Against my better judgement, I recently got involved in a name debate for the new CFL team.  Again.

In actual fact, I’m not THAT attached to the Rough Riders name.  It’s not as though not using it now would forever erase it from Ottawa football history.  What I’m opposed to is any decision in regards to its use being made by another club in order to accomodate its insecurities.

I seldom debate FOR the name so much as I debate the ridiculous arguments against it.  Hate it on a personal level, but PLEASE stop pretending that it’ll damage the league’s image or affect Saskatchewan’s merchandise sales.  That’s just hiding behind a false “greater good” argument to get your way, a la “Friends” of Lansdowne Park.  And heaven knows I’ve had enough of that jackassery.

The one that gets me particularly riled up is the notion that anyone under a certain age will reject the Rough Riders name.  As though everyone under 30 in Ottawa has never left the house and seen RR merchandise at Local Heroes, Lone Star and others…totally whiffed on the news that Ken Lehmann was recently inducted into the Canadian hall of fame…never wondered why most announcements that involve Jeff Hunt also include a helmet with a big white R on it.

There are so many Rough Riders still impacting the game that I sometimes wonder how the team itself could be so lousy in the 80′s / 90′s.

Hamilton Head Coach George Cortez:  “All together, Cortez has spent 11 seasons over three stints with the Stampeders as well as two years with the Ottawa Roughriders…” (sic…really, is it THAT hard to remember that it’s two words???)

Hamilton Offensive coordinator Doug Sams:  “Sams brings over three decades of coaching experience to the Ticats, including a stint as offensive coordinator of the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1989 to ’91.”

(I admit I have no memory of this guy)

Former DL John Kropke was on the Hamilton coaching staff as well until recently.  After several stints as defensive coordinator for a number of teams, Renegades included,  Greg Marshall was the head coach of a Saskatchewan team last year that thought it was better than it was.  Jeff Cummins has been coaching at Acadia for a number of years (I believe since 2005) and recently was involved with the National Team.

Kevin Gilbride will coach the Giants offense in the superbowl next weekend.  Jason Garrett is Jerry Jones’ latest puppet.

I’m probably forgetting, or unaware of, a busload more.

You sometimes hear about the Bill Walsh or Bill Parcells “coaching trees”. From people who have had their degree of success , it’s understandable.

From a Rough Riders team that averaged about five wins a year for over a decade, it’s amazing to see how many of those involved went on to successful careers.

EMC’s Desmond Devoy attended a presentation by Glenn Kulka at Almonte and District High School recently in which the former Rough Rider talked at length about his past addiction issues.  I’ve only copied a portion of it here but the full version is very much worth reading.

EMC News – Glenn Kulka could’ve been a contender.

In many ways, he was, and is, a contender. A former Canadian Football League player who went to the Grey Cup, a WWF wrestler who took on some of the biggest names around, junior A hockey player, radio reporter and now gym owner.

But to whom much is given, much is expected.

And his battle with the bottle, and drugs, cost him a lot, including the nagging suspicion of what might have been.

“I could’ve accomplished a lot more,” said Kulka during a speech to the students of Almonte and District High School last month. “I was limited because I chose alcohol and drugs as a crutch … I’ve had a very good life. But I’ve made some very poor choices.”

Kulka’s first bitter taste of disappointment, the direct result of his reputation as an alcoholic and drug abuser, came when during the National Hockey League (NHL) draft when he was a teenager.

…

Like many players on draft day, he parked himself by the phone and waited. And waited.

“I never got picked at all,” said Kulka. “That sticks out in my mind as the saddest day of my life. It crushed me. I cried like a little girl.”

His reputation, sadly, had preceded him.

“I let so many people down because I was either drunk or high,” said Kulka. “I brought my team down, all of the people around me. I realized I was very, very bitter about not being able to play.”

…

But Kulka was able to make it to the big leagues – just not the one he had envisioned. In 1986, he signed a contract with the Edmonton Eskimos, later playing with CFL teams in Saskatchewan, Montreal and Toronto, ending his CFL days with the now-defunct Ottawa Roughriders.

…

There were many highs and lows throughout his CFL career, but even at the top of his game, he continued to consume drugs and alcohol, sometimes making a bad situation worse.

Kulka went all the way to the Grey Cup one year. The lead had changed hands several times. The game’s outcome hinged on a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds of the game. It fell short and Kulka’s team lost.

Kulka retreated to the dressing room, showered, changed, and downed an entire bottle of peach schnapps in one go.

“You miss out on all of the great moments in your life,” Kulka advised the students. “You suppress the lows. But you don’t remember the highs.”

It was indicative of the way his life was heading, and his hard-drinking and drugging ways would soon catch up with him financially.

“I’m almost ashamed to say this,” said Kulka, delving in to the somewhat taboo subject of personal finances, but he recalled that during his time with the Ottawa Roughriders, he was set to earn $230,000 over the three years of his contract.

“I went to my accountant at the end of the year and he said, ‘Glenn, there is $13,000 that we can’t account for,’” remembered Kulka. “No one is giving performance enhancing drugs away.”

…

His best friend in the world at the time was his black Labrador, Rocky. “He didn’t walk away from me when I was spitting and slobbering.”

Kulka woke up one day and decided that that day would be his last day on earth. “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Kulka. “I’m thinking of taking my own life.”

With some cocaine in one coat pocket, and a bottle of whiskey in the other, he took Rocky and a shotgun with him to a park near Petrie Island in Ottawa’s east end.

“I stuck the shotgun in my mouth and I was trying to reach the trigger,” he told the students. “I couldn’t reach it, so I got a stick (to reach the trigger) to blow my head off.”

As he made preparations to end his own life, he had some other sinister, unfinished business to attend to before he died.

“I was going to take my dog’s life too,” he said, shaking his head at his inexplicable decision. “I figured if I’m going to go, he’s going too.”

But looking into Rocky’s trusting eyes, he was not able to bring himself to carry out the deed. “I was too afraid to kill my dog,” Kulka said, his voice now quiet, the auditorium before him hushed as is seldom heard during an assembly. “That’s what ended up saving me. I had bruises on the roof of my mouth from the barrel of my gun … I pray that you guys will be smarter than I was.”

…

In comments on Ottawa Sun articles recently, Kulka had been dismissed as a coke addict, as if anything he does or says now should be immediately set aside due to his past.

I hope the person(s) who has brought them up sees this article and reconsiders his or her position.  Kulka can’t go back in time and erase his past, but he can try to guide others into not making the same poor choices.  And he does. Instead of continuing to bash him for having made mistakes, maybe he should be given a little respect for overcoming them instead.