I have never heard a Quebec athlete as enthusiastic as Marc-Antoine Dequoy after the Alouettes’ victory in the Gray Cup game. The star maurauder made a formal outing against the people of the TSN network. It came from the heart!
“They never believed in us. You look everywhere, it’s written in English. On TSN, it said Toronto vs. Winnipeg. You come here, it just speaks 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?
The Canadian needs a Quebec player like him.
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, has 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 1970 conquest by these same Alouettes.
That year, after three disastrous seasons during which the Zoizeaux had won only seven victories, the team had passed into the hands of Sam Berger. The former owner of the Ottawa Rough Riders had called on former glories of the organization with the hope that the Alouettes would regain altitude.
Red O’Quinn, who with Hal Patterson formed a formidable pass-catching duo in the 1950s, was named general manager.
Sam Etcheverry, quarterback of this spectacular offense, inherited the role of head coach.
Against all odds, the Alouettes reached the Gray Cup game at the National Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. The match was played in terrible conditions, with new turf having been hastily installed just a week before the match. The grass stuck to the players’ cleats and even got caught in the facial protectors.
The terrain had turned into a sea of mud.
The Alouettes defeated the Calgary Stampeders, 23 to 10.
A few days later, the champions paraded 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 victory of the Alouettes had revived the city.
A few days after their victory, the British diplomat James Richard Cross was released by the FLQ cell which was sequestering him.
Who would have said?
Let’s return to the present.
At this time last year, the Alouettes were once again on official life support. A few months earlier, minority shareholder Gary Stern had been removed from the team’s day-to-day operations by the estate of his father-in-law Sid Spiegel, a 75 percent controlling 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 mess!
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 first French-speaking owner of the team since their founding in 1946 by Léo Dandurand, born in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Mr. Dandurand arrived in Montreal at the age of 16 and attended Sainte-Marie College. He was also co-owner of the Canadiens.
Quebec knows how to do it!
Mr. Péladeau trusted the staff in place.
The football operations organization chart is filled with Quebecers.
Danny Maciocia is general manager; Éric Deslauriers, executive 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.
A native of California, Anthony Calvillo is a Quebecois by adoption. He was part of the coaching team of the Carabins of the University of Montreal, just like Noel Thorpe who was born in British Columbia.
However, fans here seem to be the only ones in Canada to know the skills of coaches and players from Quebec.
Dequoy, whose career started late, became a wonderful football player. He is one of 10 Quebec players on the Alouettes.
But this conquest is also that of Cody Fajardo, Tyson Philpot, William Stanback, Austin Mack, in short, of all the members of this formation which demonstrated, brilliantly, that as long as there is life, there is hope.