Sam Young to start practice with Bombers

Last week I stated that everyone was convicting Young on Marcel's version. So, Young signs only a Practice squad contract which is just as it says = practice squad= to be part of the reg. roster he has to sign an actualy contract.
A $ figure could not be agreed to and Young sought out other possibilities. Marcel tries to belittle him and his agent in the press.
The Ti-cat GM is the one who should be looking at himself in the mirror for the way he negotiates.

Absolutly, Marcel did the right thing. A players agent doesn't come to the GM the day before a game and demand a pay increase. Could you imagine what kind of message that would send to the others. Let Young go where he wants to......as long as it's not with the Cats.
I guess it's OK with you guys if a GM cuts a player the day before he's to report to training camp, keeps it quiet so no one knows he's not on the roster, then brings him back and tries to low ball him, then gives him 2 weeks to get ready to play and then the GM gets pissed because the player says he's not going to sign a contract that wouldn't pay his bills. That's a great way to run an organization.

Any press releases to this effect, luvthegame?

That would be more than a legitimate reason
for Sam and his agent to balk and walk.

Sam was injured while under contract.

[url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/story/4007016p-4621061c.html]http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports ... 1061c.html[/url]

New DB riding roller-coaster
Ex-Tabby tries to get his bearings; Blue cut Davis, Fulbright, Atkinson

Mon Jul 16 2007

By Ed Tait
EXCUSE Sam Young if he is running the emotional gamut right now, feeling both ecstatic and angry, wanted and scorned at the same time.

Three days ago the veteran CFL defensive back was readying to suit up for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for Saturday's game against the Montreal Alouettes. But after a bizarre turn of events Young instead spent Sunday on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice field as one of two new recruits after the club also added long-snapper Mike Mahoney while cutting Nate Davis, Gabriel Fulbright and Blair Atkinson.

Young, the former B.C. Lion who joined the Ticats last season, blew out his Achilles with two games remaining and spent the winter recuperating. According to the 28-year-old Chicago product, he was cut before training camp and told by Ticat brass he would be brought back later.

Young joined the practice roster but, after seeing his base salary sliced from $65,000 to $41,000, opted to renege on the deal.

"I felt like that seeing as this is my fifth year in the CFL I just couldn't do it so I was willing to walk away with no hard feelings," Young said after his first workout as a Bomber. "Fortunately, my agent put a call in to see if somebody needed my help and luckily I landed here.

Best interests
Click here to find out more!
"It's nothing I tried to do against the (Ticats) because me and all the guys there are tight. I didn't try to hurt the team at all, I was just looking out for my best interests as a player.

"It was unfortunate in Hamilton... they disparaged my character a little bit."

Yeah, you could say that. Young's decision to balk at the Ticats' new contract offer left the club scrambling to find bodies for their depleted secondary this weekend and GM Marcel Desjardins was, well... miffed is the cleanest way to put it.

"(Young's agent) said Sam had decided to reject the contract that we had agreed to at which point I told him what I thought of both of them," Desjardins told The Hamilton Spectator. "We had agreed on something last week and two days before the game he decides it's not good enough. I don't know if he thought he was in a position of strength and was going to be able to corner us into something but I just told him, 'we don't need that and you can go home.'

"He has not painted himself into a good position. I understand that he feels he is worth more but he should have told me that two weeks ago."

Young started his CFL career in Calgary and was a West Division all-star with B.C. in 2004. He appeared in 10 games with the Ticats in '06, finishing with 26 tackles and two interceptions.

And one of his biggest fans, it turns out, now sits just a few feet away in the Bomber locker room -- quarterback Kevin Glenn and Young were teammates and roommates at Illinois State. Young was in Glenn's wedding party this off-season.

"He's a good guy, a very good team player who works hard and is smart," said Glenn. "I know there were some words said about him by other GMs on other teams, but I've known Sam for awhile.
"It's good he's here. When I told my parents that he was coming they said, 'You two are back together again? That's great.' Everybody's happy to see Sam get another shot."

Those feelings, it would seem, are mutual. "That's my buddy," said Young of Glenn. "He's underrated as a quarterback. His knowledge of the game... all through college he was reading defences in his sleep. I think he'll eventually go on to be an icon if he isn't already. He's a stand-up guy."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Thank You very much, luvthegame.

Let the chips lie where they may.

Dealing with rookies is one thing,
dealing with all stars is another.

In future when Marcel has weak cards
he better fold his cards and concede.

Without getting into he said / she said, what bothers me about this whole thing is in the big picture we may have lost another talented DB that could have helped our defence. As a fan it's tough for me to get too wrapped up with with personallities and pollitics, because all I care about is the product on the field.

Yeah. It’s too bad the Cats could only afford to pay a 5 year man a first year man’s salary. I guess Winnipeg has deeper pockets to attract and keep talent.

Taman was desperate because the Bombers have a lot of injuries in the secondary.

“I’m not sure what happened with Young in Hamilton, but we ran out of healthy defensive backs here and we think he is good, better than Gabriel Fulbright (who was released),” Blue Bombers’ general manager Brendan Taman told Sportsnet.ca.

[url=http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/article.jsp?content=20070715_162033_5040]http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/ar ... 62033_5040[/url]

Good call ticatsattack…apprently you can read minds :wink:

(Footballyoubet) obviously there is no integrity in the bombers organization. Young has no business ever setting foot on a cfl field again. Bombers just went from number 5 to number 8 in my books.
I agree. Even the TSN announcers alluded to the fact that Young and his agent were behaving irrationally.

With an already signed contract, Young had no business approaching Dejardins 2 days before a critical game to demand more money. This was a very sleazy move which backfired on him,

Cutting him loose was the right thing to do and I think the Bomber organization shows absolutely no class in even considering him for a role on their team. (They’ve been watching the Argos too much)!

Bombers appear to be guilty of tampering

IMO its just the old story of a rookie GM trying to show his authority by making an example of someone. Pick out an opportunity with a replaceable player and play hardball with him and of course let everybody know about it.
Do you think Marcel the Parcel would play this game with Jesse Lumsden, Timmy Chang or one of the other good young Canadian players that are the future of this club. Not very likely. Any contract problems with them we would not know about as it would all be done on the quiet.
Sam Young? hey lets make an example of this guy and hope it puts the fear into the rest of the team.
That's the way some teams operate and it works to a point, but not a very class way of treating people.
You never heard anything out of the Argo front office about Karikari when they quietly let him go. But it was obviously about money, they wanted him to play for less and he (at that time) probably didn't want to. However, to their credit they didn't run to the media about how greedy the player was.
I think Marcel could learn a few things from the Argos how they treat their players with respect. It just might pay off in the standings. But some people never learn it seems.

Doubleblue,

Marshall was guilty of running a team with zero discipline where the players called the shots. Desjardins is reversing that. End of story.

I think we’re confused about what consists of discipline here.
Greg Marshall’s teams were considered undisciplined because the many penalties they took. Desjardins has really reversed that.
I didn’t know they were considered undisciplined because they told management how much money they would get paid and now they’re not.

Here is Sam's perspective. We pay Mass 350k. $41,000 I think a cashier at Tim Hortons makes more than that.

ombers sign DB
Ticats' loss is Blue's gain

The newest defensive back landed in Winnipeg after a 'Cat fight with Hamilton over a contract kerfuffle.

Veteran Sam Young arrived in time to practice with the Blue Bombers yesterday, mere days after the Tiger-Cats sent him packing. Young had actually been scheduled to play against the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday but his agent demanded more money.

"He said Sam had decided to reject the contract that we had agreed to, at which point I told him what I thought of both of them," Ticats GM Marcel Desjardins told the Hamilton Spectator. "We had agreed on something last week and two days before the game, he decides it's not good enough.

"I don't know if he thought he was in a position of strength and was going to be able to corner us into something but I just told him, 'We don't need that and you can go home.' "

Young, however, spent the entire off-season rehabbing from surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon and had planned to enter his option year with Hamilton. Then, a week before training camp, the 'Cats called to say they had released him but were going to bring him back after camp.
"So, I went back after training camp and signed to the practice roster," he explained. "I was scheduled to go into my option year, making a base of $65,000. Once I signed to the practice squad and proved to them that my Achilles was OK, they wanted me to start a couple of days after practicing.
They rushed the (playing) contract and my base was $41,000.

"(They said) I was an injury risk. I could understand injury risk but, at the same time, I'll be 29 years old on August 1st and I still have to make a living. I felt like I proved myself and if I came back from my injury, the way it was told to me was that I would be making at least the same that I was making -- not that I was making a lot in the first place."

And the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Illinois State product had no desire to start at the lower rung of the salary scale again.

"I felt like, this being my fifth year in the CFL, I just couldn't do it so, I was willing to walk away, no hard feelings," Young said.
"Fortunately, my agent put a call in to see if someone could use some help and luckily, I landed here."

But Desjardins was obviously perturbed that Young would leave the Tiger-Cats in the lurch on the eve of the Montreal match.

"I didn't try to hurt the team at all, I was just looking out for my best interests as a player," Young protested.

A former West Division all-star while with the B.C. Lions in 2004, Young recorded 26 defensive tackles and two interceptions in 10 games with Hamilton before suffering the torn tendon last season.

Although speculation is that Young will get at least $55,000 from Winnipeg, Bomber GM Brendan Taman could not be reached for comment.

"I've been impressed with him as a defensive back and when he became available, for whatever reasons, we were able to talk to his agent and convince him to get over here," said Bombers head coach Doug Berry.

There is a good chance Young will suit up in Montreal on Thursday.

Young, meanwhile, re-joins his old college roommate, quarterback Kevin Glenn, here.

"I played with him in college and we've been friends ever since then,"
Glenn said. "He was in my wedding party ... It's a great addition to the team."

(Doubleblue) IMO its just the old story of a rookie GM trying to show his authority by making an example of someone. Pick out an opportunity with a replaceable player and play hardball with him and of course let everybody know about it. Do you think Marcel the Parcel would play this game with Jesse Lumsden, Timmy Chang or one of the other good young Canadian players that are the future of this club. Not very likely. Any contract problems with them we would not know about as it would all be done on the quiet.
Disagre! Desjardins, under the circunstances , used the most honest option open to him. Young already had agreed to terms and then, thinking he had the upper hand, demanded more money. I'm glad they threw him out.

Furthermore, I’d like to think that Lumsden, Chang or Corey Holms would have been treated the same way under similar circumstances. I thing the Ticat personnel already know that Desjardins is not going to stand for any threats or nonsense regardless of who the players may be. He did the right thing.

(Second Quote)(Doubleblue) You never heard anything out of the Argo front office about Karikari when they quietly let him go. But it was obviously about money, they wanted him to play for less and he (at that time) probably didn't want to. However, to their credit they didn't run to the media about how greedy the player was. I think Marcel could learn a few things from the Argos how they treat their players with respect. It just might pay off in the standings. But some people never learn it seems.
How do you figure that Desjardins "ran" to the media with this story. The "media" is in Desjardin's face every day of the week. He doesn't have to "run" anywhere. He simply told the truth when questioned about the situation. Actually, this was refreshing to me.

In terms of learning a few things from the Argos, Desjardins doesn’t require any of the Argo methods of hiring players, bringing in players with criminal histories or exceeding salary caps under the table, which they might very well be doing again right now. Take a long hard look at their roster. These guys don’t come cheaply.

Marcel Desjardins will make some rookie mistakes as a GM, but from what I’ve seen, the man is honest and doing his best to put together a decent team ion Hamilton.

Carry on, Marcel and ignore comments from the Blue Team and it’s supporters.

Oskie Wee Wee!

That's the way some teams operate and it works to a point, but not a very class way of treating people.
Well if you look at teams that have been able to manage the salary cap in the NFL i.e. New England, Philadelphia, etc. they pull these kind of moves all the time. They have a price in mind and if your loking for more than they cut you lose.
You never heard anything out of the Argo front office about Karikari when they quietly let him go.
Haha...they reason they cut Karikari quietly was to try and hind the move due to the amount they seemed to give up at the time and the amount they paid him the season before.