That tee shirt was from the Eastern Division Semi Final game played at Winnipeg Stadium on November 13, 1988. The Bombers won 35-28. Attendance was an embarrassment & a shock as crowds at Winnipeg Stadium in 1988 were fairly consistent all season long around 24,000. Hence, the idea for a tee shirt commemorating that game with the attendance on the front.
The Bombers got on a roll behind qb Sean Salisbury in the playoffs. They took care of Hamilton at home & then beat the Argos 27-11 a week later in the Eastern Final at CNE Stadium on November 20th. Then they wrapped up the Trifecta on November 27th by defeating the heavily favoured BC Lions by a score of 22-21. in the Grey Cup at Lansdowne Park which featured DT Michael Gray deflection of a Matt Dunigan pass to an open receiver in the end zone. Not only did he deflect the pass up into the air but he caught it on the way down at the goalline to preserve the Bomber win & the Grey Cup Championship. I'll never forget that play.
The story goes that the Bombers supposedly sold over 50,000 of those tee shirts. I don't know if that was true or not. There were fans that bought that tee shirt who never attended the game while claiming they did just to join the Grey Cup bandwagon. I can't confirm that number to be true or not but a lot of people did buy that tee shirt. It seemed everyone was wearing one & it was a hot ticket item for Christmas that year.
I was there along with my wife as we were STH's in Sec V, row 29 & seats 12 & 13 at the old barn on Maroons Road. I never got a tee shirt, though.
Michael Gray: Grey Cup hero.