Diversionary topic of the week: Your Top 3 Best and Worst Bomber memories

[TrueBlue4ever]

With the passing of Labour Day and the re-living of past memories, it's time to discuss those that are burned into our brains forever above all others. And since Labour Day had has historically brought its share of pain, I though it would be cathartic to let out some of that anguish.

At the same time, we are still the defending Grey Cup champions, so let us revel as well in our greatest celebrations.

What are the top 3 worst memories you have as a Bomber fan? And then the 3 best? Be specific, not just "every loss to the 'Riders is tied for worst" and "every Grey Cup is tied for the best". Weave a story, remember, your on line teacher will be grading.

Is it a specific game? A trade? A chance meeting with your football hero? And to keep it from getting too dark, let us all concede that the tragic death of Richard Harris will surpass any game-related "worst memory" and need not be added to the list here.

[Noeller]

01 GC loss. I don't know if I've ever been as upset as I was after that game. 

07 GC loss. We expected little going into the game because of Dinwiddie, but it still hurt so much to lose to the dirty 4 stripes. 

60+ Pt loss to Esks in 96 that got Cal fired. I was only 16 and I was just gutted by that loss. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

So I will get the bad stuff out of the way first. My worst memories come in 3 types:

1. The “how could we lose this” mode, where great teams fell apart at the worst possible time. The candidates include the 1994 Bomber team, specifically watching Dunigan drop with a torn Achilles after having lost the previous season with an injury, and then the gut-wrenching loss to Baltimore in the East Final where every little thing that could go wrong did (botched fake field goal, sure TD pass off the cross bar, blown calls on turnovers) and we barely lost, but still such a great game to see that I was more numb than sad. The runner-up is the 1987 team flat out not showing up in the East Final against the Argos and losing 19-3 after a dominant regular season - nothing at all clicked that day. But the winner is the 2001 team where the cracks showed after a 12 game winning streak led to complacency and arrogance, yet I still believed at some point in the Grey Cup game that they were going to come back and win, and the final sack was a dagger to the heart. Biggest blown opportunity ever. 
 

2. The “depths of despair” mode, where you felt helpless and hopeless watching the futility. The inaugural IG Field season of 3-15 and especially the blowout loss to BC sticks out, and the Reinbold era had two awful memories. The runner-up was watching Doug Flutie carve us up for 66 points at home, and toying with us by throwing TD after TD to an O-lineman on a tackle eligible play we couldn’t seem to cover. They were playing chess, we were playing checkers. Painful. But the absolute low was a game against BC where Kerwin Bell had done nothing all game, and our defence despite trying to keep us in it gave up critical plays at the worst time to kill any chance of victory. And yet, two late fluky scores had us somehow down only 24-22. And then the defence for once made a stop instead of folding like they had all year, and the offence kept a drive going unlike all year. And we watched as they moved into field goal range with a minute left, and then they pulled off a big play and were suddenly on the BC 5 yard line. And I swear the entire stadium thought “so how are we going to blow this one?” instead of “oh my God we are actually going to win!”  Such was the level of futility of this team. So thinking that they should try to get a TD and be up by 5 rather than burn the clock and be up by only 1, since either way BC would still have time to march to centre field and kill us with a last second field goal, Bell audibles at the line and is gesturing to his right when the centre inexplicably snaps the ball early and it caroms off of Bell’s foot while he is completely oblivious. He tries to drop on the ball and it squirts through his legs again, and the Lions recover and we all just knew they would find a way to lose and torture us more. Downright cruel way to lose. Dark times. 
 

