Da' Bombers - Let's git er done 2008!!!

[Only The Lonely..]

Well, as many of us follow the antics of the Blue and Gold I thought this might be the place to discuss the glory that will be the 2008 season.

Post away.

Stegall coming back
Milt ready to play another year
Updated at 5:34 PM

By Ashley Prest


MIKE APORIUS/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager Brendan Taman and chairman Ken Hildahl are surrounded by reporters and photographers as they listen to Milt Stegall announce his return for another season today.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers star slotback Milt Stegall ended months of suspense and announced this morning that he will return to play the 2008 Canadian Football League season. It will be his 14th with the Bombers.

Stegall has often joked that the only guarantees in life are death, taxes, trouble, Milt Stegall will always be on time, Milt Stegall will always look good and Milt Stegall will always be in shape.

Six days past his 38th birthday, Stegall has added a seventh guarantee to that list: Milt Stegall will be a Blue Bomber again.

He also revealed he will be a father for the second time.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, we decided I'm going to come back and play another year," Stegall said this morning via telephone from his home in Atlanta during a league-wide conference call in the Bomber boardroom, which was packed with local media.


"There was some developments that came about, with some business opportunities and secondly, one that trumped everything, my wife is pregnant right now. So there was a lot of things that had to go into consideration as far as making this decision."

While appearing in the 2007 Grey Cup championship game but coming away empty-handed, Stegall said the final decision was "from the heart" and made with his wife Darlene and young son Chase.

"I always say I think we have a great chance to win a Grey Cup. Coach (Doug) Berry and everyone there, they've put together a great team and a great atmosphere and I want to be a part of that.

"The things that arose caused me to take a while to make this decision but we put some things in place that there's a great possibility that my family will be with me in Winnipeg this year."

Stegall said he believes he'll know when the desire to keep playing has left him and that time has not yet come.

"When football leaves me I'll be able to make a smooth transition," he said. "There's only so many opportunities you get to have an occupation, a job like this, to be around great guys in a great organization in a great city."

In true Stegall fashion he proceeded to apologize to pretty much everyone in Manitoba for taking the time he needed to make such an important decision.

"So I want to say I'm sorry for the fact that it took too long, to the organization, to the coaches, to Brendan (Taman) to Ross (Hodgkinson), everybody on the board, to Lyle and all the fans in the city," but there was a lot of things that came into play that my wife, myself, my agent and my son Chase, we had to weigh everything. But everything looks positive and in the right direction so we decided to play another year.

Taman, the Bomber general manager, said Stegall, has signed a one-year-plus option contract. He may not be the highest-paid receiver on the team because of the financial wrangling he had to do to get Stegall's salary in under the CFL's new cap.

"From a football point of view, I still think he's one of the best receivers in the league," Taman said. "He's great in the locker room which will never be replaced...and he draws a lot of people's interest in the football club."

Bombers receivers coach Bob Dyce said Stegall will both his skill and mentorship to the club.

"When Milt and I met at the end of last season after we came back from Toronto, I told him that I hoped he came back because I definitely feel he can still be an outstanding player for this team," Dyce said.

Stegall was signed as a free agent by the Bombers in 1995. Last July 27, he broke the CFL record for career touchdowns when he eclipsed the 137 total held jointly by George Reed and Mike Pringle. He now has 144 career TDs and holds several other league records, including most career TD receptions.

He has never won a Grey Cup with the Bombers and suggested all of last season that he was 99.9 per cent sure he would retire, but always kept that tiny sliver of hope open for fans who have come to love him. He has said it's become increasingly difficult to come back every season and be away from his wife Darlene and his son Chase.

He has been dubbed the Turtle Man because of his rock-hard abs as well as the Touchdown Beagle, Quatre-Vingt-Cinq and Chocolate Milt. Among his most memorable catches are a game-winning, last-play, 100-yard reception in Edmonton over the Eskimos on July 20, 2006.

