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Taman finished with Big Blue. Will appear with Tom & Joe on 92-CITI-FM on Thursday morning.

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Winnipeg Blue Bombers vice president of player personnel, Brendan Taman, has decided he’s done. At least, for now.

Last week, Taman visited with Bombers president and CEO Lyle Bauer and after what Bauer termed “a lot of frank discussion,” Taman decided he’d had enough of football.

 

On Tuesday, it was made official, Taman had resigned from his post with the Blue Bombers.

 

Taman had been with the Bombers for 10 years. He had been assistant GM under Dave Ritchie and general manager for the past five seasons, but at the end of 2008, he was moved laterally into a player personnel job and found he didn’t like the work.

 

“We’ve always been close, always been friends, but in the last little while, it’s been apparent to me that Brendan had lost interest in the work,” Bauer said. “We never believed that when Mike (Kelly) came in, Brendan’s move was a demotion. But Brendan didn’t seem to like the NCAA scouting that was required and decided he just didn’t want to do this anymore.

 

“I respect his decision. Life’s too short to be unhappy.”

 

Bauer, who spoke highly of Taman and his accomplishments, left the door open for the Saskatchewan product to rejoin the team in a consultant’s capacity. Bauer even acknowledged there was a chance that could happen. 

 

In a written statement, the Bombers listed some of Taman’s most impressive accomplishments:

 

-         Since 1999, 41 Blue Bomber players have been named CFL all-stars, including six players last season.

-         Two Blue Bombers have been named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. (Jones in 2001, Stegall in 2002)

-         Signed two winners and one finalist of the CFL Rookie of the Year Award including Gavin Walls (winner in 2005), Charles Roberts (finalist in 2001), and Albert Johnson (winner in 2000).

-         Signed two winners of the CFL’s Outstanding Special Teams Award. (Johnson in 2001, Stokes in 2004)

-         Brought several impact players to Winnipeg including Charles Roberts, Gavin Walls, Tom Canada, and Dan Goodspeed. Through trades, Taman has brought Doug Brown, Khari Jones, Kevin Glenn, and most recently Zeke Moreno to Winnipeg.

 

“We will move ahead as fast as we can to replace Brendan,” Bauer said. “Most of our scouting, our contracts and our free agent situation is all up to date so we’re not behind by any means. We’re in real good shape with Mike (Kelly) on board. I’m going to the Sr. Bowl on Monday morning, so we’re all getting right to work.”

 

No one can be certain how this will affect the Blue Bombers down the road, but based on Bauer’s tone yesterday, it’s apparent it won’t be easy replacing a guy who has become a pretty good judge of talent and value and a terrific trader. 

 

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Brown’s vision the Bombers future?

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ defensive tackle Doug Brown has the complete scenario already fixed in his mind. He’s been thinking about his vision of the future for a few weeks now and as self-fulfilling prophecies go, he’s starting to believe it might actually come true. 

“Remember in 2001, when an 8-10 team from Calgary that didn’t even deserve to be on the same field as a 14-4 team from Winnipeg, went into Montreal and beat that Winnipeg team in the Grey Cup? Remember?” Brown says, raising his eyebrows.

 

“Well, this year, I have a funny feeling we might turn the table. An 8-10 team from Winnipeg, a team that started 2-8, goes all the way to Montreal to play a 13-5 Calgary team in the Grey Cup and beats them. It sure sounds good to me.”

 

Brown isn’t making any predictions. He’s been around too long and he’s obviously too smart for that, but a guy who made history this year by becoming the first Blue Bomber player ever nominated for three outstanding player awards – most outstanding defensive player, most outstanding player and most outstanding Canadian – has a funny feeling that this struggling Blue Bombers outfit might just have the talent and emotional wherewithal to win the Grey Cup. 

