Lions’ hopes are pinned on Buono
Hard to fathom, but Minnesota’s 7-2-1 run got them exactly nowhere in the playoff picture
With the Christmas season now upon us, here’s something that’s both holly and jolly: the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.
On the surface, the job of resurrecting the B.C. Lions doesn’t seem that onerous.
The Lions have a strong defence built around linebackers Solomon Elimimian and Adam Bighill. On offence they have weapons at the skill positions. If Travis Lulay gives them competent quarterbacking next season, there’s no reason to think they won’t return to the 12-win level that has become their standard.
But it’s not that easy. For the first time since Buono took over the football operation in 2003, there are fissures within the organization.
They’ve already fired head coach Mike Benevides and there are questions about the future of offensive coordinator Khari Jones. Since winning the Grey Cup in 2011, the Lions have also lost Geroy Simon, Brent Johnson, Korey Banks, Angus Reid and, now, Dante Marsh, who were great players but, more importantly, they were great leaders, and that’s left a huge void in the locker-room.
Wally Buono, who’s demonstrated a remarkable ability to find quarterbacks and leaders throughout his career, now has to rebuild the quarterback position and the team’s culture. A healthy Lulay would go a long way in fixing both areas but, given his health, it’s impossible to know what to expect from the former MOP.
No, this is mostly on Buono. He has to find the right coach, find a Plan B at quarterback — hello Jordan Rodgers — and rebuild the team’s leadership hierarchy while replenishing the Lions’ stockpile of Canadian talent.
Some of the pieces for Project Reset are already in place but the Lions desperately need Buono to perform like a hall of famer this off-season.
The point should be self-evident, but if there was any confusion about the competitiveness of the NHL’s Western Conference, consider the following.
The Minnesota Wild recently completed a 10-game stretch in which they went 7-2-1. They were in ninth place when it started. They were in ninth place when it ended.
Defenceman Ryan Suter, their most indispensable player, has since missed two games with a case of the mumps. The Wild went 1-1 without Suter and fell to 10th. That’s all it takes to lose your place in the West, and it will be that way until April.
Don’t know what’s more news worthy: Tiger Woods’ performance at the Hero World Challenge or Jordan Spieth’s, but it isn’t hard to miss the event’s symbolism. At a time when American golf is desperate for a new star, Spieth seemed to be checking in as Woods was checking out.
Russell Wilson is in the middle of the pack in most of the NFL’s traditional quarterbacking statistics. His rushing numbers, in fact, are more impressive than his passing numbers. That said, is there a more valuable player to his team in the entire NFL?
In the Seahawks’ 24-14 win over Philadelphia on Sunday, Wilson had a fairly typical day. He threw for a modest 263 yards but he also tossed a pair of touchdown passes, ran for 48 yards and another major and didn’t turn the ball over.
After starting the season 3-3, the Seahawks have now won six of their last seven and again look like a Super Bowl team.
The MVP will likely go to Aaron Rodgers, who’s had a spectacular season with Green Bay, but the Seahawks don’t have an offence without Wilson. He deserves serious consideration for the hardware.
Mea culpa. Following their loss to Toronto on Saturday night, we reported the Canucks haven’t lost two straight all season. In fact, they lost back-to-back games to Tampa and Dallas in mid-October.
Claude Charron, the former minister of youth, sport and recreation in Quebec, once said: “I have the impression that Maurice Richard was one of the original men responsible for giving a special meaning to Quebecois life and to have encouraged the elan of the Quebec people.”
He did not overstate the point. The Rocket came of age in a New Quebec, a Quebec that was forging a new place in Confederation. The forces he helped unleash also created a new identity for the province and, by the 1960s, those forces were pulling Quebec away from the rest of Canada.
By the ’60s, Jean Beliveau had emerged as the new face of the Montreal Canadiens and he represented forces of his own. Beliveau was every bit as proud of his heritage as Richard but he was also fiercely Canadian and through his presence, his character, he sent the message that a strong, independent Quebec still worked in Canada.
That might be his greatest legacy. In 1994, then-prime minister Jean Chretien asked Beliveau to stand as governor general of this country. Think about that for a moment. Think of what that position represents — the Queen’s representative in Canada — and what it’s meant throughout this county’s history. Beliveau would turn it down, gracefully of course, but the mere fact that, a Quebecer, a hero to the province, would be considered for the governor general’s office tells you all you need to know about the man.
Beliveau always said the Canadiens were a perfect metaphor for Canada. Yes, they belonged to Quebec, but they were men of disparate backgrounds who came together in pursuit of a common goal. He was the leader of that team but he was so much more than that.
When you think of the words used to describe Beliveau — his kindness, his grace, his selflessness, his generosity — they aren’t the words used to describe a great hockey player. They’re the words used to describe a great statesman. You’d like to believe his kind still lives in this coarse age because, now more than ever, they are needed.
They’re just so damned hard to find.