike Kelly needs to do some deep, critical thinking.

His offensive line is weak and he has no quarterback. Defensively, he had a better team earlier in the year when young Dan Oramasionwu started at nose tackle instead of the then-injured Doug Brown. Since Brown returned, the defence has been average, at best.

Friday night at Canad Inns Stadium the offence was put on display for all to see. It was, in a word, dreadful. The final score was Toronto 19, Winnipeg 5 (the Bombers were 3 1/2-point favourites), and there was a dearth of action — by either side –  for the final 25 minutes. For a lot of Bomber fans, it was just a good night to get really shit-faced. Extreme drunkenness probably took the sting out of the ineptitude.

On the upside, starting quarterback Stefan Lefors finally completed 50 per cent of his passes. Unfortunately, he was seven-for-11 for 30 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He put three points on the board.

He was replaced in the third quarter by Bryan Randall who went one-for-five for six yards, one interception and an headache.

Ritchie Williams replaced Randall and was three-for-10 for 30 yards and got the Bombers down to the Toronto two-yard line, but like his colleagues, he couldn’t get the ball in the end zone.

Because the defence wasn’t absolutely horrible Friday night, it’s permissable to believe that the Bombers have some hope. The 42-30 win over Calgary was pretty good. Obviously, there is some up-side to this mess.

But after four games, this team have failed head coach Mike Kelly in one important way. Kelly guaranteed that this team would be entertaining. It’s not. It’s dull. The offence is sleep-inducing.

And that’s even worse than being 1-3.

* * *

COYOTES LOSE $60 MILLION IN 2008-09

For a number of years, we’ve been reporting that the Phoenix Coyotes have lost as much as $60 million a year on operations. We’ve taken a great deal of criticism for making the claim even though we’ve been able to document our reports.

However, in case you don’t want to believe anything until it shows up in the Globe and Mail, it showed up on Friday. The Globe reported that the Coyotes lost $60 million in 2008-09. Hate to say, I told you so…

Documents filed in Arizona bankruptcy court reveal that the Coyotes  lost more than $27 million last season on hockey operations and with interest payments and other costs, the Coyotes lost a total of $67 million last season. On operations alone, the Coyotes have lost more than $20 million for each of the last three campaigns.

Coyotes owner, Jerry Moyes, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May and had a solid offer for the team from RIM president and CEO Jim Balsillie for $212.8 million. The NHL refused to accept that offer, however, because it would have meant moving the franchise to Southern Ontario. So now, while the creditors will be shortchanged by millions, the bankruptcy judge has called for an auction for bidders to keep the team in Phoenix. That auction is scheduled for August 5th.

Keeping that franchise in Phoenix is a stupid mistake. After stiffing the creditors, would you do business with an NHL franchise in Phoenix, Ariz.? I’d certainly want my money up front.

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Umpires. The Scourge of Baseball

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Major League Baseball’s lousy umpires — and my goodness, there is a load of those guys — reared their ugly heads again on Monday night.

A bad call, and I mean a very bad call, cost the Minnesota Twins a ninth-inning tie in a 14-13 loss at Oakland.

With two outs in the top of the ninth, Michael Cuddyer on second base and pinch runner Carlos Gomez on first, Oakland right-hander Michael Wuertz threw a wild pitch. Cuddyer hit third base at full speed and started heading home once he saw the ball bounce all the way to the backstop.

He slid into home plate, underneath Wuertz’s tag and was not only safe on every replay, but safe in real time.

But that’s when a call for replay in Major League Baseball was heard loudly in my living room. An umpire named Mike Muchlinski called Cuddyer out. I’m all for hiring the blind, but that call was ridiculous. Muchlinski owes all of baseball an apology, not just the Twins.

Granted, the Twins once had a 12-2 lead in that ball game and the bullpen blew its collective brains out. However, be that as it may, it’s no excuse for a brutally bad call with two out in the ninth.

