The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 23

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SPORTS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2000 B5 Scanlan: Stewart was good value for $6,000 ayear Though he led the East in rushing in 1964, i960 was Stewart's first trip to the Grey Cup game. Forty years ago on this precise date, Nov. 26, Ottawa beat Edmonton 16-6. "You always remember the first one," he says. Fans will better remember the Ottawa Cup teams of 1968-69, when Stewart was part of an offence that included Jackson, Bo Scott, Whit Tucker, Vic Washington and Margene Ad-kins had four gears," says Stewart of Adkins).

"Leo Cahill, the Toronto Ar-gos coach, used to say we had the best offence of the '60s," says Stewart It's hard to argue with that At 66, with 22 years of experience as the country's lone federal penitentiary ombudsman, hearing prisoner complaints, Stewart didn't practice law, although he has a law degree out of the University of Ottawa. Married to Ottawa River Ward councillor Wendy Stewart, Ron and his wife have two children, Melissa, 24 and Chris, 20, both of whom followed the Queen's path. Continued from page Bi The Riders packed their aching bodies onto a train and went east without a thought that something special was about to unfold. For most of this lopsided 51-21 Ottawa victory over Montreal, few understood the significance. Russ Jackson knew.

Sometime late in the fourth quarter, the Rider quarterback came into the huddle and said: "Ronnie's 10 yards away from the record. You've got to block for him." As they had all day. The Riders ran another of the sweep plays that were killing Montreal Stewart had his record. And more. "I don't know how Russ knew," says Stewart, fresh from riding in Ottawa's convertible car entry in Calgary's Grey Cup parade.

"I certainly wasn't aware. I didn't even know what the record was." Stewart has a videotape of that day, made from the film used to record football games at the time. What amazes him is the sight of the big pulling guards, Marv Bevan and Kaye Vaughan, sweeping around the ends looking for somebody to i PETER JONES, REUTERS B.C. Lions defensive tackle Cameron Legault interviews Hamilton Tiger Cats quarterback Danny McManus for a local television station at a team luncheon last week in Calgary. Last year, Legault played in the Grey Cup with the Stampeders.

Legault hope second trip to Grey Cup ends up a winner r-' US 88th Grey Cup Who: Montreal Alouettes (13-6) vs. British Columbia Lions (10-10). Where: McMahon Stadium in Calgary (capacity: 46,000) Grey Cup records: Lions, 3-3; Alouettes, 4-6. Lions championships: 1964, 1985, 1994. Alouettes championships: 1949, 1970, 1974, 1977.

Past 10 regular-season meetings: Montreal, 9-1. Roxy Roxborough's line: Montreal by 7 (overunder 59). Television: CBC, RDS, 6 p.m. The year 1960 would be the best of Ron Stewart's 13-year, Hall of Fame career. He rushed for 1,020 yards, averaging 7.3 yards a carry.

Their dad looks as though he could still get the East a first down today, but Ron is content to carry the symbolic flag for Ottawa's football tradition at the Grey Cup. This is an annual love affair for Stewart and the rest of a red, black and white delegation that includes Jack Jordan, Ross Stewart, Gary Page, Wib Miller, John and Wendy Lisowski, Harold Moore and more. Although the Riders are dormant, the spirit lives. Stewart rode in an old convertible with a script: This isn't the only great thing from the Hardly anyone noticed it was a 1974 Pontiac. Lisowski left them laughing with his Jean Chretien mask and signs such as: "Don't FORGOT to mark your for me." When Jackson retired in 1970, Jake Gaudaur, the CFL commissioner of the day said: "Ron has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that a Canadian born and Canadian trained player can be a star in Canadian professional football" It was true 40 years ago, 30 years ago and it's true today.

block. "Some days a team is in the wrong defence," says Stewart. "Russ was a smart quarterback. He wasn't the greatest passing quarterback. He threw it like a baseball.

But (head coach) Frank Clair used to say, 'Yeah but he's the smartest quarterback' "Russ could read defences. And all the X's and O's on the board fell into place that day," says Stewart. "We swept them all day long. A T-formation, with the running back and fullback and they'd flip it to me." The 26-year-old Stewart, a third-year pro out of Queen's University, drafted by these poor Alouettes, didn't have to carry it very often because he carried it so far. Incredibly, he put together runs of 37, 52, 51 and 59 yards.

Four times his carries ended with the end zone, tying a CFL record for rushing touchdowns, since broken. He vaguely remembers a nice ovation from the audience in Montreal If he'd thought about how long the record might stand and he didn't give it a thought he would have said, "a couple of years." Forty years later, this "blocking back" knows the yardage mark has the legs to hang on a bit longer. "Teams don't run the ball like they used to," says Stewart The year i960 would be the best of Stewart's 13-year, Hall of Fame career. He rushed for 1,020 yards, averaging 7.3 yards a carry, won the Jeff Russel trophy as outstanding East Division player and was the CFL's outstanding Canadian. Pretty good value for a $6,000 salary.

him, he bounces right off. He likes nothing better than to run guys over on the way to the end zone. You've got to get low, go for the tackle, take away his pistons." And if Pringle's injury were to limit his play, it wouldn't take away Montreal's running game. Thomas Haskins, quicker and more elusive than Pringle, adds another dimension to the Als' offence. "He can skirt right around you," says Legault.

"And they have that big offensive line to make it all go." The Lions' game plan will be to play up on Montreal, usually with a three and sometimes a four-man front, and try to force the Als to pass. "If they get up by seven," says Legault, "they're going to pound the ball on the ground, try to run it down our throats." Legault's parents, Linda and Al Legault, are here to see the big game. So is his aunt and Cameron's former Carleton Raven teammates Eddie Joseph and Mike Holmwood. Legault, who recently signed a two-year deal with the Lions, will stay in Calgary this winter, working on his speed and strength, probably adding a few pounds to his 255-pound frame. "In this league, you can't ever be the same guy two years in a row," says Legault Playing in the Grey Cup two years in a row for different teams is another story.

Read previous columns by Wayne Scanlan at www.ottawacitizen.com son Kralt, the former Carleton safety, was at linebacker until breaking his foot in the Western final. Similarly, Carl Kidd is a rookie defensive back with NFL experience, also at linebacker for the Leos. "He's a cornerback playing linebacker, running around hitting everybody it's huge," says Lions defensive end Daved Benefield. Then there's Chuck Levy, the running back out of Arizona. Naturally, he's a B.C.

corner-back. "Training camp ended a few weeks ago," says Legault. From that Week 17 "camp," the Lions went on to upset Edmonton and Calgary in the playoffs. "We're a team that doesn't rely on a specific scheme or game plan," he says. "We're 12 different guys playing hard and going after the balL We're flying around out there, and we make mistakes we get burned occasionally." Against the Alouettes, Legault and more than 40,000 others at McMahon Stadium today know the key to victory is to slow down Montreal running back Mike Pringle.

Pringle is considering using a heated wrap to keep his sore left hamstring loose. An rusher this season, Pringle gained 199 yards the last time he faced the Lions. Legault believes the secret to slowing down No. 27 is to go for the legs. "It's not an easy task, but he can be stopped," said Legault.

"You don't want to hit him. If you do, he drives and spins off. He loves the big contact. Watch Wayne Scanlan At the Grey Cup Calgary Jock Climie detests guys with this kind of luck. Cameron Legault, a local talent like Climie, grew up in Nepean, played on Carleton University's final football team in 1998, has been in the CFL for two seasons and suits up today for his second Grey Cup game.

It took Climie of the Montreal Alouettes 11 years to reach the big stage. "I get teased about it a lot," says Legault, a defensive end or tackle for the B.C. Lions. -Cup game magnet or not, Legault, 26, would appreciate a different ending this time. Legault's Calgary Stampeders fell to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 1999 Grey Cup at Vancouver.

Imagine his surprise, after playing 18 games for the Stampeders as a rookie, then suiting up in the Grey Cup as a special-teams player, to wind up on Calgary's practice roster this summer. Among the competition on the Stamps' defensive line were two Nepean neighbours, Marc Pilon and JeffTraversy. "It seems like everybody from the Ottawa area is a nose guard," says Legault, citing Pilon, Traversy and Lions teammate Noah Cantor. Legault was a nose guard out of fulfilling work when B.C. called midway through the season, asking if he'd be interesting in moving farther west.

