Bombers receive no love from oddsmakers

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This article was published 14/06/2013 (4485 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The oddsmakers have rendered their verdict and they don’t think much of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ chances to win this year’s Grey Cup.

The website www.bodog.ca issued their Grey Cup odds this morning and oddsmakers assigned the Bombers the longest shot on the board at 10-1.

Bombers head coach Tim Burke said that sounded like an opportunity to him. “Maybe I will slip down to the U.S and lay a bet,” Burke laughed during his daily media availability following practice at Investors Group Field on Friday.

The bodog website proclaimed the B.C. Lions the favourite to win this year’s Grey Cup at 7-2, followed by the Calgary Stampeders at 4-1, the Montreal Alouettes at 9-2, the Toronto Argonauts at 11-2, the Saskatchewan Roughriders at 13-2, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 7-1 and the Edmonton Eskimos at 9-1.

Meanwhile, Burke told reporters that the battle for the punter’s job in Winnipeg is now over and incumbent Mike Renaud has won once again.

Earlier today, the Bombers announced they had cut six players, including punters Brett Cameron and Tim Hutchison. That trimmed the number of punters in camp to just two, Renaud and Billy Pavlopoulos, the club’s 7th round draft pick in May.

Burke said the club will continue to evaluate Pavlopoulos over the next couple weeks to determine if he should be offered a spot on the practice roster this season.

In other Bombers news:

— DB Jonathan Hefney was back practising one day after Burke said he’d be out for a week with an injured toe;

— Burke suggested he’d prefer if his players didn’t Tweet this season, but he won’t stop them from doing so. He said the team will have a meeting about media and social media policies Friday evening;

— Burke said he will call out any players this season for overly exuberant celebrations.

— The Bombers are now done this year with two-a-day practices.