2023 Free Agency Transactions - Other Teams

Started by ModAdmin, February 13, 2023, 05:15:59 PM

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Throw Long Bannatyne

Quote from: TecnoGenius on March 23, 2023, 09:00:33 PM
I've always wondered about that.  Sports dudes in Canada, like hockey, jays, CFL, when they get hurt they seem to get in right fast for scans and xrays and MRIs and CTs.  Waaaay faster than you or I would get in.  Even their surgeries seem to get done lickety split.  (Even this KSB example is waaay faster than the current queue would allow for.)

Anyone know how this works?  Maybe the IMPs with US health insurance can jump the queue in Canada because they are paying?  Maybe we have a special class for sports stars.  It doesn't make the socialist health care system look good if they have superstar celebrities waiting 9 months for an MRI, even if that is the reality for the plebs, and optics is everything.

And before you say "no special classes!", ask yourself how fast the prime minister would get in for an MRI or surgery...

I remember a bit of a hub-bub 5-10 years ago about professional athletes in Wpg. getting the attention they need very quickly, I believe the answer given at the time was both pro teams make use of both private and public solutions and have a lot of very good connections.

Pigskin

Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on March 24, 2023, 02:43:12 PM
I remember a bit of a hub-bub 5-10 years ago about professional athletes in Wpg. getting the attention they need very quickly, I believe the answer given at the time was both pro teams make use of both private and public solutions and have a lot of very good connections.

It was 2017. There was a report that Bombers and Jets players, along with some politicians where jumping the cue and getting MRI's. Since then the Jets and the Bombers pay a private clinic for an MRI. Little to no problem getting an x-ray in Winnipeg.
Don't go through life looking in the rearview mirror.

theaardvark

Quote from: Norm W on March 24, 2023, 12:57:53 PM
9 months? I hate to be "that guy" but I feel the need to add some facts to this discussion. 9 months sounds like an extreme exaggeration or something that occurred in the middle of the COVID panic and the department was shutdown. I live in Thunder Bay, transplanted prairie boy from the home of the Bombers :( Work gets in the way of everything fun!

One hospital in Thunder Bay, a regional hospital... which means it supports most of the communities to the north of Thunder Bay and to the East. It's a busy place... The imaging department runs 24/7 so things like x-rays, CAT scans, Ultrasounds and MRI's happen around the clock. I have shoulder and neck pain. Very old micro tears in both rotator cuffs, and the on-set of arthritis combined with a few compressed vertebrae in my neck. The surgeon and I speculate that twelve years of being on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage 40 years ago eventually catches up. I normally take 1200 mgs of Advil daily and get a couple cortisone injections roughly every 6 months to manage the stiffness and pain in my shoulders.

Long and the short of it, my orthopedic surgeon ordered an MRI to take a deeper look to ensure the old damage wasn't becoming new damage. Took less than a week, 6 days actually from talking about scheduling an MRI to having it done. That 6 days also includes the follow-up appointment to discuss the options and jab two more injections into my shoulder blades. Love those deep injections! Good thing you can't see the needle coming. 

I'm 65, not a star athlete or anybody important... Going forward it's still going to be bi-annual Cortisone, Advil as required... and more  lifestyle adjustments, i.e. cutting back on the front crawl in the pool, less or lighter overhead and pulling type weight routines in the gym and I might have to trade-in my GF for a lighter model or make additional adjustments in other lifting and aerobic activities, but it was done in 6 days, not 9 months.

Some MRI's or CAT scans can take months or more in Manitoba, Xrays not so bad, many places are walk in.  Once you have imaging, getting treatment is sometimes a bugger.  Again, depending on the procedure and how many are ahead of you, and whether your facility has been hit by staffing issues.

We definitely need more capacity for ortho in Manitoba.

Quote from: Horseman on March 24, 2023, 02:07:15 PM
Yes, that is for your average Joe citizen, for professional athletes there is no waiting line.

Anyone can get service if they want to pay.  I knew someone whose kid was injured, and needed surgery and rehab.  In Manitoba it would have been 6 months, and she would have missed an opportunity for a scholarship.  So he took here to Grand Forks, got scans and surgery in days, and she was ready for the school year.  Cost $5k, but you know how much a scholarship saves...

Unabashed positron.  Blue koolaid in my fridge.  I wear my blue sunglasses at night.  Homer, d'oh.

Horseman

I was wondering what FA players are still available at this time. I tried to look on the CFL website but could not find anything.

ModAdmin

Quote from: Horseman on March 24, 2023, 06:45:44 PM
I was wondering what FA players are still available at this time. I tried to look on the CFL website but could not find anything.

Here you go...

https://www.cfl.ca/fa23
"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one." - John Wooden

TecnoGenius

Quote from: Pigskin on March 24, 2023, 03:13:25 PM
It was 2017. There was a report that Bombers and Jets players, along with some politicians where jumping the cue and getting MRI's. Since then the Jets and the Bombers pay a private clinic for an MRI. Little to no problem getting an x-ray in Winnipeg.

Yes, I've seen many instances of in-Canada athletes getting surgeries in record times where it made me say "hmmm".  So you guys answered the bit about MRIs a little bit, i.e. on-premise equipment + private clinics.  But surgeries in Canada can never be private.  So how is that explained away?

And we can't say it's just all the IMPs going down to the USA for surgery, because many times we're talking about ELC IMPs and mid-level players who, if they don't have in-season USA health insurance, would for sure be using Canada's "free" system.

Glad some press was raising a stink because there clearly is a two-tier system when it comes to sports stars.  Now, I'm not totally against that, but it should be transparent, not a wink and a nod.

It's an interesting topic.
Never go full Rider!

TBURGESS

When I tore my knee up they told me it would be 6 months. 3 weeks later someone cancelled their MRI and I took it. 2 weeks after that I had the knee surgery by the same Dr. who does the Flames & Stamps players. 7:15 the next morning I started rehab. Sometimes it just luck.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers - 2019 Grey Cup Champs.

theaardvark

Quote from: TecnoGenius on March 25, 2023, 05:03:52 AM
Yes, I've seen many instances of in-Canada athletes getting surgeries in record times where it made me say "hmmm".  So you guys answered the bit about MRIs a little bit, i.e. on-premise equipment + private clinics.  But surgeries in Canada can never be private.  So how is that explained away?

And we can't say it's just all the IMPs going down to the USA for surgery, because many times we're talking about ELC IMPs and mid-level players who, if they don't have in-season USA health insurance, would for sure be using Canada's "free" system.

Glad some press was raising a stink because there clearly is a two-tier system when it comes to sports stars.  Now, I'm not totally against that, but it should be transparent, not a wink and a nod.

It's an interesting topic.


There are private clinics, Pan Am is one.  Depending on the procedure, it can be done in a clinic setting.  There are a few private hospitals grandfathered in from before national healthcare.  I did computer work for one of them back in the 80's.  They did primarily hernia surgery, a special technique that had a very quick recovery time.   There was a running joke that the Canadian patients came in through the front doors in an ambulance, and the International patients (mostly US, including a lot of athletes) came in through the back doors in a Brink's Truck.

There is no reason a properly run hybrid private/public system cannot flourish in Canada, except the people favouring private want it to be the main avenue for health care and usurp the public system, making it truly two teir both in funding and in service, and the public people don't want any private portion at all, beleiving it will compromise the public side.  By creating a system where people who can afford to pay do and get a small advantage in wait or service (private rooms, etc) and the public system takes advantage of some of that funding to improve the access for public patients (and only have to provide for a reduced patient base, but still tax the entire citizen base), everyone wins.

Something as simple as allowing a private "pay to play" MRI lab to operate 9am-5pm, and then let publicly funded staff operate that machinery 6pm-8am without incurring the physical cost of the equipment, maintenance and facility, its a win/win/win.

Unabashed positron.  Blue koolaid in my fridge.  I wear my blue sunglasses at night.  Homer, d'oh.

Marni

Guys, can we stay on topic  please! Start a new thread if you want to discuss medical etc
You are what happened when I wished upon a star  :-*


Blue In BC

Quote from: pjrocksmb on March 27, 2023, 03:07:52 AM
https://3downnation.com/2023/03/26/stove-off-b-c-lions-dont-expect-dt-steven-richardson-to-play-in-2023-following-achilles-injuries/

Unfortunate for Richardson if his career is over. It's a tough business and any player is one injury from the end of his career. As the article mentions if he does return he's re-negotiated his salary towards playing incentives. Taking his 2023 contract out of the SMS is a significant adjustment for the Lions.
2019 Grey Cup Champions

pjrocksmb

Quote from: Blue In BC on March 27, 2023, 01:16:42 PM
Unfortunate for Richardson if his career is over. It's a tough business and any player is one injury from the end of his career. As the article mentions if he does return he's re-negotiated his salary towards playing incentives. Taking his 2023 contract out of the SMS is a significant adjustment for the Lions.
Really too bad

blue_gold_84

Such a shame. He's really talented and seems like a good team guy, too.

Hopefully, he can return next season.
#forthew
лава Україні!
Don't be a Rich.

Sir Blue and Gold

Two Achilles back-to-back on the same ankle? Not sure there is a lot of data out there on that but chances are probably pretty small he comes back. After one rupture, chances are 75% or so. Two? Pretty unlikely to ever regain form I would guess.

Lincoln Locomotive

When Stove played for us he was a force to reckon with...he was so powerful and dominated the interior on our DL.    When we lost him to free agency I was choked and our DL wasn't nearly as dominant without him.    That being said, his career since leaving us has been fraught with injury upon injury.    The prognosis for a full recovery is a question mark however i wish him nothing but a speedy and successful recovery rehab.
Bomber fan for life