Show us some ID, Blue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/07/2010 (5638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a simple question, really, and it’s been asked over and over and over again all winter of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by their faithful in supermarkets, hardware stores, watering holes and on the practice field after another winter of change:

Who are you guys?

"Who are we?" said Doug Brown, mulling the question on Thursday afternoon. "Look, over the years I’ve come to reserve my judgement on the potential of our team until we take the blanks out of the starter’s gun and put some high-calibre slugs in there. That’s the best way to roll with it because everybody looks great right now. We have the same sentiment, the same thinking, as seven other teams in the CFL right now. We’re all undefeated.

"But I will tell you this: I’m definitely optimistic."

Yes, the curtain does go up on the 2010 Bombers tonight against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with optimism overflowing following a front-office makeover that saw GM Joe Mack return after 23 years. He selected former Bomber offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice as the franchise’s third head coach in three years and Buck Pierce will be the third different quarterback to start the opener in three years.

And all told there are 13 first-year CFLers on the roster.

So what should Bomber fans expect of this team as it attempts to end a 20-year Grey-Cup drought and post a winning season for just the second time in seven years? Well, for one, don’t expect any bold predictions from the head coach. Or any brash statements, either. And, yes, that is completely by design.

"I hope this is a team that competes each day and a team that will come out and be more relentless than the other and be more physical," he said. "We’re trying to instill in our players that’s who we want to be. I know we’re going to be a team that’s multiple (in its formations) offensively and defensively and a team that believes in protecting the football and taking the football away."

Indeed for all the change, the likes of Terrence Edwards, Adarius Bowman, Brock Ralph, Fred Reid, Brendon LaBatte and Obby Khan are back on offence. Brown, Odell Willis, Phillip Hunt, Ike Charlton, Ian Logan, Joe Lobendahn and Jovon Johnson are back to anchor the defence. And the secondary, even with three changes to the starting five, will still refer to itself as ‘Swaggerville.’

"Who are we?" said Johnson. "We’re going to be about speed and tenacity. We’re going to be a mean group on defence and a finesse group on offence and we’re going to catch some people by surprise.

"Our goal is to go out and make people respect us. Last year we’d go into games and our game plan wasn’t changing much week to week. Teams knew and were better prepared for us because every week it was the same thing. But with our scheme now, nobody will know what to expect from us week to week.

"I’ll tell you what, I’m looking forward to being a part of it because it’s going to be something special."

The Bombers open with four of their first seven games against the Tiger-Cats and six of their first nine against East Division opponents. But they also open the campaign with fewer lingering doubts about their schemes, particularly offensively, and about their starting quarterback.

And that’s as good a starting point as any.

"It’s easier to have confidence when the offence you’re now running was in the Grey Cup last year (when LaPolice was in Saskatchewan) and it had the No. 1 defence in the CFL chasing their tails for three quarters," said Brown. "In other years here we’d be hoping. It’d be ‘Well, we really don’t know how this is going to fare or how this is going to translate.’ Now we have something that has been very successful in this league. There’s less question marks now.

"But who are we? We’re going to start finding out very soon."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

bomber game day C6-7