Stamps’ offensive guru will miss Bombers’ decaying home

By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Thursday, Jul. 14, 2011

WHEN they tear down Canad Inns Stadium, they will be doing it against the wishes of Dave Dickenson.

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WHEN they tear down Canad Inns Stadium, they will be doing it against the wishes of Dave Dickenson.

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This article was published 14/07/2011 (5171 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHEN they tear down Canad Inns Stadium, they will be doing it against the wishes of Dave Dickenson.

The Calgary Stampeders’ offensive co-ordinator and former CFL quarterback has fonder memories of the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers than most Bombers players — and their fans.

Of the three Grey Cups that were held at Canad Inns Stadium over the years — 1991, 1998 and 2006 — Dickenson won two of them, as a backup for Calgary in 1998 and as the starter for B.C. in 2006.

Two Grey Cups will go a long way to helping a guy gloss over the flaws of a notoriously flawed building — and his 2-0 record in Winnipeg Grey Cups even had Dickenson on Wednesday looking on the bright side of November weather in Winnipeg when he was asked about his memories of Canad Inns Stadium.

“I was kind of hoping every Grey Cup would be here,” Dickenson laughed. “Both times it wasn’t that cold. The one game was maybe -15 below. I always thought it was good fans here. You know, Saskatchewan always gets all the credit for having these rabid fans. Winnipeg fans are right there.

“Every game I’ve played here it’s been loud, they’re into the game, they support their team regardless. It hasn’t been great years. The years I was out of the CFL were their best years. For me, thinking back, Winnipeg at its best has been awhile.

“As far as the stadium goes, it is a little bit rundown. I know they did a bit of remodel for the Grey Cup in ’06. It never bothered me. I like playing here.”

All of which is, on the one hand, nice to hear — he likes us, he really, really likes us — for a city with an infamous inferiority complex. But there is also no denying that you have a bit of a problem when players on other teams go on and on about how much they love playing in your stadium.

But so it goes in the unusually symbiotic relationship between the Bombers and Calgary. The Bombers presently have at least 14 players and coaches who were at one time members of either the Stampeders or the Calgary Dinos organizations. And that includes some of the very best Bomber starters, everyone from defensive tackle Doug Brown to defensive end Odell Willis to guard Steve Morley.

Brown and Willis will be tasked tonight with making Canad Inns Stadium the kind of inhospitable place to current Calgary QB Henry Burris that it never was for Dickenson. And Burris knows it.

“Those guys made a lot of plays and wreaked a lot of havoc against the opposition the first two weeks.”

Calgary comes into Winnipeg with a 1-1 record after an opening week loss to Toronto followed by a thrilling second-half comeback over B.C. last week.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca