Who do they think they are?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2009 (5929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — They exited the bus all smartly decked out in suits and ties, looking every bit a professional football team.

They then served up the latest in a series of spirited practices, respectfully conducted interviews with the media afterward and dutifully signed autographs for the memorabilia hounds gathered at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Funny, then, to hear Michael Landsberg of TSN’s Off The Record refer to them as the "Big, Bad, Winnipeg Blue Bombers" on Friday. Or to hear an announcer on a local radio station refer to head coach Mike Kelly as a "jerk" and a TV cameraman explain that he was sent to Kelly’s press conference simply because the station wanted to see if he’d "lose it" again.

For the record, we also had one of the many ex-Bomber players/coaches now wearing Hamilton Tiger-Cat colours ask yours truly: "What the hell’s going on out there in Winnipeg?"

So it seems worth asking as the Bombers ready to take on the Ticats in the third game of the ’09 season: Just who ARE these guys, anyway?

Are they the Big, Bad Blue Bombers, a club caught red-faced when a rogue scout was ejected from Ticat practice for scribbling notes this week?

Are they the most intriguing outfit in the entire CFL, not just because of what they have done on the field but because of the headlines they’ve generated off it?

Are they the loosey-goosey crew that thoroughly seems to enjoy being around each other?

Or, is a little bit of all of the above?

"I’d describe us a bunch of guys drawn together from all over the league that play with a certain tenacity and all play with a chip on our shoulder," said right tackle Glenn January. "I don’t know if that chip comes from a label placed on us in the off-season, but we’ve all got something to prove, whether it’s to the fans, the media or the organizations we’ve come from.

"The other thing is, we have fun together, but we have each other’s backs on the field."

That’s the interesting thing about these Bombers: As much as they remain a bit of a mystery with all the changes to the roster this winter — no more Milt Stegall or Charles Roberts, and gone are Tom Canada, Dan Goodspeed, Alex Gauthier, Dominic Picard and Derick Armstrong, among many others — it’s hard not to see some indications that Kelly & Co. have, if nothing else, pieced together something worth watching week-to-week-to-week.

"Three years ago I was here in Hamilton where they did a similar thing and brought in myself, Jay Maas, Corey Holmes, Josh Ranek… we really felt good about what we had on paper," said slotback Brock Ralph. "But, for whatever reason, it didn’t translate into wins. That’s probably, on paper, one of the most talented teams I’ve been on. It’s still early, but there’s just a different feeling here now. (Kelly) really has everybody in the right mental state. We’re in a good place between being focussed but being loose and able to have fun.

"You saw it here today in the way we function. We’re like a family that has been together for a little bit of time but is already very tight. To me, that’s not only interesting, it can be a powerful thing."

Who are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers two games into a season? It’s obviously too soon to tell. But perhaps the architect can provide both a glimpse at the blueprint and what he thinks the finished product might look like.

Right now the Blue Bombers are…

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"A foundation," explained Kelly. "We don’t have any walls up yet. The opening-game loss was a bit of a building block and beating the Calgary Stampeders last week gave us a level of confidence that we were on the right path. But, it’s just another cinder block in the foundation and we’re not where we want to be.

"The end result is I’d like it to look like another (Grey Cup) ring for these guys. I have a vision of where we need to go and I think leaders need to think backwards. They need to have a picture of what it looks like and then come back to the start of it and start building and get people to believe they can get to that picture you envision.

"And I envision a football team that is extremely aggressive and plays hard for 60 minutes. If we’re able to do those things, we’ll be able to paint that picture the way I want it to look."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca