Tag Archives: Mike Kelly

An Idiot? And Other Notes from a North American Tour

ORLANDO, Fla. — Love being called an idiot. It gives me a good laugh when I start my day.

Seems one dedicated reader, Di_cameron (Cameron? Boy, is that ever a recognizable name), was not happy with my suggestion (learned, by the way, from people inside the organization) that Blue Bombers receivers’ coach Bobby Dyce “greased the skids,” in the final game of 2009.

“Taylor you’re an idiot! So you say our coaching staff threw the final game against Hamilton so Kelly would get fired? Seriously???” and then it got angrier.

“No amount your whining is going to get your buddy Kelly another CFL gig. The rest of the league watched the debacle that was the 2009 season here in the ‘Peg and realized that the cause was the head coach, not the media, not the QB.”

That person named “Di_cameron,” really hates Mike Kelly. Glad he/she doesn’t hate me. That would be scary.

My response to this missive is a simple one: No, I didn’t say the coaching staff threw the game. I said “the receivers’ coach greased the skids.” If Dyce, a guy who made no secret of the fact he disliked the head coach, didn’t do what he did in that game on purpose, then it’s easy to understand why the Saskatchewan Roughriders receiving corps (man-for-man, a very good corps, by the way)  just keeps getting worse and worse with each passing year.

Frankly, I don’t think Dyce is a bad coach and I understand why people who were with the club in 2009 believe something was dreadfully wrong that day. It reached the point in that game where Bishop’s receivers didn’t even turn around to look for the ball. The communication between quarterback and receiver was worse that day than anything a bad peewee team would have to suffer. If Dyce didn’t screw that up on purpose that afternoon, then maybe he is a lousy coach. Regardless, something was terribly wrong.

Regardless, I appreciate the comment and glad I could get a nice, solid rise out of a reader. I only aim to please.

I’ve been on the road for a week or so checking out everything from UFC 140 to the Bucs at the Jags to the Devils at the Lightning to the Orlando Magic Media Day (make that the Dwight Howard Media Day) to the Blackhawks at the Wild (what an outstanding game the Hawks got from Jonathan Toews in that one). It was busy.

Obviously the Toy Department is hopping these days. However, it’s the stuff that goes on before and after all the games and news conferences that is the most fun. Some folks, it seems, just know how to have a good time:

1. During my shopping for the Christmas Season, I had another great experience at the River City Sports outlet in St. Vital. That store has a terrific staff and my new friend, Landon, gave me some great service.

World Peace Jersey 300x225 An Idiot? And Other Notes from a North American Tour

Metta World Peace

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll have to get down there again and pick up my No. 15 “World Peace” L.A. Lakers jersey.

On Streetz 104.7, we’ve had some laughs with Ron Artest’s new name and new look and knowing that almost all of our male listeners at 104.7 are at least lovers, if not experts, on the popluar sports jersey of the day, it’s no surprise that we’ve had some terrific responses to our conversations.

Artest is now, officially, known as Metta World Peace and he is just as bat-shit crazy as Ron Artest was. According to the Los Angeles Times, Artest… er, World Peace was asked by a female reporter last weekend if he was in shape for training camp. He responded with: “If I showed you my abs right now, you’d probably leave your husband.”

Nice. Here’s a great motto for Mr. World Peace: “No matter my name, I’m still insane.”

Must admit, however, that I’m going to get one them hot No. 15 Lakers jerseys.

2. Tim Tebow remains the talk of the NFL, even though the run of six straight wins will likely comes to an end against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots this Sunday. Still, even if he doesn’t win on the football field, Tebow looks like a winner off it.

tebrewx inset community 216x300 An Idiot? And Other Notes from a North American TourHis jersey is a red hot sales item and now, Bonfire Brewing of Eagle, Colorado, has created “Tebrew Sunday Sipper.”

Bonfire announced on its web site: ”Tebrew Sunday Sipper — a barleywine from Bonfire — is almost here. In the style of 4th quarter heroics, we’re waiting until the last minute to serve it up — the moment the 10 oz. glasses arrive, the real games can begin. Stay tuned.”

It’s unlikely Tebow will endorse the product (it’s beverage alcohol, the devil’s brew, after all), but the brewery declared that it would donate 10 per cent of all sales to the Tim Tebow Foundation. If the Foundation actually wanted the money.

1297220222061 ORIGINAL 193x300 An Idiot? And Other Notes from a North American Tour

Mark Stone

3. Canada’s world junior team is ready to go and most Canadians believe that even if the defense is brand, spanking new, it will still be the best team at the 2012 World Championship.

There are two Manitobans on the squad: Mark Stone from Winnipeg, the captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Quinton Howden from Oak Bank who plays with the Moose Jaw Warriors. Yesterday, however, Howden was being treated for, you guessed it, concussion-like symptoms, and that can’t be good.

