Kickoff with a bang

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/11/2011 (5379 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice and B.C. Lions head coach Wally Buono kicked off Grey Cup week with a ‘bang’ Wednesday morning.

The Grey Cup head coaches were asked at their news conference the annual off-colour question: What are your thoughts on your players having sex before the game?

LaPolice — who’d been told by his media relations staff to expect the question — still blushed noticably as he considered his answer.

“I appreciate everyone’s concern on that, first of all,” LaPolice chuckled. “I would say as most people say — everything in moderation. That’s too much information for me with some of the guys. I don’t really want to be included in their Fridays and Saturdays.”

Buono also expressed a laissez-faire answer on the subject. “My thing is, do what you do. Some players — God bless them, ok — enjoy sex. Some players don’t,” Buono said to a roar of laughter. “At the end, it doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you line up and play for three-and-a-half hours. If sex is an excuse, it’s a bad excuse.”

— The Winnipeg coaching staff piped in the canned crowd noise a few times during their practice session at the impressive-looking BC Place Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately for the Bombers, the volume of what was coming out of the public address wasn’t close to what many say will be the case during the Grey Cup.

It was comically quiet. Reporters held conversations with one another without using outside voices.

“We were trying to get it pumped up, to make it louder,” offensive lineman Glenn January said. “It will be really loud. We expect that and we’re planning for it. But that’s the way you want it.”