If Blue Bombers receiver Nic Demski scores his sixth touchdown of the season against the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday, he will have to come up with a different way of celebrating — or it will cost him.
Not on Thursday.
The teams will be using footballs with computer chips inserted, part of the CFL’s effort to broaden its statistical data.
The Bombers and Alouettes have been told they can’t keep any balls as souvenirs, and shouldn’t throw them to fans, either.
“So I just want to say I’m sorry to the fans right now,” Demski said. “Hopefully the fans can appreciate the reason why. That’s installed in my mind, when I score. Hopefully I can think twice before I do that.”
“It’s a big fine,” receiver Kenny Lawler said. “I’ll have to run up to him (Demski) and tell him. If you want to see a game cheque this week, don’t throw that ball.”
In the euphoria of the touchdown moment, it might be a hard habit to break.
“I was joking with Demski, I guarantee that at some point he’s just going to subconsciously score and toss that thing in the stands,” fellow receiver Dalton Schoen said. “So we’ll see what happens with that.”
Schoen is under the impression it’s not just a one-week thing.
“I’ve never thrown one in the stands, and I guess I’ll never get to,” he said. “I was going to try that at some point.”
Schoen has already held onto two from this season: his first touchdown and another one that meant a lot to him in Montreal.
“A double-move, in the rain, tough catch,” he said. “I like to keep a couple, just to give to people back home who’ve been supporting me, family and stuff like that.”
On the relatively rare occasion that Jefferson intercepts a pass or picks up a fumble and goes to the house (he has done it five times in his career), he brings the ball home.
“I give them to my wife and my daughters,” he said.
This week, at least, they’ll have to settle for a replacement ball from equipment manager Brad Fotty.
All this raises a question nobody seems able to answer.
NOT GREEN WITH ENVY
Ask Deatrick Nichols if opposing quarterbacks are throwing his way much, and he breaks into a grin.
“No, not at all,” the Bombers defensive back said. “It’s part of the game. You can’t let that distract you or feel like you’re having an off or bad game, or you think you should do more. But that’s why I like this team. It really doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”
The man playing right next to him is getting a ton of it these days.
Demerio Houston leads the CFL with seven interceptions, returning the last one for a touchdown.
Earlier this week, head coach Mike O’Shea gave some of the credit to Nichols, who in his third CFL season is getting the ultimate compliment: Teams staying away from him.
Nichols just calls his year “solid.”
“We’re 8-2,” he said. “I’m feeling great. I can’t ask for any more.”
Not even a little more action?
“Not at all. That’s my teammate. We work with each other, we grind, we sweat, tears and everything together. It’s just his time to shine.”
On Nichols’ other side, safety Brandon Alexander is expected to play, despite missing practice all week.
“He should be fine,” O’Shea said. “He’s just under the weather.”
SPECIAL APPRECIATION
Winnipeg’s punt-return game has been lacking since the injury to Janarion Grant.
O’Shea says it’s a combination of his team’s blocking and a trend to really good punt cover teams.
“We’re at a point in the CFL now where the punters are phenomenal, the placement, the distance, the hang,” O’Shea said. “Team are getting creative with how they cover, who they cover with. I don’t know that too many fans are specifically watching the punt game and punt cover teams … usually you’re probably off getting a beer at that point.
“It’s too bad. Because it’s a pretty neat time in the CFL right now for punt teams.”
You can take the man out of special teams, but you can’t take special teams out of the man.
