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November 28, 2017

Stamps dealing with the ache

2017 Grey Cup (Photo by Mark Shannon)

Joshua Bell wasn’t going to avoid it or ignore it or burn it or bury it or pay to ensure every single copy of it will be pillaged from the earth.

“Oh, I’ve seen it,” he replied, when asked if he’d managed to sit through a replay of Sunday’s tough 27-24 Grey Cup loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

“I watched it.

“Actually, it was a lot better than last year. Last year, it took me three or four weeks before I had the stomach to watch the TV copy.

“I watched the TV copy and game copy (of Sunday) last night.”

Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson, at least as of 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, had yet to summon the courage.

“I’ll do it,’’ he vowed, during the team’s final media availability at McMahon Stadium. “I’ll watch it today.”

A soft shake of the head.

“And probably get more upset.

Dickenson during the Grey Cup (Photo by Alex Daddese)

“Sick to my stomach. Tough. I don’t know what else to say.

“Sports sucks sometimes. I felt it was little bit unfair but this is the business we choose.

“I’m not over it and I didn’t even put all this blood, sweat and tears in, like (the players) did. But it’s part of history now. Ain’t changing it.

“I told the guys: Don’t leave here without a clear plan, clear communication. Don’t leave any issues unresolved. Be honest with each other. You can look someone in the eye and be honest, whether each side likes it or not. That’s the best way to live.

“I can’t change anything in the past but I can learn from it. So live in the present and plan for the future.

“That’s what we’ll do with the club.”

While the easy answer is to point to Kamar Jorden’s fumble or the late Bo Levi Mitchell end-zone interception with a tying field goal in plain view as primary culprits in the late sag, Bell preferred to turn an unflinching gaze in the direction of the group he takes such pride in.

“A lot of people won’t point a finger at the defence,’’ he said. “But in my mind, I’m always looking in the mirror.

“And I feel like with two-and-a-half minutes left on the clock we had the opportunity to not give up a field goal.

“Hold ’em right there, two and out, we get the ball back and put our offence out to go win the game for us. We allowed (the Argos) to score three points.

“We filled out the boxscore: 50 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists but we couldn’t make the free throws at the end of the game.

“We had to be more clutch than we were.”

Bell during a snowy Grey Cup (Photo by Alex Daddese)

In that, the defence, so magnificent all season long, was far from alone.

Mitchell, meanwhile, was off to an imaging appointment on his out-of-sorts throwing arm Tuesday afternoon.

“They’ll check on tears and stuff like that,’’ he reported. “We think there’s something in there going on but we’ll check it out. The word we used earlier in the season was ‘fraying’ in the shoulder. Just like my jeans … they call ’em frayed jeans. Some of the muscles are frayed. Small tears.

“Honestly, towards the end of the season it started to feel pretty damn good, which is a positive.”

With 26 free agents to deal with – including tailback Jerome Messam, wideout DaVaris Daniels, cornerbacks Ciante Evans and Tommie Campbell, rush end Ja’Gared Davis, safety Joshua Bell and DBs Brandon Smith and Jamar Wall, along with returner Roy Finch – GM John Hufnagel has another busy winter ahead of him.

So change, as ever, is in the offing.

“We’ll start our player evaluations with the coaching staff tomorrow,’’ said Hufnagel, “get a firm grasp on the direction we want to take.

“Hopefully we’ll have as much success as we can to make sure we have lot of the players back. Crossing our fingers, obviously.

“There will be some change but hopefully not too much.”

Hufnagel confirmed he’d already received three requests for Stampeder players – Daniels, Finch and Shaquille Richardson – to be worked out by NFL teams.

“I wish those players success,’’ added the GM, “but if they don’t get signed hopefully we’ll see them in red-and-white next year.”

Given the habitual winning track record of the Stamps, you’d assume most of the non-southbound pending free agents would be keen to be back.

“I’m looking into a dark abyss, at 32 years old,’’ is how Bell described his situation. “I’m looking into the darkness without any answers to all of my questions.

“I’d love to be a Calgary Stampeder the rest of my life. So I’ll be campaignin’. Selling myself to Huff, (Michal) Petrie and coach Dickenson.”

The ache of Sunday will lessen, if never completely leave.

The aim never alters.

“We try to be highly competitive every year,’’ declares Hufnagel, citing what amounts to an organizational creed. “Our plan would be no different going forward.

“Hey, it was a tough loss and everyone’s hurting. It’s gonna take some time to heal.

“But we’ll get up, do the things we need to do in the off-season, during training camp and hopefully in the regular season to put us in position in the same position.

“We’re not afraid to be there.

“Keep plugging away and you’ll connect.”