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During the short trip from the Château Laurier Hotel to the National War Memorial, literally across the street in Ottawa, Karen Kuldys stopped twice.
She took one digital photo showing the Rideau Canal locks leading to the Ottawa River. Her son, Ryan, took another, with Kuldys seated next to a plaque honouring Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was killed while on sentry duty on Oct. 22, 2014.
Then both Kuldyses posed for a snapshot in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the war memorial.
They were quintessential tourist moments, entirely understandable since the Kuldys family had never visited Canada’s capital.
How they got here this weekend involves a crazy set of circumstances.
After Karen Kuldys swiped her Air Miles card at a Winnipeg grocery store, her name was selected by random draw for a sponsored contest during the TV broadcast of the Toronto Argonauts-Winnipeg Blue Bombers game at Investors Group Field on July 13.
Ryan Lankford returned the opening kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown. Six points for the Bombers and a $25,000 home entertainment package for Kuldys.
Good, yes, but there was more craziness to follow.
On play 38, the Argos’ Martese Jackson returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown that meant nothing to Kuldys, and on play 63 he matched Lankford’s feat by running a Bombers kickoff back 109 yards for another score. Under contest rules, that could have netted Karen Kuldys a $1-million prize in equal instalments over 20 years.
Except for the penalty flag.
An on-field official believed Toronto’s Llevi Noel had committed an illegal block by pushing Winnipeg’s Mike Miller in the back. No touchdown, no $1-million prize.
Pretty much everyone watching from the stadium seats, on television, online and, well, everywhere else, believed Miller, nowhere close to catching Jackson, had stumbled and fallen into Noel’s path.
Under Canadian Football League video-replay rules, the “command centre” can tell officials to pick up a flag and wave off a penalty, but not for fouls subject to coaches’ challenges, such as pass interference, illegal interference and, yes, blocking on kick returns.
Argonauts head coach Marc Trestman didn’t throw his challenge flag after Jackson’s disallowed touchdown. He did throw it twice, under rules in effect then, on third- and fourth-quarter pass plays.
Twitter exploded. Karen Kuldys trended No. 1 in Canada one day after the game. There were 30 telephone messages waiting for her when she came home from work.
New CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie called, too, and the league, with the Bombers and the sponsors, offered a prize package including 2017 and ’18 season tickets, free groceries for a year, 500,000 reward miles and a VIP Grey Cup weekend trip to Ottawa. Kuldys flew in Friday with Ryan, her husband Stan and a family friend, who, believe it or not, is a rabid Saskatchewan Roughriders fan. Her daughter, Michelle, remained at home in Winnipeg with her own 14-month-old child.
Ryan and Stan are the family football experts, Kuldys said Saturday in the Château Laurier lobby. She just knew it was a bad call, as did, she added, everybody she had talked to since July, even at work in two Winnipeg restaurants.
“It’s something that most people will never be able to say. My grandchildren, when they get a little older — they’re only three, two and one — I’ll love to tell the story to them. ‘Grandma almost won a million dollars.’ That’s my favourite part,” she said. “It was the experience of a lifetime and not too many people will be able to say that they almost won a million dollars, but look at all the great gifts I got, thanks to the CFL.”
Early Saturday, Kuldys wandered around the stately old Château Laurier, paying particular attention to historical photos on the walls, and then she checked out the Rideau Centre mall down the street. She promised to ensure the family also went up the slope in the other direction to Parliament Hill before returning to Winnipeg on Monday afternoon.
The Grey Cup matters most, though. Kuldys vowed to sit through the first half at TD Place stadium on Sunday evening, no matter what, just to get the full experience, but conceded she and Stan might bail out and head to the VIP lounge inside for the second half if the temperature tumbled too far. If the Bombers had somehow qualified for the CFL championship contest, they’d stick it out in the great outdoors no matter what.
Her first Grey Cup experience — Ryan and Stan attended two previous finals in Winnipeg — got off to a good start Friday. Former B.C. Lions president and CEO Dennis Skulsky spotted Kuldys in the hotel lobby and introduced her to Lions coach and general manager Wally Buono, so, besides the images of the Rideau Canal and Cpl. Cirillo’s memorial plaque, the family’s digital camera contains an image of Karen and Ryan with the Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee.
“They were really nice. They’re really nice people. Oh my god,” Kuldys said. “Wally doesn’t look so nice on the sideline, but he was a wonderful man. He is so nice.”
The Kuldyses will be seated in Section C of the south grandstand on Sunday, and Karen will also be featured in a broadcast showing of the August presentation of the entertainment system at a Safeway store in Winnipeg.
“Me and Shania … the half-time show,” she said, laughing heartily.
gholder@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/HolderGord
查看原文...
She took one digital photo showing the Rideau Canal locks leading to the Ottawa River. Her son, Ryan, took another, with Kuldys seated next to a plaque honouring Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was killed while on sentry duty on Oct. 22, 2014.
Then both Kuldyses posed for a snapshot in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the war memorial.
They were quintessential tourist moments, entirely understandable since the Kuldys family had never visited Canada’s capital.
How they got here this weekend involves a crazy set of circumstances.
After Karen Kuldys swiped her Air Miles card at a Winnipeg grocery store, her name was selected by random draw for a sponsored contest during the TV broadcast of the Toronto Argonauts-Winnipeg Blue Bombers game at Investors Group Field on July 13.
Ryan Lankford returned the opening kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown. Six points for the Bombers and a $25,000 home entertainment package for Kuldys.
Good, yes, but there was more craziness to follow.
On play 38, the Argos’ Martese Jackson returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown that meant nothing to Kuldys, and on play 63 he matched Lankford’s feat by running a Bombers kickoff back 109 yards for another score. Under contest rules, that could have netted Karen Kuldys a $1-million prize in equal instalments over 20 years.
Except for the penalty flag.
An on-field official believed Toronto’s Llevi Noel had committed an illegal block by pushing Winnipeg’s Mike Miller in the back. No touchdown, no $1-million prize.
Pretty much everyone watching from the stadium seats, on television, online and, well, everywhere else, believed Miller, nowhere close to catching Jackson, had stumbled and fallen into Noel’s path.
Under Canadian Football League video-replay rules, the “command centre” can tell officials to pick up a flag and wave off a penalty, but not for fouls subject to coaches’ challenges, such as pass interference, illegal interference and, yes, blocking on kick returns.
Argonauts head coach Marc Trestman didn’t throw his challenge flag after Jackson’s disallowed touchdown. He did throw it twice, under rules in effect then, on third- and fourth-quarter pass plays.
Twitter exploded. Karen Kuldys trended No. 1 in Canada one day after the game. There were 30 telephone messages waiting for her when she came home from work.
New CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie called, too, and the league, with the Bombers and the sponsors, offered a prize package including 2017 and ’18 season tickets, free groceries for a year, 500,000 reward miles and a VIP Grey Cup weekend trip to Ottawa. Kuldys flew in Friday with Ryan, her husband Stan and a family friend, who, believe it or not, is a rabid Saskatchewan Roughriders fan. Her daughter, Michelle, remained at home in Winnipeg with her own 14-month-old child.
Ryan and Stan are the family football experts, Kuldys said Saturday in the Château Laurier lobby. She just knew it was a bad call, as did, she added, everybody she had talked to since July, even at work in two Winnipeg restaurants.
“It’s something that most people will never be able to say. My grandchildren, when they get a little older — they’re only three, two and one — I’ll love to tell the story to them. ‘Grandma almost won a million dollars.’ That’s my favourite part,” she said. “It was the experience of a lifetime and not too many people will be able to say that they almost won a million dollars, but look at all the great gifts I got, thanks to the CFL.”
Early Saturday, Kuldys wandered around the stately old Château Laurier, paying particular attention to historical photos on the walls, and then she checked out the Rideau Centre mall down the street. She promised to ensure the family also went up the slope in the other direction to Parliament Hill before returning to Winnipeg on Monday afternoon.
The Grey Cup matters most, though. Kuldys vowed to sit through the first half at TD Place stadium on Sunday evening, no matter what, just to get the full experience, but conceded she and Stan might bail out and head to the VIP lounge inside for the second half if the temperature tumbled too far. If the Bombers had somehow qualified for the CFL championship contest, they’d stick it out in the great outdoors no matter what.
Her first Grey Cup experience — Ryan and Stan attended two previous finals in Winnipeg — got off to a good start Friday. Former B.C. Lions president and CEO Dennis Skulsky spotted Kuldys in the hotel lobby and introduced her to Lions coach and general manager Wally Buono, so, besides the images of the Rideau Canal and Cpl. Cirillo’s memorial plaque, the family’s digital camera contains an image of Karen and Ryan with the Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee.
“They were really nice. They’re really nice people. Oh my god,” Kuldys said. “Wally doesn’t look so nice on the sideline, but he was a wonderful man. He is so nice.”
The Kuldyses will be seated in Section C of the south grandstand on Sunday, and Karen will also be featured in a broadcast showing of the August presentation of the entertainment system at a Safeway store in Winnipeg.
“Me and Shania … the half-time show,” she said, laughing heartily.
gholder@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/HolderGord
查看原文...
