Denial, memory loss good things

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/09/2011 (5440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’m probably dating myself with this analogy, but after Sunday’s Banjo Bowl disaster, and after a request from my editor to pen a piece about the mindset of the players going forward, the first thing that came to mind was that a number of us could probably use a “daily affirmation” from Stuart Smalley right about now.

As on Saturday Night Live, he would take us in front of a mirror, and have us repeat after him, “I don’t have to be a good football player. I don’t have to beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders on consecutive weekends. All I have to do is be the best Blue Bomber I can be, because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”

In all seriousness though, it is not too much of a stretch to realize that the last two weeks of the 2011 football season have been the most difficult, on the field, of this year’s campaign, and to understand the current mindset of the players you have to understand the circumstances of the setbacks.

We went into the Labour Day Classic as the football team with the best record in the CFL at 7-1. We squared off against a team with the worst record in the CFL at 1-7, and were weighed, measured, and found wanting. We returned to Winnipeg with our eyes wide shut, and blew a 10-0 lead to wind up on the short side of a 45-23 debacle in front of a sold-out, over-capacity, home crowd. Ouch.

Good teams can lose two regular season games in a row and still be a good team. But the back-to-back rivalry series with Saskatchewan is more than just two games. It is a contest of pride between neighbouring provinces. It would be fair to say that in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, those are the two biggest games outside of the post-season in the calendar year. No matter how poorly or exceptionally the team is faring, bragging rights for the season are up for grabs and we handled that promise with all the security and dexterity of a wet bar of soap.

I cannot recall what year it was — possibly 2004? — but the Bombers were back in the Western division and we played Saskatchewan three times that year. We might have only won six or seven games the entire season but three of them came against the Riders, which prompted Elfrid Payton, our starting defensive end at the time, to remark, “Hell, if we could just play Saskatchewan 18 times this year we could go undefeated.”

He was obviously trying to put a positive spin on a trying season, but the quote was memorable for two reasons. One, because it was blunt and somewhat accurate, and two, because those games mean more when you play in this city, and sweeping the Riders was something to hang your hat on no matter what else transpired the rest of the way.

So now that we have assessed the devastation and are straight out of the frying pan and into the fire, facing off with the defending two-time Grey Cup champions three times in the next six weeks, what is our mindset going forward? How do you put the travesties of the past two weekends behind you, reboot your confidence, filter out the critics, recognize the opportunities still at hand, and throw down with the belt holder in their own barn?

Seeing a stacked deck like that in front of him, John Hufnagel, coach of the Calgary Stampeders once told his troops, “We’ve got ’em right where we want ’em,” as they went on the road into hostile territory to complete their Grey Cup run, and I think that is the mindset you need to embrace as a player going forward.

When the tide has seemingly turned, and adversity and obstacles are looming closer than they appear and seem insurmountable to the common observer, now is the time to throw caution to the wind, and to regain that steely focus on the processes, preparation, and the performances that have consistently defined your season, and not the aberrations that have recently marred it. Oh, and a little bit of denial and short-term memory loss never hurt either.

Doug Brown, a hard-hitting defensive tackle with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and even harder hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Winnipeg Free Press.