: Doug

Flutie may
be flying
and flakey
in Buffalo,
but the ride
will be
short lived

HAMISH KNOx

 

The “Flutie magic” is alive in

Buffalo; however, like all good

U

magicians, he's only exciting until
his tricks are revealed.

Simply put, Doug Flutie is
lighting up the NEL, with
defense-dazzling play fakes and
crowd-pleasing come-from-
behind victories, but it won't
last.

First, for anyone out there
who thinks Flutie betrayed his
country and “his” league (the
CFL) to jump to the lucrative
waters of the NEL, a brief
note: Doug Flutie was born in
Massachusetts and he attended
Boston College. In fact, he was

   

Can

while Flutie is on the field work-
ing his “magic.” The other is less

Steelers? The first few weeks of
the season he pulled off some
truly incredible plays, but as the

obvious, but more damaging —

season rolled

J on, and more

| teams had a
chance to see
him on film,

| his spectacular
plays dimin-
ished, and now
he's struggling
in his third

4 year under >
centre. This is

what will hap-

the Hiesman Trophy winner pen to Flutie.
(given to the best player in Remember the
NCAA college football) in touchdown he
1984, the same year he threw EES a J scored ona
the game winning Hail Mary “Holy shit! How did everybody get so big?” naked bootleg
pass to beat Miami in the to beat

Orange Bowl. film. In the videotape, nothing Jacksonville three weeks ago? How

There is one reason why Flutie
wont last more than this season
as the starter. Okay, there are two.
One is named Rob Johnson, and
he is getting 25 million dollars to
carry a clipboard on Sundays

volleyball continued from front

And another. And another.
Ryan Henley and Darryl
McCrady led the barrage with
three kills each. DC achieved a
lead of 12—3-very quickly, and
despite Malaspina’s efforts, won

 

 

the game [5—6.

Malaspina wasn't ready to give
up and quit, though. In the
fourth game, the Mariners came
back on the offensive, as they
answered the Royals’ kills with
their own. Ryan Henley scored 5
spikes, but this prompted the
Mariners to be more aggressive.

The Mariners pulled away from

0..-high. Should...have...eaten...more...Flutie Flakes.”

the Royals and won the game
15-6.

It all came down to the fifth
game. DC took the lead and
never gave it up. The men put up
the walls and never came down as
they “royally”
whipped the
Mariners
I1S—4.

The men's
volleyball team
had the disci-
pline to know
what to do
when they were
losing, accept a
loss gracefully,
and make up
for it in the
next game.
The men's
defense was
good, as they
dealt with
everything
thrown at
them, spike or
tip. As for
teamwork,
well,

Coach
Newman said
it best:

“When [the] unit worked togeth-
er, six individuals going after
every ball, doing their job on
every play, then the match turned
in our favour.”

can be hidden; every movement,
play, alignment and audible is
available for scrutiny and dissec-
tion. Remember the year Kordell
Stewart was named the starting

quarterback for the Pittsburgh

page

long will it be before teams start
keeping a linebacker or safety on
the weak side of the field to mash
Flutie as soon as he turns the cor-
ner? And the fake hand off he
used to cross up the Dolphins

 

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defense and toss a touchdown to
Jay Riemersma, whose nearest
tackler was the Back Judge?
Covered in a few weeks, when
teams begin watching the tight
end on the goal line.

Another thing that will keep
Flutie off the field by next season
is the size of the defenses that he
has to face. In the CFL, Flutie
was avoiding defensive linemen
the size of NFL linebackers, only
CFL d-linemen don't run the 40-
yard dash in 4.6 seconds. Flutie
has always managed to stay rela-
tively injury free because of his
elusiveness, but sooner or later a
Reggie White or Levon Kirkland
is going to put number 7 in a cart
— and I don't mean golf.

Every year, sports fans, if not
the public in general, tries to find
“Cinderella” stories that they use
to make themselves feel better.
This NFL season, Flutie is this
year's “Cinderella,” — but to
modify an old adage Doug,

. @ .
“three wins do not a bust in

,

Canton make,

 

 

 

 

a

 

 

The Other Press

November 11 1998 Page 9