The Bombers have been winterized. The Eskimos have been hypnotized. The media has been mesmerized. It must be Game Day. By the time you get to a playoff game - and this is very much a playoff game - all the preparation and practice has been done. All that remains is to try to talk your team into it and to try to talk the other team out of it.

That's what they were working on yesterday as they went into the final countdown.

The winterization?

Oh, the shame. Oh, the humiliation. Winterpeg. Coming to the land of the Eskimos early to get cold, to be able to practise on frozen tundra.

"There were a whole bunch of factors. The jet stream was south of Brandon and north of Winnipeg. Brandon was in a blizzard. Winnipeg was in a heat wave. I think it will benefit us from not having the one-hour time zone change to deal with and not having to get up and have to travel the day before the game,'' began Winnipeg coach Jim Daley.

ANXIOUS TO PLAY

"We're anxious to play. If you can be anxious, aggressive and confident and go out and play that way ... the team that plays that way is going to win the day.''

He was very much selling a team suddenly being "in full control of our playoff opportunities. Being in control and knowing teams have recently made it to the Grey Cup with 8-10 records, won the Grey Cup with 8-10 records, is a great thing to have in your mind. I see a buoyancy, an enthusiasm with our team. Nothing matters. Where we were in July doesn't matter. Where we were in September doesn't matter.''

Daley was also working on the memory of his team coming here earlier in the year and having Jason Maas light them up like a Christmas tree, throwing a CFL record 22 consecutive passes while the Bombers couldn't protect their own quarterback to even get that many away.

"When I took over, we viewed the offensive line and secondary as the areas we really had to improve,'' said the coach, who was an assistant to Dave Ritchie at the time.

"Since taking over, the most-improved unit has been the offensive line. The secondary was a huge concern to us. That's the next most-improved area. We only had one player in the secondary who was with last year's team. Jason tore us up. We've since changed three of those guys.''

Daley says the one thing he hopes he's brought to the Bombers is to play more relaxed. Of course, he knows that the Eskimos have been one up-tight team as Grey Cup champions, especially looking down the gun barrel of missing the playoffs for the first time in 33 seasons.

"Teams can have too much on their shoulders,'' he said. "You need to relax and play. It can be overwhelming to have too much on your shoulders. That's why our record doesn't bother me. Just go out and play. We've all seen how teams play when guys get tight.''

Tom Higgins is selling home field advantage.

"Home is huge. Look at our record,'' he said of his 6-2 team at home going against a 2-6 on-the-road Bombers bunch.

"People have to play a little bit different when they come into Commonwealth Stadium and play on grass.''

He could have gone further to say no team has had as much trouble with the field than Winnipeg which, in one Western Final, ended up sending cabs out to sporting goods stores to find different footwear.

Higgins says he has complete confidence in quarterback Jason Maas dealing with the cold this game much better than last weekend in Regina.

WHAT COLD?

"He will handle the cold weather. He's had a couple of practices and will be wearing a glove on his non-throwing hand.''

He adds he's also completely confident Mike Pringle will have a total turnaround from last week and run the ball.

"I think Mike will come up with a very big game,'' he offered.

"All four receivers are healthy now.''

You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy.

"I'm sleeping well,'' said Higgins. "I sleep like a baby. I wake up every two hours and cry. No. The coaches have spent the week coming up with lame jokes like that to lighten up the mood.''

He says the goal has been to have the Eskimos take the field and play the same kind of game they did two weeks ago at home against the Montreal Alouettes.

Take all the talk aside, and the key to me is how this game gets going because these are two fragile football teams. If the Eskimos open with seven two-and-outs and two turnovers like they did in Saskatchewan, I don't care to what degree the coaches have tried to have them hypnotized to go into this game loose and confident.

Succeed early, especially if the Eskimos stop Charles Roberts in his tracks and if the Bombers give up a bunch of Maas pass plays early, and Winnipeg is going to come to the conclusion they're the same Bombers they were before they were winterized.

The media mesmerized? On paper, this shouldn't even be a game. But on paper the Eskimos wouldn't be playing for their playoff lives on the last game of their schedule.