Jets prospect Mark Scheifele was also named to the team.

For all the Team Canada supplies you’ll ever need, just check out any of River City Sports’ locations. It’s not only your Winnipeg Jets Headquarters, it’s always been  your Team Canada Headquarters, as well.

Buck Pierce: Michael Bishop 2

Until the re-signing of long-snapper Chris Cvetkovic on Friday, there were 17 Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the free agent list. Most of them have one goal: They really, really want to get paid.

Buck Pierce 300x221 Buck Pierce: Michael Bishop 2

Buck Pierce

Doug Brown will likely retire so signing NT Don Oramasionwu will be important as will getting Canadian safety Ian Logan under contract. After that, the contributing free agents all play on offense: Breandan LaBatte, Steve Morley, Glenn January, Andre Douglas and Ryan Donnelly make up an important part of the offensive line. Receivers Aaron Hargreaves and Greg Carr will be big signings as will quarterbacks Buck Pierce, Alex Brink and Joey Elliot. Well, maybe.

Pierce is one guy who has indicated he wants to be rewarded for taking the Bombers to the Grey Cup this past season, but based on Pierce’s numbers and penchant for injury, it might be worth GM Joe Mack’s while to think twice about breaking the bank for a guy whose numbers are no better than Michael Bishop’s.

That’s right. If you look at the hated 2009 Bombers and the beloved 2011 Bombers, you will see clearly that the QB in 2011 wasn’t a whole lot better than the QB in 2009. In fact, statistically, the two teams were not a lot different.

Sure this past year’s team went 10-8 and made it to the Grey Cup where it was drilled 34-23 in the national final. The 2009 team, meanwhile, went 7-11 and missed the playoffs. Clearly the reason for the three-game difference was points for and against. This past year the Bombers scored 432 points and had 432 scored against then. The 2009 team managed only 386 points and allowed 506.

jan12settlement 300x209 Buck Pierce: Michael Bishop 2

Mike Kelly

But the same statistics suggest that if it wasn’t for one horrendous 55-10 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, those point totals would have been virtually equal. And if the Bombers’ receivers coach doesn’t grease the skids in the final game of the season, a 39-17 loss to Hamilton in which the receivers were so bad, they quit completely (those inside still believe it was done to make sure the team missed the playoffs and Mike Kelly was fired) , the Bombers would have made the playoffs.

Regardless, that 2009 team was despised from coast to coast, the coach was hated and the local media did exactly what it set out to do, get that coach fired.

What it got in return is a beloved coaching staff that has put up the exact same won-lost record as the coach who was despised. Mike Kelly was 7-11 while Paul LaPolice and company has gone 14-22. The .388 percentage is the same for both coaches.

144906 paul lapolice 300x200 Buck Pierce: Michael Bishop 2

Paul LaPolice

However, to be fair, LaPolice, with Pierce at quarterback, did make it to the Grey Cup this past season (OK, Doug Berry and Kevin Glenn got to the Grey Cup in our little eight-team house league). However, the team had a 10-8 record and finished first in the East. The other teams in the East had records of 10-8, 8-10 and 6-12. The 8-10 Hamilton Tiger-Cats made the playoffs.

The 2009 Bombers finished third in the East at 7-11 but missed the playoffs because B.C. finished 8-10, finished last in the West and won the crossover. The first place team in the East that year was Montreal at 15-3. This year Montreal was 10-8.

There are all sorts of comparisons between the 2009 and 2011 Bombers teams. Especially on defense. After all, it was the 2009 Bombers that created “Swaggerville.”

This year’s vaunted Bombers defense had 54 takeaways — exactly the same number as the 2009 defense. The 2011 team had 25 interceptions while the 2009 team had 31 interceptions. The 2011 team recovered 18 fumbles while the 2009 team recovered 16 fumbles. The 2011 team forced the opposition to turn the ball over on downs 11 times wile the 2009 team forced the opposition to turn it ober on downs seven times — 54 takeaways each. Hmmm.

BISHOP AND BUCK ARE THE SAME GUY

bishop michael tall courtes 249 214x300 Buck Pierce: Michael Bishop 2

Michael Bishop

But it’s on offense where Mack has to sit back and say, should we pay a whole lot of money to those offensive linemen and that No. 1 quarterback? Have we fixed all our problems on offense by firing Jamie Barresi? Or should we keep Joey Elliot and Alex Brink and save our money on Buck?

If I were Mack, I’d check these numbers first. After all, the Bombers went out of their way to run Michael Bishop out on a rail after the 2009 season. These days there are people within the organization who think Pierce is the answer, but his numbers wouldn’t confirm that.