When are those bat-blind big league umpires — there were three other bad calls on the highlight reels on Monday night — going to accept the fact that replay is like having an assistant. It’s not a tool designed to show anybody up. Hell, with HD screens and slow-motion replay, the umpires are being shown up every single night in the Majors. This year, there have been so many bad calls, it’s getting hard to keep up.

Monday night, the Twins were robbed. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “Replays showed Cuddyer — who said after the game, ‘no doubt in my mind I was safe’  — slid in safely under the tag, but the Twins didn’t need to see a replay.” Nor did anybody with weak vision who happened to be impaired by drugs or alcohol. A drunk person could have seen clearly that Cuddyer beat the throw.

Baseball needs one of two things; (a) better umpires or (b) instant replay. Since it’s likely impossible to find anyone to fit category a, I opt for category b. Bring in instant replay for every disputed play, right freakin’ now.

Because the call on Monday night was so bad, it made the game look fixed. And the last thing baseball needs are fixers to go with all those steroid users.

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The Quarterback Expert Needs a Quarterback.

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here in Winnipeg, the mainstream media doesn’t spend a lot of time between games talking about football.

Sadly, most media people in my hometown want to talk about silliness. Things like fake spies and the coach’s involvement in cheating that isn’t cheating because no cheating took place (got that?) or what somebody might have to said to somebody about somebody seems to be much more important than actually looking at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to see why the team is 1-2.

That’s where we come in.

Saturday, in a dreadful football game (absolutely freakin’ dreadful), the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25-13 in what was, quite frankly, a very sad day for the Bomber offence.

Starting quarterback Stefan LeFors completed seven-of-19 passes for a measly 99 yards and no TDs. Bryan Randall came off the bench to complete two passes-on five attempts, no TDs and one interception. Head coach Mike Kelly has long claimed to be an expert when it comes to judging quarterbacks. He needs to put on his thinking cap. Sooner, not later.

On Saturday, the Bombers were OK defensively. They gave up a couple of late touchdowns, but those guys were on the field a long time. This was a game that was dominated by the Hamilton offence in the second half and the Bomber D didn’t have much left in the tank at the end.

That’s because the offence did nothing. The O-line isn’t bad when it comes to run blocking, but young QBs like LeFors and Randall need a lot more time to throw. For the most part on Saturday, they had little or no time to throw. And when it’s tough to throw spirals anyway — as it is for both those guys — they need a LOT of time to throw.

Back in the spring I worried that this football team might resemble the Jeff Reinebold mess back in the late 90s. I don’t feel that way anymore, but I do worry about one thing.

Stefan LeFors is very close to becoming the next T.J. Rubley.

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This pounding in my head is starting to hurt. Lots of little things making me crazy these days…

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here’s what’s rattling around in my cranium this weekend:

1) According to nhl.com, The Calgary Flames claimed Winnipeg’s Nigel Dawes, a restricted free agent, off waivers from the Phoenix Coyotes. Another great off-season move by the Flames and a tremendous break for Dawes.

Nigel can score and grind, depending on what a team needs. He also comes cheap and for a club like the Flames with all that high-priced talent — Phaneuf, Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr and Bouwmeester — a good player like Dawes, who isn’t expensive, fits right under the Calgary cap quite nicely.

It’s a great move by the Flames and another loss for Phoenix, one of the worst franchises — on and off the playing surface — in any sport.

2) The loudest message sent by anyone playing in the Canadian Football League on Thursday night was sent by B.C. Lions quarterback Jarious Jackson. After an injury to Buck Pierce, Jackson took over the offence of the 0-2 Lions and essentially told head coach Wally Buono he, not Pierce, was the No. 1 QB in B.C.

Jackson went 19-for-28 for 362 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-22 shellacking of the Eskimos in Edmonton. It’s probably time for a change on the West Coast.

3) Even the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are now saying that the alleged Blue Bombers’ “spy” Ron Trentini, was about as useless as oil on a duck.

