Winnipeg Free Press > Opinion > Columnists

Doug Brown

  • Blue offence must make teams pay for blitzing Buck

    Sometimes when you think -- or even know -- something is about to happen, a part of you remains in denial until it hits you in the face. If the first Bombers exhibition game gave us any insight into what lies ahead, it is that the season for "Buck Hunting" will officially run from June 27 until at least Nov. 2, and seven permits and bag tags have been issued throughout the CFL.

    View Full Column | 06/18/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • A kicker play football? Don't make me laugh

    "A KICK team is composed of 12 players and one of those players is kicking the football, but all 12 have a responsibility to play the ball with proper leverage and make the tackle when the opportunity comes along.” Craig Dickenson, new Winnipeg Blue Bomber special teams coach, was quoted as saying this last Friday in a Paul Wiecek article, and as I read it I spit coffee all over the newsprint in front of me.

    View Full Column | 06/11/2013 8:44 AM | 0

  • Not enough gates to honour Blue greats

    This was never a contest about the four greatest Blue Bombers to have played in the storied 83-year history of the football club, even though no one will argue two of the four selected -- Milt Stegall and Kenny Ploen -- are unquestionably a pair of the best that ever did. The naming of only four players to mark the four entrances to the new Investor's Group Field was nothing more than a contest that took place in 2012 for the masses to choose, "their favorite Blue Bomber players."

    View Full Column | 06/4/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Stadium will give positive vibe to players

    If you've ever wondered what effect a first-rate facility and environment can have on a professional football franchise, 2013 will be the year we all find out. For over half a century, Canad Inns Stadium, the facility known as the house that QB Jack Jacobs built, was home to thousands of different athletes making a living playing pro football. Of the 10 championships won by this football club in its history, seven of them happened while the team was housed at 1465 Maroons Road, or roughly one every eight years of its existence.

    View Full Column | 05/28/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Big Blue will have one helluva punter

    If competition brings out the best in an athlete, the one thing you can absolutely be sure of this season is the local pro football team is going to have one hell of a punter. With only 12 days to go before the vets dust off the pads and take to the pristine field at I.G.F., the Blue and Gold have an unprecedented four punters sitting on the roster.

    View Full Column | 05/21/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • CFL gains when draft picks go south

    The more I think about the top two picks in the CFL draft signing with NFL teams, the more I think the CFL clubs that drafted them will be all the better for it. In case you missed it on Sunday, the No. 1 pick in this year's draft joined four of his classmates by signing a contract with an NFL team. That means a minimum of five players from the 2013 draft class in the CFL will be late joining their respective teams in Canada, if they join them at all this year.

    View Full Column | 05/14/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Burke's Blue might just put it all together in 2013

    Let's be honest. When it comes to reaping rewards from first-year head coaches, the local football team has been about as successful as their attempts at grooming their own rookie pivots. Not very.

    View Full Column | 05/7/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Blue should roll dice, take top available talent

    With the CFL draft only six days away, and three of the four prospects I previously listed as the "fantastic four" signed or trying out for NFL deals, should the Winnipeg Blue Bombers now make their first selection (second overall) from the scraps of the NFL draft, or simply take the best player available, existing contract or not? For proper context, it's important to know that most Tier 1 players in the CFL have had some form of contact with the National Football League at some point in their careers. Whether they went to camp, were previously drafted, played a few games or seasons, or worked out for a couple of clubs, serious skill sets do not often go unrecognized by the super sleuths of the NFL. The talent may have been glossed over and not developed properly (Cameron Wake), or it may be in the wrong place at the wrong time and prematurely dismissed (Brandon Browner), but few standouts north of the border worth their salt haven't at least got a sniff from the Americans.

    View Full Column | 04/30/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Going all-in on Buck a risky gamble for Bombers

    The most accomplished athletes and coaches I've been around don't ignore or gloss over their weaknesses. They identify these imperfections in their arsenals and attack them in such a way that they become strengths. That being said, everybody and their sister knows the weakness of the 2013 Winnipeg Blue Bombers is their lack of experience behind their starting quarterback, and how they will literally be one play away from coming face to face with the season's mortality.

    View Full Column | 04/23/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • If it was up to me, I would have kept Brink and Elliott

    There has been plenty of flak over last week's decision to re-anoint Buck Pierce as the flag-bearing quarterback going into Bombers training camp. What hasn't been as abundant, though, are the suggestions of any possible alternatives that would have been that much better. We all have difficult decisions to make in life. What makes a decision difficult is when there is no assured outcome or few other alternatives. Often, the choices that lie at our feet are between bad and worse, and that may have been what the local football club had to deliberate over for the 2013 season.

    View Full Column | 04/16/2013 11:59 AM | 0

  • Grudge matches against 'the Buono' unwise

    The one thing that became apparent last week, watching the shrapnel from the Khalif Mitchell trade fracture relationships across the country, is that lessons learned the hard way are not being handed down from one player to another in the CFL. If 11 years in this league taught me anything, it's that you don't often get in a grudge match with "the Buono," and come up on the plus side of the ledger. Ever. Wally Buono and I have an interesting and connected history, as he was the one who drafted me straight out of college. Even though NFL scouts were still poking and prodding at me and there was speculation as to when I would be available to play in the CFL right away, he rolled the dice and selected me with Calgary's first pick, No. 5 overall in the 1997 draft. I never ended up reporting to Stampeder training camp that year though, as I took a flyer with the Buffalo Bills and didn't wash out of the NFL until 2001.

    View Full Column | 04/9/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • For Blue, day of reckoning has almost arrived

    A day of reckoning can be defined as "a statement of a sum due" or "a settlement of accounts." The 2013 season of Bombers football is fast approaching, and along with it a number of outstanding invoices coming due, to either be paid in full or handed over to the collection agencies at the expiration of the year. For many who played the game, the unrelenting presence of this measuring stick over our contributions was what we held dearest about the industry. It creates the most accountable of environments, and it inevitably holds all those involved responsible for their performances, both on and off the field.

    View Full Column | 04/2/2013 9:26 PM | 0

  • D'Aguilar seems suited to play Blue's defence

    Coming off a football season where the team missed the playoffs for the third time in the last four years, with the second overall pick in the upcoming CFL draft, it is fair to say the Winnipeg Blue Bombers need to get this one right. There are four players Bombers brass should be focused on: offensive lineman Matt Sewell and defensive linemen Linden Gaydosh, Stefan Charles and Ben D'Aguilar.

    View Full Column | 03/26/2013 3:19 AM | 0

  • Keeping an even keel all season way overrated

    I don't have much experience coaching, but I have spent a lot of time being coached. If there is one thing I learned while playing for eight different head coaches, it is the idea of keeping a 'consistent coaching environment' is a complete fallacy. While at a speaking event Friday in Brandon, I was asked, of all the head coaches I worked for, who was my favourite and why? I immediately knew the answer would be Dave Ritchie, but it took me longer to figure out the reasons.

    View Full Column | 03/19/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • If Cameron's kid impresses, Renaud will get the boot

    Now that Brett Cameron has signed with the local football team his dad played 23 years for, I would not want to be the other punter attending training camp, incumbent or otherwise. Actually, I would never want to go into training camp as a punter, under any conditions, but that is not the point of this diatribe.

    View Full Column | 03/12/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Canadians excelling at more CFL positions

    Now that we have seen proof Canadian players are excelling at a multitude of positions in pro football, does this change the way a team approaches the draft? The 2012 CFL season was one in which locally grown players not only started, but dominated at positions traditionally played by Americans.

    View Full Column | 03/5/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Blue might be a bit too young, raw

    There are two widely accepted theories explaining the difference between the 10-8 Grey Cup runners-up of 2011 and the 6-12, tied for last-place team of 2012. First and foremost, is the fact Buck Pierce started 16 games in 2011, as opposed to only seven in 2012. For further discussion on this topic, feel free to peruse any of the 1,300 stories written about the team in 2012 where this was a focal point of conversation.

    View Full Column | 02/26/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Bowman's bolting raises more questions about Mack

    Part of the fun of forming an opinion on a free-agency transaction is the detective work and discovery that goes hand in hand with it. Last week, the Free Press reported that Marcellus Bowman had surgery less than a week ago and was facing, "months and months" of recovery time. According to what was said by Joe Mack during a conference call that day, due to the extent and severity of his injury, Bowman would be lucky to be receiving a contract at all, yet, because of his performance and character displayed while with the Bombers, he was going to be offered a subsistence deal to keep him part of the team.

    View Full Column | 02/19/2013 10:04 AM | 0

  • Free-agent pool stocked with minnows

    There are years in the CFL where the pool of free-agent talent can address a key need and even redefine a roster. Make no mistake, 2013 is not one of them. This Friday, the community pool of athletic solicitation opens for business. Judging from how it looks right now, the water isn't warm enough to warrant getting wet, or even dipping a toe into.

    View Full Column | 02/12/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Ravens not who we thought they were

    Do not lament if you picked the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl. For, in the immortal words of Dennis Green, "The Baltimore Ravens are not who we thought they were." Many weeks ago, I picked the Ravens to beat the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the playoffs. Then I bet against them the rest of the way. I thought they would lose to Denver because Peyton Manning was back in a big way. I thought they would be defeated by New England because of the brilliance of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Then last week I wrote how the youthful exuberance of the 49ers would surely overwhelm the cagey veterans of Baltimore. That mistake was the most costly of all, but it's not entirely our fault.

    View Full Column | 02/5/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Young guns vs. wily veterans

    Sunday's Super Bowl is best viewed as a confrontation the likes of which we saw in a movie called Cold Mountain. The hero and the villain are on horseback and sauntering parallel to one another, across a steep mountain escarpment, about to draw down. One is a war veteran who has deserted from the American Civil War, the other a young gunslinger who just saw his partner gunned down.

    View Full Column | 01/29/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • No doot aboot it: QB security tops on Trestman's list

    Now that the "zone read option" has been making its rounds in the NFL -- a play that has been the mainstay of offences in the CFL for years -- it should come as no surprise the National Football League is also looking north of the border for help when it comes to protecting one of their star quarterbacks. Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery told reporter Larry Mayer on the team's website multiple reasons why he hired Marc Trestman as the newest head coach of his football team. He listed Trestman's intellect, competitiveness and professionalism as key components of his winning sales pitch. My favourite reason, of course, was how Emery noted Trestman's ability to adapt to conditions in Canada as something he admired: "The mental toughness that it takes to go into some place that you've never been before, that they don't know you or anything about you, where they speak a foreign language."

    View Full Column | 01/22/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Go with 49ers, because Falcons' coach a birdbrain

    There are only three kinds of ways to kick off a football. You can kick it as hard and as far as you can, you can "pooch" kick it, or you can onside kick it. It sounds simple enough to match these options to game scenarios, yet there were two choices too many for Mike Smith, the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, who did everything in his power to blow the Falcons' first post-season victory since 2004 on Sunday. I would like you to participate in an exercise with me.

    View Full Column | 01/15/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • U of M shutting Blue out of gym a troubling precedent

    If you happen to have a Bowflex system or a treadmill in your basement gathering dust, you might want to give your local football club a call and offer it up as a temporary training salvation. Speaking with a number of Bombers players this week, it was revealed to me the off-season conditioning program they are usually participating in at this time is running a little behind schedule.

    View Full Column | 01/8/2013 1:00 AM | 0

  • Take the Redskins and feel good about it

    Pro football's wild-card weekend is upon us, and just in time too with the NHL and its players desperately in need of an example of how billionaires and millionaires can co-exist in relative harmony. That being said, Saturday's first wild-card matchup is an AFC repeat of last year's game, with the Cincinnati Bengals travelling to Houston to play the Texans.

    View Full Column | 01/2/2013 1:00 AM | 0

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