Kelly ‘stupid’ for losing Glenn

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/11/2009 (5804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kevin Glenn, left by the side of the road with his thumb out at the end of last year’s trip by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, wouldn’t say it, but his teammate Otis Floyd was willing to do the talking for him.

Glenn had just finished beating the team that cut him in the off-season, in the process knocking them out of the playoffs, when he was asked if he thought the Bombers had made a mistake letting him go.

Glenn gave a pat, “you’d have to ask them that question,” with a cheeky smile on his face. Floyd, however, heard the question from his locker across the room and started unloading on Bombers coach Mike Kelly.

“Mike Kelly is stupid for letting (Glenn) go. Mike Kelly is stupid. He lets all the good players get away,” barked Floyd. “In my opinion, I don’t think he’ll be around the CFL much longer. I’ve played a long time and he’s got no class. The only thing I told that man was ‘better luck next year,’ and he told me to go (expletive deleted) myself. That’s the guy representing Manitoba? I feel sorry for you guys. I hope Kelly gets a big thing of popcorn and beer and watches us play next year. My name is Otis Floyd, get it right.”

Kelly was asked about his exchange with Floyd.

“Otis Floyd didn’t say anything near to ‘good luck next year,'” said Kelly. “I hope he has a degree that means something because when he’s done playing football, good luck getting a job.”

Glenn came out in Hamilton’s first series and drove the Ti-Cats down the field. After a number of plays he charged towards the Winnipeg bench and pounded his chest, yelling at Kelly.

The quarterback, who finished the day with a line of 28-of-42 for 316 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, did admit there was added juice for him in this game.

“Of course it was a big game. Then they hit me kinda late. They’ve been saying all week that I don’t like to get hit, so I was just telling them to keep hitting me because it was doing something for me,” said Glenn.

The QB was tossed to the turf late by Bomber defensive lineman Odell Willis on Hamilton’s opening drive, which led to a roughing-the-passer penalty that contributed to the Ticats first touchdown.

“This feels real good. We got a win on the road and we get to go home for a playoff game,” said Glenn. “We knocked out an East team.”

Glenn, the East Division’s Most Outstanding Player in 2007, was asked why his stock dropped so quickly following last season.

“I don’t know. That’s a very good question. Why don’t we find those people and ask them,” smiled Glenn, his eyes getting bigger as he answered the question. “I had confidence in myself and so did the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, to pick me up in the off-season. Some people didn’t have confidence in me and let’s leave it at that.”

Tiger-Cats quarterbacks coach Khari Jones was pleased with the way Glenn handled the pressure and rose above the distractions.

“I thought he played pretty well overall. He fought through adversity. Everybody saw a couple of balls that he’d like to have back but he kept fighting. Winnipeg has a good defence and they showed it,” said Jones, who was Glenn’s predecessor at quarterback with the Bombers.

“In the second half, we had to fight to keep their offence off the field and to give our defence good field position and I though he did a fantastic job. He did what we needed him to do to win this game.”

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca