A lot of Blue in Lions territory

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Bombers fans David Milligan and Trish Kramer, seen at 2009 Grey Cup, are on Lions turf. (LORRAINE HJALTE / POSTMEDIA NEWS ARCHIVES)

VANCOUVER -- With apologies to the earnest anti-capitalists who've been living in tents on B.C.'s Lower Mainland since September, Occupy Vancouver no longer belongs to the political protest movement.

At least not this week. For the duration of Grey Cup festivities, the activist slogan has been appropriated as a mission statement for an entirely different group of underdogs striving to gain attention in downtown Vancouver: Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans.

Unable to bask in the glory of a Grey Cup victory since 1990, thousands of Blue & Gold supporters are making the pilgrimage to Vancouver to watch the Bombers (10-8 through the regular season) attempt to knock off the heavily favoured B.C. Lions (who finished 11-7 to lead the West).

Unlike four years ago, when an over-achieving Winnipeg squad earned a surprise berth in a Toronto-hosted Grey Cup, many Bomber fans actually expected the team to play in B.C. on the final date of the CFL season this year. A 7-1 start has a way of kick-starting travel arrangements for ever-hopeful fans.

But even if more of the Bomber faithful are attending the 2011 Grey Cup, blue and gold remains a relatively rare variety of jersey plumage in the hometown of the Lions, who are fortunate to both play in the big game as well as serve as host team.

The prospect of being lost in a sea of orange jerseys on Robson Street, where Vancouver Canucks fans went so infamously amok in June, barely fazes diehard Bomber fans, who are used to forays into enemy territory.

"We go to Labour Day every year, so we're pretty used to being outnumbered," said Blue Bomber fan David Milligan, referring to the annual Bomber away game versus the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the hostile confines of Regina's Mosaic Stadium.

Before boarding a Wednesday evening flight to Vancouver with fellow fan Trish Kramer, Milligan said he's developed a strategy to deal with rival fans who express their enthusiasm in less-than-sportsmanlike ways.

"You put a smile on your face and politely say, 'We'll talk after the game,' " he said.

But even in the highly unlikely event one of many fine, upstanding citizens of Swaggerville should get in a heated exchange with some dude in a Geroy Simon jersey, backup won't be hard to find.

That's because Vancouver may as well belong to Manitoba, considering all the Winnipeggers, Brandonites and other flatlanders who have ventured across the Rocky Mountains over the decades in search of cheaper sushi, more expensive housing and winters without snow.

"When Manitobans are on the move, they tend to move west, not east," said Wilf Falk, Manitoba's chief statistician.

Since 2000, an average of 4,000 Manitobans have moved to B.C. every year, a significant chunk of all the outmigration from this province.

How significant? Enough to make the home of Skytrain and the Sedin twins the second-largest city in Manitoba, if you count population by provincial heritage.

"That may be true, considering the numbers over the years," said Falk, who recently lost one of his assistant statisticians to B.C. Since 2000, roughly 51,000 Manitobans have made the move, while about 14,000 went the other way.

Yes, it's tough to spit espresso in Vancouver without staining the shirt of not just a Winnipegger, but a Bomber fan who grew up knowing Dieter Brock got bored after too many visits to the zoo or that Milt Stegall is incapable of speaking about himself in the first person.

Even in the bowels of the B.C. Lions organization, you'll find lifelong Bomber fans, from the receptionist at B.C. Place to Lions' running back Andrew Harris.

Given the omnipresence of ex-Winnipeggers on the West Coast, Bomber fans may not have to watch themselves too carefully this week if they get overly gassed in Gastown or take a hasty wrong turn onto East Hastings.

But that doesn't mean they have a licence to build a beer snake across Burrard Inlet or erect barricades to pedestrians at Vancouver's Broadway and Main.

After all, Occupy Vancouver is supposed to be a peaceful movement -- for the earnest activists as well as the Bomber fans, outnumbered by orange jerseys or otherwise.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 24, 2011 A2