Barker’s bark bites back

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This article was published 28/10/2011 (5150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Doug BROWN took off his helmet and put on his tourguide hat Thursday morning at Canad Inns Stadium.

It was a one-person tour of Winnipeg that the Blue Bombers tackle was offering, with the only invitation being issued to Toronto Argonauts general manager and head coach Jim Barker — who said on an Argos reality-TV show on TSN earlier this season that “there’s no other reason to go to Winnipeg but to kick their ass.”

Brown wanted Barker to know that Winnipeg has actually grown quite a bit since the days when it was simply an ass-kicking destination.

“Since that show aired,” said Brown, “now you can see an NHL game. There’s lots of new things now. You can come see our new airport now, you can come watch them finish up the museum for human rights. And you can go watch the new stadium being built.

“So since that show aired, if they had to do that again, he’d be like, ‘Wow, now there’s plenty of reasons to go to Winnipeg…’ “

Which is a good thing for Barker, because his ass-kicking plans haven’t quite worked out in River City. In three meetings between the Bombers and Argos this season, Winnipeg has won two of them — including the only game between the two at Canad Inns Stadium on July 8.

What’s more, it’s been the Bombers this season who have been doing most of the kicking and the Argos who have been getting kicked, with Winnipeg boasting a 10-6 regularseason record and Toronto a 4-12 record heading into tonight’s game at Canad Inns Stadium.

What’s more, the Bombers have a chance to clinch first place in the East with a win tonight and a Montreal loss to Calgary on Sunday, while Toronto is already staging player tryouts for next year.

Against that backdrop, it was a contrite-sounding Barker who faced the media at Canad Inns Stadium Thursday afternoon following a light workout for his team.

“I love Winnipeg, I love the fans of Winnipeg. It’s a great football city and this is one of the great football stadiums,” Barker said. “It’s an exciting time to be a sports fan here and you got the new stadium going up. Doug Brown knows that was said as a ‘fire up the troops’ type of deal.”

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Doug Brown might know that, but Winnipeg defensive back Jovon Johnson took it a little differently when he heard Barker’s comments on the show, The Extra Yard, a behind-the-scenes series of episodes that aired on TSN this season and featured a camera crew following the Argos and Barker.

“He’s a good coach and he does things to get his players fired up,” Johnson said of Barker on Thursday. “But as far as respect goes, it was a slap in the face for us to actually see that and know that a coach that we’ve beaten twice this year would disrespect us like that.

“I’m pretty sure in their organization they think they’re better than us. But at the end of the day, we’re not worried about that. We’ll just go out and play and see what happens out there.”

You’re taking it all wrong, said Barker. “There’s no disrespect,” he said. “Probably every football team I’ve been associated with says the same thing — it doesn’t matter if you’re going into Winnipeg or Toronto.”

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There is, however, one important distinction. “A lot of teams probably feel that way,” said Johnson, “but they don’t go out and publicly say it like he did.”

Fellow Bombers defensive back Jonathan Hefney said he couldn’t care less what Barker thinks — about Winnipeg or any other subject.

“I don’t really care either way,” Hefney said. “Once I get on the field, I hate anyone we’re playing, regardless.

“I’m not worried what he says. He can’t play the game. I don’t know if he even played the game before. You can’t worry about what he says.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca