It’s Getting Comical. Mike Kelly Just Makes Them Crazy.

Author: Scott Taylor

November 13, 2009

Scott Taylor's E-Take is sponsored every Friday by Manitoba Harvest, the global leader in hemp foods & oils, and your online source for natural, sustainable and certified organic hemp food products. www.manitobaharvest.com.

“A person who does not read a newspaper is infinitely more intelligent and informed than one who does, inasmuch as a person who does not read a newspaper is closer to the truth than one who does.”

-- Thomas Jefferson

This week, Winnipeg’s local mainstream media got the worst news it could have ever imagined.  What?  Did Mayor Sam Katz win another vote at City Council?  Did Hugh McFadyen suddenly win a secret election?  Has Gary Doer left Manitoba?

No, none of the above.  At least, not this time.  For the men working in the toy departments at our local birdcage liner providers, this is even worse.  Mike Kelly -- and later his boss, Lyle Bauer -- told the dudes with the cameras and iPods that he’d be back coaching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2010.  Not long after Kelly made that pronouncement, you could actually see the vitriol dripping off of every word in the local media circus.  Those guys just didn’t want to believe it.  How could the Bombers possibly retain a coach who was so downright mean to them?  He even had the nerve to laugh at them from time to time.

Sadly, Kelly also didn’t win the Grey Cup.  That means, here in Winnipeg, he must be fired.  (In the spirit of full disclosure and total fairness the Sun’s Ken Wiebe, who has actually played on sports teams at high levels, was not part of the Revenge-On-Mike-Kelly Mob). 

First of all, Kelly won’t be fired until such time as Bauer is fired.  That’s not to say the Bomber board won’t go way out on a limb and remove the CEO, but it’s extremely unlikely.  One senses that Bauer will be here until Bauer decides to leave.  So that means Kelly will be back in 2010.  And so he should be.

Now let’s be sure not to miss anything pertinent.  Last Sunday afternoon the Bombers were barbecued 39-17 by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.  That one is impossible to ignore.  After all, the local papers found every letter and e-mail from just about every disgruntled fan, frustrated with another failed season (that’s 19 straight seasons in which the Bombers have failed to win a Grey Cup), dying to blame Kelly for every single transgression.  Of course this is Kelly’s fault, he’s been mean to the reporters. The Bombers finished 7-11, one game worse than last year’s 8-10 season, and the team did not make the playoffs.  In Winnipeg that means: “Fire Kelly!  Fire him now!”

Last Sunday afternoon at Canad Inns Stadium in front of 29,038 loyal spectators, the Bombers offence just couldn’t get anything going.  Quarterback Michael Bishop went eight-for-26 for only 122 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and the Bombers fell to Kevin Glenn, of all people.  That’s bad.  I mean, when the mainstream media and those same disgruntled fans busted their collective nuts to get Glenn run out of town last year, “there was no way he should have been allowed to come back and beat us this year.”  But he did.  And he was the usual Kevin Glenn.  A couple of interceptions, one of them run back for a touchdown, a few marches that ended in failure – he wasn’t much better in the third quarter than Bishop – and then a stirring finish by the Ticats defence that turned a close game into a rout.  So this weekend, the Ticats will play host to the B.C. Lions in the Eastern semifinal at Ivor Wynne Stadium while the Bombers will disperse.  But only a few players will have uncertain futures.  For the most part, the rebuilding of the Bombers is done and while there is very little doubt that Kelly will go after a quarterback and some depth on the offensive line, he has a pretty good nucleus. 

"Defensively, we're in good shape," Kelly told us this week.  "Offensively, everybody was in a panic because we were forced to rebuild the O-line because a number of players chose to leave.  I never wanted to force anyone to stay here and when players asked me if they could go, I found a way to let them go.  No one should play someplace against his will.”

You might really hate Mike Kelly but he did do all of this: (a) Let all the players who didn't want to play in Winnipeg go elsewhere.  Two of the big shots who left, Joe Smith and Derick Armstrong didn't find work.  The players remaining want to be Blue Bombers.  (b) Brought Troy Westwood back and the old man punted quite well, especially in what might have been his last pro game.  At 42, if Westwood retires, he goes out a hero, not a worthless cog sent to the scrap heap as he was by Doug Berry.  (c) Kelly rebuilt the worst defensive secondary in the CFL and made it one of the best.  (d) Kelly rebuilt the defensive line, the offensive line and the receiving corps and by the end of the season, the Bombers had a number of young, star players signed to long-term deals.  (d) Kelly gave the football team back to the fans.  In fact, he had two fans speak to the team last Saturday.  Despite all the grousing, this team once again belongs to its real fans.  Frankly, the future of this franchise is very bright.

"We had to rebuild the defensive backfield and I think that's really turned out well,” Kelly added.  “We have some great young corners and DBs and we'll look around to add depth there as well.  Our young defensive linemen, Phillip Hunt, Odell Willis and Dorian Smith, really developed toward the end of the year and we're pleased with them.  We still need to add some depth and we'll do that.  Our receiving corps is much better than it was at the start of the season.  “And, hey, I’m a Michael Bishop fan.  I want Michael back at training camp.  We need that veteran presence at camp next spring.”

Bishop aside, this Bomber team is on the right track.  Sure, Winnipeg fans will always highlight the negative first.  Like Philly fans, that's just the way we are.  But when you stop and think about how far this team has come, you realize that it's closer to a championship now than it was at the end of 2008.  Still, Kelly will remain a lightning rod because he refuses to genuflect to the thin-skinned local media and he refuses to throw his players under the bus.  There is a stunning bit of hypocrisy at work here.  The media disliked Doug Berry because he always threw his players under the bus.  Now, they dislike Kelly because he won’t.

I interviewed Mike Kelly at least a dozen times this year and he was always forthright, insightful and funny.  Amazing what you’ll get when you treat people with respect.  Ask good questions, you’ll get good answers.  The local press, however, made a point of being belligerent and obnoxious and Kelly stood up for himself and his team.  It hurt him, but at the end of it all, he can look in the mirror and see a real man.  Good for him.  In the meantime, if Kelly finds a proper quarterback, a Grey Cup in 2010 is not out of the question.  And that would make the mainstream media in Winnipeg even crazier.

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