WESTWORLD
Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell and B.C.’s Jonathon Jennings get ready to quarterback their teams in today’s CFL West Division final
For years, Don Sweet carried the burden of missing a potential Grey Cup-winning field goal on a frigid field at McMahon Stadium, the scene of the CFL West final between the Stampeders and B.C. Lions Sunday.
In bitter foothills weather, where the wind gusted and swirled, Sweet was wide on a 19-yard attempt that cost his Montreal Alouettes the Cup 41 years ago. The Edmonton Eskimos won 9-8, a score reflecting the near impossibility of making plays under abominable conditions.
Wind and cold are like kryptonite to kickers. But that’s not why Sweet screwed up.
“For 35 years, I kept my mouth shut,” he says. “I took the blame. But the ball (from snapper Wayne Conrad) floated. It was flat when Jimmy Jones (the holder) laid it down. I had to hit it like a soccer ball.
“Don’t think I ever missed another in 14 years from 19 yards. I’m 68 now, so I can speak my mind about it.”
A self-described “mentor, coach and sports psychologist” for CFL punters and kickers, Sweet has a bet on every horse in the Western derby to pick a representative for the 104th Grey Cup game in Toronto. Stampeders kicker Rene Paredes and punter Rob Maver, and Lions kicker Paul McCallum and punter Richie Leone, lean on Sweet for advice and counsel. When times are tough, the kicking guru from Langley is their father confessor.
“Pretty much, I’m like the swing coach who tutors 20 golf pros all trying to win the big prize. I want them to do well. I’m rooting for them all. It’s flip of the coin as to who has the edge.”
Predictably, if it comes down to a long-distance kick needed to advance their team to the championship game, Paredes and McCallum want to be in the position to make it.
“I would rather win by 30 (points),” Paredes says. “If the time comes that the game is on the line and we need a kick to win the game, that’s my job. I’m ready for it.”
In his previous 23 CFL seasons — and the two games since he returned to the Lions to put them over the hump with Leone struggling to make field goals — McCallum has been a hero many times.
But he’s also heroically dealt with failure. People in Saskatchewan will remember forever his miss from 18 yards out in the 2004 West final in Vancouver that cost the Roughriders a chance to go to the Grey Cup.
“I learned about Don’s miss (in 1975) after I missed that kick,” McCallum says. “If people want to remember that, it’s up to them. Since then, I’ve kicked lots of (important) field goals.
“No, I’m never fearful. If we have one shot to win the game and we’re down by two, that’s what you want. You want the ball on your foot at that time.”
At 46, McCallum still holds the CFL record for the longest field goal — 62 yards at Taylor Field in Regina 15 years ago. (The longest kick in NFL history is 64 yards by Matt Prater, set at mile-high altitude in Denver). McCallum’s range today, he reckons, is 10 yards less than that.
Paredes says he has hit field goals from 60 yards out in practice at McMahon, which is 1,045 metres above sea level and has the best kicking conditions of any CFL venue, according to McCallum.
“If you have to make a prayer shot, that’s the place to do it. When you’re playing indoors (B.C. Place Stadium), you’ve got to hit the ball true. There’s so much dead air. The ball doesn’t travel like you think it would.”
Thus, Justin Medlock’s last-minute 61-yard prayer shot last Sunday, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were hoping somebody up there was listening at the end of the West semifinal. On third-and-four, Blue Bombers coach Mike O’Shea decided to have Medlock try a low-percentage kick rather than have quarterback Matt Nichols go for a first down. There were still 36 seconds left when the kick came up short. The Lions won 32-31. That’s why they’re in Calgary.
McCallum and Paredes were dismayed by the call.
“I thought it would have been a smarter decision to get the first down, get closer and try a 50-something kick,” Paredes says.
“Kicking a 61-yarder, in that dome, at sea level. … Well, it’s pretty hard.”
Says McCallum: “Even if I were him (Medlock) and I knew I might make it, I probably would have said to my coach, ‘Go for the first down.’ You can try five of those 61-yarders and maybe make one. To put your season on a hope and a prayer, to me, doesn’t make sense.”
Prove yourself a champion when the game is on the line, and people will love you forever. But fall short, especially when the attempt is less than impossible, and people may never forgive.
Still, if a kick to win is required Sunday, McCallum and Paredes want to be in nobody’s shoes but their own.