 

Last Saturday afternoon, the Bombers completed the CFL’s 2008 regular season with a 44-30 shellacking of the last-place 3-15 Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Bombers wideout Romby Bryant caught a couple of touchdown passes from Kevin Glenn, Casey McGahee ran back a punt 57 yards for another TD and Fred Reid carried 14 times for 160 yards. Of note, Casey Printers likely played his final game in Hamilton while Milt Stegall probably played his final regular season game for Winnipeg.

 

It could have easily been called a meaningless exercise, except for one not-so-little thing. It meant the Bombers finished the season 6-2 over their final eight games and because of that, there is now a firm belief within the confines of their own locker room that this Winnipeg team is good enough to win the Grey Cup. 

 

This Saturday, the Bombers will get a shot at the 10-8 Edmonton Eskimos in the Eastern semifinal at Canad Inns Stadium, a place where Winnipeg went 3-0 in the final seven weeks of the season. With the addition of Jason Armstead, Zeke Moreno, Willie Amos, Joe Smith and Kai Ellis the Bombers have improved dramatically in recent weeks and with injured players such as Ike Charlton, Joe Lobendahn and Barrin Simpson beginning to return to the lineup, this is not the same team that started the season 2-8.

 

“Kudos to our front office for pulling the trigger on some important moves in September,” Brown said, shortly after Saturday’s win. “We’re the hottest team in the CFL right now, 6-2 down the stretch. But to beat Edmonton next week – and don’t worry, we’re not looking past Edmonton — we’re going to have to play our best game of the year. They beat us in their place and we beat them in our place, but to beat them again, we’ll have to be very good.

 

“But if, somehow, we can get through these next two playoff games and run into Calgary and then beat them in the Grey Cup, you’ll be able to go to Wikipedia and look up the term ’What goes around comes around’ and our picture will be there.” 

 

Saturday, Winnipeg will play host to the Eskimos in the Eastern semifinal. Sure, an Eastern semi with teams from Edmonton and Winnipeg sounds ridiculous, but it’s not the first time West has gone East in the crossover. In four previous West-to-East crossovers, the East won all four.

 

And there’s another little bit of history that plays right into Doug Brown’s vision.

 

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Week 19 in the CFL. The final week of 2008. Bring on the playoffs… please…

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Thank goodness it’s over. After all, with the exception of the battle for playoff positions in the West, the CFL hasn’t been particularly interesting for the past three weeks.

Could it be that 18 games are too many?

 

This week, we will get to find out whether it will be Saskatchewan or B.C. playing host to the Western semifinal. And that’s it. On Pro Line, three of the four games are considered blowouts this week. Winnipeg will play host to Edmonton in the Eastern semifinal at Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg (1 p.m. CST on TSN) while Calgary and Montreal have each wrapped up first in the West and East respectively.

 

Other than that, the only worry this week is who or how many will be banged up and unable to perform in the playoffs.

 

In the meantime, let’s take as close a look as we possibly can at Week 18, a week that look an awful lot like pre-season…

 

Saskatchewan Roughriders (11-6) at Toronto Argonauts (4-13)

 

Thursday, 6:30 p.m. CT, TSN

 

Michael Bishop is back in Toronto for a rare end-of-season Thursday night game, even though there is a chance he might not play all that much. Riders head coach Ken Miller also has Derian Durant and Steven Jyles and who knows? All three of them could play. As Saskatchewan gets more of its players back from injury, the team just could be playing its best football of the year (judging from last week’s 55-9 demolition of Edmonton, they probably are). Kerry Joseph, meanwhile, has been a bust in Toronto, ever since he was dealt from Saskatchewan to the Boatmen before the season began. Last winter, GM Eric Tillman lost his Grey Cup-winning quarterback (Joseph just wanted too much money and was too old) and his Grey Cup-winning coach (not many people thought Ken Miller would be a significantly better coach than Kent Austin) and his team is even better than it was last year at this time. But who knows? Prhaps the Argos will win one for coach Don Matthews. Or, maybe not.

