Blue brass’s lack of bombast a refreshing sign

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/06/2010 (5919 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The eyes of the legends seem to be staring down upon them from their place along the walls of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ boardroom. Icons like Jack Jacobs and Fritz Hanson, Ken Ploen and Leo Lewis, among many others, are all present in photographic spirit.

The new regime that now heads the Bombers’ football-operations department — that would be GM Joe Mack and head coach Paul LaPolice — held court late last week with yours truly, answering questions about philosophies, rules, expectations and goals.

And what hit home during the course of a 35-minute chat was this: If these two guys were a flavour of ice cream, it would be vanilla.

Now, before you wail about the negative media and begin scratching the eyes out of the mug shot accompanying this piece, you should know we mean that as a compliment. We like vanilla. And given the aftertaste lingering for many from last year, vanilla can be a dandy palate-cleanser.

But let’s get one thing straight from the get-go: Joe Mack and Paul LaPolice are not about making bold declarations. Shoot, that’s been clearly evident since they first came aboard this winter and during an off-season that has hardly been about grabbing headlines.

Example: Ask Mack about how the squad looks, with rookies scheduled to step on the field Wednesday afternoon, and he says he’s "pleasantly pleased about the talent level" coming into camp.

Query LaPolice about the coaching commandments he wants to instil and he spits out: "Whether it’s rookies or vets the message is the same: We’re going to talk about playing with great effort, we want to be intelligent football players and not defeat ourselves."

OK, so these guys aren’t Knute Rockne and Vince Lombardi — or Mike Kelly, for that matter — when it comes to being able to fill a scribe’s notebook with juicy quotes. But it’s easy to get the sense that because both these men have been here before — Joe Mack back in the 1980s; LaPolice under Dave Ritchie’s regime — they are comfortable in their skin and with the hands they’ve been dealt.

"It’s not our job to come in and expound and say we’re going to win four Grey Cups or something like that," said LaPolice. "That’s boasting. That’s putting the cart before the horse. We’ll tell (the players), ‘These are the things we think it takes to win football games and be successful. If we do those things, we will be successful.’ They’ll know our goals. We’re going to be a confident group and expect to win each game each week."

Some of all this, given all the stuff that happened last year on and off the field, is clearly by design. This organization, after all, doesn’t have a solid track record when it comes to going against the grain in its football hires. And Mack and LaPolice are obviously aware they’ve been treading on scorched earth since they came aboard.

But they have resisted the urge to take pot-shots at last year’s crew. After all, their approach is their approach — regardless of who sat at the desks before them.

"I’m not comfortable in judging other people or their circumstances," said Mack. "I’d rather just look forward. We’re aware of some of the challenges they had last year. But right now we’re heading into a good direction and we’re building some momentum.

"I believe strongly in this: We can’t always control the way the ball bounces, but we can control effort. We can control our integrity, how we treat people. I’d like to think this started when we hired Paul. I hope we began setting a tone then about where we wanted to go as an organization. And that approach should be year-round and if we do that then I think fans will be happy because they’ll say we’re professional and always working hard. I firmly believe, too, that if we do all those things it will translate into wins."

Again, it’s not exactly the kind of pre-season proclamations that will have folks racing to the ticket wicket. But it is also one of the basic axioms in the business of professional sports: under-promise and over-deliver.

Mack, LaPolice & Co. have done the under-promise thing well all winter. Beginning this week, we’ll begin seeing hard evidence of whether they can over-deliver.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca