AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Winnipeg heading to 5th straight Grey Cup

So our beloved Blue and Gold will be playing in their fifth consecutive Grey Cup. If my friend’s research is correct, only Edmonton has played in more consecutive CFL championship games (six).

It’s a remarkable stretch of high-calibre play. It’s even more remarkable when you consider the atrocious start the Bombers had at the beginning of the season.

If a couple of plays had gone differently in the past two championship games, the Bombers would be looking to three-peat as Grey Cup champs, but as we all know, they’ve lost two consecutive heartbreakers in a row.

So now they enter the big game with a decidedly different mindset. They want to win to cement their status as one of the best organizations in league history. They need to close the deal.

Even in a league which only has eight teams, getting to the final five times in a row is an incredible achievement. We know that in Manitoba all too well, as it wasn’t too long ago that football fans went many years without seeing the Bombers in the Grey Cup.

The prospect of losing three straight Grey Cups would put the Bombers perilously close to the Buffalo Bills, who famously – or infamously – went to five straight Super Bowls and lost all five of them.

The Bombers definitely do not want to be called the Buffalo Bills of the north.

The Blue and Gold earned their trip to Vancouver’s Grey Cup by virtue of a convincing win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the western final.

Once again, the atmosphere at Princess Auto Stadium was electric.

The Bombers have tapped into the psyche of Manitoba sports fans in a way the Jets can only dream of.

There are obvious and massive differences that partially account for this. The Bombers play a fraction of the home games that the Jets do, and the cost of attending a CFL game is actually affordable for a family.

It’s too easy to say the Jets are white collar and the Bombers blue collar, but there is something to that hard-working mentality that is at play. This is not say that the Jets don’t have some very enthusiastic fans, they unquestionably do.

My very unscientific theory for why the Bombers have such a deep connection with their fans in the community is because they have two local players on their roster. They aren’t token local players.

Brady Oliveira and Nic Demski – both graduates of the incredible pro football assembly line at the incomparable Oak Park High School – are key offensive weapons for the Bombers.

If the two Raiders alumni have a big game this weekend, the Bombers will be very tough to beat.

It’s that local connection that makes the Bombers so beloved in Manitoba. How many classmates, teachers, neighbours, relatives and amateur football teammates are in the stands every Bomber home game where they get to brag “I know that guy.”

Sadly, that has never happened in the Jets 2.0 era.

Despite having the best opening season won-loss record in NHL history – which is an astonishing record when you think of past powerhouses like the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers – the Jets have struggled to sell out their barn.

If the Jets had a local player playing a prominent role on the team, he would be an instant hero in the same way that Brady and Nic enjoy rockstar status everywhere they go in Manitoba.

So here’s to our Bombers as they try to bring back the Cup to this football-crazed province.

If they do, it will likely be because of the local guys on their team. It’s a great story.

Go Blue!