The Sex Question may never get a better answer.

Every year, Grey Cup week kicks off with the coaches conference and every year, The Sex Question is posed to the two men that sit on a stage in front of the national media.

In his first appearance on that stage, Mike O’Shea hit a home run.

The question is posed annually by Postmedia’s Terry Jones, who does it on behalf of Jim ‘Shaky’ Hunt, who covered 50 Grey Cups for the Toronto Sun through his career.

The question, essentially, is: How do you feel about your players having sex during Grey Cup week?

There have been some quick-witted, innuendo-laden answers to that question over the years, but O’Shea provided an all-timer on Wednesday morning.

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“It’s been eight years since we climbed into this position and another 28 since we’ve finished the job, so there’s going to be some nerves,” O’Shea began.

“The expectations are very high and the anticipation can sometimes ruin the event. So, I guess my guidance to the players would be don’t exhaust yourself in the warmup.”

We don’t know what will happen on Sunday, when O’Shea’s Bombers and Orlondo Steinauer’s Tiger-Cats meet in the 107th Grey Cup, but O’Shea walked away the winner on Wednesday.

The two former teammates, coaching colleagues and now rival head coaches pulled the curtain back on a longstanding friendship that runs deeper than football.

Here are some of the best moments from O’Shea’s and Steinauer’s hour-plus chat with the media.

TEAMMATES IN DETROIT, THEN THE CFL

“One neat little tidbit,” Steinauer said, “is that we were actually teammates in Detroit in the NFL.

“I didn’t really get to know him well there except I was aware he was in the CFL. When I came to the CFL I quickly learned that he was the man. He was an established player up here. I was competing against him in the beginning, he was on those great Toronto teams that did really well, back-to-back Grey Cups.

“When I got to be a teammate I saw why. I saw why he’d give his defence and specifically his team to give the best opportunity to win consistently. I was really impressed with how he handled himself on and off the field.

“When we became champions as players there was a lot of help, we had a lot of great teammates that bought into a lot of things that O’Sh and I were selling.”

“We made a pact that we weren’t going to talk about this stuff,” O’Shea told the room when his and Steinauer’s history came up.

“I think it’s been quite enjoyable. (However the question was asked) ended in the word championship. There’s been a lot of great moments. We’ve both been around this league a long time and because of that there’s also a lot of failure, there’s a lot of time we didn’t get championships. We lost a lot of Eastern Finals. We missed out on some opportunities.

“I think having a number of years with Steiny and working through those and becoming champions together and coaching together it’s been…I don’t know if there’s an exact word to describe that. I like the word championship and champion is always in there.”

A COUPLE OF FILM BUFFS

One of the most personable moments from the morning came when O’Shea and Steinauer told stories about their time playing together. Steinauer said that O’Shea spent hours devouring film.

Steinauer saw that pay off in a game against Montreal.

“I remember they had this guy by the name of (Tom) Haskins, he was pretty good,” Steinauer said.

“There was a certain formation they lined up in and I saw O’Sh turn to me and wipe his gloves off and say, ‘I’ve got this one.’

“He understood what was happening and where it was going to go. That stood out to me, the preparation, the time he put in, it will show up on game day and that’s just a small sample there.”

O’Shea revealed that he was always happy to have some company in the film room.

“I always watched film, sometimes late at night, sometimes early morning on the road,” he said.

“I think what I looked forward to the most was hearing that door open when I’m laying on the floor, or I’ve pulled the couch in from the hotel lobby. I’d hear that door creep open and it was Steiny. I always looked forward to that.

“I probably never told him this but as I’d watch film I’d just be looking at the door, hoping it was going to open. Because the one thing I know is Steiny’s passion for the game, he’s a brilliant football mind. Every time we sat together I got better. That was extremely important to me. I enjoyed those times.”

CHECKING IN ON THE KIDS

Through their time together as players and coaches, a friendship grew. Throughout this season, they’ve stayed in touch and supported each other.

“Sometimes it’s a phone call, sometimes it’s a text of encouragement,” Steinauer said.

“I always look forward to it, to be honest with you. It’s just consistent but I’ll also say this that there’s such a common respect there that sometimes there’s nothing said but it says everything. I think that’s the bond and the appreciation, the respect we have for each other.

“I asked him right away if Mike, his son, was coming out to the Grey Cup, so we’re always in tune with each other’s family. He asks about Kiana, my daughter at college at Southern Connecticut playing basketball It’s not all football related, there’s definitely life and other things involved.”

“He brings up his daughter, Kiani, he’s being modest,” O’Shea added. “Last year she was top-five in the NCAA in rebounding. I’m trying to get a t-shirt from the team, I’ve got to wear one of these shirts, she’s killing it, you know?

“We’ve been around each other long enough, we’ve seen our kids grow up and there’s something about that. I think we managed to raise good kids and watched each other do it.”

NOTHING LIKE THE FOOTBALL LIFE

It came up during the press conference that both O’Shea and Steinauer had either started or were on the verge of taking non-football jobs after they’d retired as players and were moving on to the next phase of their lives.

A call from Jim Barker changed all off that.

The freshly-hired Argos head coach reached out to both men, despite them not having any coaching experience and asked him to join his staff in 2010.

It was a life-changing decision for both of them.

“I think Steiny was always going to be a coach and I think if we were to go back on record, I would have said I’d never have been a coach,” O’Shea said.

“When real life strikes you as not fitting anymore…I was 15 months into another career and out of the blue I got a phone call from Jim Barker.

“Being around stadiums and seeing the hours that coaches put in and recognizing some of the things they had to give up, lifestyle-wise, some of the things that were taken away from them lifestyle-wise, it was one of the things that I recognized early on that I was pretty sure I didn’t want to jump into.

“Then when you taste the other side of being out of football, you realize this (coaching) is what you do. I was so aware of the men that led me and how they navigated in everyday life. I knew how I had to do it and wanted to make sure it was right for my family.”

Steinauer spent some time in the media after retiring, doing CFL reporting, then joined Barker’s staff.

“I wasn’t sure that I wanted to put my family through the same thing of not knowing where we’re going to be,” Steinauer said.

“I felt like 12 years (as a player) was a good run to kind of be selfish and get that support. I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to jump back into it. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to, but it wasn’t really my time. I wasn’t thinking about myself at that point.

“I thought I was going to be like the majority of people stuck in the QEW traffic and make sure I had the unlimited phone plan, call everybody in traffic and, and just do that.

“I had actually accepted a job on Friday with a company and then I got a call from Jim Barker on Sunday. So it happened really quick for me. From there it was just..it’s been more rewarding than I would have imagined.”

FRIENDSHIP ON PAUSE SUNDAY

The two coaches seemed to enjoy their time together on the stage on Wednesday but they quickly acknowledged that this great friendship goes on hiatus come game day.

“We’re highly competitive,” O’Shea said. We both want our teams to win and win with authority. Trust me.”

“This is all fun and necessary and both organizations have earned the attention,” Steinauer said.

“But I can tell you that after the coin toss, there’s no wave across (the field). It’s going to be two physical football teams going after the same goal. Nine teams go after this and there are only two teams working this week. We both want to beat each other.”