Nov
Stamps ready to rumble
Courtesy Montreal Gazette:
The pilot came across the public address system at 5:20 p.m. yesterday as WestJet Flight 546 touched down in Montreal.
“I’ll be watching the game,” said the man in charge. “Go Stamps go.”
With that, the plane erupted. Grown men – some of them weighing more than 300 pounds – hooted and hollered at the top of their lungs.
“We all went a little crazy,” said Calgary Stampeders kicker Sandro DeAngelis. “Everyone started chanting, ‘Go Stamps go! Go Stamps go!’
“I feel kind of sorry for the flight attendants after that one.”
“Watch out, Montreal,” shouted quarterback Henry Burris, clad in a black cowboy hat. “The cowboys are back in town.”
The cowboys, also known as the Calgary Stampeders, do battle with the Alouettes Sunday at Olympic Stadium in the 96th Grey Cup.
Burris is Calgary’s chief gunslinger, and he plans to soak up the experience.
“We’re kind of like gangsters coming into town,” he said.
“This is the hat I actually wore when I signed from Saskatchewan to Calgary back in 2005,” Burris said. “I’ve always kept this hat, because I always said I would need it one day.”
The day has finally arrived for the Stampeders after a seven-year hiatus from Canada’s football showcase.
In 2001, the horsemen upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Bombers 27-19, also in Montreal.
“It just seems like Calgary and Montreal have this thing going on,” Burris said. “Every time it’s in Montreal, we want to be involved.”
Offensive-lineman Jeff Pilon and quarterback Ben Sankey are the only men standing from that 2001 Calgary team. The Alouettes, on the other hand, have made five trips to the Grey Cup this decade. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo and slotback Ben Cahoon headline a veteran core with several trips to the big show on their résumé.
Championship experience is on Montreal’s side.
“We had to run the dog-and-pony show out of town in Calgary to get this thing back on track,” Burris said, referring to the days of cardboard-box magnate Michael Feterik as owner and his son, Kevin, at quarterback.
“Coach (John) Hufnagel has done a great job of that. Montreal, they have a great organization, and that’s why we’ve been fighting to become an organization like them.”
Burris won a Grey Cup ring with Calgary as a fresh-faced rookie back in 1998.
“What do you know? Here we are. I’m playing in my first Grey Cup as a starter. It’s a big game. We’re playing against a great Montreal team,” he said.
