Rick Moffat
CFL.ca
The taste of victory must surely be sweeter than this. When the Alouettes clinched their third straight East Division title not a champagne cork was popped. Not a beer can was shaken or sprayed.
Ben Cahoon and Brian Bratton, roommates this season, were hit with a realization only 24 hours later. The determined receivers wanted to savour the fruits of their physical struggles somehow, ensuring the 2010 Alouettes were not entirely shut out for celebrations.
Their revelry is now revealed: Ginger ales and mango sherbets.
Coach Trestman? He won the day, but walked the evening, taking a victory stroll home after the Als hung on to beat Winnipeg. Lower than low key – his first Division Crown in 2008 was clinched in Hamilton and toasted with milk and cookies back at the team hotel in Burlington, Ont.
Bratton and Cahoon know they are on the precipice of history: The franchise-first repeat is the unspoken obvious goal.
Coach Trestman doesn’t know it, but has a piece of CFL coaching history to make if he can steer his players to Edmonton on November 28th. The only other CFL head coach in the last 55 years to lead from the sidelines at three straight Grey Cup games in his first three seasons is Trestman’s friend and mentor Bud Grant.
Grant described Trestman’s work for him 25 years ago, “almost as a gopher, at the bottom of the assistant coaching ladder.” Trestman himself has written of the former Blue Bombers turned Vikings coaching icon sending his assistant to research seemingly obscure trivia about monarch butterflies flitting by the field, or pop quizzes on geography.
Winnipeg’s “Grey Fox” once stopped NFL practice because a red fox had come onto the field, recalls Trestman.
“Understanding there are more important things in life than football and being aware in the moment are important life skills,” Trestman writes in his book. “Perseverance: Life Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork.”
As the Als headed back into team meetings Tuesday, Coach Trestman had his familiar, “Life is Good” cap on but a new t-shirt. “This is It.” Over the Als logo, the implication is clear. The playoff push is on, even though three regular season games remain (all possible Eastern Final previews against the Ticats and Argos).
Swirling rumours of interest from the University of Minnesota were relegated to the sidelines.
“We’re focused only on trying to do something really special here.” The Repeat.
The offensive line is now growing playoff beards. The retirement of Bryan Chiu may finally be a benefit. Luc Brodeur-Jordain has the hirsute advantage in the pursuit of the repeat. Avon Cobourne will let his moustache and chin hour sprout wildly again. “He has no dignity,” laughs Montreal sack leader John Bowman.
The defence? Bowman admits it has taken him too many years just to get a tiny sprout out of his chin. Eric “The Humidor” Wilson already has some, but bemoaned the lack of champagne in the dressing after the game. “Aren’t we the Yankees,” he roared in laughter.
“You can’t pop it for everything. It’s not gonna mean as much,” says Cobourne. “Save it for November.”
“Winning the East is just one of the things we expect from one another,” says Anwar Stewart, who has been with seven Grey Cup bound teams since 2001. “We’re a veteran group and we’ve made a promise to give ourselves a chance to get to Edmonton.”
No CFL coach has won back-to-back Grey Cups since The Don a.k.a Don Matthews in 1996-97 (technically Mathews pulled of a three-peat since he led the Baltimore Stallions in ’95 as well). The key? An all-time great quarterback. Mathews had Flutie. Trestman has A.C.
“There is no way to relax in Marc Trestman’s system,” says Calvillo, who insists he wants to play all three remaining regular season games. “The concepts remain the same every game but we’ve got so many wrinkles, so many disguises and so many adjustments he asks us to make each week.”
“All smoke and mirrors,” Calvillo says with a sly grin. He didn’t celebrate the Eastern clincher in any way either.
Coach Trestman is ever mindful of his mentor’s wise words about what it takes to be a successful coach: “A patient wife, a loyal dog, and a great quarterback… and not necessarily in that order.”
Taking time to taste the mango sherbet and ginger ale can’t hurt either.
