Crossover is Bombers’ cross to bear

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/10/2010 (5789 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the wife of Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice, Tina, gave birth to a baby boy — an eight-pound, three-ounce bundle of joy named Joshua.

It was the second child for the LaPolice clan and a newborn brother to three-year-old sister, Payton.

A lot of folks believed that given her dad’s occupation and offensive bent, Payton was named after Peyton Manning, the robotic and prolific quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts.

Not so.

“Everybody thinks Payton is a football name,” LaPolice once told me, while his wife was still expecting. “So everybody’s asking, ‘Is it (the name of the second child) going to be ‘Eli’ or ‘Tom’ (Brady)? No, it’s a name my wife liked.”

For the record, though, it’s worth noting that “Joshua” is a name with biblical connotations, and has nothing to do with Mr. and Mrs. Manning’s quarterback factory. It’s Hebrew translation is “Saviour”. Joshua was said to have been asked by God to pick 12 men from the tribes and lead the Israelites on a 40-year journey through the desert, and across the Jordan River to invade their enemies. Under Joshua’s leadership, the Israelites conquered the Canaanites and gained control of the Promised Land.

Although the Israelites were headed east, for the most part, it’s worth noting that Joshua’s crew had to take a detour west across the Jordan to get at the Canaanites. A crossover, if you will.

Hmmm. Sound familiar? Because in a related story, LaPolice and his hand picked local 12 now have no other choice but to usurp their enemies in the West (the Lions and Eskimos, to be precise, the Canaanites long since defunct) in a quest to reach their own promised land, the CFL playoffs.

Of course, the analogy is not identical. After all, the Bombers have only been slogging through the desert for 20 years, not 40.

We’re just sayin’.

Of course, the pessimistic view is that it will take some sort of Book of Joshua event for the Bombers — mired at 4-11 — to smite their enemies to the west.

A swarm of locusts, perhaps. Or maybe a grab-two-of-everything flood.

At the very least, it could be argued, the Bombers need to find themselves a heaven-sent saviour. Or Kenny Ploen. Same difference.

Sure, the Bombers need some outside help in order to overtake the Eskimos and Lions, both 5-10. But nothing — and we believe theologians would agree — that would require divine intervention.

That’s the bewildering opportunity that remains for a Bombers team that this Saturday afternoon faces the incoming Toronto Argonauts — a 7-8 outfit that, inexplicably, is guaranteed a playoff spot despite allowing 100 points more than it has scored (286-393). But at least that’s a better ratio than the Eskimos, the Bombers’ opponent the following week, who’ve surrendered 477 points while scoring just 304. Huh?

Indeed, apart from hosting the Bombers on Oct. 30, the Eskimos will twice face the 9-6 Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Leos, meanwhile, travel to Calgary Friday night to face the 11-4 Stamps, then host the Riders next week, before finishing the regular season against the 8-7 Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Steeltown.

By Vegas odds alone, if the Lions win one more game this season, it will be an upset. The Eskimos will be heavy dogs against the Roughriders both times, but will surely be favoured to beat the Bombers (a perfect 0-8 on the road) in Edmonton.

To review: In order to earn a post-season berth, the Bombers will have to accomplish two things they haven’t done all season — win on the road and win two in a row. So as pathetically low as that bar has been set, it’s theoretically possible the Bombers will not need to defeat the Stamps in Calgary to end the regular season Nov. 5 to secure a crossover berth.

Beating the Argos and Esks might be all the Bombers are required to do, which means it’s mathematically possible (wince), maybe even probable, that a team with six wins will “advance” to the Western semifinal, a sheepish trick last turned by the Eskimos (6-12) in 1999.

Regardless, the stage has been set. A journey that involves overtaking enemies to the west. Twelve men selected from the tribes (geez, I hope it’s the defence). The shared goal to gain a foothold in the Promised Land after so many years wandering the desert.

But the Bombers don’t need a saviour, what they really need is just to stop taking so many stupid penalties. They need a collective that — after last week tying the CFL record for losses by four points or less (7) — finds a way to prevail in close games when the potential for victory presents itself.

In short, they need to score four more points or allow four less.

No, it’s not biblical.

It just feels that way.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

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