Lionbackers.com

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2845427

I told you all as far back as 2007 that Wally and his ideology, his coaching and the staff he hand chosen was the reason the Lions could only go so far…yes they won one more tittle in 2011, but since that dramatic reversal of fortune he resigned as coach, and as our General Manager has failed most hopelessly, and pitifully.

I can't see Wally or his hand picked chosen coaches to ever get any closer to the championship than they have this year, and I pray to god I am made to eat those words,

Apparently Pasquale will remain the "Teflon Don" of the BC Lions organization...his game to loose!

Great post, Blitz.

As MLF noted, us Lionbackers needed the Blitz fix.

One more game, and this season is a wrap.

To all the Lionbackers: Great posts all year, Guys. Great to read, win or lose.

Are we too tough? Nah. Certainly not in my opinion. Do Lionbackers care deeply about their team? Oh yeah. I have to say that the fans are the true custodians of this team. No fans = No revenue = No team.

Do Lionbackers speak out about issues they perceive? Oh yeah. Are Lionbackers always positive, or optimistic? Nope. Although some are. IMO we need both critics and cheerleaders, and all in between.

Bring it all back next year, Guys.

Enjoy the Grey Cup. Have a good off season. Hope for the best.

LU slipped a little nugget into his story on Benevides being hired by TSN as a Grey Cup analyst. It seems the fired coach won't get to collect on his two-year extension after all because the extension didn't kick in until next month. You can thus add Wally's firing of his friend to the legendary stories of his ruthnessness toward veteran players nearing the end of their careers.

Despite previous suggestions to the contrary, however, two sources confirmed that Benevides will receive a transitional cash settlement but not the final two seasons on his Lions contract, as the extension given to him by Buono did not become enforceable until next month.

CFL Notebook: Mike Benevides still blue after sacking

B.C.FAN wrote:LU slipped a little nugget into his story on Benevides being hired by TSN as a Grey Cup analyst. It seems the fired coach won't get to collect on his two-year extension after all because the extension didn't kick in until next month. You can thus add Wally's firing of his friend to the legendary stories of his ruthnessness toward veteran players nearing the end of their careers.

Despite previous suggestions to the contrary, however, two sources confirmed that Benevides will receive a transitional cash settlement but not the final two seasons on his Lions contract, as the extension given to him by Buono did not become enforceable until next month.

The former coach of the B.C. Lions found out about life on the other side of the microphone when he began his television career as a TSN analyst. It’s a career that is scheduled to end, at least at this point, after today’s Grey Cup game. Also working this weekend for CBC: SFU coach Jacques Chapdelaine.

Wally does not throw money around.

That was a tricky deal. Sounded like a full-fledged extension. Nope. So there would be no talk this year of a lame duck coach. And yet Wally could cut Benny loose if ...

Can't blame Benny for not giving interviews.

Nice to hear JC will be doing some announcing. He has always been most gracious with fans.

Where does the lineup form for coaches and players shuffled off by Wally Buono?

B.C.FAN wrote:LU slipped a little nugget into his story on Benevides being hired by TSN as a Grey Cup analyst. It seems the fired coach won't get to collect on his two-year extension after all because the extension didn't kick in until next month. You can thus add Wally's firing of his friend to the legendary stories of his ruthnessness toward veteran players nearing the end of their careers.

Despite previous suggestions to the contrary, however, two sources confirmed that Benevides will receive a transitional cash settlement but not the final two seasons on his Lions contract, as the extension given to him by Buono did not become enforceable until next month.

CFL Notebook: Mike Benevides still blue after sacking

Interestingly enough, wasn't it suggested that Benevides wanted a quick decision on his status with the Lions. That decision is about as good as some made this season, not thinking it through very well.

Benevides seemed relaxed on his TSN debut, actually not near wound up like he has been as the Lions coach.

I don't believe for a second that Wally will deny MB his money...this is a bizarre PR move by Wally to try and show that he does not play favourites, nothing more. The undisclosed "transitional" payment to MB will amount to essentially the same amount of money, I GUARANTEE IT! This is Wally trying to REPAIR his image across the league by showing that he's an a$$hole to everyone! That it's his style, nothing personal...

