So Rhett Cranney, we've been asking for weeks, you know, what will this do when he comes back? What will that add to the Blue Bombers? Um, now that he's back, what are your expectations for what this Bombers defense look like-- looks like now that he's back playing multiple different positions back there?

I think the expectations need to be heightened a little bit here because you're getting the return of a guy who-- Rhett Cranney's so interesting to me, right? Because I think those people here in Winnipeg understand his value, understand who, you know, the kind of guy he is.

He's probably one of the best guys on the team as far as, you know, open and honest and just a, a, a great human being.

But he's an incredible football player, right? And he's not just an incredible football player, he's an incredible communicator, and I would argue the most important communicator on that defense.

A defense that requires a lot of communication because it's run by defensive coordinator Jordan Younger, who asks a lot of his defense, um, in their looks, in their versatility and, and, you know, often rushing three, pulling back, um, you know, more into coverage.

So you're asked to do a lot of things and, you know, I think we learned, we certainly learned over the years the value of Rhett Cranney, but I think we really [coughs] excuse me, learned his value here Since he's been out, and we've talked about it.

Head Coach Mike O'Shea has addressed it this past week about you know, what he brings to that group.

But ah, I mean, what, like what did you make of his performance? And you know, why wasn't he in the lineup earlier with, b- a guy capable of that kind of performance?

How would you grade Tommy Condell's tenure so far, 11 games into this season, and has your outlook changed after that win?

Well, if you're going to go off the philosophy, you're only as good as your last game.

I guess the scouting reports for Tommy Condell are pretty damn good, right? I mean, take the season as a whole.

And yeah, there's been lots of, you know, question marks about it.

There's certainly been comments, right? We all heard Brady Oliveira talk about it earlier in the season about not having an identity and echoing some of those talking points from last season under Jason Hogan's tutelage.

You know, most notably, what are we good at? What are we really good at when we need to play? Like, you know, those were the things that were kind of spilling out throughout this season as well.

I wouldn't say it was bad as last year, at least the frustration level from a player standpoint isn't as high this season.

What do you make of U Sports not being aligned with the CFL and making those changes and what that could mean for CFL for football in Canada in 2027?

That's the job, right?

You know, that's the job, right? They're not h- you know, they care about their players, but they care about their organization more.

It's like every company, right? Like, they care about their individuals, they're supposed to care about their individuals, but it's the company, the brand that is always protected, right? So and, you know, when I said bluff about Connor Hellebuyck, I think the Jets are obviously looking to get that, you know, they know the situation, they know he doesn't wanna be here.

They would like to, you know, fix that situation either one of two ways, finding the right trade or trying to convince him to stick around in Winnipeg, to convince him that what they're doing is the right things.

And the bluff I'm referring to is I think the Jets, while they're trying to actively, you know, get the best deal, because this one they need to win on paper.

Like, they're pretty self-conscious about losing any trade.

This one is particularly important to the fan base, to the future of this organization.

Um, but I mean, then, I mean, [laughs] then are you in the league [laughs] anymore?

What are your thoughts on how their season is playing out thus far, even though Winnipeg is sitting at five and four and only two games behind w- uh, Edmonton for first in the West?

You know, Eddie, I find it to be a really fascinating situation, Winnipeg.

To your point, there are a number of players, and key players from those, you know, dynasty years, if you will, or glory years of going to the Grey Cup.

So there still has that feel, right? And even some of the players, you know, after last season particularly, but even the one before that where they lost their third straight Grey Cup, the kinda conversation was like they're, almost they're convincing themselves that this group is, is worthy of another opportunity or should be.

And it, and, you know, at, at points, I'll be honest, it's been kinda cringey.

You know, the, the issue this year, obviously we've seen some turnover, more turnover certainly in, in the years before that in Winnipeg.

And notably this year, you mentioned Jake Sereznay, right? There was, you know, Tim White, Tommy Nield on offense.

He just needs to get the reps essentially, Jeff?

What are your thoughts on how their season is playing out thus far, even though Winnipeg is sitting at five and four and only two games behind, uh, Edmonton for first in the West?

You know, Eddie, I find it to be a really fascinating situation, Winnipeg.

To your point, there are a number of players, and key players, from those, you know, dynasty years, if you will, or glory years of going to the Grey Cup.

So there still has that feel, right? And even some of the players, you know, after last season particularly, but even the one before that where they lost their third straight Grey Cup, the kinda conversation was like they're, almost they're convincing themselves that this group is, is worthy of another opportunity or should be.

And it, and, you know, at, at points, I'll be honest, it's been kinda cringey.

You know, the, the issue this year, obviously we've seen some turnover, more turnover certainly in, in the years before that in Winnipeg.

And notably this year, you mentioned Jake Sorensen, right? There was, you know, Tim White, Tommy Nield on offense.

He just needs to get the reps, essentially, Jeff?

Yeah

...

he didn't even get his starting job back year in, or back this year, because even though he used to throw for 350-plus yards a game, it, it wasn't a successful, you know, game plan for Ottawa.

