10 WEEKEND THINGS

OPENING THE VAULT

1 – In the absence of any real electrifying CFL news at the moment, I’m going to crack the lid on some fun behind-the-scenes stories from my years in the sports media game. The first is the infamous Duron Carter Practice Fight which is still told in CFL circles, but the exact details are still shrouded in secrecy. Until today. I’m going to break it up over a series of several points.

2 – It was Monday, October 14/2017. The Riders were holding Day 1 of their practice week at Mosaic Stadium, and getting ready for a Week 18 match-up at Calgary that Friday. I normally watched Rider practices from the stands in the northwest corner with all the other media but on this day I was on the home sidelines, watching intently. Chris Getzlaf had just re-signed with the team for the playoff run and it was his first day. I’d had tons of Getzlaf action photos from over the years, but none in jersey #71. Duron Carter was wearing Getzlaf’s famous #89 but he wasn’t giving it up, nor did Chris expect him to. That ended up being far from the story of the day anyway.

3 – It was a spirited, competitive practice, like most Chris Jones practices were. Duron was his usual talkative self – nothing new there – but he had a particularly long-running dialogue going with cornerback #37 Sam Williams. Carter was giving Williams problems covering him, and letting him know about it. Jones drawled something in Williams’ ear and all of a sudden, there was a scuffle. Frankly, I didn’t think anything of it. Practice skirmishes were nothing new, and initially I thought it was just playfighting. But then I heard a distinct “smack … smack” which caused my ears to perk up. I recognized that sound from my hockey days. That’s the sound of fists hitting face. Then, I heard a “thud” and everybody gathered round in a circle like a schoolyard brawl.

I remember thinking, “Duron’s not just a talented receiver. He can throw the dukes too!”

4 – This was occurring around the north 50-yard line, and Duron was eventually pulled out of the pile. Receivers coach Markus Howell dragged Carter all the way down to the south 35-yard line and the receiver was livid. He was screaming “F- you Jones! F- you!” I’d had my camera in my pocket and quickly pulled it out and starting snapping pics. I’d barely put it back in my pocket before I was warned not to be posting those photos anywhere. The eventual deal was, since I was only the reporter on the sidelines, I wasn’t to ask Jones about it in the post-practice media scrum unless another reporter brought it up. Nobody did.

While walking off the field with Chris Getzlaf, I leaned over to him and said “Welcome to the jungle.” He responded, “I love it.”

5 – By 4:00 I was going to air on the SportsCage and there were reports coming out from national media about the incident. They weren’t accurate from what I’d seen with my own eyes but, again, I wasn’t allowed to say anything about it. Sportsnet’s Arash Madani had the biggest expose on the story, suggesting that Jones had set the whole fight up in advance. Then, reports were coming out of TSN that the Riders were going to release Duron.

6 – That evening I was at a fundraiser at the Press Box Sports Bar and my phone started going off like a slot machine. Rider players were texting with all kinds of questions about the incident and QB Kevin Glenn wrote, “Did we actually just cut our best player?” I wrote back, “You were on the field! You tell me!?”

7 – At this point, we’re about 30% through the story. I’ll let Duron describe it in his own words. He discussed it in an interview on The Rod Pedersen Show.

“I guess the Statute of Limitations is up,” Duron laughed from Florida. “I had got into a confrontation with another player on the team. It was the same as any other confrontation. Practice ended, I’m about to leave, and I get called to the coach’s office. When I get called in, all the coaches and front office staff are there. This is like two weeks before playoffs or something. Coach Jones is like ‘Duron I’m sorry, but we’re gonna let you go’. I’m like, ‘Okay’. There’s nothing you can really respond to that. I was sideswiped by the decision.

“He asked if anyone else had anything to say and I’ll say the only guy that stuck up for me in that meeting – and those coaches are all around the league now – was John Murphy. John Murphy said his little spiel and that was it, and I left. I was supposed to get a flight back to Florida the next day.”

8 – Case closed, right? WRONG! The next day Duron was out on the field in a green defensive jersey and practicing with the secondary. What happened overnight? I’ll let Duron tell it.

“Then I got a text from Coach Shivers and he asked me to come to his meeting in the morning,” Duron continued. “I did, he gave me the playbook and that was three days before the game. I studied that, and I ended up practicing the next day with the 2’s. I looked good with the 2’s so the next day I started. The plan was to put me in the game, a game that didn’t really matter, and the plan was I was gonna get beat up on and that would be an easy way for me to fade out. But I capitalized on my opportunity, and here we are.”

9 – We all know what Duron’s talking about, but let’s back up a minute. The CFL is small and there are no secrets. Before that Day 2 practice was over, word had already gotten to Calgary that Carter was lining up at cornerback. That started Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell chirping Duron on Twitter, saying he was going to throw at him all night. Duron didn’t say a thing.

On the day of the game at Calgary, Friday, October 20, Rider fan Cory Zadorozniak (Cory from Weyburn) texted me beforehand and said wouldn’t it be something if Duron got a Pick 6 off Bo? I told him to quit dreaming, and that I’d just be happy with a win.

Well we all know what happened. The Riders torched the Stampeders 30-7 that night and Duron recorded two tackles and that infamous Pick 6. At 2:32 of the fourth quarter, Duron intercepted Mitchell and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown. That led to the infamous call of:

“BO LEVI – SHUT … YOUR … MOUTH!”

The origin of that call was that I’d become pretty close to Duron and felt Bo Levi was in the wrong by bullying him that week. Mitchell wasn’t exactly in the Riders’ good graces to begin with, after blowing the whistle on their practice roster scheme the year before. So when that play happened, given its high improbability and the intense feelings involved, I just exhaled and let it fly. I’d prefer some of my other calls were the ones I’m remembered for, but you can’t change history.

Anyway, after the play, Duron was subsequently mobbed by his entire team in the Calgary endzone and I went on to say, “Does that look like a guy who his teammates don’t like?” That part of the clip never made the highlight reel.

But by the time we got to the team bus after the game, players already had the soundbyte of the call downloaded on their phones and were playing it over and over! The wonders of technology.

10 – So there you have it. I don’t exactly know what happened between Duron being released, and winding up back on the field with the defense less than 24 hours later. One thing I did learn is that Jones never *really* set the fight up. After having enough of Duron’s jaw-jacking, Jones snarled in Sam Williams’ ear, “Are you gonna take that?” That started the fists flying.

Perhaps I’ll find out the whole story in time for my forthcoming book I’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE: Stories From My Decades In The Game. At present, it’s been four decades in the sports media industry (1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s and 2010’s) with more to come.

I’ve got a million of them.

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen