Time for hype is over
Blue must walk the walk tonight
By PAUL FRIESEN -- Winnipeg Sun
At the risk of offending all the rap fans out there, it's fitting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicked off their season-opening media conference yesterday with an appearance by local rapper Fresh I.E.
Because this football team's pre-season song is beginning to sound the same every year.
Since a surprise trip to the division final four years ago, the Bombers have gone into every season with Grey expectations: anything less than an appearance in the CFL's championship game will be unacceptable, we're told.
They said it in '01, actually believed it in '02 and repeated it again last year.
Yesterday, as The CFL's Best Team Never to Win a Championship prepared for its '04 opener tonight against Ottawa, the mantra was back.
"It's time to take the next step," linebacker Maurice Kelly was saying. "The people here have kind of got accustomed to winning 11, 12, 13 games a season, so that's nothing impressive anymore. If we don't take it all the way, it's not successful at all."
Kelly is right, of course. Bomber fans are getting used to all this regular-season success.
Problem is, they're also getting used to the excess of the post-season, when their team has either played the role of fat cat ('01 Grey Cup) or broken-down old man ('02 and '03 playoffs).
So is Kelly's proclamation realistic, or is this just another case of pre-season optimism run amok?
Understand, there isn't a team in the land that, in June, doesn't think it has a shot at playing into late November. OK, other than this year's Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
You only have to go back to Kelly's first season here to see how misguided the mind can be.
It was 1998, and the Bombers were coming off a 4-14 year, the first under Jeff Reinebold.
"I thought we had all the pieces," Kelly recalled. "Really."
They had all the pieces, all right -- scattered at their feet, along with 10 straight losses and a 3-15 mark, the franchise's worst season in nearly 30 years.
Even coaches who should know better find themselves looking at rose-coloured practice film.
Ronnie Lancaster, the Bombers first-year offensive co-ordinator, says he actually liked his team's chances in Hamilton last year.
"We were optimistic," Lancaster admitted. "And then you hit that point in the season ... winning can be a habit and losing can be a habit."
By the end of it all, the Ticats were a 1-17 addict, stumbling through the CFL's ghetto district.
Now, this isn't to suggest the Bombers could duplicate that, or even come close to the Reinebold collapse.
REMINDER
It's just a reminder that this team has taken two steps back since the Grey Cup appearance of '01.
Before anybody gets ahead of themselves, there's one game to play. And the Renegades, who happen to be hosting the Grey Cup game this year, have a little incentive of their own.
Oh, and did we mention Ottawa coach Joe Paopao is also on the last year of his contract? The Bombers don't have a monopoly on that, either.
So for two teams who desperately want to be around when the snow returns, what's to be gained under the early summer sun?
Don't forget, a win in June or July can be the difference between playing a West Final at home, as opposed to on the road. Yes, that was a loss to the expansion Renegades early in '02 which cost the Bombers a shot at first place.
"You've got to set yourself up," Kelly said. "First of all, just win the first game of the season. After that, we're looking towards winning the West and getting that bye week."
In other words, tonight will begin to answer the question Bomber fans have had on their lips for some seven months.
Does this team still have all the parts, or is it beginning to go to pieces?