Some interesting comments by Josh Bell and Lyn J. Shell in the Province about our Leos

“There has been a structure and tradition in B.C. for years,” said Bell. “When I came in it was Korey Banks. You didn’t get dissension. He was the politician — the bridge between players and management — and he vocalized. I don’t know if (the Lions) had that this year.”

Shell said: “Teammates want to be treated equally and fairly. When you see people getting certain privileges over others, like all distractions you get tired of it after a while and it breaks down the team in the locker room.”

The comment about Korey Banks doesnt' surprise me. Cark Kidd played the same role before Banks became our defensive leader. Banks was my favorite Leo for years and even though he was getting long in the tooth his leadership was badly missed this season. Paris Jackson's leadership was also missed and players said so.

The role of Buono, in terms of his involvement in personell decisions was also discussed by Glenn Suitor in the article.

Can any coach work properly without personnel autonomy?“It can work as long as the coach has complete control of the roster. Clarity is control,” said TSN analyst Glen Suitor.

“Paul LaPolice and Joe Mack (in Winnipeg) was a disaster. Ken Miller and Greg Marshall (in Saskatchewan), with one guy pulling the strings from behind the scenes, was a disaster.“If Wally is running the team and making the decisions on personnel, he should become coach again.”

Having one unquestioned voice is working for the only teams still playing this season, not to mention the household of one Calgary safety.

I agree with Suitor. If Wally wants to make personell decisions he should return to coaching. If not, then he should let the coach make the decisions and play the same role as Ackles did with him when he was the Head Coach.

Its not going to be easy to attract a good candidate to coach in Wally Land.

MexicoLionFan wrote:I don't believe for a second that Wally will deny MB his money...this is a bizarre PR move by Wally to try and show that he does not play favourites, nothing more. The undisclosed "transitional" payment to MB will amount to essentially the same amount of money, I GUARANTEE IT! This is Wally trying to REPAIR his image across the league by showing that he's an a$$hole to everyone! That it's his style, nothing personal...

MLF -- this is hardly repairing his image. To the contrary. It will be seen as others suggest as a screwing of the guy.

As Rammer suggested MB wanting a quick decision wasn't that smart as he should have tried to ride it out to the contract time. In fact who on earth advised him to let a deal like that be struck.

This is highly unusual that a 2 year extension isn't starting until AFTER you're fired.

Cagey Wally on this one.

Toppy Vann wrote:

MexicoLionFan wrote:I don't believe for a second that Wally will deny MB his money...this is a bizarre PR move by Wally to try and show that he does not play favourites, nothing more. The undisclosed "transitional" payment to MB will amount to essentially the same amount of money, I GUARANTEE IT! This is Wally trying to REPAIR his image across the league by showing that he's an a$$hole to everyone! That it's his style, nothing personal...

MLF -- this is hardly repairing his image. To the contrary. It will be seen as others suggest as a screwing of the guy.

As Rammer suggested MB wanting a quick decision wasn't that smart as he should have tried to ride it out to the contract time. In fact who on earth advised him to let a deal like that be struck.

This is highly unusual that a 2 year extension isn't starting until AFTER you're fired.

Cagey Wally on this one.

Wally cagey? Getting rid of players before a bonus kicks in? Never. Making promises and rengaging on them? Not Wally?

The Lions leadership got what they wanted this season. They dumped two veteran coordinators and let them take the fall for Benevedes and Wally last season. Those decisions, going into a Grey Cup hosting season would come back to haunt them. Without the two vet coordinators, Benevedes was now on his own with two younger coordinators. Jarious left as well and he was a conduit between players and the staff as well as highly regarded by the players. Training camp was a holiday. Leos practices were not crisp. Team discipline suffered. Leo player leaders were dumped and the vacuum was not filled. Penalties were a reflection of a team in decline.