This past week’s nonsensical “spygate” was a media-manufactured scandal designed to feed the beast. It had nothing to do with cheating, football or even good reading. It was a waste of time and Bomber head coach Mike Kelly knew that from Day 1.

The mainstream media, meanwhile, just made up a story where one didn’t exist, proving once again that most of them have never played on a slo-pitch team, let alone a football team.

Meanwhile, if the CFL is going to send out missives chiding people for perceived wrongdoing, the note they should send to Mike Kelly is the one that warns the Bomber coach about  scooping good players from Edmonton and B.C. Kelly probably owes the dog-ass Eskimos and Lions more compensation for literally stealing Sideeq Shabazz, Stefan Lefors, Fred Perry, Tyrone Williams and Kelly Bates.

4) It’s the mid-season mark of the 2009 NASCAR campaign and, my  two NASCAR buddies, Camshaft Pierce and Tirehead Campbell, have made their choices for biggest disappointment and biggest surprise of the first half of the season.

The biggest disappointments? No question about it, the consistently poor showing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the failure of Carl Edwards, David Ragan and the Haas Racing team. The most pleasant surprises? Again, no doubt. Tony Stewart, winning and leading the point standings as an owner-driver and Mark Martin winning four times as a 50-year-old

5) Our Headline of the Week:

Tom McGouran pointed this one out at 7:10 a.m. on Friday, during another lively moment on 92-CITI-FM radio’s Tom and Joe Show.

McNair Murder Not Likely To Deter Player Infidelities: Winnipeg Sun.

Now that one doesn’t even pass the “no-shit” test. Wonder which crack AP editor assigned that in-depth, tell-me-something-I-don’t-already-know story?

No wonder young people have stopped reading newspapers.

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You Have to Appreciate Mike Kelly. He Doesn’t Like Dumb Questions Much.

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

This is one of those little gifts that you just have to love. The members of the local mainstream media want a scandal so badly, they can all taste it. Trouble is, they might have finally run into the guy they can’t bully. They’ve certainly run into a guy who doesn’t care about them.

On Tuesday, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were chided by the media and, one suspects, the CFL’s head office, for having a man who once scouted Canadian and CIS players for them, show up at a Hamilton Tiger-Cats practice and start taking notes.

Word is, Robert Trentini had pages of diagrams and alleged plays written down on “sheets and sheets” of paper.

The Ticats were so pissed off, they revoked Trentini’s press credentials for Saturday’s game. The Bombers, meanwhile, called the league to say Trentini had indeed worked for them as a scout, but he was a rogue on Tuesday.

It was quite comical. And, ultimately, quite meaningless, something that will be forgotten by most people tomorrow.

Still, on Wednesday, Bombers president Lyle Bauer sent out the following written statement:

“In regards to the reported incident in Hamilton it should be noted that the WFC did not engage the services of this individual who attended an open practice for said purposes nor do we condone any such actions.

“Although we have used the services of this individual in the past it has been in the area of personnel scouting including tracking of Canadian and CIS players.

“We believe that our efforts are best spent in the areas of coaching and film study.

“Our interests are in presenting a professional product for the entertainment of CFL and Blue Bomber fans. The focus of our Football Operations people remains on preparation for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this weekend.”

Of course, the local mainstream media didn’t pay much attention to Bauer. They’re afraid of him. But they did smell a scandal and they saw head coach Mike Kelly as the villain. They were going right for the jugular.

So at Wednesday’s coach’s news conference, the media folks asked Kelly the same question eight times. Not once, but eight times (wonder if they knew that a test for mental health is to check to see if patients ask the same question over and over expecting a different answer). Different verbiage, but pretty much the same question eight times.

Kelly’s response was (and I’m paraphrasing): “Non issue. It’s been  handled internally. I’ve got nothing to say.”

Seven questions later, and seven of the same answers later, Kelly finally said: “Did you not listen to anything I said. I’m not talking about this. It’s a non issue. It’s over with. It’s done. Now, unless you have something else to say I’m not talking about it. So you can take that and leave the building. It’s that easy. Do we all understand each other now? Good. Next question. Got nothing to say? Enjoy your day fellas, we’ll see you at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Good for him.

