MONTREAL – You probably won’t meet a more Alouettes fanatic than Carl Anderton Jr.
The 51-year-old doesn’t miss a match and comes to the stadium once or twice a year. He spends his week keeping up to date by listening to his favorite podcasts, his phone is filled with photos of him with his favorite players and his wardrobe is overflowing with team items.
Nothing there, you will say, until we tell you that he lives in Ocean City, a small coastal town located on the borders of Maryland and Delaware, ten hours’ drive from Montreal.
Anderton is a rare survivor of the Baltimore Stallions era. He had succumbed to the charms of three-down football when his city, after being passed over for NFL expansion in the mid-1990s, instead received a Canadian League franchise.
During their brief existence, the Stallions were one of the powerhouses of the CFL. They lost in the Gray Cup final in 1994 and won the big trophy the following year. Anderton was so enamored with his new team at the time that when he met Alouettes receiver Tyson Philpot for the first time last year, he couldn’t help but confess to him that he didn’t wear not his father in his heart. Cory Philpot was a running back with the BC Lions, the Gray Cup champions in ’94.
“But when we won the Cup last year, I told Tyson that all was forgiven now, that his father and I were even! », specifies the jovial American with a burst of laughter.
The Stallions only existed for two years before moving to Montreal in 1996. The vast majority of his peers quickly found consolation in the Ravens’ advent in the NFL, but the proud supporter that was Carl Anderton is not never got off the train. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to double his pleasure and broaden his horizons.
“At first, they were talking about moving the team to Houston, then to St. Louis,” he says. When Montreal came up in the conversation, I thought it was pretty cool because at the same time, my hometown of Salisbury inherited the Expos’ A-level affiliate. Orlando Cabrera, Javier Vazquez, Michael Barrett, I watched them all grow up. When they moved up to the Majors, we wanted to follow them. And we said to ourselves that we were going to be able to kill two birds with one stone because hey, my team was here! »
Carl and his wife Sara visited Montreal a few times in the late 1990s. The arrival of two children in their lives then forced them into a more home-based lifestyle for a few years, but for about a decade, their pilgrimage in the French-speaking metropolis of the Americas is an annual tradition.
Anthony Calvillo and Carl Anderton Jr.
While many Quebecers set aside a weekend each year to go down to watch an NFL game, the couple goes the opposite way to come and cheer on the Sparrows. The lovers visited the city at least once during each month of the season. Last November, they made the 36-hour round trip to watch the Parade of Champions downtown. And it was no coincidence that they were at Percival-Molson Stadium on Thursday evening. They wanted to be there for the unveiling of the banner commemorating the franchise’s latest title.
“I love it here. The food, all the things there are to do, the pace of life and the kindness of the people. It’s a completely different culture,” enthuses Anderton, proud to say that he now has his habits and his secret places far from the places usually frequented by tourists.
His team, his mountain
At home, Carl Anderton pursues his passion as if he lived in a condo in the Plateau.
Formerly forced to fall back on occasional broadcasts on ESPN, he now takes advantage of new technologies to directly watch matches on Canadian channels. “I can even watch the draft!” », he gets carried away.
All week long, he satisfies his thirst for information by binging on podcasts that cover team news. He also loves the post-game shows, hosted by Joey Alfieri, that the Alouettes broadcast live on their digital platforms. The bilingual content helped him become familiar with the language of Luc Brodeur-Jourdain.
“I am able to understand a little, to read too. When I watch subtitled videos, I can make connections. Now when I go to a restaurant, I am no longer destabilized by the menu in French. Step by step. »
Without being directed to the subject, Anderton then addresses Marc-Antoine Dequoy’s famous flight after last fall’s victory against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“I felt sympathy for him seeing him speak that way. I don’t think I can fully understand the cause he stood for, but I certainly respect it. And I believe that if it was something that was important to him, he did well to use his platform to talk about it. »
The finished fan himself uses his platforms to speak from his heart. Anderton works in politics. He was previously mayor of a small town of 3,000 residents and since 2015 he has been a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
“Because of my job, people always come to my Twitter to seek to know my positions on this or that subject, but all they can find is information on Alouettes football! », he laughs.
By dint of annoying those around him, Anderton claims to have managed to rally a few people to his cause. Friends come to watch the games at his house and sometimes accompany him on his trips on the roads of the east coast.
He would eventually like to extend his road trips to visit Trois-Rivières, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. However, following his team abroad is not part of his future plans.
“I’ve visited other teams’ stadiums, but attending games there? If I drive twelve hours, I want to eat homemade food! I don’t want to go sit in Hamilton! I want to be on the mountain,” explains the adopted Montrealer.
