2018 Calgary Stampeders

[transplant99]

Nothing Arbuckle did suggests he is capable of running this club...sorry.

It's Bo or bust.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by OminousFlames

Every game is important, you never know what will happen in the second half of the season where they may need these wins.

As a Stamps fan who has watched with team amass ridiculous regular season records I can clearly say that every game has differing levels of importance. Unless you figure we're at risk of falling to 5th in the west in the second half and missing the playoffs, then this upcoming game is about a 2 out of 10 as far as importance goes (1/10 being a preseason game).

To have a successful season for the Stamps they need to win 2 or 3 games in a row in November after winning about 11 or so regular season games. They have 4 wins already and need 7 of the next 14 before needing to run the table in the playoffs. If sitting Bo against a team that will not be competing with the Stamps in the standings (divisional or cross over) will help rest him and increase the probability of him being better for upcoming divisional and playoff games then you sit him.

Even so, while I don't debate that there would be a significant drop off from Bo to Arbuckle, I think this defense has the ability to almost singlehandedly beat Montreal. As long as Arbuckle can mange the game and avoid turnovers they stand a good chance of winning the game anyway.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I'm finding it hard to find much importance in any of these regular season games.
The facts are
- This team will make the playoffs
- Having a first round bye has proven to be not required to win a cup

So the bottom line is that I'm having a hard time caring at all about all these games until we get to the playoffs where this team has to prove they aren't going to give away a 3rd straight championship.

[CaptainCrunch]

On CFLHorsemen, I've been really critical of the CFL quality of game for a few years now. There are three distinctive tiers in the CFL

Elite team in terms of talent, coaching, recruiting, the teams that act like they're a professional football team

Member

Calgary

Meh teams, they do some recruiting and occassionally get lucky, they have "characters" instead of hard core coaches and managers, they aren't great teams, but on occasion they'll rise up

Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa

The rest of the crap, you get a sense that they're coasting and not talking this thing seriously, their attention to detail ranks somewhere around beer league


BC, Sask, Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton

But Captain, what about the Stamps Grey Cup wins or lack thereof. Its any given Sunday man. The Stamps basically beat the piss out of the Argo's and lost on two plays that no matter what the talent discrepancy is it just happens. The long play by Ray where Campbell played the wrong leverage. The fumble for the long touchdown, fluky.

the year before with Ottawa, I talked about it a team will occasionally rise and peak, but the fact is that the REDBLACKS then started the next season 1-6. a 9 team league is a shyte happens league.

Frankly its harder to get excited about the CFL until after labor day because frankly the quality of football is really bad.

Watching that Toronto Edmonton game, that was some stank football.

Any game with the Riders its bad football. Give me a break with Montreal and Toronto, those are bad and badly coached team.

IF the CFL wants to stop the decline in attendance, all the teams need to get serious and act as if they're professionals.

[rotten42]

This is exactly why after 40+ years I'm losing my interest in the CFL. There really isn't any form of consistent competition in the league.

[dash_pinched]

I think the main problem is we are seriously lacking in QB talent currently in the CFL. Aside from Bo and Mike Reilly, who else is there? Jeremiah Masoli is off to a pretty good start this season, but can he keep delivering? James Franklin shows promise, but he's still pretty raw. Lulay is one hit away from retirement. Jonathon Jennings has no confidence left. Trevor Harris can't go a game without being pulled. Matt Nichols is meh. Brandon Bridge and Watford in Saskatchewan, c'mon let's get real. Drew Willy, nah try again.

[CaptainCrunch]

We've talked recruiting, and how teams have to really work harder to find players to come up here to play ball, and that goes double for the quarterbacks.


Here's the problem


The low Canadian Dollar, most of these guys can't maintain two homes on what they make on a CFL rookie deal


Offenses in college aren't pro offenses, so a ton of the QB's that manage college offenses aren't capable of running a pro offense. The option offense is easy, but when you get to the pro's the CFL and the NFL and have blindingly fast linebackers that are good at the 50 technique the QB suffers and dies.


Canadian Quarterbacks don't develop because of when we play football. Bantam is a fall league, Midget is an early spring league CIS is pretty much a fall league. Guess what goes out the window for offenses as the weather cools? Throwing maybe? We don't develop QB's like the American's do, its that simple.


the opportunity for QB's is different. I mean we have the NFL, the arena leagues, we're going to have a development league starting up and the return of the XFL. Where do you think the best young quarterbacks are going? It ain't the CFL.


We're getting the dead end prospects.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

I think the main problem is we are seriously lacking in QB talent currently in the CFL. Aside from Bo and Mike Reilly, who else is there? Jeremiah Masoli is off to a pretty good start this season, but can he keep delivering? James Franklin shows promise, but he's still pretty raw. Lulay is one hit away from retirement. Jonathon Jennings has no confidence left. Trevor Harris can't go a game without being pulled. Matt Nichols is meh. Brandon Bridge and Watford in Saskatchewan, c'mon let's get real. Drew Willy, nah try again.

You could say the NFL has the same issue. There's at least 10-12 teams that don't have a franchise QB on their roster. I think the QB talent right now is actually as good as it's been overall as Mitchell and Reilly are as good as there's been and then you have competent QB's like Harris, Masoli, Nichols, Lulay and really only the Riders and Als have dire QB situations. IMO the bigger problem is lack of Canadian talent and poor talent recruiting and coaching by a few teams.

[MissTeeks]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1018908195434086401

https://twitter.com/user/status/1018915537336729610

[Hockey Fan #751]

I wonder, would it help if QBs counted towards the ratio? I think that CFL teams would be more likely to put Canadian QBs on the roster, even if in the third string role as it would provide an incentive to them. Right now, there is none and I think it hurts development.

[Corral]

i appreciate the CFL more and more as each year passes. Its truly Canadian with its unique rules. The players earn a salary most of us can relate with, and thus you know they are in it for the game itself. The season doesn't drag on forever. The physical nature of the game means you can't play every second night - so likewise fans don't get saturated with games. TSN does an admirable job broadcasting the league. And the Grey Cup is a national event. What more could you ask for?

I think the gate prices have gotten too high at least in Calgary (i blame the Flames for this). Otherwise, i'm grateful the Stamps are the class of the league and attract high quality players.

I've been around long enough to remember what its like in the down times ... don't need to return to those days.

[TheAlpineOracle]

It’s really time the CFL reduced the Canadian ratio, especially if they add another team in the Maritimes. The talent just isn’t there and it’s getting worse every year as more and more Canadians don’t allow their children to play the sport. As a longtime season ticket holder, all I care about is the quality on the field. I’d argue they should get rid of it all together but I know that would never happen. CIS football is really, really poor quality football. It can’t continue to be a feeder for this league while teams charge top dollar for admission. The skill is just not there and it pains me to say that as an alumni of a CIS program.

[Jason14h]

Can we start by cutting the season to 14 games , increase to 10 teams?

Play other division once, your division home and home ,and one rival game.

The season is tooooo long and most games don’t matter

Then you get playoffs in freezing weather and snowstorms

Getting a new stadium with bars and tailgating would help as lot as well

I can live with the quality of the game if it was more fun to watch, and game meant something

[DirtyMike]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Can we start by cutting the season to 14 games , increase to 10 teams?

Play other division once, your division home and home ,and one rival game.

The season is tooooo long and most games don’t matter

Then you get playoffs in freezing weather and snowstorms

Getting a new stadium with bars and tailgating would help as lot as well

I can live with the quality of the game if it was more fun to watch, and game meant something

They should shorten the season to 16 games, maybe add a preseason game, and reduce the number of Canadians by a couple to increase talent. It would also be nice if they'd lower ticket prices in Calgary and soften up the rules around tailgating. I guess it's always been a bit of a cyclical league, but hard to watch attendance decline in nearly every market.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

It can’t continue to be a feeder for this league while teams charge top dollar for admission.

Top dollar? CFL tickets are a bargain.



https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/c...ices-1.4611686

To get fans to games [Toronto], the average ticket price will be rolled back by 23 per cent, meaning about 2,600 tickets will be sold for as low as $15 per game for season's seat holders and $19 per game for single-seat buyers.

https://www.stampeders.com/single-game/

[troutman]

Ottawa ($36 to $141):
https://www.ottawaredblacks.com/2018-single-tickets/


BC ($10 to $158):
https://www1.ticketmaster.ca/bc-lion...4&minorcatid=8

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by troutman

Top dollar? CFL tickets are a bargain.



https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/c...ices-1.4611686




https://www.stampeders.com/single-game/

They might be cheaper than the NHL, but they are far from a bargain. All those cheap tickets are garbage seats in the end zone that you can barely see the play from given the size of a CFL field. Anything between the 20 yard lines is at least 50 bucks a Seat. I sit in the Blues in McMahon and my tickets are $70 each and I would consider those average seats at best. This is a second-tier professional league. I can’t give my tickets away, let alone try to recoup my cost when there is a game I can’t attend.

I actually paid less money to go to the NFC Championship game then I paid to go to the Grey Cup in Ottawa where I sat on metal bleachers and didn’t even have access to the actual stadium (couple food trucks and porta potties were the amenities).

[Corral]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

They might be cheaper than the NHL, but they are far from a bargain. All those cheap tickets are garbage seats in the end zone that you can barely see the play from given the size of a CFL field. Anything between the 20 yard lines is at least 50 bucks a Seat. I sit in the Blues in McMahon and my tickets are $70 each and I would consider those average seats at best. This is a second-tier professional league. I can’t give my tickets away, let alone try to recoup my cost when there is a game I can’t attend.

I actually paid less money to go to the NFC Championship game then I paid to go to the Grey Cup in Ottawa where I sat on metal bleachers and didn’t even have access to the actual stadium (couple food trucks and porta potties were the amenities).

i agree with this. The best deal at mcmahon is safeway tickets and then move over a section or two so you can have a beer. There is absolutely no need for a dozen tier price hierarchy at a 60 year old stadium. Charge a premium for lower seats between the 40s, and all other seats should be like $25 each.

[TheAlpineOracle]

It would be very interesting to see what the Stamps would charge at a new stadium if by some miracle we actually got one. They’ve already exceeded what most people are willing to pay now for the CFL irrespective of venue.

[tvp2003]

Re ticket costs: if any CPers want to take their kid to a game without breaking the wallet, I've got a pair of season tickets (one adult, one youth/child) in section L, Row 1. They are in the family section (no alcohol), and are on the far aisle, so they are very close to the field with virtually nobody behind you or in front of you. Also, easy access to the concourse and in/out of the stadium.

PM if interested; most games are 50% off face value...