Hope hangs by a thread

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2010 (5792 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

So are the Blue Bombers playoff hopes still alive?

Hey, is the Pope Catholic? Do bears crap in the woods? Does Brett Favre own a cellphone?

Of course they have a shot at the playoffs. In fact, you could argue the Bombers post-season odds improved over the weekend, factoring in the B.C. Lions’ overtime loss to the Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday. Why? Because the Lions, playing at home, were supposed to win. The Bombers, playing the heavily favoured defending Grey Cup champions on the road, were not. (Hey, you only get so many miracles per week.)

No, hope hasn’t left town. But it’s holding a bus ticket and a suitcase. So let’s all hold hands in a circle and agree that if the Bombers make the playoffs, a lot of folks are going to have to start going back to church in November.

The good news is this is one dead easy playoff “race” to track. It’s a 100-metre dash run by sumo wrestlers.

To review, the 4-11 Bombers remain two points back of both the mighty Lions and Eskimos, both 5-10, for a possible crossover berth in the West with three games to play. That pretty much requires the Bombers to win out against the Argos (next week at home), the Eskimos on the road and the Calgary Stampeders at home.

There have been bleaker outlooks — if you happen to be, say, a Chilean miner. But we digress.

As for the Bombers’ 11th defeat of the season, the local 12 were back to their typical script. They came out crisp, building an early 11-2 advantage, only to muddle around offensively while Anthony Calvillo found his bearings.

It wasn’t just that Bombers quarterback Steven Jyles couldn’t penetrate the Als defence, for the most part, it was a couple costly interceptions that are fatal for a team as wildly inconsistent as the Winnipegs.

But, oh, those little things that have been so characteristic of a football team that has perfected the art of ignoring the details. Butchered clock management at the end of the first half. A 14-yard punt from Mike Renaud. Surrendering another back-breaking fake punt converted for a Montreal first down. A costly major foul by defensive back Alex Suber in the fourth quarter. Brock Ralph 10 yards offside with 18 seconds left and the Bombers on a desperate last-gasp drive to get into field goal range.

And the coup de grace: A fumble by Terence Jeffers-Harris at midfield that sealed the Bombers’ twisted fate.

Seriously, if this team was any more self-destructive, they’d sign Amy Winehouse off waivers.

Even the Bombers’ valiant effort to claw back to within 22-19 — no doubt baiting fans into dare-we-dream thoughts of another unlikely comeback — was cruelly ironic. The Bombers don’t lose by 11, after all. That’s for suckers. They lose by a field goal.

Indeed, there are few rational explanations for a team that has now tied the CFL record for losses (seven) by less than four points in a season. They’ve lost eight by seven or less. And there’s still three games left for the Bombers to pad their league lead in moral victories.

So if it’s any consolation, Bombers fans, there’s every possible chance your team isn’t going to the playoffs. Again. But history records that if the Bombers do come up short, they’re not going to go down in flames. That’s not their style.

Think they’re dead? Heck, no. They’re going to take this irregular season right down to the wire.

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The Bombers are going to be like that guy in the movies who gets riddled with bullets but won’t die already. They’re going to flop around and bleed profusely. They’re going to choke and gasp and crawl. Still, you get the vivid premonition their last breath is still a few weeks away.

A little respect, please. These are the 2010 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and no one dies harder.

If you love them, chances are, they’ll have your heart eventually.

It’s just that they’re not done toying with it yet.

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.

   Read full biography