He has been awarded the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, given a key to the city and the street formerly known as Arena Road was renamed Milt Stegall Drive this past season. Other CFL records he holds include most TDs in a season (23 in 2002) and most yards per catch in a season (26.5 in 1997).

He was named the CFL's most outstanding player in 2002, was named, with quarterback Khari Jones, the top passing/receiving tandem ever in the CFL and was voted No. 15 in the CFL's Top 50 players of the league's modern era by TSN.

Stegall joked with the media that he wouldn't go any farther than just saying he'd playin in 2008, referring to his last season's comment that there was a 99.9 per cent chance he'd retire.

"I'm taking it day by day, I'm not giving you guys any ammunition. Every day I wake up in the morning, I'm gearing up, I'm going to play football that day."

Taman joked he'll have to make some financial adjustments to incorporate Stegall's expanding family.

"I'm going to have give her (Stegall's wife Darlene) some flowers now so that will have to go under the cap," Taman said, smiling.

[Only The Lonely..]

Flight 87 won't fly for Blue in '08
Bombers let go of Johnson III
Wed Jan 30 2008

By Chris Cariou


MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES

Albert Johnson III may only be the first well-paid Bomber to leave.
FLIGHT 87 had his wings clipped late last season. On Tuesday, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers permanently grounded him.

Albert Johnson III, dubbed Flight 87 in his first tenure with the Bombers in 2000 for his ability to break huge returns on punts and kickoffs, said from his insurance business in Pearland, Texas, that the Bombers have released him only three days before he was due to receive a contract bonus on Friday.

The 30-year-old former NFLer, who was a CFL all-star returner in 2006, also complained that the Bombers broke the news to him long after his requested Dec. 31 date to know one way or another whether they wanted him back for 2008. He also said the special-teams unit played harder after he was benched in favour of late-season addition Keith Stokes.

"I kind of felt it was comin'," said Johnson. "I just wished they held up to their end of the bargain and let me know a little earlier so I could have had some decisions to make or some things go on to try to help myself. But obviously it's always done at the team's convenience and as players, what else can you do?"

Johnson said he pretty much knew he was gonzo when the Bombers, whose special teams had been struggling all season, brought in rookie Willie Foster and then Stokes at the end of last season and benched him.

Winnipeg's special teams improved dramatically and the Bombers advanced to the Grey Cup game.

Head coach Doug Berry pretty much confirmed Johnson's version in the absence of any official news release from the Bombers or any insight from general manager Brendan Taman, who couldn't be reached for comment.

"I think probably the writing was on the wall at the end of the season as we were using different returners at the end of the year and it seemed like we were getting more production with other returners," said Berry.

"For the time that A.J. was with us, I felt like I did give him plenty of opportunities to display his best but we just felt like we have other guys that -- based on what we saw at the end of the year -- would give us more production going into the 2008 season."

But Berry said he wasn't suggesting Johnson's career was finished. He said that with the new salary cap, combined with age and player performance, the Bombers felt this was the best decision for them.

And he said other talented but older veterans with high paycheques will likely follow Johnson out the door.

"The whole point is -- and maybe A.J. is the first -- there's absolutely no way we're going to be able to keep everybody at the salaries that they finished the season at. We've got to make some modifications. And unfortunately, guys who are talented are not going to be with the Bombers next year."

The club is hoping to re-sign free agents Tom Canada (defensive end), offensive linemen Dan Goodspeed and Matt Sheridan, and others -- all of them seeking raises -- and veteran receiver Milt Stegall has been hedging on whether he'll return or retire. If he comes back, it will be at a high price.

Johnson, who left the Bombers for the NFL after the 2000 season but suffered knee injuries, returned to Winnipeg in 2006.

He said he'll talk to his wife about whether he should continue playing and attempt to catch on with another CFL team for 2008.


chris.cariou@freepress.mb.ca

[newflyer]

The new salary cap will be rough on all the teams, but should make for an interesting off season.

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by newflyer

The new salary cap will be rough on all the teams, but should make for an interesting off season.

