Yes, the Canadian Football League season kicks off tonight. To ensure that you don't get flagged for a time-count violation (that's Canadian for "delay of game"), Out of Left Field has slapped together -- and I do mean slapped -- some team capsules for upcoming season. As part of its contribution to the fight to end Eastern bias within our lifetime, we're starting on the West Coast and working our way east amid various hilarious highjinks, much like those crazy kids in National Lampoon's Going The Distance. Presenting: The fightin' Montréal Alouettes.
MONTRÉAL ALOUETTES
2005 record: 10-8, lost Grey Cup to Edmonton
Head coach: Don Matthews
Who looks kind of like: The jaded, world-weary but street-wise investigator from every by-the-numbers cop drama you've ever watched against your better judgment. He's seen it all. He's burnt out. He's made compromises and done some things he's not proud of, like his stint coaching the Orlando Thunder in the World League of American Football. But you know that he gets results.
Famous alumni: Lawrence Phillips, Johnny Rodgers, Marv Levy, Vince Ferragamo. (OK, so we're stretching the definition of "famous.")
Hey, didn't you used to play for? .... : RB Robert Edwards had a 1,000-yard season with the Patriots in 1998.
No, that's really his name: DB Lamont Brightful. Seriously, what kind of parents name a child Lamont?
Trivial trivia: Kicker Damon Duval is married to the daughter of team president Larry Smith. There's one kicker whose job is safe.
Guy who's been there forever: Offensive tackle Uzooma Okeke. He became an Alouette in the Ottawa Rough Riders disperal draft. In 1997.
Key off-season pickups: QB Marcus Brady, QB Nealon Greene, DB Davis Sanchez
CanCon: Running back Éric Lapointe won two Hec Crighton trophies (Canada's equivalent of the Heisman) in his collegiate career at Mount Allison University.
Well, we've made it all the way across Canada, from Vancouver Island to Montréal, Que., and the most unpleasant part of Out of Left Field's CFL preview.
CFL newbies take note: Unless you're from Quebec, there is no acceptable reason for being a Montréal Alouettes fan. Remember the other day's railing against the Edmonton Eskimos? The Als are even worse.
For this writer, the Als were tolerable when they were graced by the great Jock Climie, the one-time receiver nonpareil for the Queen's Golden Gaels, one of my early and enduring sporting obsessions. But when Climie retired after the 2001 season, mild liberal-humanitarian tolerance went out the window.
Alouettes fans and the general populace they walk among are not a bunch of oil-drunk Albertans, but they make up for it with Gallic insouciance, the cheapest beer prices in the dominion, $10 lap dances, 3 a.m. last calls, cheaper university tuition, purloined Ontario tax dollars coming out the wazoo and actual culture to speak of.
Montreal has inspired novels by Mordecai Richler, plus songs and novels by Leonard Cohen. Compare that to Toronto, which as a muse, has inspired (crickets chirping) .... one bad Trooper song and the TV series Street Legal. Enough said.
Quebecers just know how to live, dammit, and we uptight WASPy Ontario-types love and hate them for it. Mostly hate, if it hasn't been made clear enough already.
When it comes to football, though, of late the Rest of Canada has been getting the last laugh in November. The Als have reached the division final in an unmatched nine of the past 10 seasons, and have but one Grey Cup to show for it. It's telling that 2001, when Montréal hosted the big game, was the one year that the Als crapped out in the Eastern semi-final. Even toying with the possibility of winning in front of a hometown crowd was just overwhelming. Some might say that was very French of them, but we're above that sort of thing here.
So the long and short of it is that somehow, some way, the Alouettes will keel over for the Argos when it matters most. For the time being, let it be said that Montréal is good, at least until the defence takes the field.
Offensively, what's not to like? If this column were written by Gregg Easterbrook, tackle Uzooma Okeke would be touted as a front-runner to be the CFL's Non-QB/RB MVP. Save for one season when he took a stab at the NFL and another that was lost due to knee surgery, he's been a CFL all-star every year since 1997. With Dave Mudge at the other tackle spot and centre Brian Chiu, the Als probably have the best front five in the CFL.
It all flows from there. Robert Edwards and Éric Lapointe are a great 1-2 punch at tailback; veteran QB Anthony Calvillo could spend his off-season fasting and praying in a Tibetan monastery, show up 15 minutes before the opener, and still put up 5,000-yard season throwing to the likes of slotback Ben Cahoon, Thryon Anderson, Kerry Watkins and Canuck receivers Sylvain Girard, Dave Stala and O'Neil Wilson.
In 2005, Montréal's defence was, in a word, ephemeral. The Als seemed to be prone to playing games that had scores that resembled Arena League games (or a Detroit Pistons playoff game, take your pick). The D has been overhauled for '06, with a new scheme and six new starters; the returning stalwarts include tackle Ed Philion, rush end Anwar Stewart, outside linebacker Tony Strickland and safety Richard Karikari. The reacquired Davis Sanchez is one of the league's best cornerbacks.
As far as special teams go, Damon Duval led the CFL in scoring in '05. Little Ezra Landry, all 5-foot-4 of him, is an exciting kick returner (he had a 125-yard return for a touchdown last year), although he will miss tonight's season opener against Winnipeg with an injury. Karikari has lots of experience with returns, having done it in his days at St. Francis Xavier.
Bottom line: The Als, under the guidance of that crafty four-letter so-and-so Don Matthews, will be the Wes Mantooth to the Argos' Ron Burgundy all season long, with the teams likely meeting in the Eastern final for the fourth straight year.
That's when the Argos will, figuratively speaking, smash their face into a car windshield, and then take their mother Dorothy Mantooth out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again ... as they head west for the Grey Cup.
West Division capsules: B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders.)
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Edmonton's Jones set to take on Buono
Edmonton Wildcat Tristan Jones is about to make his dream of playing professional football take a step closer to reality. As the son of former Edmonton Eskimo great Milson Jones, Tristan along with his younger brother Devon, have created a stir on the national junior football circuit. Even though Tristan has one more year of junior eligibility left, he still is focused on achieving his life long dream of playing professional football. On Friday Evening, September 14th, Tristan Jones will be honored at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame Induction Dinner as the 2007 Wally Buono Award Winner for Canada's Most Outstanding Junior Player. "It's exciting to win this award and it hasn't really sunk in as of yet. Wally Buono is a legend and to even be attached to this award is hard to comprehend at this moment. There are a lot of people I have to thank for helping me get to where I am today. I have to start with my family especially my brother for pushing me to become better every single day. Both on and off the field, he always has my back. I couldn't do it without him" stated Tristan Jones.
The new WBA Bronze trophy will be unveiled and presented to Jones at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario. Jones will be seated at the head table with former CFL greats Greg Battle, Darren Flutie, Rocco Romano and Pierre Vercheval. Along with coaching legend, Dave "Tuffy" Knight, the CFL players will be honored as the 2007 Canadian Football Hall of Fame Inductees.
Jones' selection comes as no surprise to many within the junior football community as he has broken a string of junior football records this past year. "I was fortunate enough to see Tristan in person on several occasions and he is a remarkable runningback. I even went as far as to run his father's game film side by side with his and the comparison was more than I expected. Both Tristan and Devon have many of Milson's attributes and skills" stated Christina Saint Marche who submitted Tristan to Wally Buono as a candidate for the WBA. "The difference between Milson and his sons is that the boys have become students of the game. Tristan has mastered the fundamentals of his position. He has great peripheral vision as he hits the hole. He is not afraid to make adjustments when the opening is not there. He has great instincts as a runner." commented Saint Marche.
The Wally Buono award is a national award which will be housed in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum in a soon to be built exhibit for junior football. The new bronze trophy which is replacing the 64 pound hammered glass trophy is the only award that takes into consideration all junior players on a national basis. The Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum will be the caretakers of the new bronze trophy in perpetuity. The award was established in 2003 by The Saint Bernard Pass Charitable Foundation for the purpose of recognizing such a player on a national basis. It is in it's fifth year of presentation.
Recipients of the Wally Buono Award must prove their athletic and leadership ability on the field as well as a high level of leadership within their community. Previous recipients have included 2003 winner, Al Giacalone of Calgary, Alberta. In 2004, Chris Ciezki of Edmonton, Alberta was awarded the Wally Buono Award. In 2005, the award went to Jeff Halvorson of the Okanagan Sun Junior Football Club as the third winner of the Wally Buono Award. Known as the fastest man in junior football, Jeff died suddenly on the practice field on the first of September 2004, just before the end of a practice session. Halvorson was well on his way to breaking several national junior football rushing records himself at that time. Quarterback Nate Friesen was the 2006 winner and he is a member of the Manitoba Bisons.
Wally Buono, who presides over the award that bares his name, enters his fifth season as the Lions general manager and head coach. Over the past four seasons, Buono has led the Lions to four consecutive playoff appearances and three consecutive first-place regular season finishes as well as a Grey Cup Championship in 2006. Over a 17-year coaching career, Buono has led his clubs to ten division titles and four Grey Cup championships. Highly-respected among coaching peers, he has amassed a regular season record of 202-102-2, putting him second only to Don Matthews in all-time CFL wins. His consistency and success have been recognized with the CFL's Coach of the Year award in 2006, 1992 and 1993.
Born in Potenza, Italy, in 1950, Wally moved to Canada in 1953 with his family, later playing minor football in Montreal. He attended Idaho State University and was a linebacker for the Bengals. Wally returned to Canada and played 10 seasons with the Montreal Alouettes as a linebacker, appearing in 152 games. Shortly after his retirement, Wally tried his hand at coaching, landing an assistant position with the Montreal organization in 1983. Four years later, Wally found himself in Calgary where he worked under Larry Kuharich until 1990 when Stamps' President Norman Kwong hired him as head coach of the Stamps.
Aside from being an accomplished CFL coach, Wally is a noted contributor to the community, being recognized for his work with the Paul Harris award in 2001. Wally continues to donate a significant amount of time as an ambassador of the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation and as a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
After being diagnosed with angina in 2004, Wally has been spokesperson for Making the Connection TM, a program dedicated to the ongoing education of Canadians about the dangers of high cholesterol and its link to heart disease. Wally is also actively involved with Operation Christmas Child, giving presents of clothing and toys to children of impoverished nations.
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