TALK THE TALK? BETTER WALK THE WALK, TOO
Stamps, Esks coaches are fine with their players’ smack talk, writes
It has been a while since the Calgary Stampeders or the Edmonton Eskimos got into a war of words with an opponent.
It happened this week, though. First, the Edmonton Eskimos said they had beaten themselves in the Labour Day Classic and running back C.J. Gable said the Stampeders weren’t as good as everyone thinks they are.
Then, Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell responded.
It all added up to a bit of fun for the media and fans to latch onto and neither Eskimos head coach Jason Maas nor Dave Dickenson, his counterpart with the Stampeders, are worried about it as long as the guys doing the talking back it up on the field.
“Hell no, I’ll never rein that in,” Maas said Friday from Commonwealth Stadium. “At the end of the day, if that’s how they truly feel then, hey, if you put your butt on the line that way, you’d better show up.
“At the end of the day, that’s what it is. It’s a dogfight. It’s a physically violent game we play for a reason as we like to play that way and our guys just need to go out and execute and do their jobs. If they want to talk, they talk, but they’d better show up and walk it the same way and I’m not afraid of our guys walking the walk.”
When he was asked on Friday, Dickenson seemed to be of the same opinion.
While the Stamps head coach generally isn’t the type of guy who trash talks, he clearly understands that a little back and forth between his players and a major rival is ultimately good for the game.
With more than 40,000 fans expected at Commonwealth Stadium Saturday — the biggest crowd of the CFL season — it’s easy to argue that the evergrowing tension is getting people interested.
“I don’t think the CFL players and probably even the coaches need to just give status quo answers,” Dickenson said. “It’s not what we should be giving to our fans. There are certain things. You should have respect for your opponent and you should respect the game and your teammates and not just put yourself out there as being the focal point …
“But I am all in favour of personalities that are unique. As fans, I would rather hate the guy or love the guy. At least (the fans) are going to show up and root for you or against you.”
Mitchell will no doubt be public enemy No. 1 in Edmonton Saturday, although it’s probably worth noting that might have been the case anyways.
But his decision to respond to the Eskimos’ refusal to credit the Stamps for their Monday afternoon win has gone over well with his teammates and that’s probably more important than whether fans shower him with boos.
And if a few extra fans show up to rag on Mitchell because of what he said this week, that’s not a bad thing.
“Football doesn’t necessarily just sell itself,” Dickenson said. “I think we need to have personalities. I try not to give just standard answers, I try to be honest with you guys (in the media) because I think that’s what the fans need and deserve instead of just next question, next opponent, the Bill Belichick approach.
“I don’t do that, so that’s what I think makes the CFL also unique. Our players are given a platform a little bit more than the NFL. In the NFL, they only allow guys to talk one day a week, they’re just so monitored, a bunch of hockey answers, just status quo answers.
“I don’t want our guys putting our club, our team in the wrong light, but I do think having personality is a good thing. But I do think if you’re going to talk it, you’ve got to walk it. Just a bigger challenge if that’s who you are.”