Feelings come ‘roaring back' for former CFL star quarterback Doug Flutie in Calgary
Former Boston College and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie watches from the Notre Dame sideline during the first half of the Camping World Bowl NCAA college football game against Iowa State Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019, in Orlando, Fla. Flutie will participate in the Calgary Stampeders' 80th anniversary celebrations Saturday, June 7, 2025, at McMahon Stadium. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Calgary Stampeders hitch quarterback wagon to 'Big-play VA' Vernon Adams Jr.
Calgary Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., right, hands the ball off to Jeshrun Antwi during first half CFL preseason football action against the Edmonton Elks in Calgary, Saturday, May 24, 2025. The Stampeders look to Adams to help turn the team around in 2025 after missing the playoffs last season. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh The road back to the CFL playoffs goes through Vernon Adams Jr. in Calgary. The Stampeders acquired the quarterback from the B.C. Lions a month after their worst season in two decades concluded in 2024. Calgary finished last in the CFL with a 5-12-1 record. The Lions choosing Nathan Rourke their No. 1 pivot, and Calgary looking for an upgrade after two and a half seasons of Jake Maier brought the 32-year-old Adams to a team looking for a turnaround in 2025 after missing the post-season for the first time in 19 years. 'He's Vernon Adams, he's Big-Play VA, so he's going to bring Calgary back to where it used to be,' predicted receiver Dominique Rhymes. 'He's used to being a winner, so he is going to be bringing that winning culture, and I think it's going happen immediately.' Adams denies B.C.'s preference for Rourke injects extra motivation into him as a Stampeder. 'No, not at all. I'm blessed, I'm grateful,' the Californian declared. 'I'm happy a team wants me and I'm here. It's the start of a new journey and it's great.' The five-foot-11, 195-pound pivot led the CFL in passing yards in 2023 (4,769) and ranked second in touchdowns (31). He was in the conversation for Most Outstanding Player in 2024 with B.C. before he was sidelined with injury in August. CFL quarterbacks often get disproportionate credit for wins and blame for losses in a team game, but there's no denying the position's importance in a three-down league. 'One twelfth, but quarterback play is vital,' said Stampeders coach and general manager Dave Dickenson, a former CFL quarterback himself. 'I don't need fancy plays. Make plays, sure, but do what is required to win. He's done that in his career. He is definitely a guy that is a winner and finds ways to win ball games even sometimes when he maybe he's not having his best stuff. 'I really believe halfway through the year, he was odds-on favourite to win the MOP last year and injuries kind of derailed it. Careers are weird that way. They definitely take you from one city to the other. I think he's happy to be here and we just got to provide him the support so he can be Vernon.' New Stampeder quarterbacks coach Dakota Prukop has had a close view of Adams' career since Prukop played for Montana State and Adams for Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Conference. Both men eventually transferred to Oregon, with Prukop a Duck a year after Adams. The two men continued to circle each other in the CFL before crossing paths at Lions training camp last year. 'Vernon's a veteran in the CFL, but this is his first year in this playbook,' Prukop said. 'His ability to pick up this playbook in the way he has and have the details in this play book has been something really impressive. That has not surprised me. I saw his professional habits when we were together in B.C. 'I don't want to say he's a gamer in the sense that he does not do well outside of a game, but he has an extra gear on game day. When you couple that with his professionalism and being a true pro, and then he has that extra gear in game day, if the pressure is on, if the score is tight, he's the guy you want in your huddle.' Since throwing his first CFL pass for the Montreal Alouettes in 2016, Adams has amassed 16,190 career passing yards with a 64-per-cent completion rate. He's thrown 86 touchdown passes, as well as 54 interceptions, while rushing for 24 touchdowns. 'My thing was I threw too many interceptions,' Adams said. 'Just want to make sure I'm protecting the ball and getting my playmakers the ball. Let them do the rest.' -- Donna Spencer This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
'Both teams are at the top of their game': Hockey analyst after Panthers even series in Game 2
Watch The Hockey News analyst Tony Ferrari discusses the performance of Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
National Post
2 hours ago
- National Post
Some tough times for some big names in growing PWHL
Until this past week, the majority of the best players in women's hockey have been shielded from the dirtier side of the business side of professional sports and how that could impact their day-to-day lives. Article content An expansion process focused on maintaining league-wide parity ended that shielding once and for all. Article content Article content And kudos to the women — the likes of Hilary Knight, Sarah Nurse, Alex Carpenter and Emerance Maschmeyer to name just four — who handled this all with so much grace. Article content It can't have been easy for hockey players who all their lives have been told they are at the very elite level of their sport, to suddenly hear from the general managers of the teams they helped form that there were three other players they would rather protect going forward. Article content All four of the aforementioned players were foundational signings — the three players on each of the six original clubs that the teams would be build around — and two years later all four, one of them a captain, were left unprotected. Article content Then put the shoe on the other foot and imagine being the GM told they can protect just three players and having to weigh factors such as age, financial flexibility and long-term goals to say nothing of the personal relationships built over two years and some longer than that, and then having to approach a player who has probably never been cut from a team and tell them they would not be protected. Article content But that was the hand dealt both GMs and many of the league's biggest stars over the past few weeks. Article content Article content Soft — read wildly popular — landing spots in Seattle and Vancouver helped cushion the blow for the players, but that didn't stop it from being a roller coaster ride these past few weeks for some of the most highly respected women in the game. Article content Article content Nurse was as much the face of the Sceptres franchise as anyone on the team. She was one of three foundational signings along with defender Renata Fast and eventual team captain Blayre Turnbull. She was part of the marketing campaign that introduced the PWHL to Toronto. She was even part of the Player's Association Executive that helped negotiate the collective bargaining agreement this league will play under for another six seasons yet.
