Grey Cup Goes to BC

Well, starting next year it will be 22 years since the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have hoisted the Grey Cup, Canada's symbol of professional football supremacy. The last time they did so was a 50-11 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos in 1990 in the very same BC Place

Last night, the Bombers fell short on a fourth quarter comeback, as Lion quarterback Travis Lulay held strong and picked apart the unnormally weak Winnipeg secondary to lead the BC Lions to victory in the 99th Gery Cup game.

I am not happy. I thought (just as I did in a 2001 loss to the supposedly inferior Calgary Stampeders) that this was the Bombers year. Not since the days of the vaulted Winnipeg defense of James West, Tyrone Jones and Greg Battle have the Blue and Gold put fear into the opposing quarterback's eyes and doubt into their coach's mind.

After 7-2 start, one would think that they would find an answer to a club that started 0-5 and over-achieved the rest of the season, even though the Lions own defence ending up being stellar throughout the last few weeks of the season. That wasn't the case and perhaps "Swaggerville" was a bit over-confident going in.

The last time the Bombers went this long without a championship was between 1962 until 1984. Twenty-two years. Yep. Another 22 years since the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hoisted the Cup. And now they'll do it again, if not longer.

Maybe a change of scenery will change their luck as the Bombers say goodbye to their 58-year-old historic home (which has only hosted two Grey Cup games in it's long and proud history-which is pathetic for an original and storied CFL franchise) and move into their new diggs in the east part of the city for the 2012 season.

So next year begins yet another quest in a bid to end the Canadian Football League's longest championship drought. I wouldn't quite put them in the same category as the Buffalo Bills who lost four straight Super Bowls between 1990 and 1993, but the Bombers are 0-5 in Grey Cup appearences since 1992; losing in 92, 93, 2001, 2007 and now 2011.
How long can such a successful franchise go without being champions? I mean after all, they're not the Maple Leafs.