Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2019 Grey Cup Champions - And what's next?

Joy.

The players have had it the last number of games. And they had in the Grey Cup final in Calgary this past weekend. Play and play, they smiles, the laughter and sheer joy was seen on the faces of the players as well as the fans.

We've had teams with swagger, confidence. The Blue Bombers may not have won since 1990 but it had been to the show a number of times. They lost in 1992. They lost in 1993. They went a lot of years of bad football. They lost in 2001. They lost in 2007. They lost 2011.

They lost heartbreakers. They were outplayed. They blew it so many times that we almost expected to be kicked every year even when we looked like a good team. Even when we played like a good team. We were cursed.

Cursed.

Catastrophic injuries, penalties, missed plays, poor QBs, poor management, sometimes poor coaching and Bombers went year and year without winning and even missing play-offs.

In recent years, they added people here and there in coaching or players. A few free agents, a few good drafts, some development. Brought Winnipeg players on who really get what this is about in terms of commitment. Even with all that, the curse of injuries or encounters with teams that seemed unbeatable confounded the Blue Bombers. It is kind of crazy that 28 years just seemed to pile on.

As been mentioned, hard times have ebbed and flowed in Manitoba. By 1990, deep cuts were happening at all three levels of government. The early 1980s had been hard but we seemed to finish the decade a bit better. The 1990s hurt. People had been leaving in the 1980s. By the 1990s they were pouring out of the province. As bad as parts of Canada was cuts, Manitoba seemed to be worse.

And the football teams go to the show in the early part of the decade and then stopped. To top it off, the Jets left in 1996 and we were the arson/murder capital that was on its knees. In 1997, the whole province flooded and we nearly lost the city.

Slowly, we crawled out of recession, deficit and tried to find our economic footing. In 1999 we felt that pride again when we hosted the Pan Am Games and did a great job. We hosted World Junior Hockey and curling events but try as we might our football team couldn't win the big one nor could our AHL Moose team and we were a long way away from getting the Winnipeg Jets back in 2011.

In recent years the return of the Winnipeg Jets has stolen Bomber thunder. The Winnipeg Jets street parties showed just how much the city was craving to celebrate together. And boy did they ever with thousands upon thousands coming out.

This year's march to a Grey Cup was very much something that was won on the road. Signs across the city made the hashtag of For the W trend. Winnipeg fans almost feared to hope. Injured quarterback, young quarterback trying, a doping scandal, a record reflecting a good but hard to measure as great team.

The arrival of Collaros was promising but he too had suffered terrible injury and no one knew if he really was out of the woods. In the end, the team showed a level of collaboration and drive and joy of playing that wouldn't be denied.

We are already seeing some of the talented coaching staff being hired away. Some quarterbacks are likely to go as well and free agents. Still, the monkey is off the Bombers back, they had a great win and the resulting parade, social and family day showed just how much happiness the city felt for bringing home the Grey Cup.

It has been a tough number of years for Manitoba and not just in sports. For every bright spot we sometimes seem to be hit by setbacks. It isn't lost on anyone the desperate addiction and crime wave recently. And yet for a brief moment, we had joy and that brings out even the saltiest of us out to Portage and Main.