Doomed From the Start?
by Mike Alexander
It’s been a long seven months since the drama of the 2009/10 Winnipeg Blue Bomber season mercifully seemed to calm down. It took the arrest of our soon to be ex-head coach for beating the shit out of his girlfriend to bring any sense of relief over the humiliation and low quality exhibited week after week last season. While I feel bad for her, seeing Coach Mike Kelly finally pour the bleach into his own Kool Aid was a gift from Papa Smurf himself. The chatter throughout Winnipeg had become mean-spirited as angry fans huddled around their merchandise roaring away in bonfires with their eyes as blood shot and crazy looking, almost as if our pillows had been farted on for an entire season under Kelly.
Argumentative call in shows screaming at fans, the Pacman saga, the gutting of the team and the carnage that came with public humiliations of guys like Steven LeFors, and the release of a QB that would later come back to knock Winnipeg out of the playoffs. There was an inexperienced offense that averaged only pocket change of minutes on the field per game that managed the fewest offensive plays in the CFL last year. The Bombers had a run game that ended up averaging 60 yards per outing. Did all of this actually take place? It seems so surreal now.
Enter the new coach, Paul Lapolice, a new club president and a new QB Buck Pierce. To an extent, long suffering fans have something to consider now other than utter failure with these faces that now run things in this town. Pierce, formerly a BC Lion, has a history of questionable durability, yet possesses an accurate arm and fairly decent completion averages. Thankfully, there is no longer a need to weep inconsolably at the thought of Stefan Lefors or Michael Bishop leading the team. We hear promises of shotgun formation, from a coach with experience in the offensive department. There is promise, they say. I feel the same as anyone about “promise”. Anyone actually reading this with a degree of seriousness is likely extremely patient with hopes that feel like a stiletto lodged in your back. The aspirations we have felt, the experience and depth that we’ve been promised from this team for years now, it’s all been smoke and mirrors ground up and added to an overflowing bowl of disappointment and anguish.
The fact of the matter is that Hamilton are much more stable team than the Bombers with Offensive and defensive lines that were all here last year. However the Ti Cats are far from the best that the East has to offer with an offense that can be either dynamic and dangerous, or flat and ineffective. I think it’s only fair to give the re-vamped Bombers a few games to become a cohesive unit, in spite of the fact that Coach Lapo insists that the Bombers will come out strong and early. The task is as clear as it was last season. It’s worse than spinning a broken record. We need more than 100 yards passing by the half in order to bring it to Glenn and the Ti Cats. And please, can we lose the consecutive 2 and outs? If the Offensive line is able to pressure Glenn in the pocket local fans will watch him fold just like in the not-so-good old days.
We have when we screamed for last season: new Bomber regime both on and off the field. What will these changes bring? For me, any sense of potential I feel will be the kind that will stretch out over the first three or four games. Can it possibly be worse than last year? I can’t imagine how. Can the 2010/11 Blue Bombers develop and become dynamic this season? Why not? If the Saskatchewan Roughriders can’t figure out how to count to 13, anything is possible in the CFL.
