One serious tussle

Bomber intensity on rise as clash with rival nears

Anybody who's played in it, coached in it or just plain been there to watch it will tell you: the annual Labour Day Classic in Regina is no pleasant walk through the wheat field for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Bomber teams of the past -- and darn good ones, too -- have, more often than not, come away from Taylor Field looking like they've had a run-in with the business end of a combine.

"I know history," defensive end Elfrid Payton was saying yesterday. "I know when I was back here in '91, '92, '93, we didn't beat 'em one time out there in Saskatchewan. They beat the brakes off us. So we gotta go against history."

Actually, the present doesn't look particularly good, either.

If there's a game you want to go into operating on all cylinders, it's this one.

Problem is, the 3-7 Bombers, particularly on offence, are coughing along on one piston, some string and a wad of duct tape right now.

Khari Jones, their starting quarterback the last four years, is out with a suspected case of tendinitis, but it's his shattered confidence that's beginning to look irreparable.

Enter backup Kevin Glenn, who's started a game or two at Taylor Field -- but never as a visitor in the zoo the place becomes on this day.

The Bomber receivers, heck, the whole offence, has forgotten what the end zone looks like, having been shut out two straight games.

And the offensive line, well, it's under more scrutiny than a Toronto pitbull these days. And far less nasty.

At least, until yesterday.

Bomber head coach Jim Daley put his charges through training camp-like one-on-one drills, and the results were interesting, to say the least.

"We sure had a fiery practice," Daley began. "It was fierce and it was physical and it was intense. And it carried over into the team period."

That it did, and it became apparent the Bomber defence isn't about to take a step back from the improvement it's shown the last few weeks.

There was Payton, taunting Glenn with his best, "Skip to my Loo," every time he put pressure on the quarterback. There was an interception return for a touchdown. And an end-zone collision that left defensive back Raheem Covington crumpled on the turf with a twisted ankle.

All good signs.

After practice, Daley called the team together for a collective pat on the back.

"I told them that the nature of the practice they had allows us to strive for perfection," the coach said. "To practise with less concentration and less effort allows you to stay mediocre. So I congratulated them on the nature of their practice. I thought it was an outstanding day."

One day earlier, receiver Milt Stegall got into it with defender Justin Coleman, who'd already gotten into a shoving match that day.

More good signs.

"If you're going to tell men to practise intensely, you're going to have some tussles," Daley said.

What better way to prepare for one of the year's toughest tussles?

Daley knows, better than most, what the Bombers are in store for Sunday.

He used to coach the Roughriders, and realizes Labour Day may as well be a religious holiday in Saskatchewan.

"People come in from all over the province. It's their family reunions, homecoming ... it's a major, major, major event.

"Every game's tough, but when you have the excitement and enthusiasm that Regina will have this weekend, it probably even adds to the edge their players will have. And we have to respond to that."

Last year they did, playing their best game of the season.

If they don't, history, as Payton remembers it, will repeat itself.