To be honest, i'm not really sure that Winnipeg needs the protection of the cap. Attendance was good enough last year that we should be able to have whoever we like on the roster.


Most teams try and sneak their way around it anyway.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

To be honest, i'm not really sure that Winnipeg needs the protection of the cap. Attendance was good enough last year that we should be able to have whoever we like on the roster.


Most teams try and sneak their way around it anyway.

I read that for the first time the CFL is auditing each team to make sure they stay inside the cap. Before it was based on the honor system, which didn't work in anyway, other than allowing the poor teams to have a convinent excuse for not bidding on more high cost players. "He won't fit under the cap."

The penalities of going over the cap will be enough to deter teams from over spending.

[ScrappyPeg]

I've heard that Milt is returning despite taking quite the pay cut himself...

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by ScrappyPeg

I've heard that Milt is returning despite taking quite the pay cut himself...

Yeah. thats what I head too. Curtis Joseph took a big paycut last year to allow the Riders to sign other players. It seemed to have paid off.

For instance if Winnipeg could have afforded a better backup QB last year we would be the proud holders of some fancy silverwear.

[ScrappyPeg]

Talk about a role model - if this were the NFL - this city would have Milt's face plastered on every billboard to be found.

He's a fabulous example of what dedication is all about.

[newflyer]

The Bombers definately should market him even more.. as the face of the team. A hard working star player, who puts the team ahead of himself.

[Dalreg]

Well Winnipeg can look forward to being the SECOND best team on the prairies this year. Wonder who will be the best?


SASKATCHEWAN?

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Well Winnipeg can look forward to being the SECOND best team on the prairies this year. Wonder who will be the best?


SASKATCHEWAN?

Now that your coach has left I doubt it will be Saskatchewan.

Although I do expect another great Labour Day / Banjo Bowl confrontation.

[ScrappyPeg]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Well Winnipeg can look forward to being the SECOND best team on the prairies this year. Wonder who will be the best?


SASKATCHEWAN?

Last I looked, the Bombers didn't play in a division with other prairie teams....

Either way! If you have to ask, then I'm guessing you're just not too confident about the answer.

[Greco Roman]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Well Winnipeg can look forward to being the SECOND best team on the prairies this year. Wonder who will be the best?

No, Winnipeg will be the best. Period.

Originally Posted by Dalreg

SASKATCHEWAN?

Once again, no.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by ScrappyPeg

Last I looked, the Bombers didn't play in a division with other prairie teams....

Either way! If you have to ask, then I'm guessing you're just not too confident about the answer.

Not asking TELLING.

At best Winterpeg will be #2 on the prairies no matter that they play in the week East.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by Greco Roman

No, Winnipeg will be the best. Period.



Once again, no.

Dream all you want. When was the last Grey Cup winning team in Winnipeg?

[SmileyBoy]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Well Winnipeg can look forward to being the SECOND best team on the prairies this year. Wonder who will be the best?


SASKATCHEWAN?

Nope, WINNIPEG.

I haven't seen a year in the past where the Bombers had as good of a chance to win the Cup like this year.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Not asking TELLING.

At best Winterpeg will be #2 on the prairies no matter that they play in the week East.

Pretty big talk considering you squeeked out the Greay Cup game against the Bombers with a raw rookie QB. I wonder how well the Riders would have done without Joseph.

Well we may find out, as I heard he's getting a good look down in the NFL an may sign with a team down there in the next few weeks.

[JayM]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Dream all you want. When was the last Grey Cup winning team in Winnipeg?

thats funny, take the team years of saskatchewan.. like 97, divide by 3, there u get an average of the time it takes to win the grey cup.

[JayM]

but you know atleast there is some good news for the league in general, thats all i care about, westerly teams have always generated more of a buzz then eastern teams anyways. thats why the attendance was up last year.

[Greco Roman]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Dream all you want. When was the last Grey Cup winning team in Winnipeg?

I believe 1990. And prior to 2007, when was the last Grey Cup winnipeg team in Saskatchewan?