Stampeders knock off Redblacks on icy field to exorcise Grey Cup demons

The Canadian Press

Published

6 years ago

10 minute read

EDMONTON — A slick turf couldn’t derail Bo Levi Mitchell, Terry Williams and the Calgary Stampeders.

Mitchell threw two TD passes to earn game MVP honours while Williams had a record 97-yard punt return touchdown as Calgary ended two years of Grey Cup misery with a 27-16 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in the CFL final on Sunday night.

Mitchell, who finished 24-of-36 passing for 253 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, said the Stampeders exorcised their demons by beating Ottawa in the aftermath of two straight Grey Cup losses. Calgary lost 39-33 in overtime to Ottawa in 2016 and dropped a 27-24 decision last year to the Toronto Argonauts after two campaigns in which the Stampeders were the CFL’s dominant regular-season club.

“It feels surreal,” said Mitchell, also the Grey Cup MVP of Calgary’s 2014 win over Hamilton. “I know we talked that (the two previous losses) didn’t mean anything but we couldn’t make the game bigger than it was. We had to understand that this was one game and you can only win one game and win only one Grey Cup. I think the guys who were on those two teams, even on the team last year, the emotions at the 30-second mark kind of hit. It wasn’t about redemption against anybody else or the league … it felt like as an organization we’ve been at the top too much not to finish the job. It feels amazing to get it done for the city of Calgary.”

A Commonwealth Stadium gathering of 55,819 watched the opening kickoff in 1 C conditions with an 11 kilometre-an-hour wind. But the field conditions quickly became the story as a hard, slick Commonweath Stadium turf made traction near impossible.

During pre-game warmups, many Stampeders wore shoes featuring short, traditional turf cleats or those with a flat rubber sole. Before the contest, Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell downplayed the field conditions, but it became apparent early that footing would be an issue.

That was especially clear with 38 seconds left in the first quarter when Williams had both feet slip from beneath him while returning a missed 47-yard Lewis Ward field goal try.

“It (the field) was terrible, to be honest it was really bad,” said Calgary receiver Lemar Durant, the game’s top Canadian with four catches for 30 yards and a TD. “I couldn’t get my footing on anything.

“On a lot of stuff, yes (the slick surface was an advantage for receivers). But at the same time you’re trying to bust out of your cuts quick because you feel you have that advantage and you don’t. Either way, if you slip, advantage other team.”

Ottawa running back William Powell, who ran for a game-high 94 yards on 16 carries, was more to the point.

“It wasn’t pretty icy, it was very icy,” said Powell, who opened the game wearing neon orange shoes before going to traditional white in the second half. “But both teams had to play on it.

“Hopefully in the future we can make better conditions for the Grey Cup but that’s just how it was today.”

The field conditions nearly prevented Williams from delivering the game’s biggest play. After taking the punt, Williams nearly slipped heading upfield but an Ottawa defender engaged with a blocker slid on by. Once Williams regained himself, it allowed him to hit the open field, then run past punter Richie Leone to put Calgary ahead 21-11.

“I thought I was going to land on my butt for a second but I caught myself,” Williams said. “I saw the opening, hit it at full speed.

“It was big because we needed a spark. We were battling all game and needed to make it happen and I’m happy we did.”

Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson said the slippery surface forced him to change his plan.

“We knew it was going to be tough to make sharp cuts so we had to try and adjust our play calling,” he said. “For me, I didn’t think we ran as well as we could have and I thought they ran the ball quite well.

“It looked like we were a bit on a skating rink but we were both one the same field, same advantage. It seemed like we just made more plays.”

Ottawa, in its third Grey Cup game in four years, never seemed to get into an offensive rhythm on the slick surface. Quarterback Trevor Harris was 20-of-38 passing for 288 yards and a TD but had three interceptions.

Last weekend, Harris threw for 367 yards to 10 different receivers and had a playoff-record six TDs in Ottawa’s 46-27 East Division final win over Hamilton. Harris came into the Grey Cup having thrown for 2,262 passing yards with 17 TDs and just two interceptions over his prior seven starts.

Even with a receiving corps featuring three 1,000-yard receivers — including CFL top Canadian Brad Sinopoli — Ottawa’s offence had few answers for a Calgary defence that was tops in the CFL in fewest offensive points allowed (17.8 per game), offensive touchdowns (27), passing TDs (11) and tied for most sacks (45).

While the Redblacks amassed 387 offensive yards, Calgary controlled the ball for 35 minutes. And the Stampeders forced six turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles and on downs) while having none of their own.

“The performance those guys (Calgary’s defence) put in against a guy who is elite, very elite, was incredible,” Mitchell said. “He set a CFL record last week with six touchdowns and they got (three) picks off him.

“They’re amazing. It was fun to watch tonight.”

But Mitchell said it was special-teams player Riley Jones who delivered the game-winning play. In the fourth quarter, Jones delivered a crushing hit on Ottawa’s Diontae Spencer during a punt return, forcing a fumble Wynton McManis recovered.

That set up 29-yard Rene Paredes field goal at 2:54 that put Calgary ahead 27-14.

“If (Spencer) breaks that tackle or gets around Riley, it’s a touchdown and a completely different game,” Mitchell said. “Riley Jones not only tackled him but got the ball out and gave us a chance to get three points.

“That’s a 10-point swing there. To me, that play by Riley Jones won the game.”

Mitchell earned his second Grey Cup win and MVP honour in four starts. The 28-year-old native of Katy, Texas will become a free agent in February and said with the CFL and its players heading into off-season bargaining on a new contract, he’ll take his time pondering his options, which could include the NFL.

Calgary players will receive the $16,000 winner’s share while the Redblacks get $8,000 apiece.

Don Jackson had Calgary’s other TD. Paredes booted the converts and two field goals.

Julian Feoli-Gudino had Ottawa’s touchdown. Jean-Christophe Beaulieu added a two-point convert while Ward booted two field goals. The other points came on a safety.

NOTES: Dickenson said Sunday eight Calgary players were stuck in an elevator Saturday night for an hour and 15 minutes. A coach was involved and Dickenson said he had to buy lunch for that member of his staff … Dickenson said ‘a little bug’ worked its way through his players — including Mitchell — and coaches this week. Dickenson was confident the worst was over and added when he played quarterback he performed better when he wasn’t feeling well. He was hopeful that would be the case Sunday. TSN reported six Ottawa players, including linebacker Chris Ackie and cornerback Sherrod Baltimore, battled sickness this week.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press

syndication.thecanadianpress.com/rss/69467d8c-ad4b-48a4-895e-9e19d79c6c8e

Storytelling is in our DNA. We provide credible, compelling multimedia storytelling and services in English and French to help captivate your digital, broadcast and print audiences. As Canada’s national news agency for 100 years, we give Canadians an unbiased news source, driven by truth, accuracy and timeliness.

Follow Author

Peckford: Hallelujah! Supreme Court of Canada to hear Newfoundland and Labrador charter case

COVID-19 / 9 months ago

Supreme Court will not hear case about government’s violation of rights and freedoms

Alberta / 10 months ago

Alberta looking to ban electronic vote tabulators ahead of next provincial election

Bruce Dowbiggin

MLB’s Exploding Chequebook: Parity Is Now For Suckers

Published on December 17, 2024

Bruce Dowbiggin

MLB has seen parity and proclaimed, “We don’t give a damn!” Okay, they didn’t say that. In fact they insist the opposite is true. They’re all about competition and smaller markets getting a shot at a title. But as the 2024 offseason spending shows, believe none of what you hear and half of what you see in MLB.

Here’s the skinny: Juan Soto‘s contract with the NY Mets — 15 years and guaranteeing $765 million, not a penny of which is deferred. Max Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million deal with the New York Yankees. Later, Nathan Eovaldi secured a three-year, $75 million contract to return to the Texas Rangers. Blake Snell (five years, $182 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Matthew Boyd (two years, $29 million with the Chicago Cubs) added to the splurge.

There’s one more thing that stands out. MLB has no trouble with the financial big boys in New York, Los Angles, Texas, Toronto, Atlanta and Chicago shelling out money no small market dare pay. In the MLB cheap seats, Tampa, Pittsburgh and Miami can’t send out quality players fast enough. But MLB is cool with that, too, as those paupers get a healthy slice of TV money.

So yes, they’re all about talking parity with their luxury tax system. But to keep the TV, digital, betting and marketing lucre flowing they have to have large media markets swinging the heaviest bats come postseason. The question is, do MLB fans care the way they used to about parity? It says here they don’t. More want to seed best-on-best more often. Which is brutal but refreshing.

Their sister leagues, married to draconian salary cap systems, are still pushing parity, even as they expand beyond recognition. In our 2004 book Money Players, legendary Boston Bruins coach/ GM Harry Sinden noted, “The problem with teams in the league, is that there were (then) 20 teams who all think they are going to win the Stanley Cup and they all are going to share it. But only one team is going to win it. The rest are chasing a rainbow.”

And that was before the expansion Vegas Golden Knights won a Cup within five years while the third-year Seattle Kraken made a run in those same 2023 playoffs. There are currently 32 teams in the league, each chasing Sinden’s rainbow of a Stanley Cup. That means 31 cranky fan bases every year. And 31 management teams trying to avoid getting fired.

Maybe we’ve reached peak franchise level? Uh, no. Not so long as salary-capped leagues can use the dream of parity to sell more franchises. As we wrote in October of 2023, “If you believe the innuendo coming from commissioner Gary Bettman there is a steady appetite for getting a piece of the NHL operation. “The best answer I can give you is that we have continuous expressions of interest from places like Houston, Atlanta, Quebec City, Salt Lake City, but expansion isn’t on the agenda.” In the next breath Bettman was predicting that any new teams will cost “A lot, a lot.”

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly echoed Bettman’s caution about a sudden expansion but added, ”Having said that, particularly with the success of the Vegas and Seattle expansions, there are more people who want to own professional hockey teams.” Translation: If the NHL can get a billion for a new team, the heck with competitive excellence, the clock might start ticking sooner. After all, small-market Ottawa just went for $950.”

It’s not just the expansion-obsessed NHL talking more teams. MLB is looking to add franchises. Abandoned Montreal is once more getting palpitations over rumours that the league wants to return to the city that lost its Expos in 2005. Recent reports indicate that while MLB might prefer Salt Lake City and Nashville it also feels it must right the wrong left when the Expos moved to Washington DC 19 years ago.

The city needs a new ballpark to replace disastrous Olympic Stadium. They’ll also need more than Tom Brady to fund the franchise fee and operating costs. And Quebec corporate support— always transitory in the Expos years— will need to be strong. But two more MLB franchises within five years is a lock.

While the NBA is mum on going past 30 teams it has not shut the door on expansion after seeing the NHL cashing in. Neither has the cash-generating monster known as the NFL where teams currently sell for over six billion US. The NFL is eyeing Europe for its next moves.

The question that has to be asked in this is, WTF, quality of competition? The more teams in a league the lower the chances of even getting to a semifinal series let alone a championship. Fans in cities starved for a championship— the NFL’s Detroit Lions or Cleveland Browns are entering their seventh decade without a title or the Toronto Maple Leafs title-less since 1967— know how corrosive it can be.

Getting to 34, 36, maybe 40 teams makes for a short-term score for owners, but it could leave leagues with an entire strata of loser teams that no one—least of all networks, carriers and advertisers—wants to see. Generations of fans will be like Canuck supporters, going their entire lives without a championship.

In addition, as we’ve argued in our 2018 book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports and How The Free Market Can Save Them, watering down the product with a lot of teams no one wants to watch nationally or globally seems counter productive. The move away from quality toward quantity serves only the gambling industry. But since when has Gary Bettman Truly cared about quality of the product? So long as he gets to say, “We have a trade to announce” at the Draft, he’s a happy guy.

When we published Cap In Hand we proposed a system like soccer with ranked divisions using promotion and relegation to ensure competition, not parity. Most of the interviewers we spoke to were skeptical of the idea. But as MLB steams closer to economic Darwinism our proposal is looking more credible every day. Play at the level you can afford. Or just watch Ted Lasso. Your choice.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

Sports

LPGA bans ‘transgender’ male players after hundreds of female golfers speak out

Published on December 12, 2024

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

The Ladies Professional Golf Association released an updated policy limiting participation to actual biological ladies after calls by hundreds of female golfers to keep confused men such as ‘Hailey’ Davidson out of the game.

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has released an updated policy limiting participation to actual biological ladies after calls by hundreds of female golfers to keep confused men out of the game.

Two hundred seventy-five female golfers signed an August 19 letter calling on the LPGA to remove self-professed “transgender” golfer “Hailey” Davidson, to “repeal all policies and rules that allow male golfers to participate in women’s golf events,” and to “establish and enforce the right of female professional golfers to participate in women’s golf based on sex-eligibility (which) must be limited to members of the female sex.”

“The male advantage in driving the ball is estimated around a 30% performance advantage; this is an enormous difference in the context of sport,” the letter argued. “Anatomical differences between males and females affect clubhead speed and regulating consistency at ball contact. Females have higher mean heart rates and encounter greater physiological demands while playing, especially at high altitudes. The anatomical differences are not removed with male testosterone suppression.”

On December 4, the LPGA announced an updated Gender Policy for Competition Eligibility, which was “informed by a working group of top experts in medicine, science, sport physiology, golf performance and gender policy law,” and will take effect starting in 2025, effectively disqualifying Davidson.

“Players assigned male at birth and who have gone through male puberty are not eligible to compete in the aforementioned events,” the organization confirmed. “The policies governing the LPGA’s recreational programs and non-elite events utilize different criteria to provide opportunities for participation in the broader LPGA community.”

“Can’t say I didn’t see this coming,” Davidson complained on social media. “Banned from the Epson and the LPGA. All the silence and people wanting to stay ‘neutral’ thanks for absolutely nothing. This happened because of all your silence.”

Mandatory inclusion of gender-confused individuals in opposite-sex sports is promoted as a matter of “inclusivity,” but critics note that indulging “transgender” athletes undermines the original rational basis for having sex-specific athletics in the first place, thereby depriving female athletes of recognition and professional or academic opportunities, as well as undermining female players’ basic safety and privacy rights by forcing them to share showers and changing areas with members of the opposite sex.

There have been numerous high-profile examples in recent years of men winning women’s competitions, and research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be fully negated by hormone suppression.

In a 2019 paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, New Zealand researchers found that “healthy young men (do) not lose significant muscle mass (or power) when their circulating testosterone levels were reduced to (below International Olympic Committee guidelines) for 20 weeks,” and “indirect effects of testosterone” on factors such as bone structure, lung volume, and heart size “will not be altered by hormone therapy;” therefore, “the advantage to transwomen (biological men) afforded by the (International Olympic Committee) guidelines is an intolerable unfairness.”