In 2009, Bishop started 13 games. In 2011 Buck started 16.

Bishop had 405 passing attempts, Buck had 411 attempts.

Bishop threw for 3,036 yards Buck threw for 3,348.

Bishop threw 15 touchdown passes (3.7 per attempt). Buck threw 14 touchdown passes (3.4 per attempt).

Bishop threw 20 interceptions (4.9 per attempt). Buck threw 18 interceptions (4.4 per attempt).

Bishop had 204 completions in 13 games while Buck had 261 completions in 16 games, but don’t forget, this year the Bombers best receiver, Terrence Edwards, didn’t miss half the season with turf toe as he did in 2009.

If Buck Pierce intends to “get paid,” he might want to check out the free agent market. Because if the Bombers pay him, they’re paying for Michael Bishop’s numbers and in 2009, the same coach and GM that are here today thought those numbers were worthless.

Will It Be Good Kevin or Bad Kevin? Expect Bad Kevin.

Kevin Glenn 229x300 Will It Be Good Kevin or Bad Kevin? Expect Bad Kevin.

Kevin Glenn

This Sunday at Canad Inns Stadium, Kevin Glenn returns to Winnipeg — again — with the Eastern Conference championship on the line.

According to the Hamilton Spectator, this is a big game for Glenn and there is “revenge” at stake. Huh? Evidently, because Glenn was released by Winnipeg three years ago — that’s THREE years ago — and while Hamilton has played Winnipeg at least three times every season since then, this is suddenly the biggest of all big games to Glenn and his apologists.

Seems the one-trick ponies in the mainstream news media still need reasons to rip Mike Kelly so they pulled this old nut out of the bag: The “Mike Kelly was a bad coach because he released Kevin Glenn.” line of baloney.

And believe me, it IS a line of baloney.

First of all, Bombers president Lyle Bauer had as much to do with the release of Glenn as Kelly did because Bauer had already made it known that he had no desire to pay Glenn his bonus for showing up to camp in 2009.

mike kelly3 300x209 Will It Be Good Kevin or Bad Kevin? Expect Bad Kevin.

Mike Kelly in happier times.

Secondly, why wouldn’t a smart president, GM and head coach want to release Glenn? In Winnipeg, he was a .500 quarterback. Since leaving Winnipeg the most inconsistent QB in recent CFL history has guided his Hamilton Tiger-Cats to records of 9-9, 9-9- and 8-10. The fact he helped his team beat an aging Montreal Alouettes team with one of the worst defences in the CFL in the Eastern semifinal in order to get to Winnipeg this week is no reason to believe that Glenn will be any good this Sunday. Chances are very good he’ll do what he does best: Throw interceptions with the game on the line.

This Sunday afternoon, in front of a full house at Canada Inns Stadium, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will play host to Kevin Glenn and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Bombers are 3.5-point favorites for a a number of reasons: No. 1, the Bombers beat Hamilton three times in three meetings this season, No. 2, the Bombers defence will eat Kevin Glenn alive and No. 3, the Bombers will likely have Buck Pierce at quarterback, a guy who, when he’s healthy, is twice the quarterback Glenn was in Winnipeg or is in Hamilton.

If the mainstream media wants to continue to rip Kelly, rip him for not getting a shot at Pierce while he was the coach. Do not rip him for releasing Glenn. Glenn isn’t a .500 quarterback in Hamilton. There is no reason to believe he’ll beat Winnipeg this week no matter what level of “revenge” is at stake.

Swaggerville Makes LaPolice Nervous Heading to B.C.

Paul LaPolice looks a little skittish. That’s not surprising for the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers considering what has taken place in his past here in a town that is now calling itself “Swaggerville.”

LaPolice knows his team is 5-1, but he was told on Tuesday that these 5-1 Bombers are also point and a half Vegas underdogs on Saturday night when they meet the 1-5. B.C. Lions. Granted, the line on the game is B.C. minus-one which really doesn’t mean much at all, but it does suggest that not everyone is convinced that this first-place team is destined to remain in first place very long.

The Bombers are good, but not great, is what he’s being told and, for now at least, he rather likes that assessment.

“We must remain a humble football team,” when asked about the Swaggerville nonsense. “I’ve talked to the players about this and we all understand that we are a blue collar team that has to work hard in practice and then go out an play hard once a week. I told them we aren’t going to be arrogant. Our job is to play hard enough to win.”

LaPolice is a quiet, unassuming guy who doesn’t spend a lot of time celebrating victories. It’s nice for the fans and certainly the players to have five wins after six games considering they had four wins after 18 games last season. LaPolice knows he’s lucky to have this job. He has it, not because he was some superman coach in 2010, but because he quieted the waters after the turbulent Mike Kelly season of 2009. Until now, however, it could easily be argued that Kelly, the media’s villain, got better results than the guy who took his job.