3. The “humiliation” losses. The Banjo Bowl blowout by the ‘Riders where Dressler threw a TD toss stings, but two rise above all others. The 68-7 debacle in the West semi in Edmonton was brutal to watch, and I take little solace in knowing that the score was that lopsided because the Esks cheated with illegal footwear and piled on after the half. The Bombers just did not respond and it was a terrible way for Cal Murphy to go out. That is barely the second worst memory ever, but is eclipsed by the 52-0 embarrassment in the Labour Day game right after Joe Mack scapegoated Paul LaPolice. The Mack doubled down with his “milk and cookies” press conference the next day. That was a team that just flat out quit, and the ‘Riders even took it easy on us in the second half. Lowest moment of my Bomber life. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by TrueBlue4ever

[SpeedFlex27]

Three biggest losses:

 

1. The 1972 Western Final at home to the Riders. That loss still gets me like a kick in the gut a half century later.

2. The 2001 Grey Cup loss to the Stamps. Worst example of coaching by Dave Ritchie ever. He should have reigned in his players with the big egos & big mouths. Instead he let them yap all week like a bunch of punks. They fired up the Stamps by being idiots all week. I was so pissed after that game. 

3. The 1982 Western Final & a 24-21 loss to the Eskimos. Vince Phason with a late pick looked to seal the Eskimos fate but oh no... the Bombers were called for a  bogus RTP call on John Helton & instead it gave Dave Cutler a chance to kick the winning FG which of course he did. I remember going crazy in my living room knowing our season was over & we came up short once again. 

[wbbfan]

3 worst.

Charles Roberts trade. It all ended soo fast, one of the hardest player transactions for me. 

2007 East Final, kevin glenn breaks his arm.  Other wise that team wins a grey cup. 

1995 off season matt dunigan leaves the bombers after appearing in 2 out of 3 grey cups here for the memphis 1 and done expansion team and puts up his best statistical career. 

3 best.

milt scores 4 tds on 4 catches vs bc. 

Juran bolden pick 6 on danny mac

Andrew harris runs it down the throat of the entire cfl media and wins moc and mop while not being an allstar. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

So now my 3 best, and I’ll flip the script with the similar 3 types of wins:

1. The “how did we win this” moment. Opposite of the dominant team that laid an egg, this is the underdog that found a way, and although we’ve seen comeback wins out of nowhere in random games (none more memorable than Milt’s Miracle in Edmonton after we fumbled the game away 15 seconds earlier, which falls at #2 for this category), this type of win is more fitting for one amazing end to an otherwise mediocre season. The 1988 Grey Cup is my happiest win of all the Bomber Cups. Too young to feel emotional about anything from the 1960’s and earlier. ‘84 and ‘90 we were expected to win and did so dominantly. 2019 was such a cathartic release of all the weight of 29 years of futility that I was more relieved than elated when they finally won it (much more outwardly happy watching it now than I was on game day). But ‘88 was such an up and down year, many fans had quit on the team (witness the record low turnout for the semi playoff vs Hamilton, yep, I was there in the stands! Immortalize those names on a Grey Cup base) and the whole game against BC and Dunigan and just praying they could hold on against that juggernaut offence, and Murphy carrying the offence, and Kennard clutch with all the field goals, and that incredible defence, and Cameron kicking the snot out of the ball into the wind, and that once in a lifetime INT at the end? Pure joy to watch unfold at my Grey Cup party with friends. 

2. The “anti-humiliation” win: So rather than the bad team at it’s lowest depth of despair, I did not want to think of the dominant team that laid waste to a weaker opponent as the flip side. Those are great spectacle but not for me the stuff of “best moment ever”. And I have seen plenty of the good side of blowouts - 58-2 over the NFL Alouettes, a whole lot of wins in 1984, especially Reaves’ 4 TDS and 220 yards over Ottawa in a 65-25 mauling and the 20-3 defensive domination of BC, Matt’s 713 game, Milt’s 4 for 4 game on 75th anniversary day vs BC, and the 68-14 dismantling of Hamilton after a team mutiny (followed by the Jets beating the Leafs 4-2 in a Winnipeg sports double header I got to witness in person with my dad for both - best birthday ever). All great, but for me I remember the fleeting joy of a wretched team that for one brief moment lifted away the storm clouds (kind of like that moment in “The Prefect Storm“ where they hit the eye and see sun, and for a few seconds they think they’ve survived, only to be crushed by a 100 foot wave one minute later). 1998. 0-10. Yes, 0-10, on the heels of a stunningly bad 1997 team that won only 4 games. Worse in ‘98. We were losing games by an average of 2 touchdowns  Trailing Saskatchewan 28-10 going into the 4th quarter of the Winnipeg half of the September back-to-back (6 years before it got it’s Banjo Bowl moniker). It got so bad that the Riders line up for the kickoff after a TD and drill the ball into Wade Miller’s face on a line drive kick 10 yards away and recover the onside kick. Miller is crying his eyes out on the sidelines, such is the abject despair on this putrid team, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! The President of this team was reduced to tears in the middle of a game. And then Troy Kopp strolls on to the field and we rally like I have never seen before, and we win 36-35 in the final seconds and CanadInns explodes with joy, relief, pure giddiness, and a pent up rage and frustration. And the fans en masse spontaneously decide to rush the field in celebration, me amongst that throng. To find happiness amidst such usual despair Is one of my all-time greatest memories. 

3. The “heights of victory” win, my counterpoint to the “depths of despair” loss. But again, not the dominant team that won as expected - even though the 1984 West Final might fit this category  This is the win that just pushed you to renew all faith in how great things could and would be, the moment that re-energized your fandom. Stuff like the Clements trade, the emergence of Khari-Milt in 2001, perhaps the Don Jonas era for older fans. And although the whole 2019 playoff run stands out, and vanquishing Calgary on the road and the Grey Cup itself are huge happy moments, I pick the West Final for 3 reasons. Most importantly, I was there, and seeing it live always adds to the drama of a game, especially a playoff game in hostile territory against our biggest rival. Secondly, the last 4 minutes of that contest were unbelievable, and everyone on both fan bases had their hearts in their throats, so to come out on top is so sweet (I can only imagine Rider fans feel like I did after the loss to Baltimore in 1994). And the players running to the stands to high five every single Bomber fan who hung around to cheer was just icing on the cake. I re-played the entire CJOB broadcast, including pre- and post-game, on the drive home. Most wonderful 6 hour car ride of my life. Shudder to think how that drive would have been if they had lost. My favourite in-person game of all time.

 

[Bigblue204]

3 worst:

52-0 at labour day...first time I've ever stopped watching a game in the 3rd. I didn't leave the stadium but just went underneath and drank.

2001 grey cup loss. Just crushed me.

Dunigan leaving. He was my hero as a kid and I hated him for leaving.

3 best:

Milts 4 for 4 HOW DO YOU NOT COVER THE GOAT!! lol

Come back win against MTL (That game changed the team)

2019 GC.

 

[bb.king]

Best:

1. 1984, second game of the season and first home game. They beat the Argos by two points after a disappointing season opening lose to Calgary at a time when the Bombers rarely lost at home. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that significant of a game, but it was the first Bomber game I ever attended. I was a teenager and my Dad had no interest in going to football or hockey games, so I never went any Bomber or Jets games. But an uncle was going with one of my cousins and had a spare ticket, so he took me. It was a big thrill for me to finally get to attend a live game.
2. 1988 Grey Cup. After the 1987 season where the Bombers were dominant but lost the East final this was an unexpected win as Tom Clements had retired. But somehow, they managed to win it.
3. During the 1983 season when Dieter Brock was traded to Hamilton for Tom Clements. Brock had already said that he wanted out and wasn’t playing. In the pre-internet days, I remember watching TV when a ‘breaking news’ story scrolled across the bottom of the screen. It said something like ‘Winnipeg Blue Bomber quarterback, Dieter Brock, has been traded to Hamilton for…’, and when I saw that I immediately was thinking ‘Tom Clements, Tom Clements’!

Worst:

1. 1994 Eastern Final loss to Baltimore. When it finally seemed like it would be third-time’s-the -charm with Dunigan and the Bombers.
2. 2002 Western final loss to Edmonton. After the 2001 Grey Cup loss and then this one, it just seemed like it was destined not to happen with this version of the team, despite everything they had going for them.
3. Not an on-field disappointment, but in the mid-90’s when they dropped the royal blue uniforms and traditional ‘W’ logo for the scheme they wore for the next 20 years. I hated those uniforms and that logo! Bonus positive memory is when they finally switched back a few years ago.

[SpeedFlex27]

On 2020-09-08 at 9:33 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Three biggest losses:

 

1. The 1972 Western Final at home to the Riders. That loss still gets me like a kick in the gut a half century later.

2. The 2001 Grey Cup loss to the Stamps. Worst example of coaching by Dave Ritchie ever. He should have reigned in his players with the big egos & big mouths. Instead he let them yap all week like a bunch of punks. They fired up the Stamps by being idiots all week. I was so pissed after that game. 

3. The 1982 Western Final & a 24-21 loss to the Eskimos. Vince Phason with a late pick looked to seal the Eskimos fate but oh no... the Bombers were called for a  bogus RTP call on John Helton & instead it gave Dave Cutler a chance to kick the winning FG which of course he did. I remember going crazy in my living room knowing our season was over & we came up short once again. 

 

 

 

Three Biggest Wins:

 

1. The 1984 Western Final. We were in the midst of another long drought (22 years) without a Grey Cup win. BC managed to squeak out winning the Western Conference during the regular season over us. We hammered Edmonton at home in the Semi Final & then went into BC where we faced a Lions team without Roy Dewalt who was out with injury. I didn't feel sorry for the Lions as they knocked Tom Clements out in the same game a year ago wth a broken collarbone & we were winning the game when he was injured. I think we'd have beaten the Lions in 83 had Clements played the entire game. Anyway, we knocked out the Lions & advanced to the Grey Cup in Edmonton where we ended our losing streak with a beat down of the Brock led TiCats 47-14. 

2. The 1988 Grey Cup. We again defeated the BC Lions, this time in Ottawa. The Lions offense was led by Matt Dunigan as Roy Dewalt had been traded to the Bombers but subsequently released after Labour Day. Sean Salisbury had taken the reigns from Dewalt & Lee Saltz. The Bombers with a ferocious defense went on a run in the playoffs. Salisbury wasn't very good. He couldn't elevate his team on his shoulders & dominate games but the one thing he could do was manage games. Not make too many mistakes. Salisbury never hurt the team & let his playmakers on offense like Perry Tuttle, James Murphy, Randy Fabi & Tim Jesse make enough plays to score points while an aggressive & absolutely dominating defense won games for the team. That is just how we won in 88, offense played lights out in the first half... especially James Murphy & gave the Bombers the lead. From then on in the second half the defense took over & while bending a bit to Dunigan & the Lions at times but sealed the game for the Bombers in the dying minutes with a ferocious goal line defense led by DE Mike Gray's tipping of a Dunigan pass straight up in the air & catching it  himself as it came down on the 2 yard line. Totally unexpected win from a struggling 9-9 regular season team that suddenly found its identity & purpose that season in the playoffs just at the right time.

3. That Bomber Western Final win last season. Without that win, we don't pummel Hamilton... Always nice to beat the Riders in their barn in front of the gap tooth masses. Fajardo hitting the goalpost sure made up for that bogus no yards call in the 1972 Western Final in Winnipeg that cost us that game & haunted me as a fan for 47 freaking years. Seeing Fajardo on the ground in mental anguish after the play sure made me feel very good. Revenge after all those years was a dish best served cold. 

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by SpeedFlex27

[GCn20]

Three worst?

1. The entire Reinbold era...pick a time, any time.

2. Mike Kelly era...the entire fiasco that was...set us back years

3. 2001 Grey Cup...