Perry holds off Weir
Kenny Perry closed with a 3-under 69 to win the Memorial with Mike Weir finishing second
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Tavares finds his motivationTeam Canada forward testing himself at the highest level still available to him Full text |
Kenny Perry closed with a 3-under 69 to win the Memorial with Mike Weir finishing second
Head coach John Carver cautions that there is no room for egos in the locker room
On the men's side, Djokovic and Nadal both advanced while Nestor and his partner Zimonjic reached the doubles quarter-finals
Missing out on the top pick in 2007 draft turned out to be the best thing that could have happened
Evgeni Malkin has been nowhere when the Penguins most need him
SURREY, B.C. — In his locker at the B.C. Lions suburban practice facility, running back Stefan Logan posted a memorandum from a team official outlining the money at stake in the CFL playoffs.
Unlike other professional sports enterprises, where millions are at stake, the total for a championship player seems relatively humble in the CFL. Logan stands to make an extra $22,600 — the sum of the winning players' shares in three playoff rounds — should the Lions defeat the Calgary Stampeders in the West Division final Saturday and go on to capture the 96th Grey Cup at Montreal's Olympic Stadium next weekend.
For a 27-year-old rookie who worked as an assistant mortician before earning his chance in the professional ranks, the money makes a difference. Especially when you consider a first-year CFL salary is only about twice the handle at stake in the postseason. Logan wouldn't specify what he is making, but he certainly didn't have much bargaining clout when the Lions came calling earlier this year.
"It's motivation," Logan said of the memo. "This reminds me to keep going and to keep the team going."
BC Lions' Stefan Logan, left, dodges a tackle from Calgary Stampeders' Brandon Smith earlier this month. The two teams will face each other Saturday in the CFL West Division final. (Jeff McIntosh/CP)
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders cleaned out their lockers Tuesday to end a tumultuous season.
For the Lions to continue advancing this month, Logan will have to keep going. The tailback has nearly 400 yards from scrimmage in his past two games, including a 226-yard effort against the Stampeders on Nov. 1, the final game of the regular season, and 153 yards on 18 carries in a 33-12 playoff victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders last Saturday.
Calgary has the CFL's best run defence, which allows 89.7 yards a game, or 10 yards less than the next stingiest unit. Logan is averaging nearly 170 yards from scrimmage against the Stampeders in two games this season, and his production will be counted on at McMahon Stadium.
Logan's importance is remarkable given where he started this season and what the Lions had at his position. He came to training camp on the recommendation of late team president Bob Ackles, who was given a tip by a friend with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, and in that way can be viewed as a legacy of the legendary builder, who passed away on July 6.
B.C.'s football staff felt strongly enough about the University of South Dakota product to bring him to camp, where he played second fiddle to Joe Smith, the league's leading rusher and the Lions most outstanding player in 2007. By the sixth game of the season, Logan had supplanted Smith as the starter.
General manager and head coach Wally Buono was so impressed with Logan in training camp that he thought about anointing the rookie as the starter before deciding to stick with the incumbent.
"We were respecting the process, but eventually the process has to be halted and you have to make the tough decision," said Buono, who called Logan among his most consistent performers in 2008.
But another challenge emerged when the Lions traded Smith to Winnipeg in early September for tailback Charles Roberts, one of just five players in league history to eclipse 10,000 rushing yards. Logan played well enough to fend off his more accomplished rival, but he injured his ribs and took a seat in the final month, re-opening the door for Roberts.
The former Blue Bomber was performing admirably, but ruptured his Achilles tendon in the penultimate game of the season, when Logan was being held out for precautionary reasons.
Logan, generously listed at 5-foot-6 and 181 pounds, returned and didn't miss a beat, finishing the season with 889 yards and with a better yards-per-carry average, 7.3, than any player with at least 50 rushes. He was named B.C.'s top rookie.
"That's how things roll," a philosophical Logan said about his meteoric rise. "Things change."
And Logan knows about things changing more than most.
After university, he worked with his father at the University of Miami, preparing corpses for research in the medical school. It was scary, it was quiet and the room was colder than Regina in November.
"There's no adrenalin pumping in there," Logan said. "That's not something I want to do, but you've got to make money. You've got to survive."
Making money and surviving. The Lions hope to both this weekend.