I think Elk fans will be cursing Jones’ name for a decade regardless of what happens to Tre.
And rightly so.
Rourke was pretty good and it wasn't that long ago??
I’ll raise you a Pete Ketella.
Yup. Jones has to be winning the Daily Double, holding both roles. The issue with the salary management cap is really exposing him.
Sadly you could have almost stopped at the bolded. I've gone from a CFL maxi to someone who has watched 1/2 of one game this year, with no burning desire to flip the TV on. I used to be able to name you every single player on our team, and 90% of the guys on other teams. I'd be hard pressed to name a handful on each team now. Don't think it's just me either, as buddies I grew up with that were diehards are no longer watching much, if any games at this point. I've gone from a 99% CFL/1% NFL fan to the exact opposite. Still love football, can't wait for the NFL to start. Everything the CFL has done to turn me off has been self inflicted from their part. I've been waiting to be thrown a small bone, literally anything to get me interested again, and nothing has come.
You’re a Rider fan. Wasn’t that cap brought in to reign in Jones or push him out while he was in Regina? Maybe I’m remembering it wrong but in addition to hiding players on the practice roster and avoiding the cap I thought he was also hiring more coaches than everyone else or paying them more. He was out of control when he was there. As I said, maybe I remember it wrong but I thought this started while he was with the Riders and he left not long after. The irony being he’s benefitting from it now.
Bob, your post is like looking in the mirror, for me. Well said.
I recall that and think it probably contributed but I don’t know if it was exclusively a Rider issue. Other teams were paying multiple contracts out and the league was bleeding cash. Aren’t they always??
leaderpost.com
This really shows how inept the Elks board had become. They brought back into the league a guy that for all intents and purposes had been black-balled. Worse than that, it had happened recently enough that none of them should have forgotten about it. I’d say it serves them right that they’ve ended up in the position they’re in but none of them are losing anything personally. It wasn’t their own money they lost when the team went broke under their leadership. In this case it was just the fans that lost.I recall that and think it probably contributed but I don’t know if it was exclusively a Rider issue. Other teams were paying multiple contracts out and the league was bleeding cash. Aren’t they always??
Update - found in an article from Darrel Davis in Regina:
The cap was implemented in 2019 because former Riders boss Chris Jones, now with the Edmonton Elks, overspent wildly on extra players and coaches. So the league implemented restrictions to keep free-spending teams from pummelling more responsible teams. It was similar to the CFL’s first cap on player salaries, which originated in 1988 as a method of providing cost-certainty.
You nailed it.
Darrell Davis: Oft-maligned spending cap actually helps the CFL
Roughriders put together a decent coaching staff despite restrictions
Ps - Jones in Regina was doing what Norm Kimball did for decades in the Evil Empire. Difference being Kimball found great players and assembled juggernaut teams and CJ was just inept. It wouldn’t have lasted in Regina even without the cfl stepping up, their latest financial statements are skinny.
Yup. The board ruined this team. You can go back to them approving Tillman, firing Hervey, wasting 500k on Milanovich, Jones, Cui.... It goes on and on.
Firing Hervey may have been the one thing they got right. He was a shyster. He had a history of misrepresenting himself while he was here. They didn’t trust him and they were probably right not to. The Lions fired him over the shady Reilly contract.
Say what you will about him though, he got us our only Grey Cup in the last 20 years.
Game’s in Ottawa
I could have written this exact post. Sad isn't it.
