VANCOUVER – Oddsmakers call them the clear-cut favourites. Others call them a team of destiny. A day before the 2014 Grey Cup, the Calgary Stampeders are calling themselves a team with unfinished business.
“We’ve done everything we need to do up until this point,” said veteran Stampeders receiver Nik Lewis after the team’s final walkthrough at BC Place Saturday. Now we’ve just got to finish the job. It’s not going to be easy, but it will be worth it.”
As for the Stamps being dubbed favourites, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell isn’t buying it.
“I think Vegas is good at making odds,” said Mitchell. “I don’t think they are right all the time. That’s why people make money off them.
“You can’t listen to odds. It’s funny, as a player, seeing odds and knowing the intricacies of the game, knowing what it takes to win a game, how one play, one call, one drop, one catch can change the game from a seven or six-point game to a 15 or 16-point game. To me you never listen to odds. You never let it think you are favourite or you are the better team.”
Mitchell said he plans to spend the night before the Grey Cup going through the game plan one more time and doing a unique kind of visualization.
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Lewis, who may be playing his final game as a Stampeder, is hoping for one more moment of glory. When asked if he will have a final star turn in the 2014 Grey Cup–a la Geroy Simon in last year’s title game–Lewis said, “You’ll have to ask Bo Levi. If he throws me the ball, we’re going to have some good moments, I’ll tell you that.”
As for whether the 15-3 Stampeders are a team of destiny, veteran Rob Cote says the time is now for his team to make history.
“I believe you make your own fate,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been doing.”
-with files from Canadian Press
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