And LaPolice also remembers that he was sacked once before by the Winnipeg Football Club. In 2003, he was the team’s defensive coordinator and after the Bombers lost 37-21 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Western final (gee, it wasn’t so long ago that the Bombers were in the West), LaPolice took the fall for Dave Ritchie’s anemic, predictable offence. Granted, the Bombers were in the bottom half of the league in defensive statistics, but it was hardly his fault that the offence sputtered in the biggest game of the year at home.

So, considering he’s already been fired once in Winnipeg and considering he’s already been 4-14 as a head coach, this whole 5-1-first-place-Swaggerville thing does not help him sleep soundly at night.

Now, for those who aren’t yet aware, Winnipeg is evidently,  “Swaggerville.” It is a term coined by Bombers defensive back Jovon Johnson, a dude who has never been short of his own swagger.

Johnson and his buddies on defense have been selling T-shirts at $25 a pop to anyone who wants to be a member of Swaggerville and apparently there are plenty in this town who desire citizenship (the T-shirts sold out). The first six games of the 2011 Bomber season have belonged to the defense. It leads the league in fewest points allowed (18.8 per game), fewest yards allowed (289.5 per game), most sacks, most interceptions (10) and most turnovers created and it is primarily responsible for the team’s 5-1 record. There are those who would suggest a little “swagger” never hurt anybody.

But LaPolice isn’t so sure. He knows, for a fact, the entire Swaggerville thing is going to end up on the bulletin board of this week’s opponent, the B.C. Lions, and probably on bulletin boards all over the league. He also knows that the second a team gets caught up in its own press clippings, bad things happen.

He has been pushing the humility angle on his charges like an English teacher pushes grammar on her students. He just hopes they’re getting the message.

“People I talk to say we play hard and we go after the football,” LaPolice said, hoping his words are being in the locker room. “We’re a focused football team right now.

“This week, we face a very tough opponent. Before the season started, I said the B.C. Lions were good enough to win the Western Conference and despite their slow start, I still believe that.

“What I’ve been trying to impart on the guys, especially the defensive backs, is that if you get beat, and you probably will, just forget about it and move on. Don’t even think about the previous play. Just move on. It’s a long game and how you respond to the little individual failures that everyone makes during a long football game is very important.”

LaPolice is not unaware of what’s going on around him. In five games this season, his team equaled last year’s total number of victories. Fans jumped on the bandwagon and the bandwagon has since become very crowded. His concern is simple. He’d prefer that his players were following the bandwagon, not leading it. That’s why the whole Swaggerville thing makes him nervous.

After all, most of the players on this team, were around last year when the Bombers went 4-14. And they went 4-14 because they lost nine games by four points or less. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and losing are divided by a very fine line. It’s great to have fun when you’re winning, but don’t allow your head to get bigger than your helmet.

“Other than the football related things we talk about every day, the most important thing I want my players to remember is to be humble,” he said. “We’re a good team, but this league is full of good teams. In fact, I don’t care what a team’s record is, I know that every team in this league is a good team that can beat another team at any time. That’s what we have to be mindful of. We’re a blue collar team that has to play hard, blue-collar football in order to be successful.”

As opposed, of course, to a swaggering collection of swelled heads who suddenly think that they’re as good as the bandwagon bloviators say they are.

And yes, that is what makes Paul LaPolice skittish.

 

 

Fans: You Just Have to Love ‘em. Too many of ‘em just don’t want to admit the ugly truth…

FARGO, N.D. — After spending two days watching the Minnesota Vikings work out, it’s nice just to sit in the press box at Fargo’s quaint little Newman Outdoor Field and watch baseball.

It’s a beautiful night, the place is full (it’s Fan Appreciation Night) and you can smell the hot dogs and hamburgers all the way up here on the suite level. Goldeyes-RedHawks games are always fun and while it appears Winnipeg is going to have to mount a comeback if they don’t want to fall below .500, it’s still great baseball.

Meanwhile, earlier this afternoon, I had a chance to watch Thursday night’s Bomber game and then read the comments at winnipegfreepress.com and winnipegsun.com. Some of them are quite insightful. Others are just laughable. Only a few of them seem to have the heart or the cojones to admit the truth: It’s a bad team, playing bad football.

While plenty of fans (surprisingly, dozens) want to blame the officials (the score was 39-17, that’s not the officials fault) and a couple of boneheads wanted to blame Fred Reid (Fred Reid?) who carried 13 times for 103 yards, there were a few who actually knew the ugly, unpopular truth: It’s official. Eight weeks into the season and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers under head coach Paul LaPolice are worse than they were under the hated Mike Kelly.