 

Pick: Saskatchewan

Montreal Alouettes (11-6) at Edmonton Eskimos (9-8)

Friday 8 p.m. CT, TSN

Hard to imagine what’s worse. Last week Montreal was beaten 24-23 at home by the then-6-10 Winnipeg Blue Bombers while Edmonton went on the road and lost 55-9 in Regina. In their own special ways, both games were lopsided upsets (Montreal should have won by three TDs) and both losing teams left the field embarrassed. The Eskimos have been blitzed in their last two games and have allowed 98 points. The Edmonton defence is ready for an overhaul except that there is only one game in which to do the overhauling before the Eskies haul ass to Winnipeg for the Eastern semi (isn’t there something odd about an Edmonton-Winnipeg Eastern semifinal?). Marcus Brady is set to start at quarterback for Montreal.

Pick: Edmonton (holding my nose)

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-14) at Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-10) 

Saturday 1 p.m. CT, TSN

Wouldn’t you love to be Marcel Bellefeuille? He was the interim head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, went 1-6 in the job and because of all that success, had the interim tag removed from his title. His record isn’t as good as the guy the ‘Cats fired, but Bellefeuille got the guy’s job anyway. Poor Charlie Taafe should sue for unlawful dismissal. The ‘Cats are awful and Bellefeuille hasn’t done much to make them any better. Winnipeg, meanwhile, has improved dramatically since the addition of Jason Armstead, Kai Ellis, Zeke Moreno and Joe Smith. Brendan Taman should be executive of the year. The Bombers have won five of their last seven and should win again this week.

 

Pick: Winnipeg

B.C. Lions (11-6) at Calgary Stampeders (12-5)

Saturday, 4 p.m., CT, TSN

If Calgary actually tries, the Stamps should blow away a B.C. Lions team that is pretty good, but not that good. If Toronto happens to upset Saskatchewan (which they won’t), the Lions could be playing for home-field advantage in the Western semifinal. As they probably won’t be playing for anything at all, this will simply be a battle of two of the league’s superstars: B.C. defensive lineman Cameron Wake and Calgary quarterback Henry Burris. I like Burris, if he plays more than a quarter.

Pick: Calgary

Last Week: 2-2

Season: 41-19

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The CFL’s Week 15 is in the books. Have we learned anything yet?

Posted on October 5, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

I love that question. “Have we learned anything yet?” We’ve been chasing around the CFL for 15 weeks and after 15 weeks the only thing we’ve learned is that there are no guarantees.

 

Oh, don’t worry, we certainly  thought there were guarantees. After 14 weeks we thought we had the Conference champions figured out. I mean Montreal and Calgary were red-hot as we passed the midway point of the 2008 Canadian Football League season. Calgary in the West, Montreal in the East, let’s play the Grey Cup right now.

 

Then along came Week 15. Calgary goes on the road and loses 37-34 to Saskatchewan. Montreal goes on the road and loses 44-36 to Hamilton. Now I understand the Calgary loss. Regina is a tough place to play and the Calgary defence is not very good, but the Montreal loss to sad-sack Hamilton was a shocker.

 

Anthony Calvillo went an unbelievable 44-for-53 for 468 yards and four touchdowns  — three receivers had at least 100 yards and three had at least 10 catches — and the Als still lost as Quinton Porter went 27-for-32 for 429 yards and five touchdowns.

 

Montreal rushed for 10 yards in the game. That’s how you lose in the CFL, even when you put up 36 points.

 

Let’s take a look at the five things we learned in Week 15.

 

1. Home teams are still a safe bet. Western Conference teams are now 20-7 at home. In the East, teams are 13-16 (Toronto and hamilton are a combined 4-11), but that has more to do with the fact that the East is just plain lousy. Western teams are now 18-6 against the East. It doesn’t matter where they play.