Although the Stampeders wanted to keep him, head coach Wally Buono understood Legault's need to play. Buono's parting words were to "go out there and have fun." It has been fun for Legault, starting five of eight games and being part of a defence that is coming together at just the right time. It is surely the most mixed-up unit that ever ran onto a football field on Grey Cup Sunday without getting stopped by stadium security. Everybody seems to be out of position. Ja Grey Cup Rosters, statistics, B8 4 Paying the price for soccer success Welcome to ttwe Official Web Sltm of efceT Get 1 ft llklll MUM fi For several years now, this man has been a hero to the rabid Chelsea fans who warm seats at Stamford Bridge.

If he wasn't always a starter, he was often a game winner with unlikely goals when his club was in the tightest corners. Then Chelsea changed coaches and Flo found himself out of favour. So when Rangers came calling, he leaped at the chance. There are many including former England and Rangers centre forward Tony Hateley and disillusioned fans who are finding it hard to justify paying $26 million for Flo. Hateley says Flo does not have a good enough scoring record to justify so much cash, so the player will be busting his boots to prove him wrong at Ibrox stadium today.

Making a home debut in front of frenzied Rangers fans is a stomach-sinking occasion at the best of times. But these are not the best of times. Rangers are in fourth place in the Scottish Premier when they have been used to looking down from the top for years and years. They are a mass of points behind archrival Celtic, who humiliated them 6-2 in August. And it is Celtic against whom Flo must play his first game.

If he plays poorly, he might be run out of town the amount of cash it was prepared to shell out Eventually Redknapp cracked. Who could resist the most money ever to change hands for one player between two English clubs? But $37 million can buy more than a couple of pretty fine players for a club that needs more than a couple of pretty fine players to remain safe in the Premier. Ferdinand should handle the fame well enough, if only because he can't believe it. After the Italy game, he exchanged shirts with Alessandro del Piero and was as thrilled as a young fan when the "superstar" signed it He then suggested del Piero probably had no idea who he was. Not any more.

The amount of cash involved has astonished other Premier League coaches and even Leeds manager David O'Leary had publicly doubted whether any player was worth $37 million. Whatever anyone says, paying $15 million more for a semiproven youngster than Manchester United paid for Dutch international Jaap Stam two years ago is clearly a hefty gamble for Leeds. But that's top soccer these days. If you don't have the cash and your gambling hand is not extremely steady, you shouldn't be playing. before he has begun.

If he plays well, fans will give him a second chance. If he scores, they will cheer, and if he scores the winner, he will be the Nordic God. Maybe he should keep an eye on his former Chelsea teammate Chris Sutton, who has made the grade at Celtic after signing in the summer for what was then the largest Scottish transfer fee but is almost exactly half what Rangers paid for Flo. Sutton was a bust at Chelsea but has become a Celtic favourite. With all that cash, I wonder which foreigners Chelsea will sign next.

Rumours are it is after Kanoute from West Ham. he says he's wouldn't be interested because he has no intention of sitting on the bench. He wants regular play, and that's not Chelsea's style. If you think Flo was pricey, what about Rio Ferdinand, the core of the West Ham defence for two years and considered an untouchable member of the lineup this season. West Ham coach Harry Redknapp has been fighting off suitors for his main man since the summer.

He professed to being disinterested in a $3i-million offer. Leeds United kept peering down at West Ham from its perch high in the Premier League, and as its injury list lengthened, so did I Richard Starves Is there no limit how deep soccer team chairmen will dig into their Premier League club pockets to assemble a winning team? The player struggling Rangers bought this week makes him the most expensive ever signed by a Scottish team. The player signed by Leeds United to steady its injury-ravaged and occasionally wobbly defence fnakes him the most expensive player in British soccer history and the costliest defender on Earth. And he's only just celebrated his 22nd birthday. i In both cases, the clubs left a man short will be using the cash to find other expensive talent that might revive their flagging for-fjines.

Let's start in Scotland, It would be hard to imagine a more draining week than that being endured by lanky Norwegian international goal scorer Tore Andre Flo. "vourname sensfan.com" luii'lMlitdnildirect from the Sens and Corel Centre 0 BSEBESIBSwiui sens players and hockey celebrities mil visit: ttawasenatars.com rMHH BtmATVMB MOCXWY.