...A very sound ni o lineman...definitely not injury prone.... 33 and in his prime... very good trade...A late round draft pic for Bates is not a lot to give-up....His experience alone is going to prove very valuable to the Bombers...Another big-one to add to an already sizeable o line....The opposition better get ready to be 'run' over.. :lol: :thup: :rockin: Good one Kelly.. :thup:
If Bates is all of that, why has Buono had him on the trade block for months?
Kelly could trade for Pee Wee Herman and you would think it was the best deal on Earth.
…Bates’ play speaks for itself…terrific…I believe we received Joe Smith from the leos…and he’s workin out pretty good :lol: …soooo Wally doesn’t hang on to all of the good ones…Seeing as Roberts is no longer playing and we still have Joe…wouldn’t you call that a good deal :lol: :lol:
and by the way …we released pee wee herman and he’s now with the Ti-Cats…I believe he’s going to be the back-up there …in between running his doughnut shop… 
Uh oh, another NI o-lineman? I wonder if this will affect arius’ ranking of the bomber line?
Oh, I think Arius right now is (or should be) a little more worried about the Riders' line; they've just lost Wayne Smith for the season:
http://tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=278749Wow! They have a guy on the 9 game and training camp is a month away. It is a good thing ET is on "leave" or we'd be hearing how they are going to have to go over the cap... 
Losing Smith will hurt, no doubt. And Bates was a decent pick-up for Winnipeg–they gained some of the experience they so sorely lacked (and which Papa previously thought was irrelevant, but now covets). It still leaves the Riders with one of the best o-lines in the league and the Bombers with the worst, but the gap closed modestly. We may go with two imports now, but time will tell.
And ironically, losing Smith for the entire year will likely save the riders cap space…
I know. I was just pulling your ankle.
I know!!
wait til Papa replies—then we should see some ankle pulling…
Great trade, got him for a song, should help solidify the inside of that line nicely.
…Don’t like to see injuries of this type to any player…Cap space is the least of the Riders worries…now having to adjust to Smiths absence is going to be the challenge…But then… when you’re so deep in talent like the Riders are at this position…should be like water off a ducks back…NOT… :?
This was a great pick up for the Bombers, a non import offensive lineman with experience and can most likely play the whole season, this pick up solidifies our o-line BIG TIME and in my opinion the BB'S WILL have one of the best o-lines in the league this year, argue that all you want Bomber haters, but YOU WILL FIND OUT VERY SOON. :rockin:
No one likes an injury like this. Agreed. And Smith is a class act who hopefully can rehab and be 100% next year.
Moving on, maybe the Bombers will trade us one of the many, many promising tackles they have…oops…sorry…my mistake. Looking at your list of o-line TC fodder, there isn’t anyone we would want…