It can’t taste sweet unless you’ve tasted sour

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/10/2009 (5805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They say in life the sweet moments are only so noticeable because of their contrast to all of the sour experiences we go through. Which is maybe why, in the final stretch of the 2009 season, a win over the league-leading Montreal Alouettes at home — Calvillo-less or not — feels about as satisfying as discovering that the government decided to bail out all of our RRSPs too, instead of just the corporations hit by the recession.

The truth of the matter is, sure we are only a 7-9 football team with two games to go, but after all we have been through these last 17 weeks, to finally have an opportunity in front of us to effect a positive change in this rabid football community feels like a small miracle before us — along the lines of the birth of our Lord and saviour.

Because of our victory on Saturday against the class of the CFL, we finally know now that there is indeed a light flickering at the end of the tunnel and not a burn in our retinas from all the napalm that has gone off this year on Maroons Road. We now realize that no matter what happens next week, we control our own destiny and fate with the last game of the year against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at home, and what a game that will be.

There are so many storylines caught up in this impending "Blue Out" that the local media will have to assume a triage mentality to determine what makes it to print, as space will surely be at a premium. Former Eastern Division nominee for most outstanding player in the CFL — Kevin Glenn — is now secure at the helm of the Ticat organization and will finally make his triumphant return to Manitoba.

And he’ll be bringing some familiar faces with him. Tackles Dan Goodspeed and Alexandre Gauthier will be joining him, along with ex-Blue Bomber Arland Bruce, who began his CFL career here. But if that wasn’t enough familiarity for you, they bring with them a host of coaches who have just as much, if not more, Blue Bomber history. Mike Gibson, Khari Jones, Greg Marshall, John Kropke, and Dave Easley all spent countless seasons involved in the management of this football club and will all also have their 2009 playoff futures determined by whether they can win in this house of their former employ. Hell, even the Tiger-Cats equipment manager, Rod Thiessen, got his start here in Winnipeg and will be facing off against his mentor, Brad Fotty, from the visitors’ sideline.

Yet that is still not the extent of it all when it comes to analyzing the underlying current of this matchup. After playing so poorly early on in the year at home and alienating so many fans, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of 2009 finally get an opportunity to atone for most and many of the sins of this season with a home game to end all home games and that, if successful, will reward the Bomber faithful with another home playoff game to follow.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Jen Zoratti | Next

Wednesdays

What's next in arts, life and pop culture.

Sign up for Jen Zoratti | Next

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

If that doesn’t sound like all the ingredients for the making of the game of the year, then you clearly don’t understand football rivalries and grudge matches. It’s all anybody and everybody is talking about in the football circles in this town right now — Hamilton against Winnipeg for second place in the East and a home playoff game. Winner takes all, and the loser packs up their locker and gets the hell out of Dodge.

But wait a second. There is that one little thing we are forgetting about here that could greatly affect the big picture. Our insurance policy. You know, the one that we have to apply for in Montreal this weekend. If we qualify for that policy, we have a good shot of making the playoffs even if things don’t go well against Hamilton because Edmonton, the team everyone is assuming will cross over from the West, is also sitting at 7-9, and have to be one game better than any team from the East to earn that crossover playoff berth.

They say the sweet only tastes that way because of all the sour we go through. Well, they also say it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your playoff opportunities and chances in the CFL, which makes this Sunday in Montreal the farthest thing from a tune-up game for this team.

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