It was like a scene out of a feel-good Hollywood movie — one nearly 30 years in the making.
Thousands of Winnipeggers — a significant number of them wearing blue and gold — flocked downtown Tuesday to celebrate the 2019 Grey Cup champion Blue Bombers.
It was a parade by definition, but it felt and sounded like much more. A football-mad city desperate for a winner finally got its chance to party after 29 years of misery and disappointment.
But it wasn't just the estimated 10,000 fans who lined the parade route that began on Hargrave Street, rounded the corner at Portage and Main and then wrapped up at The Forks, celebrating what's been a difficult winding road to glory that was littered with obstacles along the way.
It was also the players and coaches, whose season had wild up-and-down spikes on and off the field, who put on — and in a few cases, took off — their party duds.
There was Chris Streveler, the Blue Bombers backup-turned-starter-turned-backup quarterback and post-championship game lovable lunatic, clad in shorts and a long brown fur coat, chugging beers and slamming the empty cans to the pavement. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)
After all, it was a season where everything went so right, then went horribly wrong before going gloriously right again over the past three weeks and ending with Sunday's Grey Cup title, the team's first since 1990.
There was Chris Streveler, the Blue Bombers backup-turned-starter-turned-backup quarterback and post-championship game lovable lunatic, clad in shorts and a long brown fur coat, chugging beers and slamming the empty cans to the pavement.
Just weeks ago, Streveler suffered a serious high ankle sprain and a broken bone in his foot that likely should have kept him out of action. But the 24 year old missed only one game; he returned to a starring role as one-half of the Bombers' two-headed QB monster with late-season acquisition Zach Collaros.
Streveler, who was leaned on heavily to run the ball in the team's three post-season games, earned the respect of everyone on the Winnipeg sidelines for his incredible toughness. When a Hamilton player twisted Streveler's injured ankle during a scrum early in the fourth quarter and he limped back to the sidelines in agony, he told the training staff "you'll have to cut my f—-ing leg off to come out of this game."
Andrew Harris stood in the back of a pickup truck with his wife Carina waving a flag while fans chanted "MVP" over and over. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Then there was Stanley Bryant, the Bombers' dominating left tackle, riding shirtless on the parade's main float, soaked with champagne from a bottle he was spraying all over himself and his teammates.
Bryant, along with veteran offensive linemen Patrick Neufeld and Jermarcus Hardrick, had spent the year poring over game film with younger and less-experienced players such as Michael Couture, Drew Desjarlais, Cody Speller and Geoff Gray. Together, they would become the league's dominant front five, creating space and holes for running back Andrew Harris to claim his third-consecutive CFL rushing title.
Speaking of Harris, the Winnipeg native stood in the back of a pickup truck with his wife Carina and his young daughter Hazel waving a flag while fans chanted "MVP" over and over. He would later wipe away tears, thanking fans for sticking with him through his two-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs and for their patience after he signed with his hometown club in 2016.
Nic Demski, another proud born-and-raised Winnipegger, looked almost speechless as he stared into the sky. When it came his time to speak he had one simple message: "The drought is over!"
Team president and CEO Wade Miller and general manager Kyle Walters were the parade leaders.
Miller brought stability back to the Winnipeg Football Club after years of mismanagement, and Walters restocked the cupboards with high-end Canadian talent through the draft and via trades. And when Walters decided he had to sign a quarterback for the playoffs, he made a deal for Collaros at the trade deadline, ultimately saving the season.
Walters had to find someone to replace Matt Nichols, who suffered a serious injury to this throwing shoulder, ending his season. After undergoing surgery to repair the damage, Nichols showed up at the stadium every morning at 5 a.m. to ensure Collaros and Streveler could be at their best.
Standing in front of thousands of fans, he recalled the time when he first arrived, midway through the 2015 season, when football in Winnipeg "wasn't fun." Four years later, Nichols was thanking the quarterback room for what had been an unbelievable ride, and especially Collaros for his tireless work ethic required to learn and lead a brand-new offence in a short period of time.
Collaros arrived just seven weeks ago from the Toronto Argonauts, after starting the year in Saskatchewan. He was a calm and quiet presence on the field and was much the same on Tuesday. He sat on the edge of a packed float, his feet dangling near the ground, smiling and waving to the adoring crowd. At one point, fans chanted "one more year," hoping the pending free agent might return for 2020.
The same was being asked of defensive end Willie Jefferson, who signed a one-year deal in February after spending three seasons with arch-rival Saskatchewan. Jefferson would go on to lead a dominant defensive line that also received notable contributions from Jackson Jeffcoat, Drake Nevis, Steve Richardson, Craig Roh, Jonathan Kongbo, Thiadric Hansen and longest-serving Bomber Jake Thomas.
"Come on down to Winnipeg!" Jefferson screamed to the crowd, echoing what had become his trademark slogan.
Richie Hall waves to fans from the float. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Head coach Mike O'Shea sucked on a stogie and repeatedly raised his fist into the air. Tucked into the bed of a yellow pickup with his wife Richere and daughters Ailish and Aisling, he soaked up every moment, inviting fans to run up and take selfies with him while the parade was in full motion.
Finally, middle linebacker Adam Bighill might have put it best. After seeing something special with this group last year — a season in which he was named the CFL's most outstanding defensive player — he committed three years to Winnipeg with the promise to deliver the city a Grey Cup.
Now, he was celebrating a job well done while refusing to stop at one.
"Winnipeg! You're all champions," he said. "And we're bringing it back here next year!"
jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca
twitter: @jeffkhamilton
Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer
After a slew of injuries playing hockey that included breaks to the wrist, arm, and collar bone; a tear of the medial collateral ligament in both knees; as well as a collapsed lung, Jeff figured it was a good idea to take his interest in sports off the ice and in to the classroom.
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November 27, 2019 at 07:45AM
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