It all comes down to Bishop

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/11/2009 (5808 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are the usual critical matchups. Yes, once again the battle of the trenches — yawn — will be monumental. And the weather conditions are always a factor when football is played in Winnipeg in November.

But there’s no secret that the real key — THE story of Sunday’s Blue Bomber-Hamilton Tiger-Cat showdown for second spot in the East Division — is much more straightforward and can be summed up in one simple question:

Will fans see the Good Michael or the Bad Michael?

"Are you talking about me or Bishop?" wisecracked Bomber head coach Mike Kelly when the issue was broached on Friday. "I hope it’s the good one. The one where I don’t feel like I’m grabbing a bridle and trying to look into a stallion’s eyes, you know?

"Mike’s going to be fine. He really is."

Well, right about now everyone in Bomberland is going to have to take the coach’s word on that. Truth is, Good Michael/Bad Michael can show up on any given Sunday — sometimes both appear in the same game. But if the Bombers are to extend their season beyond this week and make any kind of a peep in the post-season, much will depend on the work of the man behind centre.

And, fact is, since he was summoned from football’s scrap heap, Bishop’s 13 games in Bomber colours have mirrored his entire career.

He has thrown for 14 TDs as a Bomber… and been intercepted 17 times. His career TD-to-interception ratio is 65:73.

Shoot, just this week The Wichita Eagle newspaper in Kansas, in one of those ‘where-are-they-now?’ stories, wrote about Bishop’s days at Kansas State and likened his career with the Wildcats to ‘watching the flying trapeze act at the circus.’

This about a guy who finished second in the 1998 Heisman Trophy voting to Ricky Williams.

Kelly, for one, believes Bishop’s entire career has been about fighting for respect. He was 11-1 as a starter with the Toronto Argonauts in 2007 and what do they do?

Invite him up to a press conference announcing a contract extension… without telling him he’ll be sharing the spotlight with the quarterback they had just traded for, Kerry Joseph.

Nice.

"I don’t know how much he’s trusted coaches over the years since he left Bill Snider at Kansas State," Kelly said. "You put all that together in an entire career and you get a guy that presses and tries to do too much knowing that he has tremendous athletic talent. You just have to kinda calm him down sometimes and tell him, ‘Play within yourself.’ He said it, so I’m not making anything it up, but he feels this is a place where he has trust in us and we have trust in him.

"You just try to talk to the guy and keep him focussed on the task of hand and allow him to play within himself. Then he’s as good as anybody."

We asked Bishop about the ‘Good Michael/Bad Michael’ analogy on Friday and he just shrugged. And that, in part, explains why this 33-year-old vagabond — he has played for 10 teams since turning pro in 1999 — remains so popular in the dressing room.

He’s not a finger pointer. He’s not a ‘me’ guy. And he’ll take the bullets, deserved or not, when his team loses.

"I know I’m not going to make the right decision all the time," he said. "I know I’m not going to throw the perfect ball. It’s not like as a quarterback you go out there and not want to get it done, you always want to get it done.

"It’s not about me, it’s about the team. One man doesn’t win the game, one man doesn’t lose the game. I know a lot of things go on the quarterback.

"That’s part of the game, just like it’s part of life. People make mistakes every day. I don’t let it get me down. I keep my head up and keep smiling. You take the good with the bad and at the end of the day I’m doing whatever I can to help my teammates win."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

GOOD MICHAEL…

Bomber QB Michael Bishop’s numbers

in his six wins as their starter:

Game Result Yds Pct TDs Ints

Aug. 1 @ Tor. 13-12W 213 53.3 1 1

Aug. 21 @ B.C. 37-10W 131 55.0 1 0

Sept. 26 vs. Tor. 29-24W 312 71.9 2 0

Oct. 2 vs. Edm. 27-17W 184 58.8 1 1

Oct. 12 @ Ham. 38-28W 355 55.3 3 2

Oct. 24 vs. Mtl. 41-24W 411 51.5 2 1

Totals: 6W 1,606 57.8 10 5 …BAD MICHAEL

And Bishop’s numbers in his seven losses as their starter:

Game Result Yds Pct TDs Ints

Aug. 8 @ Cal. 31-23L 209 53.3 0 1 Aug. 15 vs. Mtl. 39-12L 155 37.1 0 2

Sept. 6 @ Sask. 29-14L 329 60.6 1 3

Sept. 13 vs. Sask. 55-10L 98 42.9 0 2

Sept. 20 @ Mtl. 33-14L 145 47.4 1 2

Oct. 18 vs. B.C. 24-21L 226 40.6 1 3

Nov. 1 @ Mtl. 48-13L 145 38.1 1 0

Totals: 7L 1,307 46.1 4 13