Wow.
Once again, history was made at Percival Molson Stadium. After setting records this season for touchdowns & completions, Anthony Calvillo set yet another benchmark this past Monday versus the Toronto Argonauts by surpassing Damon Allen for the most passing yards thrown. And it was done in spectacular fashion with a 50 yard touchdown pass to Jamel Richardson to end the third quarter.
I was fortunate enough to be there live for this moment. In fact, there was no way I was going to miss this event. The projections all said that this particular game would be the record-setting game and even I had said earlier in the day that it’ll happen in the third quarter. Sure enough, it was the last play of said quarter. The explosion of cheers as Jamel scored was up there as one of the loudest I have ever heard at Percival Molson.
Sure enough, the debates sparked up after the game from all sorts of pundits; it’s a false record, AC couldn’t do it if he was in the NFL, he’s benefited from inferior opponents, etc. My personal take is this: a yard is a yard and throwing for 72, 382 of them in any professional league is pretty darn amazing.
Before Rickey Henderson broke the MLB all-time record for stolen bases, a player who only played in Japan had several more stolen bases (Henderson eventually surpassed his number a couple years later) Had he not, would the Japanese record be any less special because it didn’t happen in America? I don’t understand why people get bogged down in ridiculous semantics.
For the record, I think one day AC’s record will be broken. And honestly, I couldn’t care less who does it and in what league. I’d rather celebrate a man’s outstanding accomplishment and Anthony Calvillo had just that. I’m just glad I got to see it live in person.
After the game, I stuck around to say hello to a few players that I’m friendly with. Everyone was in a fantastic mood and I could tell that they were thrilled and honoured to be a part of history as well. Jamel Richardson was on cloud nine, having caught AC’s 400th TD earlier in the year and now helping him with this record. The last player to leave was the man everyone was waiting for and the man who made history; our very own living legend Anthony Calvillo.
Having met AC several times previous, I didn’t need/want any autographs or photos. There was only one thing I wanted to do; stick my hand out to Anthony’s, shake it and in my own words give him the proper respect a man of his stature deserved on such a memorable day. I’m proud to say that I did so and I could see he was very appreciative of it.
Usually after a game like this, the winners would go somewhere fancy to celebrate such a remarkable achievement. But in a twist that is simply unheard of in this day and age, AC joined some of his teammates at the Welcome Hall Mission in Montreal to serve up Thanksgiving dinner to the city’s less fortunate. Just doing that all by itself is wonderful but for Anthony to be so generous with his time after this particular game just speaks volumes to what an amazing individual he truly is.
Forget his football accomplishments; just his moral fiber & character makes Calvillo such a tremendous role model.
———-
Before we entered the stadium for this memorable game, there was the usual tailgate party put on by the great guys at LesGarsQuiVivent.com. Being as it was Thanksgiving, turkey was served up with all the other tailgate goodies.
I’ve said numerous times that this sort of thing is totally possible at Molson Stadium…you just need to be creative. And these guys do a very respectable job despite it not being the traditional parking lot party that people come to expect.
These guys provide a great time and ask for nothing in return. Make sure if you haven’t already, come by before the game starts and check it out. They set up shop in the park to the right of the main entrance and welcome all to participate, even if you happen to cheer for the Alouettes’ opponents that day. There’s two more home games left, so be sure to check out their web site for more info.
———
That’s all for now. I’ll be back to preview the Hamilton game this Sunday, which will be a crucial game as the Alouettes try to secure a home playoff game and hopefully that game being the Eastern Final. 2 of their 4 remaining games are against Eastern opponents that are also looking to secure home field as well.
For the first time in a long time, nothing is guaranteed in the CFL playoff race. It used to be you could set your watch to the Eastern Final being played at Olympic Stadium. But this year, it could literally come down to the final game of the season. With AC’s legend further cemented, it’s now time to win games.
The ALSternative 
