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No one ever said that locker clean-out days after a sour ending to a football season were like snowflakes, each one unique.

There’s a certain “We were strong, but our opponents were stronger” sameness about them.

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Also common to all teams in the Canadian Football League, where contracts are short and tend to be as ephemeral as the disappearing ink in which they are written: each familiar face heading out the door trailing wistful goodbyes and a Hefty bag full of gear and memories adds to the anxiety for the faithful subscribers, who never can be sure which, or how many, of their favourites will be there when camp opens next spring.

Photo by DARRYL DYCK / The Canadian Press

Faced with somewhere north of two dozen pending free agents to either re-sign or bid adieu, B.C. Lions’ chief cook and bottle washer Wally Buono has an off-season ahead of him that’s guaranteed to test his 66-year-old nerve and resolve and football savvy — trying, as every GM in the league must, to strike a balance between paying his stars and keeping enough in reserve to surround them with an able supporting cast.