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Marcellus Bowman

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Andre Douglas

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Paul Swiston (POSTMEDIA CALGARY HERALD)

THE Winnipeg Blue Bombers got a bit of a scare at practice Thursday morning when starting right offensive tackle Andre Douglas fell awkwardly at Canad Inns Stadium and had to be helped off the field.

The injury occurred when Douglas appeared to fall hard on his left hip during a field goal cover drill in the morning workout.

Douglas later returned to the sidelines, where he stood without equipment for the second session. Head coach Paul LaPolice said after practice that the injury is not considered serious.

"We'll see how he is (today). He said he felt much better after practice. But we'll keep an eye on him," said LaPolice.

"He hurt himself during the special teams period, which doesn't usually happen often to an offensive lineman."

Interestingly, the Bombers had OL Paul Swiston -- their fourth rounder in 2011 who spent all last year on the injured list -- practice in place of Douglas on Thursday, instead of their highly touted first rounder from last month's draft, Tyson Pencer.

Douglas's injury was the latest in a string of minor injuries that have dogged the Bombers this week. Also on Thursday, DB Alex Suber sat out practice (but was on the field) with an undisclosed injury, while LB Rene Stephan complained of a sore Achilles after the first session and sat out the second.

RB Carl Volny (knee) and S Brady Browne (hamstring) were both on the field and wearing helmets, but kept their activity to running and did not take part in any team drills. LaPolice said the team will remain cautious with those two players.

And finally, LB Marcellus Bowman (leg) missed practice for the third day in a row, while DB Brandon Stewart (ankle) followed his usual pattern of practicing in the first session and taking the second off.

FIELDNOTES -- DB Demond Washington had a pair of interceptions on Thursday. DB Darrell Pasco, S Dan West and DB Jeremy McGee also had INTs...WR Chris Matthews made the catch of the day, hauling in a Justin Goltz sideline pass with one hand and Washington draped all over him...The entire training camp roster went to Silver City Polo Park Wednesday night to take in the movie The Avengers.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Single-game tickets

Individual game tickets for the first five Bomber games of the season -- one pre-season and four regular season -- go on sale beginning today at 10 a.m.. The club is only selling those five games because they are the only ones that will definitely be played at Canad Inns Stadium, as uncertainty continues to swirl around when the Bombers will finally move into their new stadium.

Rider profit

The Saskatchewan Roughriders owned the Bombers on the field in 2011 -- beating Winnipeg in both meetings. Saskatchewan also won the battle at the box office. The Riders announced on Thursday that they made a profit of $3.8 million in 2012, the second biggest profit in club history. The Bombers reported a $3 million profit in 2011, the largest profit in Bombers history.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 8, 2012 C3