Bus journey to Saskatchewan the usual bummer

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/09/2009 (5924 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Labour Day Classic is never an easy game on the schedule of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and even with the many changes in personnel and on the trip itinerary this season, the result was unfortunately the same, as the local squad lost their fifth straight interprovincial grudge match.

Over the years we have bused to some of these Classics and flown to a number of them, but it was back to the Greyhounds last Friday for the 51/2-hour trek that began at three in the afternoon.

We always take two buses out to Regina, and the way they are usually populated is that the coaches go on one of them and most of the players try to get on the other, but not this year. Coach Kelly had the offence and the offensive coaches on one people-mover and the defence and the defensive coaches (along with Jon Oosterhuis as he played defence for seven years) following in pursuit on the other.

On the bus there are movies, poker and dominoes to pass the time and we stopped in Brandon for washroom breaks and snacks. We arrived in Regina around 9:30 p.m. and many players continued their gambling pursuits at the nearby Regina Casino until our curfew at 11 p.m. that evening.

The next morning we had our mock game at 11 a.m. at Mosaic Stadium but realized once we arrived that, just like Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, we would not be granted access to the field. While at Commonwealth, pretty much nobody gets on the field at any time outside of game day, the Riders had scheduled fan-appreciation day during the time we were scheduled to do our pre-game walk-through, so we were re-routed to an adjacent field. Now, I have no problem practising on grass the day before the game, but I wonder about the esthetics and image maintenance of having a professional team practise in their jerseys on a crappy pitch covered in goose feathers and mosquitoes. Hopefully, when the Riders come a-calling for the Banjo Bowl and wish to have their walk-through at our stadium, we will also have a scheduled event and will kindly hand them directions to the junior Rods’ field where we often practise when a concert is playing at the stadium.

The defence had a meeting when we returned to the hotel and then we were on our own to secure our evening meal before our night meetings at 8:30 p.m. I went for dinner to Golf’s Steakhouse with Jon Oosterhuis, DL coach Richard Harris and head trainer Alain Couture, and by the time we finished the meal and began our walk back to the hotel, we had to form a security wing around Harris to limit his access and interaction with all the fans that were now filling up the streets and mobbing his big, charismatic self.

After the evening meetings, many of us returned to our rooms leery of how much sleep we would get that evening, as the reason we began spending the night before the game in Moose Jaw was because of all the fan revelry that goes on deep into the night. Much to our surprise and relief, we must have found the only hotel in town that didn’t permit air horns and fans dangling off the balconies, as the evening passed without disruption.

Unfortunately for us, game day came and went as it has the last five trips to Regina, but I did witness something new in the realm of trash-talk futility while the defensive line was warming up in the north end zone prior to the game. In the middle of our “get off” reaction drill, where coach Harris snaps the ball and we rush upfield, a Saskatchewan fan caught my attention and exclaimed from the stands, “Hey Brown, looks like you sure need to work on that stance.” The more things change as we travel to Saskatchewan, the more they stay the same.

Doug Brown, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.