Winnipeg fans want a little more cowbell

Cheer up, fans of the Blue Bombers; you can still get your fever-curing prescriptions. After the Winnipeg Free Press reported early Monday that the Bombers were planning to ban artificial noisemakers (excluding vuvuzelas for some reason, but even including the team-branded cowbells sold in the club's store), a massive backlash took place across Twitter and forced the club to reverse course within a few hours. Here's the statement they released late Monday morning:

It looks like the club's taken the reasonable route here, even if it took them a little while. Sure, there are concerns about homemade devices that could be used as weapons, but face it; selling team-branded cowbells is going to make people want to use them. It's not like cowbells necessarily ruin football or give teams an unfair advantage, either; Mississippi State fans have been using them for over 70 years, and the SEC hasn't exactly crumbled around them as a result. Cowbells can make a stadium a little more of an intimidating atmosphere, sure, especially at first, but visiting teams can adjust (and if they really think it matters, they're welcome to bring their own cowbells in at home).

Of course, if the cowbells become just a persistent clanging throughout the game, that might drive everyone (home and visiting players included) nuts. Here's hoping the Bombers' fans have better sense than that. If that becomes an issue, though, the CFL could always take a cue from the SEC and allow cowbell use only at specific moments, threatening to fine offending clubs if those rules are broken. At the moment, though, it's probably best just leaving things as they are and seeing what happens. Unless Winnipeg winds up with enough cowbell to require a parental advisory, there's no reaper to be feared here.