PRE-SEASON GAME 1 — AN AUTOPSY

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/06/2015 (3760 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Blue Bombers opened their pre-season with a 34-27 victory over the Toronto Argonauts at Varsity Stadium Tuesday night.

Some things to mull over in the wake of that win:

FIVE WHO HELPED THEIR CAUSE

— Carlos Anderson, RB/KR: He provided one of the game’s most electric plays with a 93-yard punt return for a TD and rushed twice for 22 yards. His game screamed out for more.

— Sukh Chung, OL: The club’s first-round draft pick has progressed quickly. They knew his battle level was enormous. What has impressed the brass is how fast he learns.

— Sammy Brown, DL: Picked up a sack and a couple of tackles. Getting better with each snap.

— Shaquille Richardson, DB: Had his moments in the secondary and on special teams. Showing a versatility to play halfback and corner.

— Tony Burnett, LB: Good mobility, sure tackler. He’s become a name to watch in the battle for work in the linebacking corps.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Bombers’ final pre-season game is June 19 at Investors Group Field against Hamilton. The team has to cut down to 65 players by Sunday at 11 p.m.

“We’d like to keep everybody,” said Bombers coach Mike O’Shea. “There’s 80-some guys that we liked, that we brought into camp for a reason… we liked them all. Obviously, that’s not possible.

“It’s nice when they do pop off the page because it can help decision-making, but you need it consistently. You don’t need that pop all the time, you need them making consistently good decisions, being in the right place at the right time, executing their assignments right. The pop is fun to watch, but we need a consistently high effort and a consistently high execution level.”

HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE?

The Varsity Stadium experience for Tuesday’s game was sensational and it left most of those involved gushing about the venue and its locale, but also what could have been for the Argos. Rogers Centre (nee: SkyDome) has been a bust for the Argos. They are second-class citizens in their own venue and until the new ownership group takes over and they can get into BMO Field, this coming season is going to have a real lame-duck vibe to it.

How dumb is the Argos’ ‘home’ schedule this year, because of their venue issues and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games being held at Rogers Centre? Consider this: Toronto’s ‘home’ opener on June 27 against Edmonton is at the 15,000-seat SMS Equipment Stadium… in Fort McMurray, Alta. They are then on the road for back-to-back games in Saskatchewan and Calgary and, after a bye, are in Vancouver, then Hamilton.

As the few Argos faithful who attended the game Tuesday night exited Varsity Stadium, the PA announcer uttered this: “Don’t forget the Argos’ home opener August 8 against the Saskatchewan Roughriders…’ That’s simply incredible. And with the football team almost an afterthought in their own market, that’s another way to turn off even the most ardent supporter.

This might be the perfect state-of-the-franchise take, though: it costs the Argos so much to rent Rogers Centre they are expecting to come close to at least breaking even on their game in Fort McMurray.

QUAINT CAN BE COOL

The original Varsity Stadium, FYI, was on the same location and played home to the Argos until 1959. An example of the building’s quaintness, at least for football: after the game the handful of reporters who had gathered in front of the Bombers backdrop for interviews were asked to step outside for a few minutes. It seems that with no proper football dressing rooms, the club had to use five different hockey dressing rooms (Varsity Arena is attached to the football stadium), O’Shea had to call all the troops into the arena concourse for his post-game speech.

THE MAN UPSTAIRS

One of the best sidebars to come out of Tuesday’s win was the work of running back Carlos Anderson, the Bomber running back, who hasn’t played in a game in three years and had retired to start his own business — speed and agility training for kids. Anderson made several references to his faith in his post-game interview, as evidenced in this part of the exchange:

Anderson: “I started my own business back home. I just thank the Lord that Winnipeg gave me my shot…”

Dan Ralph, Canadian Press: “So did you think football was done for you?

Anderson: “I did. I had hung my cleats up. I talked to the Lord about it, but once coach gave me that call, I had to come.”

Ralph: “I guess the Lord can change his mind.”

Anderson: “Yes sir.”

— Tait