 

2. The Calgary defence is the only thing that will keep the Stampeders out of the Grey Cup. It’s not that the Calgary defence is awful. The Stamps have allowed only 352 points in 14 games. It’s just that when they need it, they don’t get it. The Stamps have five losses. The defence collapsed in the final minute in a 32-28 loss to Winnipeg (and, don’t forget, the Bombers had Ryan Dinwiddie at quarterback), it collapsed late in a 34-31 loss in Edmonton and gave up 37 at home in another loss to Edmonton. In five losses, the Stampders have given up 162 points. In nine wins, only 190. There is a lesson in all that. 

 

3. The Bombers still aren’t a lock — although, they should be. Winnipeg added Jason Armstead, Kai Ellis, Zeke Moreno and Joe Smith and should be better. For three weeks, they were, with wins over 3-11 Hamilton and 4-10 Toronto on the road and 7-5 Edmonton at home. But on Friday night, the Bombers did the things they did when the team was 2-8: they didn’t run the ball enough, they were awful on special teams, they committed a couple of turnovers that led to 14 points and their kicking game — once again — was dreadful. Winnipeg should have second place in the Least Division locked up by now, but with games against Toronto and Hamilton at home and Calgary and Montreal on the road, anything can happen.

 

4. Saskatchewan isn’t going to roll over. Just when we thought the banged-up Roughriders were about to go down for a third and final time, they get a sensational effort from Michael Bishop and 128 yards receiving from Weston Dressler and beat Calgary 37-34. The Riders are 9-5, still tied for first and still in a legitimate race for first place. 

 

5. The B.C. Lions just might be the surprise of the West. They don’t do much of anything, at least not anything remarkable, (although DE Cameron Wake is pretty impressive) and yet, the Lions find ways to win. Friday night, they went into Toronto and should have blown the wonky Argos away. Instead, they were lucky to beat a team that hasn’t won since Week 10 — and hasn’t won at all for Don Matthews. But in B.C.’s case, the emphasis should be on the word “win.” They found a way and that’s what makes a champion (remember the 1988 Blue Bombers and the 2001 Calgary Stampeders and the 2007 Saskatchewan Roughriders?). There is a lot to be said for a team that can win a close game on the road. Of their nine wins this season, the Lions have won five games, each by less than a converted touchdown. That’s a team that will be tough in the playoffs. 

 

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It’s Week 14 in the CFL. The Bombers and Als are streaking. The Eskies and Argos are sliding …

Posted on September 26, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

It’s Week 14 in the Canadian Football League and there are teams going north and teams heading straight south.

For instance, Winnipeg is playing the best football it has all season and is coming off two straight road wins. Montreal has won six of its last seven. Those are two of your winners — both at home — this week.

Meanwhile, Toronto just stinks right now and hasn’t won since Don Matthews became head coach while Edmonton is coming off a 40-4 loss in Montreal. There are two of your losers.

Let’s take a closer look at Week 14…

Edmonton Eskimos (7-5) at Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-8) 

 

Friday, 7 p.m. CT, TSN

Two teams apparently going in opposite directions. The Eskimos looked absolutely dreadful in a 40-4 shellacking at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes last week while the Bombers went into Hamilton and beat the Tiger-Cats 25-23. Granted, Edmonton played a superior team but when you start losing by five touchdowns on the road, it doesn’t matter who you’ve just played. Kevin Glenn is getting his game together and the Bombers defence is playing better with Zeke Moreno in the middle. This week, Bombers GM Brendan Taman said, “No matter what you think might happen, it doesn’t matter because Edmonton has a great quarterback.” He’s right, but still…

Pick: Winnipeg

Calgary Stampeders (8-4) at Toronto Argonauts (4-8)

Saturday, 5:30 p.m. CT, TSN

The Argos appear to be in disarray. From the start of the season you knew this Argos team was just an injury or a mistake away from collapse and when head coach Rich Stubler decided that he was going to have two “starting” quarterbacks, you kind of figured things would eventually come apart. That happened the day Stubler was fired and replaced by Don Matthews. Matthews is a legend, but he’s 69 and he took over the team in September, at a time when he couldn’t cut anybody without paying them anyway. Makes it hard to be a tough, taskmaster. Meanwhile, Calgary has moved into a first-place tie and last week looked great in a 34-4 shellacking of the sad-sack Argonauts in Calgary. The outcome shouldn’t be much different this week.

 

Pick: Toronto

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-10) at B.C. Lions (7-5)  

Saturday, 8:30 CT, TSN

This isn’t even fair. Sport Select has made B.C. a 12 1/2-point favourite. The Lions should cover. 

 

Pick: B.C.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-4) at Montreal Alouettes (8-4)  

Sunday, 12 Noon CT, TSN

This should be the best game of the weekend. Saskatchewan is still banged up and have lost two straight. Obviously, all the injuries are starting to catch up to the Riders. The Alouettes just might be the best team (right now) in the CFL and it would appear that barring injury, Anthony Calvillo, will be the league’s most outstanding player. Montreal is playing extremely well right now and that 40-4 win over Montreal last week was impressive in all aspects of the game. 

 

Pick: Montreal

Last Week: 3-1

Season: 27-13

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It’s Week 12 in the CFL. Think, West. Think home teams.

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

It’s Week 12 and the first thing you have to think about, if you want to pick winners this week, is West vs. East. West usually wins.

 

In fact, in 16 meetings between Western Conference and Eastern Conference teams this season, the West leads the season series 13-3.

 

This week, Montreal plays in Calgary while Hamilton plays in Edmonton. Take the Western teams in both meetings. If, for no other reason than this: Avon Cobourne is not playing for Montreal and Edmonton is simply a better team than Hamilton.

 

In the other two games, take the home teams. Home teams are up 22-18 this season, but remember one important thing, in West at East matchups, the West is 6-2 — on the road. Take those games out of the equation and home teams beat road teams 20 out of 32 times.

 

This week, we have two Western teams at home and those teams will win. We have an Eastern team at an Eastern team and the home team will win and we have a Western team at a Western team and the home team will win.

 

This week, if we stick to our theories, we should go undefeated.

 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2-8) at Toronto Argonauts (4-6)

 

Friday, 6 p.m. CT, TSN

 

The Bombers head into Toronto with a revamped defence featuring Stanford Samuels at DB, Kelly Malveaux and Zeke Moreno at linebacker and Kai Ellis at rush end. It’s certainly a new look, but not as fearsome as the new look in Toronto. Don Matthews is back. How scary is that? Here’s the difference, Toronto won 19-11 the last time the two teams met in Toronto and Winnipeg’s offence isn’t any better than it was two months ago. However, the underlying story of this game is, once again, Winnipeg slotback Milt Stegall. Stegall can become the Canadian Football League’s all-time leading receiver tonight as 14-year Bomber veteran is just 17 yards shy of the league’’s all-time pass receiving record of 14,891 yards, currently held by Calgary’s Allen Pitts. That should give the Bombers a little incentive. Too bad he didn’t need 117 yards. Toronto is a dreadful football team but Matthews will make them better.

 

Pick: Toronto

Montreal Alouettes (7-3) at Calgary Stampeders (6-4)

Friday, 9 p.m. CT, TSN

Most outstanding player candidate, tailback Avon Cobourne, is not playing tonight and that will obviously hurt the Alouettes. But will it hurt them enough to lose this football game? Calgary has won three of its last four and had an impressive 38-33 win IN Edmonton last week. Montreal has won five in a row, but their last loss, a 36-34 defeat, took place at B.C. Place. The Stamps beat the Alouettes 23-19 back in Week 3 in Montreal. It’s two months later and it’s still hard not to like the Stamps.

