Who is Jack Bedell ?

After reading his comments if obvious he's not part of the fabric of Montreal where the Al's have to compete with the Canadiens for media coverage. We the few true fans have a lot to be concernedd about when we see ZERO movement or news about this team.
This teams has had it's soul ripped out and I for one see us sliding back to the mediocrity of the 70's --- which Jack Bedell was never a part of.....That's why we are concerned.

Your point?

Jack B. Bedell is a Professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University and columnist for www.montrealalouettes.com.

I liked Jack's Columns.....

Maybe you should go hang out at www.esksfans.com and see what it measns to be a fan.

This team has never been mediocre under the current ownership/management.

They are entitled to the benefit of the doubt. Hell they are even allowed to make mistakes. Its not like the other 7 teams are pilons waiting to get beat.

In fact the Als org has been SO good in the last ten years that other organisations have had to change how they do things to keep up.

As far as media coverage. The Als have never gotten much in the off season. Nothing new or tragic here.

agreed on all counts!

Hey, I've never been the title of a thread before! It's pretty cool, even if the guy who posted it hates me.

I've been an Alouettes fan for 30 years now. I may be from Louisiana, but my heart is with the team as much as if I were in Montreal, and I would definitely consider myself a true fan.

I'm like any other Als fan, except I'm privileged to have a forum for my views on the team's site and on www.thescore.com (and occasionally on the league's site). Those views are personal, and I never mean to suggest anyone else should share them.

My bet is, the ALs will field a fine team this year. The organization is top-notch and wants to win as bad as any group in the CFL. I'm with HfxTC and Ro here--the past performance of this club justifies me giving them the benefit of the doubt, and I'm giving it.

Mostly, I want to say thanks for reading the column, though!

Serious Jack? If the Als signed 50% of the best free agents, we could say that they have the best defensive line and M.L.B. in the League. In fact, both Tompkins and Cody were free agents long before Feb.15,2008, since they had been released by their team -Edmonton and Hamilton- in January. In 2007, both Ashlan Davis and Brian Bratton had more yardage than Tompkins; Davis is much better than Tompkins. Jeff Keeping was signed because he was a non-import; no srar, but can "replace" on offensive line and defensive line.

The only player amongst the 10 best free agents was Hunt; I still question this signing since we already had/have Ferri,Hill and Taylor. We need a M.L.B.. Mr. Popp was more anxious to sign Armour, to play as M.L.B. and Tom Canada as D.E.

Amongst the imports signed, Harris has not proved much in the pros; he had good University credentials-football wise-but he has been a "flop" in the pros. We will see but, to me, Will Proctor is the Q.B. of the future.

Yes Shea Emry was an excellent draft choice and he should be the only draft choice to make the team. Firr and/or Woldu could be on the practice/development roster.

I still hope and I am sure that more signings will be announced before training camp. As I said or wrote earlier, this 2007-2008 off-season has been the most quiet/"dullest"-in players signings- since 1996; the fact that Mr.Popp has not spoken to Herb of the Gazette, since late November 2007 does not help. I fully understand Mr.Popp but, for the fans, let's hope that it will end soon.

Go Als Go!

Richard

Richard, you make some great points, but I couldn't be more serious. Hunt, Cody, Richardson, and Tompkins are top-10 free agents.

Rated by position, they are among the top two or three players available at their position in the 2008 market (discounting the players who re-upped with their own teams).

It doesn't matter when they were made available. They were on the market and landed in Montreal.

The stats from last year don't affect my judgment of those players. What they did in another system, another situation, doesn't undermine their physical abilities, IMO.

And by talking about those signees, I mean no knock on the players currently on the Als' roster. I think Richard's dead on in his assessment of Davis and Bratton.

I do have to confess, the fact that Herb Z. has limited access to the GM doesn't mean much to me because I'm not there. I realize how frustrating that must be for you guys, being in town and hungry for news coverage.

I just don't equate the team's success with how much print coverage they get.

I'm also very willing to admit I'm wrong when I'm wrong. I've always done so in my columns on cfl.ca and on the Als' site. I'm just a guy watching football like you guys.

Well Jack, your actually nicer and more polite then most of us LOL!

Don't agree about Davis and Bratton being superior to Tomkin. When have they led the league in all purpose yards or returns? As well both of them made mistakes judging the ball in return duties last year.

IMO the reason TT had a poor season last year was due to the lack of talent on Edmonton's special teams caused by the lack of NI talent.

His ex coach wanted to give him a chance... no big deal. Why pin that on Popp?

I'd give Davis and Bratton the nod as receivers, but not as returners. I have to believe you're right about TT last season. He's too fast and his vision's too good returning balls to fall completely off his game like he did last year.

You mind if I quote your first sentence to my mom to let her know I've turned out OK after all?

NP Jack. You are one fine American ! I'm sure she's a fine LADY!