Any number of story angles can be explored in the days leading up to a football game. And that’s especially so in advance of one of such magnitude like Sunday’s Canadian Football League Western Final between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders.
There are the pertinent details like potential lineup changes, injury updates and how, as the old saying goes, ‘the Jimmys and Joes execute the Xs and Os.’
But there’s also been a momentum growing of late with the Bombers – especially after last Sunday’s Western Semi-Final win over the Calgary Stampeders – and it’s difficult to quantify because it’s not something so black and white.
It’s a vibe, a buzz, a…
“It’s an energy, man,” began Bombers receiver Drew Wolitarsky after practice Friday. “Last game – and I’ll speak for me because I don’t know how the entire team felt – but it was near the end of the second quarter in Calgary and as I looked out on the field this feeling came over me. It was the most sure feeling I’ve ever had. It was like, ‘We are not done yet. This can’t be the end here.’ I was like, ‘Whoa’, because it hit me hard. But it’s true. I don’t want it to be done, I don’t want this team to be finished. I can’t have that be.
“After that we came back out (after halftime) and it was like there was some kind of wind and this wind spoke to us and we answered a call. It was like, ‘Do you want this or not?’ And we were all, ‘F— yeah, we want this. We want this really bad.’ Then we just turned it up, dude. We were making interceptions and scoring touchdowns and they were demoralized and done.”
That answer is Wolitarsky summed up in just about 150 words. He’s a deep thinker, introspective, and a guy who understands and lives in the moment better than most of us walking this green earth.
But he’s not alone in his line of thinking here, either.
Andrew Harris has felt the same building energy as Wolitarsky. And for the veteran running back, it started back in the regular season finale, a last-second victory over the Calgary Stampeders at IG Field.
“Near the end of the season I was leaning on, ‘Ok, we’ve got to find our groove. We’ve got to peak at the right time,’” said Harris. “Part of that is energy, part of that is the vibe in the locker room, part of that is how we all prepare and how we meet together.
“There’s definitely a good vibe, a positive vibe. There’s a lot of energy, lots of positive energy. They see the opportunity and that we can actually do this. Sometimes it takes a big win, a big play for each individual guy. It just takes one little thing to believe and buy in throughout a whole season. It’s crazy to say, but you go through a whole season and sometimes it just takes that one moment for guys to really buy in. I just feel like there are more guys now than ever who are bought in and 100 percent in on this and can believe and see it.
“That brings a certain energy.”
That might sound a little cornball, but the players will insist it’s a very real thing that can build momentum, just as negative energy can split and divide. The Bombers will need all of those good vibes, and then some, to move past the Roughriders on Sunday in what will be a very hostile environment.
The Riders are 3 ½-point favourites and are trying to return to the Grey Cup for the first time since 2013. And the Bombers, well, everyone knows of their drought and they’ve been absent from the big game since 2011.
Again, though, there is a sense something is building.
“Last week, that’s a great feeling,” Wolitarsky explained. “You know, you grind out here. You grind, you grind, you grind. You’re tired, you’re fatigued, whatever it is. But you’re out there in the game and you look around and you don’t know if you’ll see these guys again. You don’t know if they’re going to be on your team next year, or if you’ll be.
“That’s why I love where we are, dude. I love what we’ve been through, even though it sucked sometimes because we had to go through those things. But here we are and I don’t want to this to end. We need to go all the way.”
The Bombers held their final full practice of the week for the Western Final behind closed doors on Friday. Here are some of the notes and quotes from the media availability afterward in our 48-Hour Primer…
DAILY FAJARDO WATCH:
The big story out of Regina this week remains the status of Riders QB Cody Fajardo, who was on the field on Friday but was limited in the depth of his throwing after suffering an oblique injury in Saskatchewan’s second-last game.
“We didn’t ask him to do too much today,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson told reporters in Regina. “But he was out here going through the motions, threw the ball a little bit. I think he’s going to be fine.”
Dickenson said Fajardo will play on Sunday, but added, “I don’t know if he’ll start, but he’ll be dressed as one of our three and he will play. This could be a game where you see all three quarterbacks.”
Dickenson also said that Shaq Evans, the Riders’ leading receiver, did not practice on Friday because his foot was bothering him, but would play on Sunday.
The Bombers are aware of what’s unfolding in Regina, but will continue to plan as if the Riders are all 100 percent.
“I would expect (Farjardo) to not be limited in anything he was going to do,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “And I would expect that with any extra planning days, they’ve got all those days to be as creative as they want in whatever part of the game-planning they want to be creative in.”
TOO CLOSE TO HOME:
One more from Wolitarsky: The school shooting in California Thursday morning that saw six shot, two fatally, happened at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita. That’s Wolitarsky’s hometown.
“It’s just down the street from my high school,” said Wolitarsky, who attended nearby Canyon High School. “I used to play games there… it’s scary. My dad sent me a link yesterday when it happened. I came in from practice, opened my phone and looked at that… it’s just really weird to see it happen at a place you’ve been, a place that feels like home to you, and suddenly see it on the news. And to know that somebody went to school and didn’t think anything of it and is now dead?
“It makes you want to be close to the ones you love. It’s sad to see it happen in a place you know and it makes it resonate with you even more. Sadly, this has become a norm and it’s scary.”
