Players’ play should do the talking

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2011 (5170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — It was quiet, almost too quiet.

You will probably recall that the last time the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats faced each other in August, a loud — but mostly good-natured — war of words between the two teams erupted beforehand that even saw Tina LaPolice, wife of Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice, wade in with a taunt on her Twitter account aimed at Hamilton receiver Dave Stala.

Against that backdrop, the silence was deafening this week as the two clubs did all their talking on the practice field in the lead-up to tonight’s critical East Division clash here at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Until yesterday, that is.

Hamilton defensive end Stevie Baggs — who takes to microphones like Oprah takes to cheeseburgers — found himself surrounded by them following Ticats practice Thursday morning. Baggs, who has the name ‘Shakespeare’ tattooed on his left shoulder — because he’s always making plays — seized the opportunity to launch into a soliloquy of his own extolling the virtues of, well, Stevie Baggs.

“Just do the research. Ray Charles can see. And so can Stevie Wonder,” Baggs replied when asked if he still considers himself the best defensive end in the league, as he publicly proclaimed prior to the last game against Winnipeg.

“Listen, here’s the deal, I’m going to put it out here — look at the tackles. Don’t just look at sacks for this season — look at tackles, sacks, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, interceptions, touchdowns, special teams tackles. I’m talking about an all-around football player and I’m talking about Shakespeare.”

And with that, a week of relative quiet suddenly got very noisy.

First, it was Bombers defensive end Odell Willis — who leads the CFL in sacks with 12, seven more than Baggs this season — rejecting Baggs’s use of the new math.

“He’s paid to get sacks. If you want to have a hundred tackles, let him move to middle linebacker,” said Willis, whose club had a light practice here Thursday afternoon after flying in from Winnipeg during the morning. “The film and the stats don’t lie. It is what it is.”

Then Bombers defensive tackle Doug Brown, who was a teammate of Baggs when the latter played in Winnipeg in 2006 and 2007, waded into the debate with a light-hearted barb at the posture of Baggs, who is noticeably pigeon-toed.

“If anything, Odell edges out Stevie just based on the fact his feet point the same way,” said Brown. “Other than that, they’re a dead-heat, both excellent defensive ends. But the one thing that puts Odell over the top is that when he’s lining up, he’s pointed the same way he’s going, OK?”

And then, finally, Bombers QB Buck Pierce stepped up. Earlier in the day, Baggs had made a point of licking each of the fingers on his right hand individually as he described how the prospect of facing a quarterback who has been nursing sore ribs all week was “finger-licking good.”

“I’m not trying to take a shot at him,” said Baggs. “But if I get a chance to sack him? Of course. I’ll put this 250 pounds on him and just lay on him a little bit and say, ‘Hello, how are you doing?’ Converse with him a little bit.”

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“Do I look worried?” replied Pierce. “This is football, man. Everybody hits, everybody tackles, everybody puts a helmet on out there and goes and plays. I don’t have my radar set to Stevie Baggs in any aspect at all. We’re going to execute our game plan. We’re not too worried about it…

“I’ll give him credit, he’s a good player… But leave it on the field. Our guys up front, I think we still lead in sacks, don’t we? So I put my vote in for our guys.”

It was all good-natured chatter in what is otherwise a dead-serious football game here tonight — a Bombers victory would clinch Winnipeg a playoff spot for the first time since 2008.

And after some very lean years on Maroons Road, that really would be something worth talking about.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca