Super fan Asper must be more than cheerleader

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2009 (6109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When people sense a disaster in the making, like a tornado funnelling on the horizon, they tend to pay attention.

Maybe that’s why the woeful and wobbly Winnipeg Blue Bombers — wind-assisted by a head coach with a penchant for petulant put-downs of fans and media alike — seem to have everyone talking.

Everyone, that is, but super fan David Asper. I hadn’t heard him speak publicly about a 2-5 football team that he hopes to own.

David has a history of not tolerating the Bombers losing. It was after an ugly loss four years ago that he stormed into the team’s dressing room and — acting as if he already owned the team — angrily confronted then head coach Jim Daley. He was ushered out by a player and continued his own version of a funnel cloud touching down with Bomber CEO and Asper buddy Lyle Bauer.

David quickly resigned as a Bomber board member.

Obviously, he regretted his extremely passionate behaviour and probably learned from it. But the episode left me wondering what David Asper would be like if he owned the team. I emailed him:

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"David: As the Bombers’ biggest fan, and in all probability, the team’s future owner, what would you do? There are a lot of people who seem to want Mike Kelly’s hairless head, probably as much because of his offensive defensive manner, as his offence’s offensive behaviour.

"What are your thoughts on what’s gone wrong this season?… Who really dropped the ball? And I’m not talking about the receivers, or the players who throw the ball to the receivers. Hey, someone had to ask for the record… Gord

"P.S. How are the new stadium negotiations/plans going?"

By the time I returned from walking the dog, David had replied.

"Hi Gord: You asked, if I were the owner today what would I do? My responses are below:

"1. I would first and foremost continue to be a Bomber fan, shop as I did last week at the Bomber store and continue to cheer the boys on to victory;

"2. I would stand solidly behind my CEO, head coach, staff and players and encourage Lyle to continue to offer whatever support the coach needs;

"3. I would remind fans that the team needed to be changed. This does not occur with the wave of a magic wand. It takes time and can sometimes be painful. When you plant a seed in the ground nothing happens for awhile until a combination of environmental factors creates a sprout. Sometimes seeds don’t sprout for whatever reason and you need to plant more. Even Mother Nature is occasionally imperfect. Ultimately it fulfils its organic purpose. This too will happen with our football team."

DA

I replied with a thanks and a follow-up question about the P.S.: "Nothing on the stadium, though?"

"Nope," he answered.

***

On reflection, maybe now isn’t the right time to gauge what David Asper would be like as owner. He owes much to Lyle Bauer, the man who’s backed his bid to take over the community-owned team.

But if and when David is owner — if negotiations are completed to build a new stadium, which still depends on a deal with the city for a chunk of Polo Park retail property and, perhaps, leases needed to fill it — he should have a better answer than "please bear with us while we’re losing." He better care as much about winning as cheering. He better be as successful at putting bottoms in those new seats as his buddy Bauer was at balancing the bottom line.

In short, he better act like the owner and build a winning team, not just a new stadium.

After all, the people he owes the most loyalty to won’t be the CEO or the head coach or Bomber players. The people he will owe are other Bomber super fans.

But somehow, being the super fan, I think David Asper already knows that.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca