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TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 1:00 pm
by B.C.FAN
TSN unveiled its all-time Lions team Friday, and that has stirred up a debate about some of the selections and omissions. Here is the team:

Head Coach – Wally Buono (2003-11, 2016-18)

Quarterback – Travis Lulay (2009-18)
Running Back – Willie Fleming (1959-67)
Running Back – Andrew Harris (2009-15)*
Receiver – Geroy Simon (2001-12)
Receiver – Mervyn Fernandez (1982-86, 1994)
Receiver – Emmanuel Arceneaux (2009-10, 2013-18)
Receiver – Bryan Burnham (2014-Present)
Offensive Line – Al Wilson (1972-1986)*
Offensive Line – Jim Mills (1986-93, 1995)*
Offensive Line – Tom Hinton (1958-66)
Offensive Line – Jamie Taras (1987-2003)*
Offensive Line – Jovan Olafioye (2010-16)

Defensive Line – Brent Johnson (2001-11)*
Defensive Line – James Parker (1984-89)
Defensive Line – Cameron Wake (2007-08)
Defensive Line – Nick Hebeler (1979-85)*
Linebacker – Solomon Elimimian (2010-18)
Linebacker – Adam Bighill (2011-16)
Linebacker – Barrin Simpson (2001-05)
Defensive Back – Larry Crawford (1981-89)
Defensive Back – Keith Gooch (1984-89)
Defensive Back – Eric Carter (1999-2003)
Defensive Back – Ryan Phillips (2005-16)
Defensive Back – Dante Marsh (2004-2014)

Placekicker/ Punter – Lui Passaglia (1976-2000)*
Special Teamer – Jason Arakgi (2008-17)*

Foundational – Norm Fieldgate (1954-67)*
Foundational – Byron Bailey (1954-64)
Foundational – Joe Kapp (1961-66)
Foundational – Jim Young (1967-79)*
Foundational – Ken “Kato” Katsuya (1980-2019)*

* denotes national

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video/tsn-s-all- ... ns~2014304

I liked the offensive picks, especially Travis Lulay at quarterback. He was the heart and soul of the team for most of the past decade despite a string of injuries. His nine seasons as a Lion were the longest of any QB, and he won the CFL MOP award and Grey Cup MVP in 2011. Although he ranks third in all-time passing yards and TD passes behind Damon Allen and Roy Dewalt, neither of those QBs won more than one Grey Cup as a Lion.

I also thought Jim Young deserved more than being named a foundational player at receiver. He still ranks second all-time behind Geroy Simon in receiving yardage on the team and has an amazing 17.7-yard average reception for his career. Plus, he is a Canadian, and would give the TSN team seven national starters.

On defence, I thought Tom Brown deserved a spot, at least as a foundational player. One of the greatest defensive players of his era, he was named an all-star twice at linebacker and once as a nose tackle in the 1960s.

In the secondary, Korey Banks and Barron Miles deserved spots, perhaps at the expense of longtime teammate Ryan Phillips and 1980s CB Keith Gooch. Miles was a perennial all-star at safety and, as an added bonus, holds the CFL record for blocked kicks.

Thoughts?

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 1:19 pm
by Murdoch
I second the opinion on Lulay. He could / should still be playing imo. Ed fixed something that wasn't broken. Nothing against Mike Reilly.

Andrew Harris and Adam Bighill picks seem like a lack of imagination. Ray Nettles comes to mind.

Who else but Lui?

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 3:55 pm
by Robbie
Obviously there have already been several such lists on the best all-time Lions before and given the fact that the team has been around since 1954 and that there's only a few positions but yet so many qualified players for that position, then there are obviously omissions, controversy, and of course disagreements.

And whenever there's such a list, it looks like seniority of the team is always a bigger factor than simply good quality and individual accolades and awards while on the team. . So other words, an above average Lion with many years with the team will be selected over a great but very short-term Lion. And the only obvious example of a great but short-term Lion in the list is:

Defensive Line – Cameron Wake (2007-08)

Travis Lulay has a lot of seniority with the team, along with Dewalt and Allen. But the tiebreaker is that Lulay won both MOP and Grey Cup MVP, whereas neither Dewalt nor Allen won MOP and it's unlikely that Dewalt will ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame whereas the general consensus and bias against Allen was that he was always considered an unpopular and frustrating Lion QB for one reason or another. Obviously we all agree that Doug Flutie was extremely exciting in his only one great season in 1991 but is that enough to derail Travis Lulay? Apparently not even though the 50-year anniversary team, Doug Flutie was chosen.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:20 pm
by SammyGreene
Massive oversight on Korey Banks who was the best of the bunch of Lockdown U. Western all-star in 7 of his 8 seasons in BC and all-CFL in another 4. Keith Gooch was a solid DB but really? He was a Western All-Star once (1987) in his career. Just strange.
Here are the players named to the 50th Season Dream Team back in 2003 and not selected this time:
Sean Millington (RB)
Rick Klassen (DL)
Doug Flutie (QB)
Andre Francis (DB)
Darren Flutie (R)
Glen Jackson (LB)
Mike Cacic (DT)
Joe Fourquean (DB)
Harry Holt (TE)
Tom Brown (LB)
Bill Munsey (DB)

I would have Millington ahead of Harris. Five time Western all-star and leading role in two Grey Cup wins (1994 and 2000).
Glen Jackson would be ahead of Adam Bighill for me as well. Agree on Tom Brown too BC FAN. Came to Canada as one of the most dominant players in US college football too.

Dirty 30 is more than just a foundational selection too. Would be one of my starting receivers and I would have Jason Clermont as well, ahead of Manny.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:28 pm
by DanoT
I would replace Jamie Taras with Rob Murphy.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:51 pm
by BC 1988
I didn't see last night's (probably final) original broadcast of CFL 20 on network TSN (looks like it was bumped by all the NBA) so had to watch the 2 short segments on https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video
Liked the color clips of Willie Fleming and Norm Fieldgate, but there were many with no clip at all.

The panel had similar opinions to what has been expressed here about the omissions.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:08 pm
by KnowItAll
DanoT wrote:
Sat Aug 15, 2020 4:28 pm
I would replace Jamie Taras with Rob Murphy.
Jamie a class act. Rob not so much

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:14 pm
by DanoT
I would have had Passaglia as punter with his ability to run for a FD and Paul McCallum as FG kicker with the stronger leg of the two.

I'd also prefer Jim Young over Arceneaux, although the way they did it both players made the team.

Banks and Miles should also be on the team instead of Carter and Gooch.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 12:18 am
by TheLionKing
Tom Brown over Barrin Simpson

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 1:07 am
by Robbie
I see that in an attempt to broaden the list of available good players, then group positions are provided:

Receiver (4)
Offensive Line (5)
Defensive Line (4)
Linebacker (3)
Defensive Back (4)

Instead of the individual positions within those groups and obviously if that were the case the even more players will have to be left out of that player is often associated with that particular position.

At the same time, even though they may not be official positions quite often there are certain players who are identified and designated with a specialist position players and in that case, even more good players can be added. Specifically:

Kickoff Specialist: Bret Anderson
Kick Return Specialist: Tim Brown

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:23 am
by Murdoch
Saw it on another forum. Big omission in Bobby Ackles. Guessing most will agree.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:43 am
by B.C.FAN
Murdoch wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:23 am
Saw it on another forum. Big omission in Bobby Ackles. Guessing most will agree.
TSN didn’t have a category for team president or other off-field personnel. The selectors went off the board to name Kato as the only non-player or coach on the lists of the nine teams. It’s easy to argue that Bob Ackles was more worthy of being named. I’d prefer to credit TSN for the originality of their selection.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 12:53 pm
by Murdoch
B.C.FAN wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:43 am
TSN didn’t have a category for team president or other off-field personnel. The selectors went off the board to name Kato as the only non-player or coach on the lists of the nine teams. It’s easy to argue that Bob Ackles was more worthy of being named. I’d prefer to credit TSN for the originality of their selection.
Mystery solved. Thank you.

I never made it past the sign up for the voting so wasn't aware of the restrictions and wrongly assumed the foundational position would include builders.

Best ever lists need to be taken for what they are. Opinions and space fillers for when there is nothing else to talk about.

Interesting to hear support for Korey Banks though. Said at the time something was up with Mike O'Shea cutting him in training camp after paying a nice signing bonus to bring him in.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 1:36 pm
by Gridiron Ernie
Well, I'm gonna have to take a "too many men" penalty and insist that Jason Clermont joins the Lions' All-time squad as one of their illustrious receivers -- initially I thought just replace the Manny Show with Jason, but upon closer investigation I note Manny played two more seasons and racked up a couple thousand more yards, so he's entirely deserving. But dagnabbit, so is Clermont. So, rules be damned.
And, yeah, no debate, Korey Banks needs to be in our All-time secondary. They made a flat-out mistake there.

Re: TSN all-time Lions team

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 2:08 pm
by Robbie
B.C.FAN wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:43 am
Murdoch wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:23 am
Saw it on another forum. Big omission in Bobby Ackles. Guessing most will agree.
TSN didn’t have a category for team president or other off-field personnel. The selectors went off the board to name Kato as the only non-player or coach on the lists of the nine teams. It’s easy to argue that Bob Ackles was more worthy of being named. I’d prefer to credit TSN for the originality of their selection.
Bobbly Ackles can be added as a Foundational and maybe Team President for his contributions in 2002-08, but maybe not as General Manager from 1975-85, but he will be a close second to Wally Buono.
Gridiron Ernie wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 1:36 pm
Well, I'm gonna have to take a "too many men" penalty and insist that Jason Clermont joins the Lions' All-time squad as one of their illustrious receivers -- initially I thought just replace the Manny Show with Jason, but upon closer investigation I note Manny played two more seasons and racked up a couple thousand more yards, so he's entirely deserving. But dagnabbit, so is Clermont. So, rules be damned.
I suppose choosing the 25~27 football players on CFL team is still ever so slightly easier than to choose the top 6 hockey players for top ;canucks: in their 50th anniversary.