And so I think there were some question marks heading into Winnipeg this year to answer the question.

I mean, it's massive.

But again, it's not just about the stats.

Those are important parts of Brady Oliveira's success and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' success.

They miss him.

Yeah

...

he didn't even get his starting job back year, or back this year because even though he used to throw for 350-plus yards a game, it, it wasn't a successful, you know, game plan for Ottawa.

And so I think there were some question marks heading into Winnipeg this year to answer the question.

I mean, it's massive.

But again, it's not just about the stats.

Those are important parts of Brady Oliveira's success and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' success.

They miss him.

Mm-hmm

... what we're seeing from Montreal, we've seen a lot of this over the years, Hoss.

They didn't win the Grey Cup last year, obviously.

They, they made it to the final against Saskatchewan.

But this is a team that's gonna be in it every year, right? This is a team that's gonna be up for, you know, um, has been in it every year for the last X amount of years here.

And this is j- you know, whether this is their year, it feels like it, right? I mean, you mentioned all the names.

Davis Alexander playing some of his best football of his career, if not the best football of his career.

How did you see the return of Rourke and BC getting into the win column for the second straight week?

So it's not only that they need to improve their play because it's been so subpar over the last few weeks, but there was also another level that they needed to get, because the quality of competition is going up significantly.

Yeah, and I mean, playing Ottawa twice in your first nine games is going to ultimately lead to playing better competition, [laughs] you know, through the rest of the games.

And there really isn't like, you know, I mean, what, what are you, who are you looking at, Hoss, right now, maybe outside of Hamilton, that you're, that you're kinda, and, and l- let's just put it out there right now.

The Bombers are not in a position to look at any team as, as the free, you know, bingo mark.

Um, so yeah, it's gonna be tough for them.

It comes down to it, man, is they're just, we talked about this on CFL 110 earlier this week, like, you know, whether you wanna call them broken, like this isn't the same team.

Like this isn't, you know, and fans, the expectations have not lowered, [laughs] right? Like the fans don't go, "Oh, okay, well, this isn't the same team as '21 or '22 or '23." Um, they're looking at a Bombers team that went to five straight Grey Cups and don't see, you know, don't understand how difficult it is to do that, right? Despite the long drought before that.

I, do you feel like this coaching staff is all on the same page, or is there a long ways to go for this group above the players to sort of gel together to give the team the best chance to win?

[upbeat music]

This.

This.

This.

That I am on.

This.

This.

Yes

When you look at what happened on Thursday, how do you spin that into making a prediction for Saturday's game?

I shot my show, CFL 110, this morning, and my most confident pick of the week This weekend is the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.

And the reason why I say that and answer your question is because we all watched that game.

And that was, as you mentioned, that was an epic game.

That was, in my opinion, the best game of the season and what's been a great season.

But the reason why I'm picking the Riders and the reason why I'm confident in the Riders is is simple.

Payback time, right? I thought Saskatchewan played a great game.

Is Drew Brown starting to prove Ryan Dinwiddie right? Because he almost lost to the Ottawa Red Blacks, and then he goes out last week against the Calgary Stampeders, and that was ugly from Drew Brown throwing four interceptions.

Is Drew Brown starting to prove Ryan Dinwiddie right? Because he almost lost to the Ottawa Red Blacks, and then he goes out last week against the Calgary Stampeders, and that was ugly from Drew Brown throwing four interceptions.

Yeah, even if you just want to take Drew Brown's brief tenure here, he's played three games.

He had the game against Toronto that he opened up with, which was pretty impressive given the fact he only had one practice.

The Bombers never trailed.

Followed that up with the game in Ottawa, and if one of those suspected five or six interceptions pan out for Ottawa, we're probably talking about a different game than the Bombers winning in overtime by two points.

And so you didn't really know what you were getting with Drew besides results, I suppose, and then you send them in against Calgary at home in front of a packed crowd, and the Stamps just absolutely stomped them.

It was a three-phase ass-kicking in ways we not necessarily have seen against Winnipeg.

So I will pick the Bombers this week, but going forward, oof there there's some things to fix and i just tommy condell hire i still go offensive coordinator who traditionally is a pass first guy with brady olivera how's that going to work after all the heat that the former oc hogan got last year for not using brady and it feels like this is just a repeat of last year doesn't it

... what, what's your answer to Doug's question on what is the identity of the Blue Bomber offense right now?

I'm gonna take it from Brady Oliveira, Hass.

Like, you think Jeff Hamilton's opinion of the Bombers offense is, is, has more credibility than the [laughs] than the best player on their team, and arguably one of the best players in the league? I'm gonna go and answer that for you right now and say absolutely not.

So, so if you look at, you know, this, they don't have an identity, right? They don't have an identity because, look it, they're four and three right now, and no one really knows exactly how the Bombers should win, particularly on offense.

And we talked about this when the Bombers replaced Jason Hogan with Tommy Condell, right? Like, this is a guy who has been in the league for a long time, and certainly has, obviously, experience both with Drew Brown and Zach Collaros.

