It’s Grey Cup or bust

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Blue Bomber head coach Paul LaPolice speaks to media Saturday, November 19.

TODAY’S East Final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (noon, TSN, CJOB) means different things to different members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

For the organization, today’s significance comes in two forms: A win gets the club into the Grey Cup and a chance to erase a 20-year title drought. In case you forgot, and it’s been so long you probably have, winning the CFL championship is still a pretty big deal.

Second, this is the final game at Canad Inns Stadium. Emotions will be high. Love or hate the 58-year-old facility — and there’s no accounting for personal taste, so there is no wrong answer — it’s hard to overlook just how important the building was to the football community in this province. New stadiums loaded with amenities are great and all that but there’s a certain comfort in history.

For head coach Paul LaPolice and general manager Joe Mack, the game is a specific response to a disappointing four-win 2010 season. A definitive answer, in fact. With no real changes made in the off-season, not many had the Bombers claiming first place and hosting the Eastern final, did they?

For the players, though, the importance of today’s contest is shaped in finances (the players are looking at a minimum $8,000 pay day should they get to Vancouver) and a willingness to excel on the big stage. Some members of the Bombers say they’re not trying to get too caught up in what the East Final means in a large-picture sense.

Others can’t help but find the spotlight.

"Personally, it’s just another game," defensive back Jovon Johnson said, trying hard but ultimately failing to keep the excitement at manageable levels. "I go out and approach every game the same way. It’s just bigger circumstances.

Coach told us big-time players make plays when it matters the most; the stars come out in the big games."

Receiver Greg Carr also didn’t turn a blind eye to the consequences of today’s game. Hard to imagine a Florida-born, Florida State product would care about anything but trying to stay warm, but Carr says today is more than just football.

"Any time a team has an opportunity to set its own legacy, it’s an exciting time," he said. "I know we as a group are excited about this. Coming into the season, this is what we wanted — getting into the playoffs and having a chance to win.

"We know that this matters to this city. It matters to us."

For a guy like defensive tackle Doug Brown, today sits as not only his last stand at Canad Inns Stadium but potentially his last game as a professional football player, should the Bombers lose. Brown was coy in front of reporters Saturday about his pending retirement, but it would be a shocking departure from his own course if he decided to come back for the 2012 season.

The well-spoken vet was asked for his thoughts on what a game like the East Final would mean to Richard Harris, the club’s former defensive line coach who died from a massive heart attack earlier in the season.

"He never worried about his own aspirations as a coach — he worried about us," Brown said.

"He would be more interested and concerned about what this game and these opportunities meant to us, as opposed to what it could do for him. He was a guy who didn’t have a Grey Cup ring himself, but that would never come up."

Harris’ death, the shuttering of the stadium, an unforeseen bounce-back from a miserable 2010 campaign, debatable player decisions — it’s been quite a year for the Bombers, even if it ends this afternoon.

Final thought to Johnson, though. He was asked if 2011 should be considered a success, win or lose against the Ticats, based on how far the club has developed in the span of two seasons.

Grey Cup or bust, he said.

"We’re not going to settle for less. If we were to lose a game, I don’t think anybody would be happy. We wouldn’t feel like the season was a success."