Article author:
The Canadian Press
Dan Ralph
HE GRAY HIS CUP HIS 6 Champion and Canadian Football Hall of Fame. But on Saturday, he'll be known as Mike O'Shea of North Bay, Ontario.
On Saturday, the City of North Bay dedicated the soccer field of Steve's Ommishl Sports his complex in honor of his coach O'Shea, head of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. increase. But while this would be the latest in a long list of achievements in football for the 51-year-old footballer from the North Bay, O'Shea said it would feel different.
"I think it's obviously a warm feeling to have something to do with this city," O'Shea said in a telephone interview Wednesday. One point is that you are Mike O'Shea from the North Bay and nothing else. All of your peers hold you tight...you're still a neighborhood kid...wow, wow."
Six feet The 3-inch, 228-pound O'Shea had an impressive 16-year CFL career as a linebacker with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1993-95, 2000) and the Toronto Argonauts (1996-99, 2001-08). As a player for Argos he won three Gray Cups (1996-97, '04) and in his 271 games in the regular season he recorded 1,151 his tackles.
O'Shea became the top Canadian player in the CFL in 1993 when he became his top rookie and six years later. The greatest Argo of all time, O'Shea was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
Success continued in O'Shea's coaching ranks. He added his fourth Gray to his Cup his ring as Toronto Special Teams coordinator in 2012 and for the last two seasons (2019, 21) as Winnipeg's head coach he has 5th place and his 6th place. O'Shea also won the Annis Stukus Trophy last season as his top coach in the CFL.
Winnipeg is certainly in contention for his third consecutive title. The Bombers (9-0) are the league's only undefeated team heading into his contest at home against the Montreal Alouettes (2-6) on Thursday.
Winnipeg is one more win in the regular season under O'Shea, who has a 76-55 regular-season record since becoming Bombers head coach in 2013. , which would mark his sixth consecutive year of double-digit wins. However, the franchise has seen him go 64-31 in the regular season since 2016, and his perfect 5-0 in the playoffs since 2019. school.
"The game doesn't start like this on day one when you're scared to go out on the field," he said O'Shea. "For the first few years, I think I was happy to survive and actually be on the team.
"My first year, if they didn't play me, I would It probably would have been fine.”
O'Shea, always humble, compares himself to other North Bay athletes, including world champion freestyle skier Omi Shul and world champion waterskier Jamie Bull. I was downplaying my achievements in soccer.
"North is the type of people that come out of his bay," said O'Shea. "There are some incredible athletes who have come out of the North Bay...I'm way down the list in terms of people who have gone on to do incredible things.
"
O'Shea is also proud of Winnipeg's success, which is credited to the team's players and coaches.
"We have had a very good relationship with his coaching staff, but on top of that, they are very good coaches coaching very good players," he said. said O'Shea. "They (the players) understand it to put it simply.
"They have tremendous work capacity. They are always working and We enjoy it, we enjoy doing it together, and we do it for the right reasons.”
Something O'Shea said he saw every day.
"The noise around here in the morning before the day starts is unbelievable," he said. "You can just close your eyes and hear conversations, tapes being watched, football being discussed, friendships.
'It's a very lighthearted and fun place.'"
87} Following Thursday's game, Winnipeg will have its first bye week and will be the last CFL team to get downtime this season. However, O'Shea said there was no discussion within the ranks about having to play from week to week."If there had been more games scheduled before the first goodbye, I would have just said, 'That's the schedule,'" he said O'Shea. “When you talk about the grind, their [players] faces are like, 'What a grind.'
I asked and they are smart enough to manage it themselves.The coaches were very flexible when I asked them to give the players more time.It was a one day prep week this week. There is nothing to get in the way of their process.”
That includes Winnipeg having to stay focused and playing.
"Core his group of veterans has been doing that for years," he said O'Shea. "Winning is nothing new to them and they never try to complicate matters by talking about past wins or future matches.
"They aren't talking about previous records. they're too focused on the week and the rest is irrelevant all the wins this year certainly haven't been great but they're all learning experiences it's not the result it's the overall It's not a record, it's a lesson, and it's about making sure we're learning.I think that's another good thing about this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 10, 2022.
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