In Thursday night’s game at Molson Stadium in Montreal, the Montreal Alouettes lost quarterback Anthony Calvillo to a  bruised sternum in the first half and yet Montreal still whipped the Bombers by three touchdowns. Winnipeg is now 2-6 on the season. Last year, with Kelly at the helm, they were 3-5 after eight weeks. It’s a mess and it doesn’t appear as if it will get any better anytime soon.

In fact, the thought that this year’s version of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers could be 2-11 by the end of September is now legitimate. Thursday night, Bombers quarterback Steven Jyles could muster very little offence. He completed only 11-of-22 passes for 123 yards, watched his receivers drop balls and could put only 10 offensive points on the board. To be fair, Reid was solid and Jovon Johnson was sensational, but….

The Bombers are bad. Real bad. And it’s hard to see this team getting better fast enough to stop a sweep by Saskatchewan in early September, then losses to Toronto, Montreal again and B.C.

And how ugly would 2-11 really be?

Now There’s Trouble in River City… and it starts with T. and it rhymes with P. and it stands for P.U.

That was stinky. It was stinky early and stinky late and it left Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice with some real decisions to make.

Friday night’s football game at Canad Inns Stadium smelled funny. Hamilton 39, Winnipeg 28. In Winnipeg. A week after the Bombers should have won in Hamilton.

In four meetings during the first seven weeks of the season, the Tiger-Cats beat the Bombers three times. So now, before Labour Day, the Tiger-Cats have wrapped up the first playoff tiebreaker with Winnipeg. Throw in the fact Winnipeg is not only 2-5 on the season, but 2-2 at home and 0-3 on the road and you have a team that seems considerably worse than it was last year. And it wasn’t very good last year.

The Winnipeg media got its wish when the Bomber board of directors fired Mike Kelly, but the pleasant, new regime, the one that seems to respect the the local papers, the city’s TV stars and the club’s rightsholder, hasn’t been very successful. In fairness, it certainly didn’t help that Buck Pierce got hurt and you have to admit that injuries have definitely affected LaPolice’s plans this season, but just when it appeared that the Bombers were in a position to get to 3-4 before heading off to Montreal and Regina in successive weeks, they lay an egg at home and now there is a reason to believe that this team could be 2-11 by Oct. 1.

The Bombers are now, officially, not very good. Friday night’s game at Canad Inns Stadium was over early and all that was left by the end were a few die hard fans scattered in the stands and a head coach wondering how it could all have gone so badly.

After all, this was a Bomber team that looked good in its opener, a 49-29 shellacking of these same Tiger-Cats. Seven weeks ago this team looked pretty decent. Now, it looks like it needs a makeover. When the defence couldn’t stop Kevin Glenn, LaPolice gave up on Pierce. When the offence got going, a penalty or a turnover stopped the threat.

The Bombers did put up 290 yards passing and 121 yards rushing (with losses, 393 total yards) and four touchdowns, but Glenn threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns and more than 90 yards in penalties didn’t help the Bombers much either (Philip Hunt picked up four 15-yard penalties, himself).

It was just a lousy football game from the Winnipeg standpoint. The worst effort of the season. And now the schedule gets really difficult.

I know we’re only seven weeks in, but perhaps this team should start thinking about next year. Get rid of the old, slow guys and give the youngsters a shot right across the depth chart. Because the veteran players Paul LaPolice has been depending on, haven’t done the job.

Thanks for the Admission. But WTF?

It’s been quite a week in Crazyland and it’s not even close to being over yet.

Between the incredulous reasoning for dumping veteran captain Mike Keane, and the injury to Blue Bombers quarterback Buck Pierce that started out as one game and turned into “two-to-four weeks,” (if Mike Kelly had kept a player out of post-game interviews as Paul LaPolice did with Pierce after last week’s 28-7 loss in Hamilton — which is certainly the head coach’s right — he would have been publicly eviscerated for “trying to control the message.”), we’ve had the Canadian Football League admit that both its on-field officials and its replay officials “erred” on a play that ultimately cost the Bombers a football game.

Tom Higgins, the league’s director of officiating, admitted on Monday that the league’s “replay command centre” (love the pomposity of that name) officials in Toronto “erred” when they reviewed a Bomber challenge claiming that Ticats quarterback Kevin Glenn had indeed fumbled on a run around the left side in the  third-quarter.

“This is going to go down as an incorrect ruling, because we didn’t allow enough time for the fumble to be recovered,” Higgins said in a written statement. “It’s a shame, because that’s what we have replay for.”

A shame? More than a shame, it’s a firing offence..

Got this response from regular reader Fort Rouge Ted:

Hey Scotty…it just dawned on me!  Why I enjoy watching curling so much during the winter…a sport I never even tried.
BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE DEAF-DUMB & BLIND OFFICIALS F*%KING UP THE GAME!!!!
Simple as that!
What was really sad about that travesty of a BLOWN REPLAY CALL…In which everyone at the CFL lounge called a fumble….is that it takes great talent to do what that kid did in going for the ball and punching it out in one motion…is that not why we go pay to see these kids play?  To see the athleticism and the natural talent they have to play the game professionally? Just like the kid that threw the perfect game for the Tigers….most likely his first and last in the Show…but just like the fumble…and the England goal…..some INCOMPETENT BOOB f*%ked it up!
Cheers,
FRT

Things to Note… Kelly’s Charges Expunged, World Indigenous Games Coming to Winnipeg and What Does Marty Have?

Cleaning out a tattered notebook…

1) On Monday, in a Pennsylvania court room, all those trumped up “assault” charges against former Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly will be formally expunged. The charges have already been dropped. Monday, officially, Kelly can say nothing ever happened.

The fact is, nothing happened in the first place, it just takes this kind of baloney to ruin someone’s life. What happened to Kelly is sad and sick and there are people in Winnipeg who should be ashamed of themselves.

2) I see that my friend, radio talk-show host Marty Gold at 92.9 KICK FM, has “an official document that was sent to Lyle Bauer reporting on the state of the Blue Bombers at the end of last season.” Apparently he acquired it from a Bomber board member.

Don’t know what it is and don’t know what he’s going to do with it, but whatever happens, it will make for very interesting radio.

3) Had a nice chat with Premier Greg Selinger at the Volunteer Manitoba Awards Dinner at the Convention Centre on Tuesday night. A very enthusaistic Premier said, “The 2012 World Indigenous Games, the first ever World Indigenous Games, are coming to Winnipeg. We got ‘em and they’ll look good in that new stadium if we can get it finished.”

According to the Premier, Sport Minister Eric Robinson is presently at the United Nations with WIN president Dr. Willie Littlechild putting the final details together for these first World Indigenous Games. Good for Winnipeg.

4) Giuseppe Denatale’s CFC 5 will be held June 4 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. The very popular Joe Doerksen is the headliner.

Dwight Sutherland from Peguis is also on the card. Should be a great night.

5) There are people in Winnipeg who love the Chicago Blackhawks because of the presence of Jonathan Toews, but the Nashville Predators are really Winnipeg’s team.

With Jordin Tootoo, who spends much of his off-season in the ‘Peg, along with Colin Wilson and Dustin Boyd, Barry Trotz’s Preds have the biggest group of Manitobans in the NHL. Of course, if Wilson continues to play as well as he did against the Red Wings on Tuesday night, he just might single-handedly lead the Preds into the second round.

6)Went to the launch for Jerrad Peters’ new book, We Call it Soccer, at the Round table on Wednesday night. Fun book written  by a great guy, Peters is the editor of ChristianWeek Magazine.

Published by Studio Publications (Full disclosure: Glen Tinley’s company published three of my books: Home Run, The Winnipeg Jets and In Search of Friends) the book is available at Chapters for only $12.95.

Another Week in the Trenches. Atlanta, Parity, Lousy Officiating and Broke Owners.

In a week in which the Stanley Cup playoffs started, Jerry Reinsdorf was given an NHL franchise, Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a no-hitter, the Blue Bombers released one of the team’s best players and HD TV proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that baseball umpires aren’t very good, there was more talk about Atlanta heading to Winnipeg, Ben Roethlisberger’s transgressions and the city’s reluctance to just give David Asper a free pass.

1) The Blue Bombers released Sideeq Shabazz, a fan favourite and clearly one of the best players in the CFL last season.

The Bombers feel they have to get younger and that’s true. Shabazz is 29 and heaven knows, you’re just about done at 29, but more importantly, the Bombers have serious financial problems.

When Brendan Taman was running the team, he signed some contracts with players that he knew he was going to have to pay later.  Last year, the Bombers started the season $460,000 over the cap. In other words, the only way the football club could stay within the $4.2 million Cdn that is the salary management system’s player payroll cap, was to keep costs down and still hope to be able to compete.

When Mike Kelly took over the club, he was in a bind. The team was still paying Kevin Glenn, Charles Roberts and Milt Stegall (among others) and it was going to have to make it on $3.74 million. It didn’t. Not quite anyway. In the end, the Bombers finished $44,000 over the cap and they were penalized.

So now, still in a financial quagmire, still paying former players, the Bombers have to dump as many veterans as they can — within some kind of competitive plan for 2010 — and try to make it with a load of kids. Especially if they intend to pay quarterback Buck Pierce and veterans like Terrance Edwards, Doug Brown and Fred Reid.

It isn’t easy running the Bombers these days. Last year, the club lost $1.2 million on operations. This year, the team still has cap trouble. If the Bombers go 6-12, fans can consider it a successful year.

2) Watched 12 hours of baseball on Saturday. From the Twins and Blue Jays, to the Indians win over Chicago, the Tigers loss to Seattle and seven hours of St. Louis and the Mets, my wife Sally and I also watched the final two innings of Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter against the Braves. There is nothing better than MLB TV live to HD TV through your computer.

Through it all, I spent much of that time yelling at my gigantic, room-dwarfing HD TV. “Can’t anybody call these stining games properly anymore!!?”

In the Cleveland-Chicago game, the first base umpire called Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo out on an appeal play for missing first base while he legged out a double. The replay clearly showed that Choo touched the corner of the bag. It was a horrible call and the more I watched the replay, the more I realized that only a blind guy (or someone with a bet on the game) could call Choo out.

As the day went on, there were half a dozen bad calls at second base on attempted steals and even worse, the strike zone is now a moving, living thing that can be deciphered only by the plate umpire at hat exact moment. Players keep saying all they ask for is consistency. That’s just silly. There has never been consistency and there certainly isn’t any today.

Baseball desperately needs replay for every close play and technology should replace the homeplate umpire when it comes to calling balls and strikes.

3)  In Winnipeg, it seems everyone is doing what it takes to make the new football stadium deal feel politically palatable. “Don’t give David Asper too much. Couch it so that taxpayers feel protected. Make sure anyone who criticizes the deal is marginalized. And if you’re a politician, don’t really give anyone the facts of the deal so that you can change it later.”

What no one seems to have grasped is this: Winnipeg needs a new football stadium, the old one is eventually going to fall down, the community-owned football team can’t make money in that old dump and at some point, somebody is going to have to spend some public money on a new building. The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets.

And frankly, I don’t have any trouble with taxpayers’ money being spent on a new football stadium — anywhere in Canada. I have no trouble honouring all the agreements made with Asper and even with the $90 million-plus loan that’s been offered.

That’s because I believe this: As long as $1 billion in federal taxes is GIVEN to the CBC every single year, the rest of the government’s spending is relatively unimportant. I’m forced to pay taxes to give $1 billion every single year to a broadcasting company that leans far to the left (not just left, but stunningly far, far left), refuses to tell the truth on its website even when its asked to make changes based on fact and hires people who turn into pompous, over-bearing Toronto-centric fools who have no concept of how Canadians live. It also sucks advertising money out of the economy and  yet it still can’t balance its books.

Until the federal government stops funding the CBC, I believe they owe Winnipeg a football stadium. In fact, I believe the entire $135 million bill should be paid for by the feds. As long as the CBC exists in its current form, any argument over how federal taxpayers’ money is spent is just silly and distracting.

4) We tend to go on about small crowds and financial losses in non-traditional NHL markets, but who would ever have thought that the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League was $500 million US in the glue.

This past week, Liverpool’s American owners formally put the club up for sale, as both Tom Hicks (who also has to sell the NHL’s Dallas Stars in order to pay his debts) and George Gillett Jr. admitted they no longer have the financial resources to improve the team or build a much-needed new stadium.

The fact the Bombers lost $1.2 million on operations last year (a lot of it to pay back former president Lyle Bauer for all the money he deferred over the years in order to keep the books balanced), is a pittance compared to the losses suffered by Liverpool.

When you consider that the operation of the NBA this season will fall $400 million short of break-even, it’s becoming apparent that all major professional sport — not just the shaky NHL and CFL — is in financial trouble. The recession is deeper than people think and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next decade.

5) I love all the talk about the NFL suspending Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger, 28, was not charged with any crime for a night at a college bar with a 20-year-old female. There are all sorts of nasty media stories about Roethlisberger’s behaviour that night. There are all sorts of pundits and commentators who like to call Roethlisberger names and, of course, want him punished.

But as the police and the district attorney’s office have made clear, he broke no laws. It appears that the media, and the media alone, have now admitted to something that many of us have known for a long time. The only thing the mainstream media does well is hurt people and that screaming for punishment, even for people who don’t break laws, is what the American mainstream media does best.

6) Speaking of the mainstream media, I wonder how they responded to Andy Sutton’s elbow to the head of Jordan Leopold on Saturday night. After screaming for months about increasing the severity of penalties to get head shots out of the game, the media watched as Sutton drilled an unprotected Leopold in the head with a vicious elbow on Saturday night.

No penalty was called and I haven’t heard any screaming today. In fact, many mainstream media members I’ve read this morning have called the check “clean.” Ouch.

It’s great to scream and yell about concussions and other injuries, but hockey is a collision sport and if you are going to play it, you sign up for danger. That was a dreadful hit by a man hoping to injure another player, a player who was in a vulnerable position, fighting off a check from one of Sutton’s teammates. However, it was no different than any number of hits in any number of games this year.

Sutton’s physical destruction of Jordan Leopold was a textbook case for creating special head-hunting penalties. But there was no penalty at all on the play and no one seems terribly concerned by that. The message was clear: Quit whining and play.

7) Walking through the Home Depot on Saturday morning, one of the store’s employees approached me and politely asked, “When are the Atlanta Thrashers coming to Winnipeg?”

He’d been at a family gathering and one of his family members happens to work for the Manitoba Moose. That family member said he had been told by Moose brass to prepare for the arrival of the Thrashers and to be ready to move with the AHL team. Perhaps even to Saskatoon.

This is not the first time a hockey fan in Winnipeg has been told this story by someone who seemed honest and sincere. While Moose brass don’t want to admit it, the rumours of the NHL’s return to Winnipeg are being stoked by people who are working at MTS Centre.

The rumours will not go away until someone at the top of the pecking order at True North Sports and Entertainment stands up and says, “The NHL is NOT, ever, returning to Winnipeg.”

Right now, I for one, just can’t escape the talk and frankly, I continue to find it fascinating.

After a Week on the Road, Some Thoughts and Observations

TAMPA, Fla. — We’ve been out watching hockey, baseball and golf for a week.

Here are some things we’ve heard and a whole lot of things we’ve seen.

1) Sure, just about everyone you talk to in the NHL these days believes Phoenix Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett will easily win the Jack Adams Coach of the Year Award. But could it be that Tippett is merely the illustration we’ve been given to show that Wayne Gretzky was a horrible coach? Could it be that Tippett is a good coach (there are plenty of good coaches) who just happened to inherit a very good hockey team that got plenty of help at the trade deadline?

This past Saturday night, the Nashville Predators locked up a playoff berth with a brilliant 4-3 win over the Red Wings in Detroit. Tippet is worthy, but Barry Trotz is the best coach in hockey. Nashville — with a lineup of no-names, has-beens, never-weres and Shea Weber — is now 46-29-6 and will play either Vancouver or San Jose in the opening round of the playoffs.

For a guy who has never won a major coaching award and only coached our national team on one occasion, he’s the most outstanding coach that nobody really knows. And this year, frankly, he’s the Coach of the Year.

2) Watched Tiger in the opening round of the Masters on Thursday. What an incredible performance. Say what you will, Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in history.

Considering that after all the crap he went through — some of it of his own making, most of it the media’s making (he didn’t do anything that hundreds who have gone before him didn’t do) — Woods went out and shot a first round 68 at the Masters. It was his finest opening ever at the Masters. The first time he ever had two eagles in the same round. It doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the way. Nobody plays the game better than Tiger Woods. Period.

And golf is better off now that it has him back.

3) See the Bombers lost $1.2 million in 2009. See the Winnipeg mainstream media wants to blame Mike Kelly for it.

Talk about a one trick pony. The Winnipeg mainstream media either hasn’t got the cojones or the intelligence to point the finger at the people responsible. Wonder how long this will last? In 2016, when the Bombers go 4-14, it won’t matter who’s coaching, it will be Mike Kelly’s fault. Nice deal for Paul LaPolice, though. If he goes 0-18 as head coach this season, the local media will blame Mike Kelly.

If  the coach is the guy who single-handedly lost $1.2 million, why wasn’t he fired a helluva lot sooner? In fact, why wasn’t the guy who hired him fired? And why weren’t the people who hired the guy who hired Mike Kelly all fired? When a football organization loses $1.2 million, the responsibility lands a lot higher up than the head coach. The local media in Winnipeg did a lot more to help the Bombers lose $1.2 million than Mike Kelly did. When you keep telling people to stop buying tickets, a lot of them will eventually stop buying tickets.

By the way, I see that the CFL sent $150,000 less than it did a year earlier to each of its eight teams. That means the CFL raised $1.2 million less in corporate sponsorships in 2009 than it did in 2010. How did that happen? How did the CFL lose $150,000 per team in revenue when the league’s popularity has never, ever been greater.

Wonder where Tom Wright went?

4) The Stanley Cup playoffs start next week. After this past week in Tampa, I can’t wait. Too bad Steven Stamkos doesn’t play in a city where people actually care about hockey.

Speaking of which, my people in Phoenix tell me that the chances of the league still owning the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night after Glendale city council votes on that sweetheart rental deal for Jerry Reinsdorf at jobing.com Arena, is better than 50-50.

Winnipeg might not be dead yet.