This past week, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly was called “a public relations nightmare,” by Winnipeg Sun columnist Paul Friesen.
Friesen’s exact words were: “Kelly has been a public relations nightmare — from breaking CFL rules to calling out the former GM to several clashes with the media — but (president and CEO Lyle) Bauer isn’t letting on that he’s concerned about that, either.”
Gotta love the mainstream media. Just write bollocks and see what sticks on the wall. Of course, are that many people reading, watching or listening anymore? The sellout crowd at Canad Inns Stadium on Friday would suggest that about 30,000 Winnipeggers, at least, don’t care what’s in the papers these days.
Seems, that for a public relations nightmare, Mike Kelly is the best thing that ever happened to the Winnipeg Football Club. I guess it just took a last second loss in Edmonton and a 42-30 shellacking of the defending Grey Cup champions to convince the same people who demanded change to accept it.
“It’s funny,” said Kelly this week. “People screamed for change. When I arrived, they said you have to change the quarterbacks. So I changed the quarterbacks. They said, you have to find a better defensive backfield, so we went out and improved the secondary. They said, ‘You have to make the Bombers more of a team-first operation,’ so everything we’ve done has been directed at team first.
“And yet, we hear that people still aren’t happy. I’ve known throughout my career that the only way you convince people that you’re doing the right thing is to win football games.”
Friday night, after a week of absorbing more loud media criticism, Kelly’s football team did exactly what Kelly expected them to do. They kicked the collective butt of the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders. 42-30 (21-4 at halftime) is a statement.
But even after the game, Kelly was still hearing about the alleged “Derick Armstong affair,” and his apparent lack of public relations skills which, one assumes, only matters to people who demand that the coach kneel and genuflect at the alter of the daily newspaper.
In fact, the “Armstrong Affair” wasn’t an affair at all. The talented wide receiver quit on his team. He maintained he was right and the coach said, “you’re not.” Armstrong quit. Period.
It was pretty simple, really. In fact, for the vast majority of Bomber players, the entire incident brought on a collective shrug. Armstrong said he was “disrespected,” or something to that effect, but the fact is, in the CFL, you’re “disrespected” the day you sign your non-guaranteed contract. Some people just don’t get used to it.
Kelly — a guy I’ve known for 20-odd years and a very, very decent human being — had Armstrong removed from the roster, but still let him back into the building to get treatment on his injured knee.
“This isn’t a kick-the-guy-out-on-the-street thing,” Kelly said on Wednesday. “I hope he (Armstrong) earns a paycheque in this league for a long time. It’s just not going to be here.”
The Bombers tried to trade Armstrong, but suddenly nobody in the CFL was terribly interested in a 30-year-old wideout with a bad knee and a newly-minted reputation for refusing to play when asked. On Thursday, he was released. This week, somebody will likely pick him up as a practice-roster player until he gets healthy. 0-2 teams have to take chances.
Still, without Armstrong, the Bombers offence played well. Quarterback Stefan Lefors threw a pair of touchdown passes to Terrence Edwards (who wore Armstrong’s gloves, but didn’t ride to Armstrong’s rescue by heading into the coach’s office and demanding that Kelly put Armstrong back on the team) while Lavarus Giles rushed for a pair of majors. They were his first, but won’t likely be his last.
The defence contributed five turnovers and one touchdown. The offence used the turnovers to put 28 of its points.
“The players wanted a day off on Saturday if they won,” Kelly said on the Tom and Joe Show on 92-CITI-FM on Friday morning. “But I told them, win or lose, we’ll be back on the field for a run on Saturday morning because even if we win, it’s just one win in July and you don’t win the Grey Cup in July.”
Perhaps not. But you do win the public relations war.
For whatever that’s worth.