O'Leary: MBT's leadership tough to replace

Chris O'Leary

Senior Writer

@olearychris

McLeod Bethel-Thompson had been a Grey Cup champion for maybe an hour by the time he sat down in front of the media in Regina.

The veteran quarterback has always been a thinker, someone hyper aware of the difficulty of not only his journey in football, but how tough the game is for everyone that steps onto the jumbo-sized fields of the CFL. He often speaks of how the scars that CFL players carry are different, like they’re exacted in ways that those under brighter, more affluent spotlights couldn’t feel; one of the few things they aren’t afforded.

It’s said that the highest of highs and lowest of lows can provide a person’s most revealing moments. Bethel-Thompson’s first hour as a champion was a lesson in selflessness.

He made his way through on-field interviews, wading through a stage and field of blue and white confetti praising the league he’d spent the last five seasons in. He extolled the style of the Canadian game, what the Grey Cup means to Canada and how he yearned for it to have an even bigger platform.

When he finally sat down in front of reporters, full of joy, relief and possibly champagne, the first words out of his mouth were surprising.

In the moments after winning the 109th Grey Cup, Bethel-Thompson made sure his teammates raised the trophy before he did (Chris Tanouye/CFL.ca)

“I haven’t even touched the Cup yet,” he said with the casualness that you might say you forgot to have your morning coffee.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. It’s good to see. Those are great men, great football players. They bought in and believed in each other. That’s what it’s all about. It’s so beautiful to see hard work pay off.

“That’s why this game is so special. It teaches life lessons. It’s the greatest game in the world.”

With his thumb dislocated in the fourth quarter of that game, Bethel-Thompson watched his backup, Chad Kelly help close the Bombers out. Bethel-Thompson admitted that a part of him wanted to be the one to finish out the game but every time he tried to grip the ball, his thumb would pop back out of its socket. He sang Kelly’s praises, a first-year CFL player finding a way to win on the league’s biggest stage.

As the Argos move forward at the QB spot, that will prove to be the difficult thing to replace. You can always find someone to throw the ball and play the game. A leader with the thoughtfulness that Bethel-Thompson grew to become will be more difficult to find.

On and off the field, these are the people you need in your life and the type of people we should want to be in others’ lives. The teammate that makes sure everyone’s getting a moment with the Cup, that’s talking up everyone and everything around them when the spotlight is seeking them out is rare and perhaps in the moment is hard to fully appreciate.

That he’s leaving the CFL fresh off of his first Grey Cup win is disappointing but perhaps not a surprise. Most significant, he felt the pull of being close to his wife and their young daughter. From a football perspective, when you look at the entirety of his resume, the journey is what’s helped make him who he is as a player. The New Orleans Breakers will be the 14th stop of Bethel-Thompson’s pro career, one that’s sent him now through five leagues all across the U.S. and Canada over the last 12 years.

The last question Bethel-Thompson received on the night of Nov. 20, 2022 was about why he hadn’t yet touched the Grey Cup.

“It’ll come. When the Cup wants to come to me, it’ll come to me,” he said through a laugh.

“I’ll give it a big kiss, but it’s bigger than that. We all had to become champions long before we got here. I think it measures the work you put in. When you become a champion then you’ve earned the right. I’ll give it a nice big kiss, but it’s got to come to me.”

Now Bethel-Thompson will look for the next challenge in his newest surroundings.

O’Leary: MBT’s leadership tough to replace

Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca

Chris O'Leary

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