Lions upend Alouettes to win Grey Cup
WINNIPEG (CP) - Paul McCallum kicked a record six field goals as the British Columbia Lions defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-14 to claim the Grey Cup in a defensive battle Sunday.
Ian Smart had a touchdown for the Lions, the CFL's best team in the regular season, who won their fifth Grey Cup and their first since they beat Montreal in the 2000 championship game.
''I can't even describe it, it's just feels so good,'' Lions receiver Geroy Simon, the CFL's most outstanding player who made four catches for 41 yards, told CBC. ''They did as great job of covering me, but we knew our big guys were going to step up and make some plays, they did a great job.''
Robert Edwards ran in a TD for the Alouettes, but fumbled on the one-yard line to kill a late comeback attempt with 4:06 left in the game. Otis Floyd recovered for B.C.
Damon Duval booted a field goal and the defence forced two safeties for Montreal, which was in its fifth Grey Cup in seven years and remains with only a win in 2002 to show for it.
McCallum, named the game's outstanding Canadian, tied a record for Grey Cup games shared by three other kickers, including his kicking coach Don Sweet, who booted six in 1977, Hamilton's Paul Osbaldiston in 1986 and Edmonton's Edmonton's Sean Fleming in 1993.
''The guys did really well, they got me in position I just did my job,'' McCallum told CBC. ''I don't know what to say it hasn't really sunk in yet.''
In a losing cause Montreal's Anthony Calvillo was 20-of-41 for 234 yards, pushing his career yardage total in the championship game to 1,468 yards. That broke Doug Flutie's record of 1,421.
And slotback Ben Cahoon made 11 receptions to break Als great Hal Patterson's record of 29 career Grey Cup catches, upping it to 31.
A full house of 44,786 turned out in clear, -3 C cold to see a game that unfolded as predicted - a clear B.C. win.
The Lions entered the game as seven-point favourites and showed it in a dominant first half in which Montreal only twice moved the ball into B.C. territory.
But the Alouettes defence limited first-half damage to a 19-3 Lions lead on Smart's TD and four McCallum field goals. Paris Jackson caught five passes for 65 yards and Ryan Thelwell had four for 39 yards in the opening 30 minutes alone.
Lions quarterback Dave Dickenson - named the game's outstanding player after going 18-for-129 yards for 184 yards and ran for 53 more - led a long opening drive that resulted in a 34-yard McCallum field goal and then took his team from his own 18 into range for a 35-yard McCallum boot.
''I was going to do what it takes,'' Dickenson told CBC. ''We deserved this.''
CFL outstanding rookie Aaron Hunt forced a Calvillo fumble at the Montreal 23, setting up yet another McCallum field goal.
Smart scored the game's first TD on a 25-yard run untouched around the left side 4:12 into the second quarter.
''This is a very emotional night and an emotional game for me,'' Smart told CBC. ''Yhis is a team that let me go early in the season, they told me I wasn't good enough so I felt like I had something to prove.''
Montreal finally got into the B.C. end midway through the quarter, Duval's 46-yard attempt was wide left. On Montreal's next possession, Duval was good from 43 yards to put Montreal on the board.
Dickenson led a final drive for a 30-yard field goal as time expired in the half.
The Montreal defence returned with renewed resolve in the second half and momentum shifted as it forced a Dickenson fumble at the Als' 46 that stood up after a challenge and video review.
The offence was stopped, but Duval angled a punt out at the B.C. one and two plays later, McCallum conceded a safety at 8:47.
Getting the ball back, Calvillo led his best drive to that point and Edwards scored on a two-yard run to cut B.C.'s lead to seven points.
The Lions are 5-4 in Grey Cup games while the Alouettes are 5-10. B.C coach Wally Buono, going against Grey Cup rookie Jim Popp, improved his record in championship games to 4-4.
It was a fifth trip in seven years to the Grey Cup game for the Alouettes, but their only win was in 2002 in Edmonton. The Lions lost a Grey Cup to Toronto in 2004.
As they have done often this season, the Lions used all three quarterbacks, with backups Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson going in for short running plays.
There was some nastiness before the game as Montreal's Avon Cobourne and B.C.'s Floyd got into a jawing match and others joined in as the teams passed each other for player introductions.
Next year's Grey Cup is to be played indoors at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Beatles' 'Love' Looming As Christmas Hit
A masterclass in studio creativity, the new Beatles album project "Love" (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol) is also shaping up to be a massive commercial success.
U.K. retailers are confident the album will prove a sales winner in the lead-up to Christmas. "Any Beatles recording will always have wide appeal -- both with the hardcore fans and more mainstream music buyers," says HMV U.K. & Ireland London-based head of music Gary Rolfe. "Obviously, the Christmas gift market means it will have the potential to reach an even wider audience this time around, particularly as the packaging is so well presented and there is much anticipation around George Martin's production of the album."
Initial shipments ahead of the Monday (Nov. 20) international release are "great," and the recording has achieved No. 1 pre-sale status on Amazon.com, EMI Music U.K. & Ireland chairman/CEO Tony Wadsworth tells Billboard.com.
As previously reported, "Love" is the soundtrack to Cirque du Soleil's Beatles show of the same name in Las Vegas. It encompasses "mash-ups" of elements from throughout the Beatles' storied career, reconstituted by the band's producer, George Martin, and his son Giles.
The album was premiered for journalists this morning (Nov. 17) at London's Abbey Road Studios. "The first score I did with the Beatles was for 'Yesterday'. This is the final one," said George Martin, who was inducted Tuesday (Nov. 14) into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame. "It's top and tail. And it's very important to me."
When asked by host Paul Gambaccini how he felt on completing the two-year project, Martin quipped, "great relief. I'm too old for this lark now." Martin went on to explain, "It's been an odyssey, a journey and it's been a lot of fun along the way. This music is to convey the unanimity of the Beatles. It was a great privilege for me."
"It's a unique album, there's nothing to measure it by," added Wadsworth. "It will be interesting to see how other artists take it on board and recreate their own works."
Heroes Recruits Captain Sulu
Superman had Jor-El. Batman has Wayne Manor. And now Hiro Nakamura has Captain Sulu.
Figuring all great Heroes need to have come from somewhere, the hit NBC series has tapped Star Trek icon George Takei to play the father of Hiro Nakamura, the plucky Japanese office worker who happens to be able to bend the space-time continuum.
E! Online's Kristin Veitch reported Monday that a new character "who has been around a lot longer" was joining the serialized drama, which has become one of the few solid new hits of the 2006 television season, attracting more than 14.4 million viewers a week.
"This is absolutely brilliant," Masi Oka, who plays Hiro, told TV Guide. "Hiro's father is this big honcho who shows up in America with his bodyguard. He has this whole elaborate scheme to kidnap his son and take him back to Japan."
Which probably won't go over too well with Hiro, who, after traveling five weeks into the future just in time to see New York go boom, has journeyed to the States to save the world.
"I just hope I get to say, 'Dad! Sulu is my hero, not you!' The sci-fi fans would love it!" Oka said.
Takei, 69, a cult figure among Trekkies and currently the unlikely official voice of The Howard Stern Show, will show up on Heroes in a Jan. 29 cliffhanger episode.
"It was just one of those lightning-bolt ideas," series creator Tim Kring told TV Guide.
After his steady gig piloting the starship Enterprise came to an end after 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Takei busied himself with a host of voiceover work in TV, films and videogames and guest spots on shows ranging from The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle to Scrubs and Will & Grace.
In fact, it was Takei's trademark deep voice and flair for enunciation that made him a favorite on The Howard Stern Show back when the morning shock-jock was still on terrestrial radio. After a few engaging interviews that proved just how open-minded Takei's sense of humor is, he was tapped to be the show's announcer when it made the jump to Sirius Satellite Radio.
BRIAN WILSON'S BACK TO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF 'PET SOUNDS'
Some days are just too good to be true. When Brian Wilson gets on the phone to talk about "Pet Sounds," in the background are his new pet sounds: dogs barking. It's no wonder - he has 13.
The once-beleaguered Beach Boy, a much-heralded musical genius felled by drug abuse, psychotic withdrawal and other mental illnesses, is now in a happy place, about to celebrate the album's 40th anniversary.
"It's quite an event because it's the best album the Beach Boys ever made," Wilson tells The New York Post.
While critically lauded - Paul McCartney said it influenced "Sgt. Pepper" - "Pet Sounds" wasn't well received by the American pop-buying public when released.
But decades later, the new CD/DVD set (with the tracks in their original mono and remixed stereo formats) hit No. 8 on Billboard's Pop Catalog charts and debuted in iTunes' Top 100.
The Beach Boys' music and Brian Wilson are both having a sun-kissed comeback. 2003's greatest hits compilation "Sounds of Summer" went double platinum, and in 2004, Wilson, working with Van Dyke Parks and Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints (which essentially became Brian Wilson's backing band), recorded and performed "Smile," finishing the legendary aborted Beach Boys project.
And on Tuesday and Wednesday, Wilson performs the complete "Pet Sounds" at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Looking back on making the album, Wilson says, "We took our time and recorded it on a four-track machine, and we had a good time working with so many wonderful musicians.
"The beautiful 'God Only Knows,'" he adds, "is a very sentimental song because of my brothers' deaths." (Dennis Wilson drowned at 39 in 1983, and Carl Wilson died of cancer in 1998.)
But he doesn't time travel too much. "I like to think about [those days], but I think about today more."
Even though fans adore him when he plays, an insecure Wilson still suffers from stage fright. "I get very nervous before a show, real nervous," he admits.
But Sahanaja, Wilson's bandleader, says it's fleeting: "Once we hit stage and he feels the love from the audience, the fear seems to just slip away.
"Without sounding too corny," he adds, "I really do feel that the best medicine is the music."
Wilson, 64, says he continues to perform to support his wife, his three adopted children (ages 9, 8 and 2) and himself, but it's clearly not just about the money.
"I need to be in front of people and I need to express myself artistically," he explains. "I was going to retire because I was tired of the business, but when 'Smile' came along, I couldn't because I liked it too much. Same with 'Pet Sounds.' I'm very proud of it, so I can't stop working."
He was richly rewarded when he overpowered his stage jitters at the 2004 "Smile" concert debut in London. Wilson is still thrilled by the experience.
"I got standing ovations that you wouldn't have believed - people standing and clapping for five and 10 minutes. They loved it," he says with childlike wonder.
"I almost cried, I was so darn relieved. I just knew the record would be great based on their reaction."
Despite the nerves, performing does give Wilson a high. And a low.
"You know when you take an upper pill, you feel fantastic for hours and all of a sudden you start to come down?" he says. "It's just like that at a concert. As soon as the concert's over - pssshhhhew, dip, dip, way down there."
Sahanaja recalls worrying about Wilson when he played with him at that first solo show eight years ago.
"I'd be thinking that each next song would be the one where he'd bolt off the stage from stage fright. But he never did leave the stage, and I could see that each performance would help build that comfort zone," he says.
Some of the last 40 years have been hard on Wilson, whose childlike happiness and directness is apparent even over phone lines. And even more apparent, of course, when you work with him.
"He's incapable of being phony in any way. Whatever he says at any given time will be the absolute truth at that particular moment, which by the way may change within the hour," says Sahanaja, who calls him the Chauncey Gardiner of rock 'n' roll.
Ironically, the scene at a British Awards event could've been straight out of "Being There."
"U2's Bono got down on one knee to express how much Brian had moved and inspired him," says Sahanaja. "Brian's reply was 'Thanks. Can you get me a Diet Coke?'"
'Happy Feet' dances to top of box office
LOS ANGELES - James Bond has met his match — not a fellow spy but a tap-dancing penguin. The Warner Bros. animated penguin romp "Happy Feet" debuted with $42.3 million, grabbing an edge for the weekend's No. 1 slot over Sony's Bond adventure "Casino Royale," which opened with $40.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The two films were close enough that their rankings could change when final numbers are released Monday.
"'Happy Feet' is just ahead by a flipper," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's unusual to have two movies this close, battling for that No. 1 position."
Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner, said "Happy Feet" was solidly ahead and that the rankings would not flip-flop on Monday.
"It's not going to happen," Fellman said. "It's a clear victory here."
"Casino Royale" took an early lead over "Happy Feet" on opening day because of strong adult audiences Friday night. "Happy Feet" dominated the rest of the weekend, drawing big crowds on Saturday and Sunday when family films do their best business.
The box-office leader the last two weekends, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," slipped to third with $14.35 million, lifting its total to $90.5 million.
With the rarity of two movies in the $40 million range, Hollywood had a robust weekend, the top 12 movies taking in $133.6 million. Still, that could not measure up to the same weekend a year ago, when the $102.3 million debut of " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" paced the top 12 to a $171.9 million total.
"Happy Feet" features the voices of Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Robin Williams in the story of an penguin who cannot carry a tune like his brethren but can tap-dance up a storm.
"Casino Royale," introducing Daniel Craig as British super-spy Bond, fell right between the debuts of the previous two 007 flicks, which had been No. 1 and 2 among the franchise's openings.
The last Bond movie, Pierce Brosnan's "Die Another Day," holds the franchise record with $47.1 million in November 2002. Brosnan's 1999 Bond adventure "The World Is Not Enough" premiered with $35.5 million in November 1999.
"I think a $40 million-plus start for a new series of Bonds with Daniel Craig is a great beginning," said Jeff Blake, Sony vice chairman. "Casino Royale" also brought in $42.2 million in Great Britain, Russia and 25 other countries where it opened this weekend, Blake said.
In narrower release, two other new movies bombed, Universal's jailhouse comedy "Let's Go to Prison" taking in $2.1 million and Fox Searchlight's junk-food chronicle "Fast Food Nation" grossing $390,000.
Christopher Guest's Hollywood spoof "For Your Consideration" debuted strongly in limited release with $394,000 at 23 theaters. The film released by Warner Independent features a huge ensemble including director Guest, co-writer Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara in a comedy about Academy Awards fever among the cast of a small Hollywood drama.
Emilio Estevez's Robert Kennedy saga "Bobby" opened well with $67,000 in just two theaters. From the Weinstein Co. and MGM, "Bobby" features an all-star cast including Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, Anthony Hopkins and Lindsay Lohan in the story of people gathered at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the night Kennedy was assassinated there in 1968.
"Bobby" and "For Your Consideration" expand to nationwide release this week.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Happy Feet," $42.3 million.
2. "Casino Royale," $40.6 million.
3. "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," $14.35 million.
4. "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," $8.2 million.
5. "Flushed Away," $6.8 million.
6. "Stranger Than Fiction," $6.6 million.
7. "Babel," $2.9 million.
8. "Saw III," $2.8 million.
9. "The Departed," $2.6 million.
10. "The Queen," $2.3 million.