Kelly, Bishop in jawing match? Call the Enquirer!

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This article was published 24/09/2009 (5854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Michael Bishop in screaming match with Coach Kelly! Threatens to quit Bombers! Extra! Extra!

But is it true?

"Did what? I haven’t heard about that," Bishop responded, when asked about a TSN report Tuesday night that quoted "sources" saying Bishop was contemplating leaving the Bombers after a set-to with head coach Mike Kelly. "I think it’s funny. I don’t know where it came from, but I guess that’s the latest news around here."

But is it true, coach Kelly?

"That’s absolutely beautiful, because the only time (Bishop) and I have ever kind of raised the volume is when we’re laughing," Kelly insisted during his Wednesday media scrum.

"We have never, ever had an argument. I don’t know where that stuff comes from. But at this point, there’s a lot of amoebas growing into one-eyed monsters."

Me: "Mike, the way things are going, could it be reported that aliens abducted Bishop, probed him, and returned him to the Bomber locker-room and that would (be believed)?"

Kelly: "Don’t used the word ‘probed’. Try something else. How about interrogated? I don’t know how to answer that."

(awkward silence).

Kelly: "Do you have a happy ending to that story?"

Me: "My point is that anything that comes out of the locker-room at this date, after all that’s happened (could be believed). Because this happened (Derick Armstrong), and that happened (Spygate), and this happened (Barrin Simpson), and that happened (players traded en masse), and…"

Kelly: "I’m not going to get up on a soap box banging a drum saying this isn’t happening or that isn’t happening, because, to be honest, it just looks like I’m trying to defend everything that’s going on. Some of these reports, I don’t know where they originate, I don’t know where they start. But in any case, when you’re struggling, whether it’s in your personal life or something like this, some things take on a life of their own.

"I’m not going to get all crazy about that (report of feud with Bishop), because I know what’s going on back there (in the room) and that’s the biggest part of my job right now — to manage our collective emotions the best I can, to keep our focus on the task at hand, which is bringing a product on our field that makes our fan base happy. And we also understand the only cure for all of this is to win. And if we win, then everything will settle down."

You know, of all the he-said, she-said nonsense swirling around Bomberville these wacky days, those last two sentences are perhaps the only real, relevant truth.

The Simpson Saga? The veteran linebacker wanted to be traded. Don’t care what he said or didn’t say on the way out the door. Have a nice life, Barrin. Say hello to Derick Armstrong for us.

The Bishop-Kelly feud rumour? Well, it was thrown out on national television, not yet verified. Hey, it’s not like a coach and quarterback have never exchanged heated words behind closed doors before.

Denial mode

But Bishop was sitting right there in his stall, in full denial mode, not packing his bags for Texas. So maybe your eyes are a better indicator of the truth than your ears.

Regardless, the turbulent environment orbiting the Bombers — who are now undergoing a significant offensive overhaul in mid-stream — is such that, understandably, any rumours, baseless or not, cannot be flatly ignored.

After all, if anyone wants to step up and claim they foresaw the endless string of seemingly unprecedented crises-of-the-week — from a top receiver, dressed, refusing to play in a game, to starting-quarterback issues, to accusations of spying on other teams, to a star player at war with the team but still allowed in the locker-room, etc., etc. — then just let us know, Nostradamus.

So a rumour about Bishop upset and wanting out? Why not? He’d only be the third defector this year.

Look, I’m not going to be hypocritical and say it’s beneath us to ask about such tongue-waggers based on "sources" and "rumours". True or false, it was on national TV. The questions had to be asked, no apologies.

Hell, for all I know, the "source" was Simpson himself. Wouldn’t that be something, eh?

Like they say, the truth is out there. Fitting, because this Bombers season long ago became an episode of the X-Files, interspersed with the odd football game.

Come to think of it, Scully might not believe Bishop was abducted by aliens. But Mulder might.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

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