From gutwash to Glenn-livet

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This article was published 19/07/2009 (5929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — He was cast out, cut adrift, punted to the curb — use whatever analogy you like — but Kevin Glenn’s exit from Winnipeg and the Blue Bombers this spring was about as cordial as taking a steel-toed boot to the private parts.
And Saturday night the longtime Bomber quarterback got a measure of revenge by punching back and helping lead his Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a 25-13 win over his old squad in front of 24,292 fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium with two second-half touchdown strikes.
Yes, irony may be especially delicious to Glenn, but it’s a rotting plate of crow to the organization he served for five years before being dumped.
“I told everybody at the beginning I’m not a vengeful person, but it does feel good to get a win on this night,” said Glenn, his face seemingly stuck in an ear-to-ear grin. “I’m not just saying it, but you want to treat every team the same. But I’ll be honest, it does feel nice it happened to be Winnipeg.
“It’s a pretty good script. You always think it could happen like that and some­times it don’t. But tonight, it did. When they came to me at halftime (to make a QB change) it was like, ‘It’s about to play out how everybody envisioned it.’” Well, maybe not everybody.
But for Glenn and two of his big pro­tectors on the O-line who also came east — Alex Gauthier and Dan Good­speed — this one was especially sweet. And that’s why they were among the last to leave a jubilant Ticat dressing room afterward.
Glenn, who replaced Quinton Porter at halftime, completed 11-of-19 for 146 yards and TD strikes to Dave Stala and Chris Davis and was also picked off twice — one returned 30 yards for a score by Siddeeq Shabazz. But he also scrambled, yes scrambled, for 27 yards, including a 22-yard run on a second­and- 20 in the third quarter.
After the strike to Stala that put the Tabbies up 23-13, Glenn turned to the Bomber bench and, in a 10-second flur­ry of gestures and emotions, unleashed about five-months worth of pent-up frustration.
“Ahhh, I think I was turning to the crowd,” said Glenn. “It’s just that (both benches) are on the same sidelines and it looked like I was turning to the Bomber bench. I don’t think I was turn­ing to the Bomber bench… oh, maybe I was. I don’t know.
“It was an emotional game for the guys that did come from Winnipeg. More importantly, the team made some believers out of people tonight.”
The Bombers, meanwhile, turned some believers off after looking so im­pressive in knocking off the Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders a week ago. Winnipeg managed just 260 yards offence, with just 124 through the air.
As well, head coach Mike Kelly said starting QB Stefan LeFors — who struggled in completing just seven of 19 passes for 99 yards — was yanked from the game not because of ineffect­iveness but because “he couldn’t rotate his upper body very well” after taking a shot in the second half.
“Our team played with great grit and determination,” said Kelly. “Anybody wearing a blue helmet and a white shirt didn’t leave anything out there. It’s on me. I didn’t put good enough schemes together in order for us to be success­ful.
I didn’t do a good enough job to give them an opportunity to function.
As has been the case through three games this season the Bombers were able to run the ball effectively, rack­ing up 137 yards along the ground. But when you pass for a grand total of 124 and both Terrence Edwards and Adar­ius Bowman don’t register a single catch — but Jon Oosterhuis and Riall Johnson (on a fake) do — then the offence doesn’t need some tinkering, it needs a team of mechanics banging away.
Afterward Kelly was asked if Bryan Randall, who completed two of his five attempts for 25 yards, might be con­sidered as the starter if both pivots are healthy. But before the question could even be completed, the head coach in­terrupted: “Stef is the quarterback here,” said Kelly. “Period.”