'It would be a dream come true': Winnipeg-born Bombers mull ending Grey Cup drought
Andrew Harris was 3 when Bombers last won ... Geoff Gray and Nic Demski weren't even alive
They're trying not to think about it, but there's no way around it: The Winnipeggers on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are more aware than anyone in blue and gold about what it would mean to end the longest Grey Cup drought in the Canadian Football League.
Winnipeg last claimed the Grey Cup in 1990, when the Bombers blew away Edmonton 50-11. That was 29 years ago, when Winnipeg-born Bombers running back Andrew Harris was three years old.
"When I signed here, it was more than football. It was about the pride of my city and how much I embrace being a Winnipegger and how proud I am to be a Winnipegger," said Harris, who was a member of the B.C. Lions when he helped defeat the Bombers in the 2011 Grey Cup.
Harris, who was named the most valuable Canadian in that game, wants to win another trophy as a Winnipegger.
"I absolutely want to do this for our city, for our community, for my friends, for my family. It would mean everything to me," she said. "It would be a dream come true."
Bombers slotback Nic Demski wasn't alive in 1990 and has no knowledge of a time when his hometown team was a Grey Cup champion.
That factors into Sunday's game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
"It obviously adds a lot of motivation," Demski said. "You hear it growing up in Winnipeg, being around Winnipeg. Out in the community, people in Winnipeg just want the Grey Cup so bad."
Demski said he belies Winnipeg has the talent to win on Sunday, even though Hamilton is favoured to win.
"We've worked hard to get here so we've just got to push it that much farther, that one step further, to get that Grey Cup home," he said.
Like Demski, offensive lineman Geoff Gray also was born in Winnipeg after 1990. But he said he hasn't thought too much about the ramifications of ending the Bombers' Grey Cup drought.
"I don't really want to put more pressure on it. At the end of the day, it is a football game," he said. "You kind of want to approach it the same way as you would any game, but definitely, it would be a special thing to do."
With files from Marcy Markusa