OHN GODDARD
STAFF REPORTER
Joe Average nailed a $1 million field goal last night.
Contest winner Brian Diesbourg made good on his one chance to split the goal posts from 50 yards out, electrifying a CFL crowd 10 times the population of his hometown.
"I just knew it was up," he said minutes after the kick and after being mobbed by Argonaut team members ? including kicker Noel Prefontaine ? who swarmed onto the field.
"I couldn't wait for the officials. I thought, `Oh, I've got to raise my arms.'
"When it left my foot I was hoping it went left because I just missed the first three to the right.''
The attempt came at halftime in the Argos-Ticats game at the Rogers Centre.
The idea was to see if a fan randomly selected from 200,000 entries in an online TSN contest could do what professional kickers regularly fail at. So far this CFL season, only five of 11 such 50-yard attempts have been successful.
He got four kicks from four different distances. From the 20-yard line, he sailed the ball inches wide to the right. From the 30 and 40, he did the same.
Then TSN broke for an ad, leaving Diesbourg waiting for the big kick ? a game strategy called "icing the kicker" ? almost as though sponsors wanted to spoil his chances.
Diesbourg admitted having to wait for the timeout to end was excruciating.
"Oh my God," he exclaimed. "I didn't know what to do (during the commercial timeout)."
But Diesbourg was as cool as they come. On one hand, going into the contest, he seemed to have little going for him.
He is a 25-year-old mechanical engineer living near Windsor in Belle River, on Lake St. Clair, population 4,500.
He says he has never played football. Before the contest, in fact, he had never kicked a football. And contest rules prohibited him from practising, except for half an hour the day before.
On the other hand, Diesbourg is fit and athletic. He is an avid soccer player in a senior men's league. The contest allowed a half-hour practice with coaching from Prefontaine, who has made good on two out of three 50-yard field goals this season.
"He taught me tons," Diesbourg said of Prefontaine. "He showed me probably what made the $1 million."
Diesbourg gets the money in 40 yearly instalments of $25,000.
STAFF REPORTER
Joe Average nailed a $1 million field goal last night.
Contest winner Brian Diesbourg made good on his one chance to split the goal posts from 50 yards out, electrifying a CFL crowd 10 times the population of his hometown.
"I just knew it was up," he said minutes after the kick and after being mobbed by Argonaut team members ? including kicker Noel Prefontaine ? who swarmed onto the field.
"I couldn't wait for the officials. I thought, `Oh, I've got to raise my arms.'
"When it left my foot I was hoping it went left because I just missed the first three to the right.''
The attempt came at halftime in the Argos-Ticats game at the Rogers Centre.
The idea was to see if a fan randomly selected from 200,000 entries in an online TSN contest could do what professional kickers regularly fail at. So far this CFL season, only five of 11 such 50-yard attempts have been successful.
He got four kicks from four different distances. From the 20-yard line, he sailed the ball inches wide to the right. From the 30 and 40, he did the same.
Then TSN broke for an ad, leaving Diesbourg waiting for the big kick ? a game strategy called "icing the kicker" ? almost as though sponsors wanted to spoil his chances.
Diesbourg admitted having to wait for the timeout to end was excruciating.
"Oh my God," he exclaimed. "I didn't know what to do (during the commercial timeout)."
But Diesbourg was as cool as they come. On one hand, going into the contest, he seemed to have little going for him.
He is a 25-year-old mechanical engineer living near Windsor in Belle River, on Lake St. Clair, population 4,500.
He says he has never played football. Before the contest, in fact, he had never kicked a football. And contest rules prohibited him from practising, except for half an hour the day before.
On the other hand, Diesbourg is fit and athletic. He is an avid soccer player in a senior men's league. The contest allowed a half-hour practice with coaching from Prefontaine, who has made good on two out of three 50-yard field goals this season.
"He taught me tons," Diesbourg said of Prefontaine. "He showed me probably what made the $1 million."
Diesbourg gets the money in 40 yearly instalments of $25,000.
