Mike Matheson: watching Marc-Antoine Dequoy win and celebrate yesterday inspired him

As of yesterday, Montreal is football, as the Alouettes won the Grey Cup by a score of 28-24. It was a great moment for the organization, which hadn’t reached the final since its last conquest of the trophy in 2010, but it was above all a great moment for the many Quebecers in the organization.

Anthony Calvillo is a Mexican-American CFL legend born in Los Angeles, California.

But he is also a long-time Montrealer who has learned how to speak French #GreyCup #Alouettes pic.twitter.com/xNZQeGjcTH

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) November 20, 2023

And, of course, he gave the speech of the year after his team’s victory.

Dequoy THE LEGEND pic.twitter.com/dL9fHD6H9t

– HFTV (@HFTVSports) November 20, 2023

He apologized a little for his speech afterwards, but the gist of what he said remains: he’s proud to have won for Quebec and, above all, he’s proud to have done it in French.

And yesterday, while watching the celebrations following the Sparrows‘ victory, there was one attentive spectator who was truly inspired by seeing Dequoy and the rest of the team celebrate: Mike Matheson.

Matheson admitted that, watching the Alouettes’ celebrations yesterday, he couldn’t help but think that he’d like to have that chance in Montreal one day. Quite a few CH fans hope so, too.

Having said that, Matheson was also impressed to see how the Alouettes are not afraid to put forward their Montreal heritage. He knows that it’s a responsibility to represent your market when you’re an athlete, because fans are inspired by what you do and what you represent.

And while Matheson says the CH is trying to do the same, we agree it’s not at the same level.

I ask you seriously: would you see a guy like Rafaël Harvey-Pinard giving a Dequoy-like speech after the Stanley Cup win? Would you see Martin St-Louis doing what Jason Maas did and forcing his players to speak basic French?

Maybe you believe in it… but with the vast majority of the team speaking only in English (even though improvements have been promised for years), I don’t see it happening for the CH.

And don’t tell me that it’s impossible to win by taking French lessons: I think the Alouettes showed yesterday that learning basic French isn’t exactly a hindrance to winning games.

We’ll see if Dequoy’s speech and the Alouettes’ philosophy have inspired anyone other than Matheson… but I’ll believe it when I see it.

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– Chris Berman, an American, commented on the Alouettes’ victory in French on ESPN tonight. A class act, as he’s no stranger to such attention.

Thank you, Chris Berman! En français#MNF @espn #CoupeGrey @MTLAlouettes pic.twitter.com/D3XqnyhCmB

– L.A. Lariviere (@L_A_theRiver) November 21, 2023