I’ve never heard a Quebec athlete as excited as Marc-Antoine Dequoy was after the Alouettes’ win in the Gray Cup game. The star bricklayer made a formal appearance against the people of the TSN network. It came from the heart!
“They never believed in us. If you look everywhere, it’s written in English. On TSN it was Toronto vs. Winnipeg. You come here, they only speak English. They never believed in us. You know what? Keep your English because we won this cup and we’re going to bring it home to Montreal, we’re going to bring it back to Quebec, we’re going to bring it home because we’re fucking champions! »
And wham!
Does this Dequoy also play hockey?
Yes, the Alouettes are Gray Cup champions!
Well done!
And you know what?
It feels good in these last weeks of 2023, which, you will agree, have not spoiled us.
This victory will not solve the social problems that undermine our society, but it is a comforting balm for Montreal and Quebec.
Similarities with 1970
This victory reminds me of the conquest by the same Alouettes in 1970.
That year, the team passed into the hands of Sam Berger after three disastrous seasons in which the Zoizeaux only managed seven wins. The former owner of the Ottawa Rough Riders had drawn on the organization’s previous successes in the hope that the Alouettes would rise again.
Red O’Quinn, who formed a formidable pass-catching duo with Hal Patterson in the 1950s, was named general manager.
Sam Etcheverry, quarterback of this spectacular offense, took over the role of head coach.
Against all odds, the Alouettes reached the Gray Cup game at the National Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. The game took place in terrible conditions, with new turf being hastily laid just a week before the game. The grass stuck to the players’ boots and even got stuck in their face guards.
The area had turned into a sea of mud.
The Alouettes defeated the Calgary Stampeders 23 to 10.
A few days later, the champions marched through the streets of downtown Montreal, which had been experiencing a social crisis for several weeks. We were in the middle of the October Crisis. The Canadian army was present everywhere.
The Alouettes’ victory had revitalized the city.
A few days after their victory, British diplomat James Richard Cross was released by the FLQ cell that had seized him.
Who would have said that?
Let’s return to the present.
This time last year, the Alouettes were once again on official life support. A few months earlier, minority shareholder Gary Stern was excluded from the team’s day-to-day operations by the estate of his father-in-law Sid Spiegel, a 75 percent majority shareholder, who died in July 2021.
Danny Maciocia’s hands were tied. Without a budget, he lost the services of wide receiver Eugene Lewis and quarterback Trevor Harris to the free-agent market.
It was a disaster!
Maciocia seriously considered leaving the nest.
Last February, the Alouettes fell back under the supervision of the Canadian Football League for the second time in less than four years.
A month later, Pierre Karl Péladeau became the team’s first French-speaking owner since its founding in 1946 by Léo Dandurand, born in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Mr. Dandurand came to Montreal at the age of 16 and attended Sainte-Marie College. He was also part owner of the Canadiens.
Quebec knows how to do it!
Mr. Péladeau trusted the local staff.
The football operations organization chart is filled with Quebecers.
Danny Maciocia is general manager; Éric Deslauriers, managing director of football operations and player personnel; Allyson Sobol, manager and coordinator of football operations; Jean-Marc Edmé, director of professional player personnel; and Pier-Yves Lavigne, Director of National Recruitment.
The coaching staff includes Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, offensive line coach, and Byron Archambault, assistant to head coach Jason Maas and special teams coordinator.
California native Anthony Calvillo is an adopted Quebecois. He was part of the coaching staff of the University of Montreal Carabins, as was Noel Thorpe, who was born in British Columbia.
However, fans here seem to be the only ones in Canada who know the capabilities of Quebec coaches and players.
Dequoy, whose career began late, developed into a wonderful football player. He is one of ten Quebec players on the Alouettes.
But this conquest is also that of Cody Fajardom, Tyson Philpot, William Steinback, Austin Mack, in short, all the members of this formation who have shown brilliantly that as long as there is life there is hope.