By Perry Lefko,
CFL.ca
One by one the Winnipeg Blue Bombers walked from the field to their dressing room in the Rogers Centre following the end of the Scotiabank East Semi-Final and, more poignantly, the end of their season.
Some pro Toronto fans, euphoric following the Argos’ 31-27 victory over Winnipeg which had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, serenaded the Blue Bombers players with merciless derision.
Some even directed personal comments at specific players.
Some players ignored the haranguing, too immersed in their emotional pain to be affected by the taunting.
Some gave the fans the finger. Some remarked back.
And some just smiled.
The game had ended without the desired effect and goal. The dream, if you will, of making it to the Grey Cup and celebrating a championship as one died on the field.
Only a professional athlete who has suddenly experienced this sudden end can appreciate this moment. We who watch as observers can only speculate or imagine what these gladiators are feeling.
For the fans who live vicariously for their hometown team, there is a joy to celebrate in victory, as the Argo supporters did, but for fans of the losing team the pain is quite real, too.
Mind you, the feeling can’t be as hollow as it must be for the players, knowing the memories of a season-ending defeat will last until the next season begins anew. For a player who has made a mistake, it is something he will carry with him in his thought process — a personal reminder that will only go away with time.
But not for all the players. For some there will be no tomorrow in their careers. Their lives will go on, but circumstances could dictate there will not be a chance to come back the next season and wash away that bitter taste of defeat.
Maybe a veteran player will retire, either by his own volition or forced to do so by his current team. Maybe a debilitating injury will prove too difficult to overcome because even though the heart is willing, the body won’t allow it.
Maybe the hunger will be gone, dissolved in the weight room in the off-season when there is nothing but personal resolve to allow the individual to squeeze out one more painful rep.
It is why no matter what happens, the team that walks off the field for the final time knows no matter what happens that loss will punctuate the permanence of that moment. The team will not return the following year as it left. Blue Bombers defensive tackle Doug Brown talked about this the day before the game, saying there is a reality to the post-season that is unlike the regular season because all the players know that no matter what, the same group will not return the following season. The moments shared in one season and the camaraderie developed will be all that remains.
That is why it is so sad to see the losing team take that final walk, even more so when it comes with an unfeeling chorus.
There is a thin vein of reality that ties sports to life. Losing is a terrible feeling, and when there is no chance to make amends at the end of the season, it must be absolutely awful.
Playing sports for a living probably ceases to become fun and games when victory is vanquished.
At least it seems that way from the outside looking in and hearing the cruel chorus of fans directed towards a losing team.
Perry Lefko is the CFL’s Director of Communications.
