By Darren Cameron
Director of Communications & Media Relations
First off, Happy New Year to everyone, and all of our great Bomber fans from across the country. Can you believe it’s already January? Soon, the CFL schedule will be announced, and we’ll all be looking forward to the start of another training camp here in Winnipeg.
I should mention, before we get into anything else, that it does appear the team will be offering packages for fans to travel with the Bombers again this season. In this package, you travel on the charter plane with the team, stay in the team hotel, and get tickets to the game. We did one last year when we played in Edmonton in October and it was a real success. The players really enjoyed having fans around and the interaction was great. I’m sure more information will be available on www.bluebombers.com once the schedule comes out.
Something that I’ve noticed recently, actually probably over the past few years, is the reaction from fans when a CFL player signs an NFL contract. I know our Fan Services team often receives emails from frustrated fans, upset that we didn’t sign a particular player and instead he went to the NFL. The latest one is linebacker Ian Wild, who recently agreed to terms with an NFL club.
People have to remember that players, both Canadian and American, play this game for a variety of reasons, and one of them is to support their families. The money and big stage, among many other things, are huge incentives that lure these players to the U.S. I remember when we offered Henoc Muamba a contract in 2013. He was going to be one of the league’s highest paid Canadians, and the highest paid linebacker. But instead he signed in the NFL. Did Henoc dislike Winnipeg? No, he loved Winnipeg. But he was offered an opportunity to make much more money in the National Football League, so he took it. There was nothing any CFL team, including us, could do — nor would we want to. Yes, we were losing a heck of a football player, but were happy for him. You can never fault someone for his desire to provide for his family, with an opportunity to play on the grandest stage in our sport. When a player is presented with a shot to take his skills to the NFL, the right thing to do as a CFL team is give him his release, then congratulate him and wish him well. To this day, I still text regularly with Henoc and with Receiver Chris Matthews (another example of this whole scenario), and even when I start the conversation about their latest game, they quickly turn it to how things are up here and how they just watched our last game. Both enjoyed their time in Winnipeg immensely, but their skills allowed them to play down south. We should commend that, and we do.
On a totally different note, I went to a Jets game with Head Coach Mike O’Shea a few weeks back. It really is amazing to watch the amount of people that came up to him as we waded through the crowds. 99.9% of the fans were great, excited about the 2015 season and taking photos with him. At one point, our entire section started chanting ‘Mike O’Shea, Mike O’Shea’. The only negative fan came out when they went to draw the 50/50. As the man checked his ticket and realized he had lost (he clearly had consumed multiple adult beverages, so I don’t know if he could actually read the numbers) he leaned down the aisle towards us and yelled, ‘Hey Mike, just like going to your games!’, as he ripped his ticket up. Hey, you can’t please ’em all.
I wouldn’t be able to write today without mentioning the passing of Shawn Coates. The former Bomber employee was a staple in our sports community, and was the Executive Director of Football Manitoba when he passed away recently. I won’t claim to know him exceptionally well, but he did attend our games as a photographer through the season, and from what I saw of his work, he was an amazing photographer. We had a few conversations here and there, but I know he was closer to my communications partner Kim Babij-Gesell. Regardless, all of our interactions were extremely pleasant, and from the outpouring of support and condolences, it’s very clear what Shawn meant to so many people. From all of us at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, rest in peace Shawn, you will be missed.
It’s nearing the end of January already, and free agency is right around the corner. If you have any blog ideas feel free to send them on Twitter @Darren_Cameron, otherwise keep warm and we will talk to you soon!