Pick: Calgary

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-8) at Edmonton Eskimos (6-4)

Saturday, 6 p.m. CT, TSN

This one is a no-doubter. Ricky Ray, A.J. Harris, Kelly Campbell… Edmonton by three touchdowns. Not even Marcel Bellefeuille, who replaced the fired Charlie Taafe this week, can stop the implosion in Hamilton.

 

Pick: Edmonton

Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-2) at B.C. Lions (5-5)

Saturday, 9 p.m. CT, TSN

This could be the game of the week. Saskatchewan is playing with a pre-season roster and yet behind a terrific performance by quarterback Michael Bishop, they overcame a 31-14 deficit in Winnipeg last week,  scored 20 unanswered points in the final quarter and won 34-31. B.C., meanwhile, went into Hamilton and blasted the Ticats 35-12. It was a terrific road win and this week, the Lions add small, feisty and gifted tailback Charles Roberts. Saskatchewan can’t continue to win with 14 players in the injured reserve. Can they?     

 

Pick: B.C.

Last Week: 2-2

Season: 21-11

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A week of CFL shake-ups: Matthews back, Taafe gone and the Bombers acquire Zeke Moreno for virtually nothing. What does Hamilton know that Winnipeg doesn’t?

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Let’s start with our list:

 

1. In Toronto, the Argos fired Rich Stubler, the head coach of a struggling 4-6 team — a 4-6 team that should be better — and replaced him with 69-year-old Don Matthews. Not quite as old as Cliff Fletcher, but much older than Cito Gaston. No wonder all the teams in Toronto wear blue uniforms. The owners just rummage around in a big blue box and come up with anything recyclable (Hey, is Isiah Thomas coming back to the Raptors?).

 

2. The 2-8 Hamilton Tiger-Cats fired head coach Charlie Taafe (2-8 this season and 5-23 over a season and a bit) and no one argued in the least. Not even a peep. Taafe is replaced by offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille.

 

3. The 2-8 Bombers signed 28-year-old import defensive end/outside linebacker Kai Ellis, a recent cut of the Montreal Alouettes. With Joe Lobendahn and Ike Charlton nursing injuries, Ellis will start on Friday in Toronto. 

 

4. The on-going carnival in Winnipeg continued to sell out, but this week it got really crazy — again. After blowing a 31-14 lead with 11 minutes to play, the Bombers lost 34-31 to Saskatchewan in front of a sold-out crowd in the fifth annual Canwest Banjo Bowl on Sunday. You can bet head coach Doug Berry wasn’t going to take the blame for that mess, so he started the week by throwing safety Ian Logan under the bus. In the end, however, he didn’t trade or bench Logan. Instead, he traded defensive end, Tom Canada, one of the city’s most popular players, to Hamilton in exchange for the league’s leading tackler Zeke Moreno (Remember, River City Sports can provide you with a brand new Zeke Moreno jersey at any of its Winnipeg locations).

 

Starts out, Canada isn’t going to report to Hamilton, but he goes for his physical anyway, and finds out he has an enlarged spleen, After a trip to the hospital, he’s put on the nine-game injured reserve list and is out for the season. Still, Bombers GM Brendan Taman is able to finish the deal with 2-8 Hamilton, getting Moreno and a conditional draft pick in exchange for the Bombers first overall pick in the 2009 CFL draft plus the rights to their No. 1 pick in 2007, offensive lineman Corey Mace, who is on the practice roster of the Buffalo Bills. In the end, the Bombers didn’t have to move Tom Canada, but what do the Tiger-Cats know about Moreno that Winnipeg doesn’t? Did Ticats GM Bob O’Billovich get fleeced or has Moreno lost a step? Guess we won’t know until Moreno starts on Friday night in place of the injured Joe Lobendahn against the 4-6 Argos in Toronto. 

