There are three things most associated with Thanksgiving. Turkey, beer and FOOTBALL! Oh, and family, and being thankful, yada yada, yada. But today was football day in Montreal and I was right there in the thick of things at McGill's majestic Molson Stadium to watch the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes hand it to the Toronto Argonauts. Today marked an historic moment. Not only did Montreal's starting quarterback Anthony Calvillo lead the Alouettes past Toronto 29-19, Calvillo also became the all-time leading passer in professional football history.
I am not talking about a Canadian record, I am talking about a professional football record. Calvillo passed all the pro-ballers that came before him and moved to first on the list.
The Top 5 are
5 - Dan Marino - (NFL) 61,134 yards
4 - Warren Moon - (CFL/NFL) 70,553
3 - Brett Favre - (NFL) 71,838
2 - Damon Allen - (CFL) 72,381
1 - Anthony Calvillo - (CFL) 72,384+
The next active QB on the list is Peyton Manning, who is approaching 60,000 yards. Just before the start of the 4th quarter CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon and Damon Allen were on hand to congratulate Calvillo in person. Over the giant screens, videos of Dan Marino, Warren Moon, and broadcaster Chris Berman played, congratulating Calvillo on this feat.
 |
| The Als take to the field |
It was an amazing day for football in Montreal. Sunshine and 24 degrees, well above the average temperature for this time of year. Hell, it often starts snowing by the end of October. My friend Elena won tickets and invited me to the game. She knows I have a blog and as far as I know doesn't read it so I have some latitude here in what I write. I'll expand more on her driving habits another day, I'll leave it for now by saying, I drove today because she scares me when she drives.
She has never watched am North American style football game before so I spent most of the game explaining what was going on. I was tempted to explain things wrong but didn't. (Eight quarters, 6 hour game, cheerleaders double as special teams).
So, the Montreal Alouettes won, Toronto Argonauts lose, Calvillo breaks a record, it's Thanksgiving, I'm drinking beer, and I will now go eat some turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!
 |
| The Als and Argos lining up |
A great day for Mtl sports indeed. A new record. One that likely won't be broken by anyone for a very, very long time. And who knows how much more Calvillo will widen his "lead" over Manning and all other future comers. He's likely got another year or two of playing (barring injury or self-imposed retirement) and can rack up thousands of more yards.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Anthony, to the Als and all the Mtl fans throughout the last decade who have watched the team become the hottest, most consistent squad in the CFL, if not in pro sports in North America, and witnessed Calvillo piece together this milestone year upon year since landing with the Als.
Bravo!! And man, do the Argos suck. Not as much as the Leafs, but still... you gotta hand it to a team from the "richest" city in Canada that can lose so nicely every season since, when? I don't know the last time the Argos won a Grey Cup. I suppose I could look by doing a quick search in another tab, but I feel lazy and quite frankly, I don't care enough.
Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteHey Joe. You can take the boy out of Montreal but you can't take Montreal out of the boy.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to alienate all the readers in the GTA so let me say this, Go Barrie Colts!
Thanks meleah, Happy Columbus Day (?)
ReplyDelete