LULAY HAS PRIDE OF LIONS ROARING AT THE RIGHT TIME
Veteran quarterback has helped B.C. to playoffs because ‘players believe in him’
We complain about the cost of real estate, the congestion and assorted other headaches, but honestly, after the weekend we just had, is there any other place on Earth you’d rather live? Now here’s something else that adds to the magic, the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.
Friday night, the B.C. Lions held a 39-22 lead and the ball with just under six minutes left when Travis Lulay served up a 57-yard pick six to the Edmonton Eskimos’ Aaron Grymes.
It was a stunning turn of events and earlier this season it likely would have signalled the beginning of a choke job for a team that consistently found ways to lose. But, according to head coach Wally Buono, this was the reaction on the Lions’ sidelines.
“I didn’t hear anyone griping except me. The players understand sometimes things happen.”
Those players, it seems, have also developed a deep and abiding faith in Lulay, which is at the core of the Leos’ turnaround. The Lulay of 2018 isn’t the gunslinger of 2011. Far from it. But after his career was broken by a series of cataclysmic injuries, he’s re-emerged as the inspirational leader of this team and that’s a great story.
He also threw four touchdown passes Friday night in the Lions’ 42-32 win, their most productive offensive game of the season. Lulay is 35 now and it can be reasonably asked if he’s capable of supplying a championship level of quarterbacking in the playoffs. His history of injuries also raises legitimate questions about his future with the team.
But that’s not what the Lions see in their quarterback. They see a player who has come back from injuries that by all rights should have sent him into retirement. They see a leader who has set his own standard for toughness and commitment.
All things considered, they’ll take their chances with that guy.
“There’s a respect and a willingness to follow him,” Buono said. “He’s earned it. The players believe in him.”
Lord knows Buono could write a book on the subject, but here’s his take on the importance of hosting a playoff game for the Lions.
“To have the best chance in the playoffs, you have to have a game at home. It’s really tough to win twice on the road.”
With that in mind, here are the scenarios in play heading into the last two weeks of the CFL season. If the Lions beat the Roughriders by more than three points this weekend and beat Calgary at home in their season finale, they’ll finish second in the West and host the semifinal, providing Winnipeg splits its last two games. If the Roughriders win, they’ll have the inside track on second spot.
And if the Lions beat the Roughriders by three points exactly, a team of quantum physicists will have to work things out. Steve Daniel, the CFL’s chief statistician, reports there are 22 possibilities still alive in the West, but the Lions could make things a lot easier on everyone with a couple of decisive wins in their last two games.
Rejoined the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame selection committee this year, which is always a rewarding experience. It also gave your agent a chance to reconnect with the great Tom Larscheid, who, you should know, has lost none of his zest for sports or life. He’s also enthused about the start to this Canucks season.
Here’s his take on Elias Pettersson: “I haven’t been this excited about a rookie since Pavel Bure.” And he has seen them all. Hard to believe the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox are meeting in the World Series for the first time since 1916 when the Dodgers franchise played out of Brooklyn, N.Y., and were called the Robins and the Sox were led by 21-year-old lefty Babe Ruth.
It’s a dream matchup between two marquee teams with any number of storylines attached to it, but for the Sox, here is the main one: if they win, they’ll go down as the greatest team in Red Sox history and that’s saying something.
And finally, there are any numbers of ways to dissect the first three weeks of the Canucks’ season and the locals may have created some false hope with their 5-3 start.
But even if that success rate isn’t sustainable over the NHL’s six-month death march, the game Travis Green has this team playing is and that’s the biggest reason to be optimistic about the Canucks’ future.
This season, the Canucks have joined the rest of the NHL by adopting a speed and pressure game. OK, maybe Green wanted to play that way last season. But with slowpokes Thomas Vanek, Loui Eriksson, Sam Gagner, Henrik and Daniel Sedin in the lineup, it was impossible to play an uptempo style.
That has changed dramatically this year.
Yes, there are still holes and, yes, they may be leaning on their goaltender a little too heavily.
But they play the game so much faster now and that will be their calling card as this team evolves.
They might not have the firepower in their current lineup to scare anyone, but when Pettersson matures, when Quinn Hughes joins the lineup, when a couple of their high-end prospects start to make an impact, they’ll be able to play the speedand-skill game at a high level.
It’s a big ask, changing the direction and culture of an organization, and the Canucks have left themselves open to secondguessing on a number of fronts.
But they have the right man coaching this team and that’s as important as anything.
I didn’t hear anyone griping except me. The players understand sometimes things happen.