Few witness classic CFL clash

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/10/2016 (3290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lot of people missed one heck of a game.

And by day’s end, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had — yet again this CFL season — won on the field but lost at the box office.

A week in which there has been a lot of attention on attendance woes at Investors Group Field came to a close on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with the problem on full display in a wild 37-35 win over the B.C. Lions.

An announced crowd of just 24,204 — the sixth smallest for a Bombers game at IGF — turned up for a game that had all the makings of a CFL classic and more than lived up to its advance billing.

You want gadget plays? How about a fake field goal and a receiver throwing a TD pass to a quarterback? On the same drive. By the home team.

You like big comebacks? How about the Lions falling behind 21 points only to storm back?

You like big defensive plays? How about the league leading seventh interception by Bombers LB Maurice Leggett and his subsequent 46-yard return that set up the Bombers’ third TD?

And all of that happened in just the first half.

And the second half? Well, how about the Bombers announcing in the third quarter Leggett was done for the day with an injury only to have him rise from the dead in the dying seconds of the game, retake the field and force a game-saving turnover on downs inside the Bombers’ five-yard line.

This one, quite literally, had everything. And it’s precisely because it did it’s such a shame it played out before what looked to be at least as many empty seats as there were full ones. Suffice to say, the announced crowd at IGF on this day bore little resemblance to the cavernous reality.

You would have thought this game would have sold itself. A crisp fall afternoon. A battle for second place between two division rivals. A compelling storyline featuring Bombers tailback Andrew Harris making his first start against his longtime former teammates and looking for redemption against a team that gave up on him.

Instead it was more empty seats in a season in which Bombers attendance has declined for the third year in a row even as the team has climbed in the standings.

I guess you could make the case the weather was a bit cool, although it bears noting it was still warm enough Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was once again wearing the most loathed pair of shorts in Winnipeg.

Really, there were no excuses. If the Bombers cannot sell a game like this one in a season like this one, it is time for the front office of this franchise to take a long hard collective look in the mirror.

Three of the six smallest crowds at IGF have come in this 2016 season and you cannot argue it’s because the team hasn’t been providing value for money on the field.

It has been a Dickensian ride, for sure — the worst of times in a 1-4 start, the best of times through a 7-0 run and now a huge win to snap a two-game losing string and put the Bombers in second place for the first time since a 5-1 run to start the 2014 season.

But for all the ups and downs this season — and also because of them — this has been a wildly entertaining squad you could argue is exactly the team a long-suffering Bombers fan base has waited for so patiently all these years.

A big-play defence. Big-play receivers. A consistent — and healthy — quarterback. Robo-kicker. And now the prospect of playoffs — possibly as early as Monday — for the first time in five years in these parts.

Losses on Thanksgiving by both Toronto and Montreal — the Argos play host to Calgary, the Als play host to Edmonton — would clinch the Bombers their first post-season berth since Odell Willis was mayor in this town and Swaggerville was selling T-shirts in the parking lot.

Those were heady days — and huge crowds — at Canad Inns Stadium. It’s hard to believe now, but seven of nine regular-season games season year went into the books as sellouts.

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This year? A shiny new stadium and an exciting new team, but some of the love is missing this time around after four long seasons in which the patience of this fan base was tested like never before — and, for some it seems, irrevocably lost.

Too bad. Because what was never more clear than on Saturday is this team is providing some of the best value for money anywhere in town.

Winnipeggers love a bargain. They’re missing out on a big one at IGF.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek