CANADIAN FAKIN’? SINGLETON IS A NEW NATIONAL TREASURE
The CFL’s best defensive player was born a Californian, but is a Calgarian by choice
Not far from Parliament Hill, Alex Singleton paused for a moment when asked a rather basic skill-testing question.
Who is the prime minister of Canada?
“Justin Trudeau,” he answered with confidence and a touch of both pride and concern. “They boo him in Calgary,” Singleton said.
“Why would they hate the prime minister in Calgary?”
“I’m not big on Canadian history,” said the Calgary middle linebacker, winner of the CFL’s most outstanding defensive player Thursday night at the young age of 23. He knew Trudeau’s name. He knows the name of the Calgary mayor, Naheed Nenshi — “He almost lost, you know.” But he gave me confused looks when I asked about Tommy Douglas and Paul Henderson and Gaetan Boucher.
“Sorry,” he said. “Got some work to do.”
They have a nickname for Singleton on the Calgary Stampeders these days. His friends and teammates call him the Fake Canadian. It’s an ongoing gag in the dressing room that he happily participates in — Singleton has the kind of gregarious personality that almost requires him to take part in the humour. He has a smile that lights up a football stadium.
The rest of the Canadian Football League isn’t necessarily laughing. Some of Calgary’s opponents and some of Singleton’s critics see him as a fake Canadian — an American masquerading as a Canadian player, giving the Stampeders the ultimate roster advantage on game day.
“That guy’s no Canadian,” Hamilton linebacker Simoni Lawrence screamed from the sidelines in a game earlier this season against the Tiger-Cats. “He doesn’t even know what a toonie is.”
Lawrence also shouted he was a “fake Canadian,” just not in a funny way.
Every team in the CFL is mandated to have seven Canadian starters in their lineup. Historically, that has meant a whole lot of offensive linemen, the odd defensive lineman and maybe a defensive back as the Canadian starters pencilled in. But a middle linebacker? Just about the best in the league? The defensive player of the year? A great one? Well, that’s almost unheard of.
When Singleton’s name was called Thursday night as winner of defensive player of the year, he became just the fifth so-called Canadian to take home the big prize. Brent Johnson won just over a decade ago. Before that, some 30 years ago, Bill Baker and Jim Corrigall and Dave Fennell were so honoured.
The rest: from Solomon Elimimian to Cameron Wake to Willie Pless to Dan Kepley, all of them legends, have primarily been American.
“When you have a great Canadian, it’s an advantage,” said Jim Popp, the Toronto Argonauts’ general manager. “I had Ben Cahoon in Montreal. He was exceptional.
“The ratio,” Popp said, “it’s a game inside the game in the CFL. No other league has it. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a real challenge to work it, balancing out your roster.
“I don’t have a problem with (Singleton being listed as Canadian). We all do what we have to do to get it right.”
Singleton grew up in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He played Pop Warner football in that community, starting at the age of seven. He played linebacker and quarterback at various levels of football growing up. He was born in the United States. He went to Thousand Oaks High. No one told him he was anything but American.
His mom was born in the Toronto area. She lived in Ontario to the age of 12. Her family moved to Arizona, then to California, where she married and had a family.
Singleton went to Montana State University, where he first heard of Lanny McDonald.
“He was the guy with the big moustache in this bar in Kalispell,” Singleton said. “Everybody knew Lanny.”
He didn’t know then that his citizenship was about to change or about interest from the CFL or that he’d eventually be joining Lanny in Calgary.
The Ottawa Redblacks, aware of Singleton as a football player, unaware he was about to become Canadian, had already placed Singleton on their negotiation list. When he got papers declaring him Canadian, he was forced to go through the draft process to enter the league. The Redblacks had no choice but to drop him from their negotiation list.
With the steal of the CFL century, the Stampeders picked Singleton with the sixth pick in the 2016 draft. The five players picked before him couldn’t be identified in a police lineup. The Argos chose two picks ahead of the Stamps. They selected receiver Brian Jones with their pick. He caught no passes this season in nine games and is still considered a decent pick. Singleton, the player Lawrence screamed about, set the CFL record for most tackles in a season.
Singleton lives in Calgary now, year-round. His girlfriend is a former Stampede Queen. By address, he hates the Edmonton Eskimos and the Edmonton Oilers.
This is his first CFL award. “This is the biggest personal sports accomplishment I’ve ever had,” Singleton said. “You think of who is playing around the league — it’s tough to win this. I’m proud as heck to get this.”
He was the guy with the big moustache in this bar in Kalispell. Everybody knew Lanny (McDonald).