It’s about time.

If the local media can’t ask good questions, they don’t deserve any answers.

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“A Public Relations Nightmare.”….. Well, never mind.

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

This past week, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly was called “a public relations nightmare,” by Winnipeg Sun columnist Paul Friesen.

Friesen’s exact words were: “Kelly has been a public relations nightmare — from breaking CFL rules to calling out the former GM to several clashes with the media — but (president and CEO Lyle) Bauer isn’t letting on that he’s concerned about that, either.”

Gotta love the mainstream media. Just write bollocks and see what sticks on the wall. Of course, are that many people reading, watching or listening anymore? The sellout crowd at Canad Inns Stadium on Friday would suggest that about 30,000 Winnipeggers, at least, don’t care what’s in the papers these days.

Seems, that for a public relations nightmare, Mike Kelly is the best thing that ever happened to the Winnipeg Football Club. I guess it just took a last second loss in Edmonton and a 42-30 shellacking of the defending Grey Cup champions to convince the same people who demanded change to accept it.

“It’s funny,” said Kelly this week. “People screamed for change. When I arrived, they said you have to change the quarterbacks. So I changed the quarterbacks. They said, you have to find a better defensive backfield, so we went out and improved the secondary. They said, ‘You have to make the Bombers more of a team-first operation,’ so everything we’ve done has been directed at team first.

“And yet, we hear that people still aren’t happy. I’ve known throughout my career that the only way you convince people that you’re doing the right thing is to win football games.”

Friday night, after a week of absorbing more loud media criticism, Kelly’s football team did exactly what Kelly expected them to do. They kicked the collective butt of the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders. 42-30 (21-4 at halftime) is a statement.

But even after the game, Kelly was still hearing about the alleged “Derick Armstong affair,” and his apparent lack of public relations skills which, one assumes, only matters to people who demand that the coach kneel and genuflect at the alter of the daily newspaper.

In fact, the “Armstrong Affair” wasn’t an affair at all. The talented wide receiver quit on his team. He maintained he was right and the coach said, “you’re not.” Armstrong quit. Period.

It was pretty simple, really. In fact, for the vast majority of Bomber players, the entire incident brought on a collective shrug. Armstrong said he was “disrespected,” or something to that effect, but the fact is, in the CFL, you’re “disrespected” the day you sign your non-guaranteed contract. Some people just don’t get used to it.

Kelly — a guy I’ve known for 20-odd years and a very, very decent human being — had Armstrong removed from the roster, but still let him back into the building to get treatment on his injured knee.

“This isn’t a kick-the-guy-out-on-the-street thing,” Kelly said on Wednesday. “I hope he (Armstrong) earns a paycheque in this league for a long time. It’s just not going to be here.”

The Bombers tried to trade Armstrong, but suddenly nobody in the CFL was terribly interested in a 30-year-old wideout with a bad knee and a newly-minted reputation for refusing to play when asked. On Thursday, he was released. This week, somebody will likely pick him up as a practice-roster player until he gets healthy. 0-2 teams have to take chances.

Still, without Armstrong, the Bombers offence played well. Quarterback Stefan Lefors threw a pair of touchdown passes to Terrence Edwards (who wore Armstrong’s gloves, but didn’t ride to Armstrong’s rescue by heading into the coach’s office and demanding that Kelly put Armstrong back on the team) while Lavarus Giles rushed for a pair of majors. They were his first, but won’t likely be his last.

The defence contributed five turnovers and one touchdown. The offence used the turnovers to put 28 of its points.

“The players wanted a day off on Saturday if they won,” Kelly said on the Tom and Joe Show on 92-CITI-FM on Friday morning. “But I told them, win or lose, we’ll be back on the field for a run on Saturday morning because even if we win, it’s just one win in July and you don’t win the Grey Cup in July.”

Perhaps not. But you do win the public relations war.

For whatever that’s worth.

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