Name’s Brown… and you are…?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2009 (6315 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s always a certain class reunion feel to the opening of Canadian Football League training camps. Teammates — many of whom haven’t seen each other for six or seven months — gather on medical day to slap backs and swap stories before they begin the grind that leads up to the regular season.

But given a winter of unprecedented change around these parts you’ll have to excuse the longest-serving member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers if this year seems more than a little different.

Make that a LOT different…

"I feel like I’m the Last of the Mohicans, man. It’s weird…" began defensive tackle Doug Brown, who is entering his ninth season in Bomber colours. "I mean, last year at this time there was Milt (Stegall) and Jamie (Stoddard) and Charlie (Roberts) had been here as long as I had and Troy (Westwood) was still here. Then all of a sudden you realize you’re the last guy and it hits you that not many people spend that much time in the sunset.

"In previous years you’d see Dan Goodspeed and Kevin Glenn and the guys and this day would be all about handshakes and hugs. Now I look around and with a lot of these guys it’s like we know OF each other, but we don’t KNOW each other."

And that might just perfectly describe the 2009 Bombers as main training camp opens this morning — they know OF each other, but don’t KNOW each other. So, it’s Doug, meet Sideeq; Gavin meet Tyrone; Stefan meet Terrence; Barrin, this is Fred. And so on and so on and so on and…

But to those who remain from previous regimes there is also a certain amount of trust they must place in a head coach many met in person for the first time this week. As much as every football player wants to win, they want just as much to believe the head knock knows what the hell he’s doing.

So at this point that means there is a great deal of blind trust at play here.

"There’s a lot of change but sometimes change is good," said receiver Terrence Edwards. "Coach Kelly has come in here and he’s going to put his stamp on things. He’s going to do it his way. But I think a lot of players are excited about the product he’s putting on the field. I know a lot of the guys that were here last year are excited to see his new plan, his new vision. We’re just ready to get going.

"And us players can’t question his decisions. We’ve just got to live by it. He’s the boss. He makes the decisions and we’ve just got to go out there and play. We don’t get paid to think, we get paid to play."

Fair enough. But that doesn’t stop the troops from having an opinion, although many may not share it publicly with a member of the media.

Brown? He’s never been afraid to express his thoughts and, right now at least, he’s admittedly drinking the Kelly Kool-Aid. Why? Well, here’s a guess: it’s been eight seasons for him in Bomberland he’s still without a Grey Cup ring.

"Rule 1A of the professional coaching handbook is: win more games than you lose," said Brown. "People don’t just mess things up and change things because they can. And they’ve got to stay true to the course and try to win football games. But this amount of change is something I’ve never seen before to this degree. I’ve never seen this fearlessness — and the willingness to defy all those people who have their favourite players and wear their jerseys — to put a stamp on a team.

"But it’s hard not to believe in people have foresight and believing in what they’re doing. They understand their schemes and concepts better than anyone else.

"Look," added Brown, "the only thing that remains to be seen is whether the pieces will fit together. I have no doubt in my mind that we’ve upgraded across the board, now it’s about making sure they are the right players in the right schemes. That’s the only question mark that remains.

"We’ve got a collection of talent from around the league here now, we’ve just never seen them in Blue and Gold before. You have to trust that these guys know what tools they want in their toolbox before they set up shop."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca