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French Immersion
This is French Immersion, a daily blog about sports - and society - in Quebec, where the personal, the political and the athletic are often indistinguishable. The idea is to present the aerial view, peer into the darker corners of the distinct society's psyche (in a way that hopefully won't be as pretentious as that phrase sounds) and hopefully spin a few wacky and wonderful yarns on topics ranging from soccer, to short-track speed skating, to goon leagues, to the national obssession that is the Montreal Canadiens. Join in, comment, praise, denounce, Sean Gordon loves a good argument.

Montreal Alouettes' Kerry Watkins juggles footballs during the team's CFL Grey Cup football practice in Calgary, Alberta November 25, 2009. Calgary will host the Canadian Football League's 97th Grey Cup between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday. REUTERS/Todd Korol

Friday, November 27, 2009 12:42 AM

Slacking off in Cowtown

Sean Gordon

So we’ve flown out to FI’s former stomping ground of Calgary for Sunday’s Coupe Grise (and boy are our arms tired – ba-dump-bump).

It’s kinda nice to shake off the fetters and take our show, such as it is, on the road, and to hit another distinctive society, where the hats are tall and wagons covered.

The burdens of travel have also meant that the lazy truants we left in charge yesterday to provide your daily dose of pithiness felt emboldened enough to slack off entirely.

Those responsible have been sacked.

But we digress.

So Cowtown is alight with This-Is-Our-Leaguers, who have created a robust black market for tickets to Riderville – the must-attend carousing venue this week.

In our ongoing commitment to public service, we popped inbriefly last evening to see if any players were slipping curfew, but Vos Oiseaux were nowhere to be seen in the festive village.

Today the Alouettes held a closed practice, and then left devastation in their wake at the buffet table during their Grey Cup media luncheon.

And unlike the compulsive and superstitious folks here at French Immersion – getting on a plane requires a 15-minute ritual, but don’t worry, we’ve gotten off that whole sacrificial chicken thing – the Als don’t believe in such credulousness. So much so, that almost all the players mugged with the actual trophy. And even – gasp! Horror! – touched it.

No one has yet turned into a pillar of salt, but if they somehow slip on a banana peel this coming Sunday, we’ll know why.

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Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon

Sean Gordon covers sports in the Globe and Mail's Montreal bureau, and admits to being a long-suffering Newcastle United supporter.

Raised in Ottawa, he studied political science and economics at McGill University, where he discovered the wonder that is Forum hot dogs, and journalism at the University of Regina, where he developed an unreasonable attachment to the "other" Riders.

Prior to joining the Globe in 2008, he covered crime, politics and sports, at various points, for the Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette and Toronto Star, and during 15 years in newspapers has written on topics ranging from rodeo cowboys to street gangs in Haiti.

In a previous life he covered sovereignists, federalists and autonomists in Quebec's National Assembly, rode the buses during two federal elections as a Parliamentary correspondent, and followed Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries.

Gordon cut his teeth as a sports scribe covering the oft-lamented Montreal Expos, and has been to the Grey Cup, the World Junior Hockey Championship, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rugby World Cup and too many amateur sporting events to mention.

His twin career highlights are meeting Nelson Mandela and narrowly avoiding death by an errant Vladimir Guerrero batting-practice home run at spring training 2001.