Stegall drops hints playing days over

Milt Stegall still won’t make it official, but the Winnipeg Blue Bomber legend continues to drop more hints his playing days are over for good.

Stegall, like the rest of his Bomber teammates, gathered at the team’s offices today to clean out their lockers and have exit meetings with coaches and other staff. Cornered by a media mob in the team’s front office while he signed autographs, Stegall still would not confirm whether Saturday’s East Semifinal loss to the Edmonton Eskimos was his last game.

And he won’t until he speaks to president Lyle Bauer, head coach Doug Berry and GM Brendan Taman.

"I haven’t even told Lyle or Brendan or Coach Berry what the decision might be," Stegall said. "The decision hasn’t been fully been made, so when it’s fully been made I think it’s right I tell those guys before I tell you. I’ll let them know and then we’ll go from there.

"We’ll decide once everything is ironed out. But if that was my last game, I’m happy. I played 17 years… I won’t complain if that was my last game, I celebrate the years I played because it was a blessing. I’m not saying it was, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens."

Stegall led the Bombers in catches against the Eskimos with five but, for the most part, the 2008 season was a letdown. He missed a number of games with a sore knee and finished with just 29 catches for 458 yards and three TDs but did pass Allen Pitts to become the Canadian Football League’s all-time leading receiver.

His ultimate goal, however, remains unfulfilled — winning a Grey Cup.

"If you try to compare it to last year (the 2008 season) is disappointing," said Stegall. "You hate to say that because football shouldn’t be based on whether you are disappointed because it’s supposed to be fun. But we’re paid to win games, we’re paid to win championships and we didn’t take care of that.

"As far as on a personal level, I’m going to continue to have fun and I still had fun this year. You form relationships and bonds that sometimes will never be broken. I enjoy myself 100 per cent. Of course I would have liked to have been on the field more doing a couple of things but certain factors came into play where my play was limited.

"But Milt Stegall will continue to have fun no matter what’s going on."

Stegall said an official decision on 2009 will be made sooner than last year, when he informed everyone he would return in January. But he also turns 39 that month.

"The decision will be before that," he said. "(The organization) has certain directions they want to go in. They want to probably, if I’m not coming back, put my money (salary) to use somewhere else."