Washington managed to keep the defense playing at a high level for a good chunk of the season but the defense fell apart at the end due to a combination of a passive defense that opposing offences would eventually exploit and the mental fatigue from the constant pressure of being the only Leos unit that kept our Lions in football games. Offence was a disaster under Khari Jones, who not only couldn't overcome Dorazio's ineptitude but also ran an offensive scheme that exposed our weakness time and again. It was like watching someone run into a brick wall time and time again. Had Jones run some quick outs, hitch screens, motion screens, quick slants, skinny posts, etc. I might have been more sympathetic. But he didn't. It was like watching the not so good stuff that Chap finally got rid of in 2011 and seeing it all over again, only worse, without any of the good stuff. It was like Jones chose all the plays that were designed not to work out of the old spread offence playbook and ran them time and again, dispite the obvious results.

Hamilton is in the Grey Cup with a 9-9 record. They do not have better talent than our Leos did this season. In fact I could make a very good argument that they don't have as much talent as our Leos. And yet they defeated a Montreal team that was leading us 50-3 in the East Semi-Final. That was a playoff collapse of epic proportions and was an indication of a lot of problems. Mike Benevedes was one of those problems but he was not the only one.

More coaching changes are needed for next year.

Great post Blitz...agree 100%

Toppy, this IS WALLY's image...he knows that, and he won't ever be able to get away from that as Blitz said, BUT, he has developed a reputation after the Benevides hiring of PLAYING FAVOURITES. We heard it from LU as well, Wally told MB to keep certain players in the lineup...the players have noticed this, and this is something that Wally can't survive. Being a cold, lying, cheating, cheap GM is one thing, but playing favourites is another...there is a reason why MB was our coach, why Dorazio is still coaching our OLine, why McMann is our S Ts Coordinator and why JR LaRose and Marco Iannuzzi start for this football team...and they ALL RELATE to Wally Buono!

The shell game ...

With the media.

With Benevides? Sign here, Mike. We are extending you. Don't read the small print.

An extension that is not an extension? Or was it?
.......

First we hear that Mike Benevides was extended.

Now we hear that the extension did not kick in ... Fooled you, Mike. Ooopsss (Makes Wally look clever and cost-conscious.)

But there is transition money. Transition money? (Did the media buy the false extension trick?)

What you hear is not necessarily what you get.

Does the transition money amount to about the same as the extension? Fooled you, Media.

......

Well, Benny is gone. I think.

One would expect some more of Wally's lifer coaches to be gone.

Is our franchise in peril? Yes and No. A great Head Coach hiring can salvage the win/loss record on into the future. Another dud would surely spell the end of the Wally Buono era in B.C. A pretty solid 12 years, with some rough spots. No dynasty. Sliding down the slope.

The situation has got our attention.

Who are the clowns now ?

BabaBooey Benevides is looking good on TSN. I am somewhat surprised as to how comfortable he looks on there. I look for him to replace Lapolice in 2015.

Ravi wrote:BabaBooey Benevides is looking good on TSN. I am somewhat surprised as to how comfortable he looks on there. I look for him to replace Lapolice in 2015.

Now wouldn't it be ironic if Lapolice replace Benevides ? Reminds me of the John Tortorella and Alain Vigneault trade

WestCoastJoe wrote:The shell game ...

With the media.

With Benevides? Sign here, Mike. We are extending you. Don't read the small print.

An extension that is not an extension? Or was it?
.......

First we hear that Mike Benevides was extended.

Now we hear that the extension did not kick in ... Fooled you, Mike. Ooopsss (Makes Wally look clever and cost-conscious.)

But there is transition money. Transition money? (Did the media buy the false extension trick?)

What you hear is not necessarily what you get.

Does the transition money amount to about the same as the extension? Fooled you, Media.

......

Well, Benny is gone. I think.

One would expect some more of Wally's lifer coaches to be gone.

Is our franchise in peril? Yes and No. A great Head Coach hiring can salvage the win/loss record on into the future. Another dud would surely spell the end of the Wally Buono era in B.C. A pretty solid 12 years, with some rough spots. No dynasty. Sliding down the slope.

The situation has got our attention.

Exactly Joe,

"when you trust your television what you get is what you got because when they own the information, oh, they bend it all they want..."