CONDITIONAL LOVE

Fan support for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is not unconditional.

Season ticket holder Max Asper affirmed, without reserve, that whether he stays to watch the end of the game depends on how well the Bombers play. 

“If they’re winning, I stay the whole time, but if they do something like what happened today I leave early,” Asper asserted as he and friend Benjamin Lipson deserted their seats on Oct. 22.

The announced attendance of 30, 360 lessened during third quarter as both men, alongside dozens of fans, split. The Bombers were losing to the Montreal Alouettes with a score of 25-10.  

“I call myself a big Bomber fan but no one likes to see the Bombers lose,” Asper declared while passing a hotdog cart outside the stadium.

James Dennis took a bathroom break when the Alouettes seemed certain to win. He does not usually stay until the end if the Bombers are losing by a lot, however.

“I have left quite often, even once at half-time, when they were losing badly. Sometimes whenever I leave the Bombers come back and win the game,” Dennis said, stroking his beard and chuckling.

Such was the case for Asper: with a final score of 26-25, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat the Montreal Alouettes by a single point.

The Canadian Football League (CFL) comprises eight teams from across Canada. It has two Divisions; the East and the West, and after Saturday, the Bombers are tied with the Alouettes for first place in the East Division because both teams have now won ten games and lost six.

Darnell Adams insists that a comeback similar to the one from Saturday’s game is always possible. 

“I jingle my keys at people who leave the Bomber game early because it’s disrespectful. You never know when they are going to make the best comeback in sports history like they almost did a couple weeks ago against Montreal!”

Adams, a season ticket holder and amateur player in the Manitoba Major Football League, contends that when fans walk out, the Bombers are not discouraged.

“It motivates them, they play better. Not all the time but most of the time. That’s what I like to believe in my heart of hearts.”