Ship’s looking righted

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/07/2011 (5306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This was a game the Blue Bombers would have lost last season.

First of all, it was against the Toronto Argonauts and the Bombers dropped all three to the boys from the Big Smoke last summer.

Secondly, it was a squeaker, and the Bombers famously lost nine games last season by four or fewer points.

Bombers coach Paul LaPolice has been busy telling his team not to live in the past and the message appears to have sunk in as the club has shaken off three of the bad habits that killed it last season — losing on the road, losing to the Argos and losing tight games.

Maybe it’s too early to be needing shades for the bright future but LaPo has been talking about living in the now and, hell, it’s looking pretty good after a road win to open the season and Friday’s 22-16 win.

Winnipeg will wake up in first place on Monday morning no matter what happens the rest of the weekend due to a shiny 2-0 mark.

Maybe the effort was ragged at times but GM Joe Mack looked over his shoulder at a reporter earlier this week and blew off a suggestion about style points with a simple, “I’ll keep taking the wins.”

Point made and point shoved down so many throats.

Mack and LaPolice lived through a harsh winter that had nothing to do with weather but rather the ignominy of a 4-14 mark. They were questioned at every turn, for good reason, and needed some quick redemption to ramp up the love.

Mission accomplished.

Has the worm turned for Mack and his pigskin acolytes? Too early to tell, but surely the men in the Bombers’ dressing room and down the hall in the coaching offices can’t worry themselves with discussions about whether they’re for real or not.

LaPolice will be wise to continue preaching about learning from, but not living in, the past.

The more recent history that has seen his team burst out to a surprising 2-0 mark is nice and all, but after Friday’s night’s beers it, too, should be parked.

The Calgary Stampeders will trot into town next Thursday and provide a very stiff challenge without adding any silly issues such as overconfidence.

Friday’s win served another purpose where Mack and LaPolice are concerned, as it was their first win over Jim Barker since the Blue Bombers board chose them over the man who went on to commandeer the Argo operation.

Which team won a trade is always open to debate and often can’t be declared until the players involved have retired and their careers can be evaluated on whole.

While it wasn’t a player swap, the Blue Bombers and Argos made personnel decisions worthy of comparison.

To wit, many have asked if the Bombers dropped the ball when they went with Mack and LaPolice rather than Barker.

The early returns were slanted in Barker’s favour as his Argos won the first three games over the Mack-LaPo-led Bombers. The accomplished and experienced Barker was able to coax his Argos into the post-season last year in his first try at the helm while the Blue Bombers spit up a 4-14 mark.

Barker was a much safer hire than the duo of Mack, who had been out of the CFL for 20 years, and LaPolice, who had never held a head-coaching job in pro football.

Friday’s win tilts the scales back toward even and with three more matches this season between the teams, this topic is just getting started.

It’s apples and oranges to a certain degree because the rosters can’t be considered equal.

But Barker took over a 3-15 team while Mack and LaPolice inherited a club that was 7-11 in the season prior.

Mack, however, has approached his rebuild with a big-picture approach and a long-term goal of success in terms of winning Grey Cups and not squeaking into the post-season year after year. His goal is to be great and not good.

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LaPolice certainly had some rough moments last season but that’s to be expected with a first-timer. It remains to be seen if his best days are still ahead of him but he’s way ahead of last year’s pace after Week 2.

LaPolice’s talk about not living in the past may be self-serving but that doesn’t make it any less right.

And at 2-0, well, it’s far more fun to talk about what’s going on right now.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca