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WINNIPEG -- General manager Kyle Walters knows what he wants to see in a new coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. "We need a leader, we need a strong personality, we need someone that the players are going to want to play for and be driven to succeed," he said Tuesday, as the Bombers made his appointment official. Walters, who started the season as assistant general manager, has been doing the big job on an interim basis since the team fired former general manager Joe Mack mid-season. The team also dumped head coach Tim Burke at the end of the 2013 campaign, after his first full season in a job vacated by the firing of Paul LaPolice mid-2012. Burke left on good terms -- he even received what sounded a lot like an invitation to apply for his old job as defensive co-ordinator -- but after a 3-15 finish, his departure was no surprise. "(His replacement) has to fit into the way we think," said Walters. "I think its imperative that management and the head coach are all on the same page so theres a unified message." A few names have been bandied about, including former Winnipeg quarterback Khari Jones, but Walters refused to comment on any speculation. A new coach may be top shelf but getting the teams scouting department operational, landing a new quarterback and improving Canadian content all rank high on Walters list as well. On the Canadian content front, Walters said Wednesday that linebacker Henoc Muamba will be getting workouts from NFL teams. The Bombers and their top Canadian have been negotiating a possible new contract for months. He wished Muamba well, but if he goes south it will be another blow for a team that is still face down on their new turf at Investors Group Field. At quarterback, they opened 2013 with the oft-injured Buck Pierce as their starter and understudies Justin Goltz, Max Hall and Chase Clement. As they struggled game after game, Pierce was traded to the B.C. Lions, Goltz went from starter to Halls backup, Clement was cut and they brought in other candidates in hopes of finding a better option. They didnt and are still looking. The Ottawa expansion draft is generating hope an established CFL quarterback will pop loose. But, at the same time, Walters admits a new team in the league doesnt make rebuilding the Bombers any easier. "I guess just simple arithmetic suggests that with a ninth team in the league, that the players will be in higher demand." The Redblacks also have to build from the ground up, he noted. This is Walters first shot at general manager, although he has 12 years experience in the CFL as a player, coach and, most recently, assistant GM in Winnipeg. Team president Wade Miller said he looked at all available candidates and felt Walters was the best. While he could understand fan skepticism of a first-time general manager who came from the outside, Miller said its a different case with Walters. "I was able to work with Kyle every day and from day one, very impressed with his plans for the Ottawa expansion," he said. "And (he) was doing all of those things anyway for the organization, was managing the salary cap and was pretty well doing the entire role." He admitted it certainly doesnt hurt that, unlike Mack, Walters lives full-time in Winnipeg with his wife Rena and children Lawson and Taylor. Miller also had his title confirmed after the season ended. Former president Garth Buchko was sacked along with Mack. While Miller, unlike Buchko, is a former Bomber and has a football background, he insisted hell be leaving the running of the football operation to Walters. Walters joined the Bombers in 2010 and served as Canadian college draft co-ordinator and special teams co-ordinator, after four seasons as the head coach of the University of Guelph Gryphons, his alma mater. The native of St. Thomas, Ont., played seven seasons at safety and halfback with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. nfl jerseys china . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. cheap jerseys . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. http://www.factorycheapjerseys.com/ . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. cheap nfl jerseys . Rousey will put her perfect 8-0 record and hardware on the line against another undefeated fighter, 7-0 Sara McMann in the main event of UFC 170, which will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Nevada on February 22nd. cheap jerseys from china . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said."Hes human, after all," is an expression often heard when the armour of the invincible is pierced or the stoic breaks down. Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Those moments when he has shown that humanity are the ones I remember most vividly. On January 21, 2014, Calvillo choked up as he announced his retirement from the game which had occupied nearly half of his 41 years. He struggled to find his words while admitting he had never been more nervous in his life. He struggled some more when he thanked his wife, Alexia and daughters, Athena and Olivia. The same held true when he said how much he will miss his teammates, past and present. He was nearly overcome with emotion when he mentioned his late friend, Mike Dawson, who had passed away scant weeks ago. His decades-long association and friendship with general manager and head coach Jim Popp caused the Alouettes executive to break down, almost uncontrollably, once Popp had started to deliver his tribute to Calvillo. Calvillos retirement announcement marked the end of his playing career, but during that storied journey, there were glimpses into the soul of the man which remain indelible in my memory. In late October 2007, Calvillo cried in a media scrum on the practice field outside Olympic Stadium when he revealed that Alexia had been diagnosed with b-cell lymphoma, one week after she gave birth to the couples second daughter, Olivia. The happy ending, of course, was that Alexia would beat her cancer. Seconds after winning his third Grey Cup in November 2010, Calvillo cried during a live interview with TSNs Farhan Lalji as he finally unburdened himself of a secret he had kept for three months: a cancerous lesion was growing on his thyroid gland. The lesion was detected after he sustained an injured sternum in a game against the Blue Bombers on August 20. Only his family and closest friends and teammates knew of his illness while he guided his team to and through the Grey Cup. Joy, relief, trepidation. All were on display once the final gun had sounded in Edmonton that night.dddddddddddd A surgical procedure to remove the lesion the following month would lead to another happy ending in the Calvillo familys fight against cancer. My most lasting memory of Calvillo came eight days after he had leapt over Damon Allen to become pro footballs all-time leading passer on Thanksgiving Day in 2011; not the moment itself, even though I was the sideline reporter standing only 70 yards from the decisive catch-and-run by Jamel Richardson which vaulted Calvillo to the pinnacle of his profession. On October 18, Calvillo was invited by the Montreal Canadiens to a game at the Bell Centre so the crowd could acknowledge him for his historic achievement. After the fans in attendance gave him a thunderous standing ovation prior to puckdrop, Calvillo and his family were taken upstairs to watch the game from a luxury box. I was working rinkside for the NHL on TSN broadcast that night, so we secured an in-game interview with him in the suite. It was during that interview that I was privy to Anthony Calvillo -- the family man and the player -- encapsulated in one fleeting moment. Midway through Calvillos answer to one of my questions, Athena (who was six-years old at the time) sidled up to her Dad and planted a kiss on his right cheek. Without breaking stride, Calvillo continued and completed his answer. His legendary focus which was unshakeable under pressure from defensive front 7s for two decades shone in that moment, as did the fibre of his family. A child raised in a deeply caring, nurturing family didnt hesitate to show her playfulness, innocence and adoration of her Dad -- regardless of the circumstances. National audience? Were you on TV, Dad? Waivers. Redemption. Concussions. Championships. Tears. Laughter. Transcendent athlete. Despite the accolades and his place in the history of the game, Calvillo describes himself as a regular guy. At home, he takes out the garbage. He changed his daughters "poopy diapers" when they were infants. Anthony Calvillo. Hes human, like us all. John Lu is TSNs Montreal Bureau Reporter and has covered the Alouettes and Anthony Calvillos career since 2007. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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