Idiot today, Einstein tomorrow

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2009 (5835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Optics are a curious thing, all about the angles in which you look at things or how they can morph with the fullness of time.

Happens all the time in professional sports. A trade is made that looks woefully lopsided to begin with — Hello, Joe Thornton — but as careers unfold initial impressions sway to the results. Many a fired GM or head coach has stood back and watched as the pieces they assembled, but didn’t produce on their watch, become champions with a lucky bounce here or a tweak there.

This brings us to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who not long ago were the poster boys for bad optics under neophyte head coach Mike Kelly. It didn’t take long, either. Remember the third game into the 2009 season when Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Kevin Glenn, of all people, came off the bench to rally his new team to a comeback victory over his old one?

Bombers’ anointed quarterback Stefan LeFors was struggling in a handcuffed offence, which didn’t look good on Kelly from any angle. And Bombers receiver Adarius Bowman, for all his physical promise, was doing little to make Bombers fans forget about stud tackle Dan Goodspeed, the guy Bowman was acquired for.

But then, what was working for the Bombers at the time? Besides, the litany of extracurricular off-field antics were only serving to dwarf whatever good news stories that were emerging out of anywhere but the offence.

Funny what even a modest three-game winning streak can do for a team still hard pressed to find the post-season. Because last week in Hamilton, it was Bowman, now ranked 11th overall in the CFL with 779 yards, who hauled in a whopping 10 balls for 213 yards. Meanwhile, newly acquired defensive lineman Odell Willis was eating Goodspeed’s lunch. And while Glenn might have rallied the Tiger-Cats, it was costly late interception that sunk Hamilton in the end.

See how optics can change? It’s like the trade for Willis itself. The Bombers sent two receivers, non-import Arjei Franklin and import Romby Bryant to the Stamps in exchange for Willis and two receiving prospects, non-import Jabari Arthur and Titus Ryan.

So already the trade is paying dividends for a Bombers team hammered by injuries on the defensive line. But the real payoff just might be the 6-foot-4 Arthur, a blue-chip prospect who lit it up during the Stampeders pre-season, but has been sidelined by a broken foot since.

Hence, while Bryant and Franklin could still play key roles in the Stampeders stretch run and playoffs, the long-term impact of the trade on either team is far from conclusive.

Same goes for the Bombers resident Database, the handle given first-year player personnel director John Murphy. Now Murphy, the new guy, was given a tall task, largely due to the foot-in-mouth comments by Kelly at the start of the season insinuating that former Bombers GM Brendan Taman operated with the sophistication of the Albanian space program.

Then there was the Pacman Jones fiasco, of course. But look around now, as many of the moves that Murphy has made — including the Willis deal — are putting the Database in a newer, gentler light. No doubt, it was Murphy who insisted on landing stud defensive back Lenny Walls, also late of the Stamps (Murphy’s former employer).

Nobody is ignoring how the Bombers dug themselves such an enormous hole in the first place. Everybody from Kelly on down had a shovel in their hands. And, quite frankly, patience was fast running out on a new regime that talked a great game, but walked like David Hasselhoff leaving a tequila bar.

Just look around at the empty seats on Sunday, baring a flood of walk-ups willing to forgive, if not forget. But ask yourself: What if Kelly and Co. were canned, and this time next year Bowman and Arthur and impressive newcomer Otis Amey were leading the Bombers in receptions? Or Willis was the new sack king? Or one of the three quarterback prospects — Casey Bramlet, Ricky Santos or Adam DiMichele — are displaying some long-term potential?

That’s what three wins will buy you: Time and the opportunity to prove that Lyle Bauer didn’t make the biggest blunder of his management career.

It didn’t look good back then. Not even close.

Now? Clearly the optics angle has changed, and for the better.

Who knows? Maybe it’s just the start.

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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