BC Lions announcement

[notahomer]

I'm looking forward to the ceremony. IIRC, the Bombers are the team where he started his CFL career so it will be neat seeing this ceremony @ halftime.

[Robbie]

Simon works for the Riders and was doing some scouting while there so why wouldn't he wear a Riders shirt. Now if he comes dressed in green when they put him in the Ring of Honour, well that would be different.

I'd say it's extremely unlikely that the Saskatchewan Roughriders will do to Geroy Simon what the Colorado Avalanche did to the Ray Bourque in retiring a players number who has only played for one season - albeit a championship season.

That said, notwithstanding the four players who are honoured because of a plane crash in 1956, the Roughriders have only retired four players who are indeed CFL legends and who have retired quite a while ago: Ron Lancaster, George Reed, Dave Ridgway, and Roger Aldag. Perhaps it is time for the Roughriders to retire another number and if that's the case, they might as well retire a CFL record holder and future Hall of Famer in the form of Geroy Simon.

[Shi Zi Mi]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 15m

#BCLions sold 3,000 Grey Cup tickets on day 1 when made available to the public. Ticket sales now at 40,000.

#BCLions will announce coach Mike Benevide's new 2 year deal this morning.

#BCLions gm Wally Buono says he has seen plenty of growth and progress in Benevides - that's why he gets new deal.

It's a hamstring injury for #BCLions receiver Marco Ianuzzi - 1-2 weeks.

[Shi Zi Mi]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 41m

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

[cromartie]

Thanks for the info, cromartie. I've been to Cooperstown and Canton. Like peaking into Valhalla.

Door to door, I'm an hour from the PFHOF. Had my fantasy football draft there last year. They're really nice people to deal with.

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

Here's hoping the passport is worth a draft pick. I'm not the fan many of you are and he was a liability on ST last year. Nothing against him personally.

While you may have a beef with Simon, don't expect that it follows that he has a beef with the Lions.

I don't have a beef with Simon for wanting to continue his career. His season played out more or less as I expected it to, and good for him. That said, if another team is going to put you in its ring of freaking honor, announcing it in front of 26k fans who paid your salary for a dozen years, maybe you could wear a different shirt for the day. That doesn't seem like a big ask to me. Ray Borque didn't walk out on the Boston Garden in an Avs jersey. Dominic Hasek won't walk out onto ice in Buffalo in a Red Wings jersey. Players don't walk into honorific ceremonies in other teams colors. Brett Hull didn't walk up to the Mic at the 2002 Stanley Cup parade and say "Wow. I wish I could have had one of these in St. Louis."

I'm hard pressed to remember the last time I saw something like that, across any sport, actually. It was a d*ck move, in my opinion.

[sj-roc]

While you may have a beef with Simon, don't expect that it follows that he has a beef with the Lions.

I don't have a beef with Simon for wanting to continue his career. His season played out more or less as I expected it to, and good for him. That said, if another team is going to put you in its ring of freaking honor, announcing it in front of 26k fans who paid your salary for a dozen years, maybe you could wear a different shirt for the day. That doesn't seem like a big ask to me. Ray Borque didn't walk out on the Boston Garden in an Avs jersey. Dominic Hasek won't walk out onto ice in Buffalo in a Red Wings jersey. Players don't walk into honorific ceremonies in other teams colors. Brett Hull didn't walk up to the Mic at the 2002 Stanley Cup parade and say "Wow. I wish I could have had one of these in St. Louis."

I'm hard pressed to remember the last time I saw something like that, across any sport, actually. It was a d*ck move, in my opinion.

I think the analogy here is flawed. The announcement wasn't made live from field level before all the fans like in your Buffalo/Boston scenarios. It seemed relatively impromptu from the video I saw of it at the game (wasn't even a live video as far I could tell). Rather unceremonious as far as these things go. Did Geroy show up in a Riders jersey for the announcement like in your Hasek example? If Geroy wasn't wearing a Lions jersey or at least something with the Lions insignia on it, I'd put that as much or even more on the Lions themselves for not having something ready for him to put on. It's not like they just dreamed this up five minutes before they tweeted it out. Perhaps one has to also consider that he's still under the Riders' employ. Consider this: suppose he had walked completely away from football after last year's GC and got a "real" job in the corporate world with... let's say Microsoft (feel free to sub in Apple or whoever else might strike your computing fancy). If he showed up wearing a shirt with Microsoft's insignia on it, would that be a "d*ck move"?

Sorry but I just can't get myself worked up over this. Heck, even the denizens of riderfans.com themselves, who have never met an online ballot box they didn't want to stuff, couldn't be bothered to gloat over Geroy in Rider gear at a Lions happening. Maybe there's a legitimate case to be made against him but I just don't see that you've made it yet. Frankly it comes off more as looking for something to complain about. Bomber fans — now maybe THEY would have something to lament re:Geroy with all he achieved after leaving their team.

For me, it comes down to this. Whatever disagreeable things GS has said or done seem to be directed at the Lions organisation themselves. We're not the Lions. We're the fans. I don't see that he's directed anything negative at the fans. The Lions, toward whom all his gestures have been directed, seem to have taken the high road the whole way through this. As for the less-aggrieved fans? In some cases, maybe more closely following the Lions' lead would be the right path.

[cromartie]

For me, it comes down to this. Whatever disagreeable things GS has said or done seem to be directed at the Lions organisation themselves. We're not the Lions. We're the fans. I don't see that he's directed anything negative at the fans. The Lions, toward whom all his gestures have been directed, seem to have taken the high road the whole way through this. As for the less-aggrieved fans? In some cases, maybe more closely following the Lions' lead would be the right path.

Steve Yzerman is the General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played his entire career in Detroit, went into the front office into Detroit. It was made clear that he was not going to advance beyond a certain point in the front office. He was not happy about this. So he took his puck and his acumen and went to Tampa.

When he came back for the Winter Classic, he kept his Tampa affiliation to himself. He was a Red Wing. Whatever bitterness he had toward the organization about his non advancement, he didn't take it out on the fans. He didn't do interviews in Lightning gear. He was a Red Wing that week. Period.

There are dozens of examples. Joe Montana didn't walk into Candlestick to get honored wearing Chiefs gear. Bernie Kosar didn't come back to Cleveland in Cowboys gear waving his Super Bowl ring and there was a guy who had every right to.

Consider this: suppose he had walked completely away from football after last year's GC and got a "real" job in the corporate world with... let's say Microsoft (feel free to sub in Apple or whoever else might strike your computing fancy). If he showed up wearing a shirt with Microsoft's insignia on it, would that be a "d*ck move"?

No. While I fully understand that sports is a business, being honored in front of fans is an inherently emotional event. It is one of the few areas where I understand the relationship of players to fans. Fans root for teams and players on teams. There are rivalries that are inherently emotional (which, in turn, is not rational). Sports, in the fans mind, in situations like these, are not business. They're emotion.

So if you want to plug a non rivalried business, I understand that. But to walk into that announcement on that day, wearing Rider gear is a d*ck move.

You can genericize this example however you want and the conclusion is the same. I'll give you an example.

Sidney Crosby is in his last year in Pittsburgh. After the season, he and the GM sit down to talk.

"Sidney, I'm demoting you to the fourth line and would like you to take a pay cut."

"I think I can still play. I'd like you to trade me."

Five days later, he's traded to Philadelphia.

He plays half the season in Philadelphia, scores four goals in the Stanley Cup Finals, wins a cup and likes it so much that, when the Flyers offer him a front office job, he decides to stay.

The next year, rightfully, the Penguins decide to retire his number. They make the announcement. He does all of his interviews in Flyers gear.

Every single Penguins fan would see that as a d*ck move. I'm sorry. You can replace the cities, the players, the sport with whatever scenario you'd like, the result is the same. You're thumbing your nose at the fans who supported you, who invested time and money in seeing you play and wishing you success by doing that. It's classless.

I don't know. It's probably my passport talking. I run this scenario by every sports fan I know and they're mortified that this would happen. But whatever, it's his legacy, I guess.

[WestCoastJoe]

Points well made, cromartie.

Wally and the Lions have been very, very gracious. Starting with the press conference at the time of the trade.

Geroy burned a bit of a bridge with his pointed comments directed at the Lions' organization last playoffs.

He hoped to come back to B.C. this year, with a playing arrangement and pay scale similar to the one Wally offered last year. That didn't pan out. So he went with Plan Green, and took the job Taman created for him.

Scouting for the Riders at BC Place as a reason for wearing green? I am not buying it. Orange shirt available for him at the time of the announcement? Of course. Of course.

Geroy says he has not been carrying a grudge. Nonsense.

Some fans are upset and beyond upset. I think this is understandable. It is akin to the breakup of a marriage, or a partnership, or a lifelong friendship. It runs deep ...
......

I can understand Geroy carrying a bit of a grudge.

And I can understand some fans doing the same towards their former favourite son.

The optics are this: in his heart Geroy made a decision to wear green at a hallowed place for the Lions faithful, at the exact time it was announced to the fans, that he would be honoured. No rationale IMO justifies that insult to the fans, and to the organization.

An oversight? Not buying it.

Part of his duty to the Riders? Not buying it. But it is an excuse offered up.
........

As I said Wally acted very nobly in this IMO.

Has Geroy acted nobly? Towards the fans who have worshipped him? Towards the organization that nurtured him, and gave him his opportunity?

Key in this to me is that he wanted to come back this year. He would have dropped the Riders like a hot potato, as long as he could keep playing. It was a situation Wally did not want to revisit.

Geroy's still loyal fans are going to continue to see it his way, without blame for Geroy.

Those fans who are disillusioned will see it in a different light, with some blame for Geroy and some previous affection and regard turned the other way.

Both of these views are going to remain unchanged.

He belongs in the Ring of Honour. His Orange Lions' jersey #81 will be retired.

IMO his Saskatchewan association will not last on into the distant future. It seems to me Taman accommodated him. He is not one of those lifelong Riders. Heck, he was looking to leave them to come back here for this year.

Just IMO ... Although I question some of his comments, decisions and actions, I personally am still favourably disposed towards Geroy. I do believe he is a good guy at heart. And, like a lot of receivers, he has a strong ego. And, as with very successful pro athletes, there is a very strong sense of entitlement. I deserve this. I deserve that. I bear him no ill will.

This conversation will go on for years, methinks, and that is to be expected. One can see that his actions have been very divisive amongst the fans, and damaging to the organization.

[Lions4ever]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 41m

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

Gee, what could they get for him? A kicking tee and a couple of uninflated footballs?

[Rammer]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 41m

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

They should be, way too much N talent to have Ianuzzi occupy a spot, which with his tenure he should be entitled to. Edmonton or Winnipeg in the West should show interest, perhaps Montreal in the East.

[TheLionKing]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 41m

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

Gee, what could they get for him? A kicking tee and a couple of uninflated footballs?

Didn't Iannuzzi made the comment that if was picked by Ottawa in the expansion draft, he won't report because he now calls Vancouver home ? I know Dean Valli threaten to retire if he was drafted but didn't Iannuzzi also ?

[Toppy Vann]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 41m

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

Gee, what could they get for him? A kicking tee and a couple of uninflated footballs?

Didn't Iannuzzi made the comment that if was picked by Ottawa in the expansion draft, he won't report because he now calls Vancouver home ? I know Dean Valli threaten to retire if he was drafted but didn't Iannuzzi also ?

Valli has a family biz and I think Iannuzzi is in a similar job situation and yes said he would not go or words to that effect.

[Hambone]

Do Hall of Fame CFL players go in as a certain team member? I know there is some protocol (and choices), et cetera, with some of the leagues. ??? Would Geroy choose Lions' orange or Riders' green?

No. That applies only in Baseball, where guys go in wearing a cap of a particular team. The remainder of the sports do head shots or busts and lists teams as part of the biography. This includes the CFLHOF.

Not a big fan of him wearing that Riders shirt. No need to take a beef with the organization out on the fans that paid your salary for a dozen years by doing that.

Thanks for the info, cromartie.

I've been to Cooperstown and Canton. Like peaking into Valhalla.

Have not visited the CFL Hall. Maybe sometime.

And even in Cooperstown the HOF, not the player, determines which cap the player will be sporting on his plaque. I think both Gary Carter and Andre Dawson prefered that they be wearing a Mets and Cubs cap respectively as opposd to an Expo cap.

I've done them all; Hockey Hall of Fame at both the old CNE location (twice) and downtown Toronto (3X), Cooperstown, Canton and CFHOF (twice). Also did the Rock N Roll HOF in Cleveland on the same trip I hit Canton. The HHOF is my favourite and I think the best of the bunch. I don't get tired of visiting it. Cooperstown and Canton are just as you say, like peaking into Valhalla. Understandably given the shoestring budget it operates on and its very low-key profile the CFHOF lags far behind the rest. Given how many more teams and organizations etc that have historically been intertwined with the big 4 leagues they simply have exponentially more stuff and history to put on display. Where I can spend all day in the HHOF and most of the day in Cooperstown and Canton I think I've been in and out of the CFHOF in little more than an hour.

[pennw]

News1130 Sports ‏@News1130Sports 41m

Keep hearing the #BCLions are shopping receiver Marco Ianuzzi. No confirmation yet.

They should be, way too much N talent to have Ianuzzi occupy a spot, which with his tenure he should be entitled to. Edmonton or Winnipeg in the West should show interest, perhaps Montreal in the East.

I think those other teams are hoping one of those other higher-caliber-than-Ianuzzi NI receivers that we got , is left unprotected on the PR so they can scoop one of them instead .

[pennw]

For me, it comes down to this. Whatever disagreeable things GS has said or done seem to be directed at the Lions organisation themselves. We're not the Lions. We're the fans. I don't see that he's directed anything negative at the fans. The Lions, toward whom all his gestures have been directed, seem to have taken the high road the whole way through this. As for the less-aggrieved fans? In some cases, maybe more closely following the Lions' lead would be the right path.

Steve Yzerman is the General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played his entire career in Detroit, went into the front office into Detroit. It was made clear that he was not going to advance beyond a certain point in the front office. He was not happy about this. So he took his puck and his acumen and went to Tampa.

When he came back for the Winter Classic, he kept his Tampa affiliation to himself. He was a Red Wing. Whatever bitterness he had toward the organization about his non advancement, he didn't take it out on the fans. He didn't do interviews in Lightning gear. He was a Red Wing that week. Period.

There are dozens of examples. Joe Montana didn't walk into Candlestick to get honored wearing Chiefs gear. Bernie Kosar didn't come back to Cleveland in Cowboys gear waving his Super Bowl ring and there was a guy who had every right to.

Consider this: suppose he had walked completely away from football after last year's GC and got a "real" job in the corporate world with... let's say Microsoft (feel free to sub in Apple or whoever else might strike your computing fancy). If he showed up wearing a shirt with Microsoft's insignia on it, would that be a "d*ck move"?

No. While I fully understand that sports is a business, being honored in front of fans is an inherently emotional event. It is one of the few areas where I understand the relationship of players to fans. Fans root for teams and players on teams. There are rivalries that are inherently emotional (which, in turn, is not rational). Sports, in the fans mind, in situations like these, are not business. They're emotion.

So if you want to plug a non rivalried business, I understand that. But to walk into that announcement on that day, wearing Rider gear is a d*ck move.

You can genericize this example however you want and the conclusion is the same. I'll give you an example.

Sidney Crosby is in his last year in Pittsburgh. After the season, he and the GM sit down to talk.

"Sidney, I'm demoting you to the fourth line and would like you to take a pay cut."

"I think I can still play. I'd like you to trade me."

Five days later, he's traded to Philadelphia.

He plays half the season in Philadelphia, scores four goals in the Stanley Cup Finals, wins a cup and likes it so much that, when the Flyers offer him a front office job, he decides to stay.

The next year, rightfully, the Penguins decide to retire his number. They make the announcement. He does all of his interviews in Flyers gear.

Every single Penguins fan would see that as a d*ck move. I'm sorry. You can replace the cities, the players, the sport with whatever scenario you'd like, the result is the same. You're thumbing your nose at the fans who supported you, who invested time and money in seeing you play and wishing you success by doing that. It's classless.

I don't know. It's probably my passport talking. I run this scenario by every sports fan I know and they're mortified that this would happen. But whatever, it's his legacy, I guess.

Geroy disrespected BC and their fans , plain and simple . And I find it hard to believe it wasn't deliberate .