And, you know, there wasn't, like, there was a ton of, you know, offensive minds that were turned down for the job or even, you know, mentioned being part of the process and the hiring process here.

But Tommy Condell really hasn't been a great offensive coordinator for years, right? [laughs] Like, I mean, I, you could argue his best ...

Big time

Do you think that with some of the moves that have been made in and around the league, as well as the prices that players are, or that teams have been paying for established NHL talent, that there might be discussions within the organization to consider taking advantage of the market in ways that maybe they hadn't planned weeks ago?

Yeah, there has to be.

I mean, that's part of being a general manager in the National Hockey League.

Plans change all the time.

I'm not saying you, you go 180 and you, and you change your plan, but I think you have to be aware.

You both, you, you know, if you're not gonna go on the, on the offense, you at least need to be taking calls, right? Like, the Winnipeg Jets have a handful of players, m- most of which are in their core group, that would be appetizing to other teams.

You obviously know Connor Hellebuyck's name's out there.

But, uh, what's your read and take on Drew Brown returning to the Bombers?

To join in the celebration and to hear some of the stories of people whose faith journeys have been impacted by all the writings of Sarah Young, head over to JesusCalling.com.

[gentle music] Fatherhood isn't about perfection.

It's about being present and about partnering with what God is doing in the lives of those that He has entrusted to you.

Let's start with Jeff's story.

[gentle music] Hi, my name's Jeff Hamilton.

I'm a, uh, pastor.

I'm a husband.

I'm a dad to, uh, 29 and 27-year-old young adults.

Right.

They don't understand the, uh, idea of how the thing that makes a man feel loved is respect and admiration, and when we're not feeling that from our community and the most important people in our life, we feel so much like a failure, and we're always trying to, to prove something to someone.

It may even be proving something to someone in our past who we'll never be able to reconcile with.

And I think that when we just give ourselves, uh, permission not to be perfect, present is import- and God will...

God is so good at redeeming these moments and reconciling these ki- types of things.

One of my favorite passages in the entire New Testament is the moment that Jesus has with Peter following the resurrection.

It's a direct echo back to when Peter was first called by Jesus, and Jesus meets him on the Sea of Galilee, and they're bringing in a whole bunch of fish, and he just looked at Peter and said, "Do you love me?" And I think there is a continued thing that we need to be able to understand about the love of God, not to get too preachy or pastory, but you know, one of the first moments that we have in the life of Jesus is recorded in the Book of Mark, is his baptism, and at his baptism, there was a voice from heaven that said, "This is my beloved Son"-

Mm.

[laughs]

So, you know, like it's, it's not like Mike is, is saying, you know, "Really get an eye on, on Taylor Elgertma and let people think he, you know, he's the heir apparent here." This is a guy who obviously made a lot of waves in NFL camps.

He's Canadian.

He's Bombers property.

It took a while to get him, you know, up here, back up here, if you will.

And so of course they're, they're paying attention to him.

It also helps that the guy's a physical specimen, right? He's like, he looks like a Greek god sculpted out of, you know, like whatever.

Yeah

Just before we dive into, you know, some of the guys that are out the camp and how this team might look different and what's to come, uh, w- what did you think of their big announcement, what was it, a week or two ago with the new playoff format? [laughs] I haven't gotten your take on all of this yet.

Yeah, I, I tweeted out my opinion on it.

Um, I share ...

You know, I, I caught your clip on it with Remo, and I share the exact same opinion as you in the sense that, you know, you, you listen, you hear, you read eight out of nine teams make the playoffs, and I, you know, and as my tweet said, you instantly lose credibility.

Like, I'm not saying you don't gain revenue, which seems to be the plan here, of course.

Like, this is a, a major revenue move, and that's why all the, the CEOs and presidents and owners are on board, um, because this is gonna bring more money.

The PA, I mean, look, the PA comes out and says they were at the table.

Me too

Drummer Jeff Hamilton.

Ray has a very strong side to him and, and, uh, no nonsense side that comes out in his music.

So instead of playing ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, da-ding, ding, it's ding, da-ding, ding, ding, da- and it's kind of like hammering a nail through, through a piece of wood for each quarter note.

[upbeat music] Drummer Jeff Hamilton.

In walking the bass, uh, when he's, when he's playing, uh, in 4/4 time and, and playing quarter notes, there's a surge in his time that is unlike any other bassist that I've played with.

As a drummer or anyone else, you can just crawl into that note.

It's such a big sound and such a big beat, and that's, that, that carries over into his time, and from note to note he's got such great continuity.

I mean, you can listen to Ray Brown bass lines and, and there's a melody.

Mm.

The, the, the dark times were the best time in my life.

When, when I suffered not long ago, I mean, when I lost everything a few years back.

After all those things, and the marriages and the divorces, and, you know, the, the, the, the partners screwing up, and, and, and, and you, you reflect on those moments, and, and then you, you understand that all you can, we can do is do the best thing that we can do.

Every day wake up.

We have the willpower that God gave us for us to work as hard as we wanna do.

Never take anything for granted.

That's like in a museum.