 

Meanwhile, Canada is a happy guy even though he spent time in the hospital with an enlarged spleen and will be on injured reserve for the rest of the year. Canada’s happy because he wasn’t traded to Hamilton this week. And that might be OK for awhile, but he’s still finished as a Blue Bomber, at least under Doug Berry’s watch. Fact is, Canada was shopped around to the entire league. Berry doesn’t want him and even though he’s on the injured list for the rest of the season, Canada is only a Bomber because he was too physically damaged to be traded (ules of course, Berry is gone before next spring’s training camp).

 

I have my own opinions on this mess and you can probably detect a little sarcasm in my usually objective accounting of events, so I thought I’d share some e-mails from Bomber fans(?) I received this week:

 

Scott,

 

Here is the skinny. You are (CEO) Lyle Bauer’s boss. That ‘group’….You go to him and say this is what happens today. Berry gets released. Bob Cameron is named as head coach for the balance of the season. Troy Westwood will be the punter for the remainder of the season. Lyle balks at the idea. You give Lyle a fat lip and fire his ass. I tell you what, Bob Cameron is the cure. How long was he on the side lines? How many coaches listened to his ideas? Henry Rosolowski, Winnipeg

Scott,

Incredible. No wonder the Bombers are in disarray! Who is letting this idiot Taman run the club into the ground!  YOU DON’T TRADE TWO NUMBER ONE DRAFT PICKS AWAY UNLESS YOU ARE GETTING THE SECOND COMING OF JOE MONTANA!  

 

The season is lost and even if by some miraculous event they did make the playoffs, how far do you think this team is going to go?  TIME TO BUILD FOR THE FUTURE, NOT NOW!  

 

If and when 2007 first round pick Corey Mace does come to the CFL, the kid is going to be an impact player! The inept Bombers have the best chance right now to have the #1 draft pick next season. Do you know what kind of stud they could draft to go along with excellent rookie Labatt on the O-Line, which is a must in the CFL!  You need the big talented Canadian kids to build your O-Line. And simple football 101 states that if you have no O-Line you have nothing!  

 

Or at least you could draft the best Canadian kid in the country for that porous D-Backfield which, lord knows, under Taman has been the worst secondary in CFL history! You only make a trade like this if you have a bonafide chance to win the Grey Cup. Other than that YOU KEEP YOUR DRAFT PICKS AND FUTURE TALENT! No wonder they have not won a Grey Cup in 18 years and now sit last in the league!

 

Ted Arichteff, Winnipeg

 

(Wow! A lot of capital letters)

 

Scott,

 

Thank you for a great report this morning (on 92-CITI-FM). Honestly I’m not a CFL fan, unfortunately I’m a Dolphin fan (yes they are brutal), but my true love is NCAA football. 

I’m a huge Gator fan and watching them dismantle Hawaii a few weekends ago was a joy. The Bombers have two WAC QBs (Dinwiddie and Chang) and that is a joke. The WAC is a poor conference and the Bombers seem to think these two QBs from there are s-o-o-o good. 

You are 100 per cent right. Drop all these bozos and let (Bryan) Randall play. I watched him at Virginia Tech and he is one hell of a QB! Why don’t the Bombers make a deal with Montreal for Chris Leak. He’s on the inactive roster. I watched him and the Gators take apart Ohio State.I don’t even listen to classic rock but I listen to you guys every morning.

Derek Capri, Winnipeg

The great thing about the Bombers is that EVERYONE (speaking of capital letters) has an opinion. And when they’re 2-8, most of those opinions are not flattering.

 

Friday night, Winnipeg plays in Toronto. The Argos are only four points ahead of the Bombers in the race for second place in the Eastern Conference. If Zeke Moreno and Joe Smith and Kai Ellis and all the big names can get it done, this Bomber team can make the playoffs. If they don’t, it’s time to look at a real, legitimate shake-up.

 

Meanwhile, win or lose, the Bombers will look great in their new retro jerseys supplied by, you guessed it, River City Sports. 

 

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