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“Offence, defence, I understand that. But your special teams? No, that’s disrespectful. But it is what it is in B.C. … Wally World.”

One problem in Vancouver is both the home and visitor locker-rooms are located at the same end zone.

“I don’t know what happened before the game, to be quite honest with you. I was on the field already,” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas. “I think when you have two teams that come out of the same end, I don’t fault our team at all for trying to get on the field. We’re supposed to go out first.

“Generally, that’s what happens. And they didn’t allow us to go out, from what I understand. So, of course, when you have a big (inflatable) helmet that blocks the entrance and you’re trying to have a team go out to warm up before the game, things like that are going to happen.

“Fortunately, nothing really serious came of it.”

It’s not the first time things nearly came to blows for the Eskimos when they entered the field from the same area.

“They did it to us in the Grey Cup and we almost got fighting,” Willis said of last November’s championship final against the Ottawa Redblacks at Winnipeg’s Investors Group Field. “They’re always sticking us in a crummy situation before the game.

“We don’t care who you are, we’re not going to sit there and wait for you to call out your special teams and then have us run out.”

Whether it was an intended tactic or not to make the Eskimos wait a little longer, all they wanted to do was take the field and get back in the swing of things coming off a bye week that interrupted a three-game win streak.

“I hope they’re happy with the gift they got,” Willis said. “I hope Wally (Buono, Lions head coach and GM) put enough fear in everybody, players and refs.

“I’m trying to hold my words right now. But we gave them a gift. That’s our fault, that’s why you don’t see anybody in here stressing and what not. We beat ourselves, they didn’t do nothing special.”

Not once the game kicked off, anyway.

GModdejonge@postmedia.com

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