This land is OUR land

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2009 (5934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BY definition clichés are tired and hackneyed, but they are also rooted in truth.

In football there are several variations on the old chestnut that goes something like this: You are king in your own castle. Or, you are top dog in your own backyard.

In any case, you get the idea. And in this case the cliché couldn’t be more valid. Having a rep as a club that rules the roost in its own stadium is paramount in football, where confidence and the ability to intimidate are musts.

The attitude might be best expressed in the movie Rudy, when coach Dan Devine stands up before his team and gives a pep talk. "No one, and I mean no one, comes into our house and pushes us around," spits character actor Chelcie Ross and, predictably, the Fighting Irish charge onto the Notre Dame field for yet another glorious win.

Sounds cheesy, but according to Winnipeg Blue Bombers linebacker Barrin Simpson, being a tough team at home is one of the first building blocks in a winning club’s foundation.

"You have to have a different mentality at home. If you can’t win at your own house, you have problems," offered Simpson. "You have to have a swagger. A higher level of intensity and confidence. You have to have an air about yourself at home. You’re in your backyard. Your hood. When you go in someone else’s neighbourhood, they don’t know you around there. When we’re in our neighbourhood, you’re more comfortable. That’s the way I grew up."

Simpson says it boils down to a simple fact of life in the animal world.

"A big dog doesn’t let any other dog come into its backyard and do its business. It’s the same in football. You have to protect your turf," said Simpson.

And the same goes for the folks in the stands.

"We want our fans to carry that air. When they come to the ball game they should know we’re going to win," said the veteran linebacker, in his ninth CFL season and fourth with the Bombers. "The fans should be confident they’re coming to watch a W. We have to set the tone on the field and then it will catch like wildfire in the stands. Fans will be wearing blue, loud and with expectations of winning. Like Bombers fans were when I came here as an opponent. We want to get back to that and it starts Friday."

Winnipeg coach Mike Kelly says he’d like his team to have a little ugly in its makeup when they hit the field at home.

"I expect us to play with a chip on our shoulder," said Kelly. "I want a football team that knocks people backwards. That’s what we’ll be looking for on Friday."

Simpson wants opposing teams to be looking over their shoulders when they hit the field at Canad Inns Stadium.

"You should have to be on your toes a little more and you should keep your mouth shut. You should come in here to do your business and get out," said Simpson. "If someone comes in here and pushes around one of our guys, it’s on. You have to be mean, nasty and hardnosed. That’s the way you have to do it. When they come into our backyard — they have to know they were in a football game. They can walk in, but they better limp out."

As a team leader, Simpson says he’ll have a few extra things to say to his mates on Friday night and talking about pride at home will be a main focus.

"Always. Every game I have something to say but at home, I’ll remind our guys that this is our house and we have to protect it," snarled Simpson. "You never let another dog come in to your yard and use your trees. It don’t happen."

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca