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Glad that McCallum is finally retiring and glad it will be as a Lion. No disrespect to McCallum but his remarkable career numbers show just how great Lui Passaglia was. PM would have to play another 69 games to match the number of games played by LP, but he would have to score an average of 12 points in every one of those 69 extra games to catch LP for points scored. In other words, Lui doesn't own the record for points scored in professional football simply because of longevity.

I'll admit, Lui is my favourite Lion of all time. But I wonder if Lion's fans today realise just how good he really was?

Belize City Lion wrote:Glad that McCallum is finally retiring and glad it will be as a Lion. No disrespect to McCallum but his remarkable career numbers show just how great Lui Passaglia was. PM would have to play another 69 games to match the number of games played by LP, but he would have to score an average of 12 points in every one of those 69 extra games to catch LP for points scored. In other words, Lui doesn't own the record for points scored in professional football simply because of longevity.

I'll admit, Lui is my favourite Lion of all time. But I wonder if Lion's fans today realise just how good he really was?

Oh yeah. I think so.

I had high hopes for him from his days at Notre Dame high school, and on to SFU.

He was an athlete. More than just a kicker.

It was definitely cool to see McCallum come back. I tend to get a little tied up in the more emotional aspects of players being fan favourites (and forget it is a business). So when a guy gets cut or released, especially having done a lot to contribute to past success, I immediately hope it was done in such a manner that the player can realize he was appreciated. And not have a bad taste in their mouth.

In the case of McCallum, I think his supreme confidence meant that he was always going to feel he could play at the highest level right up to the bitter end.

His retiring as a Leo leaves me with the warm fuzzies that he valued his time with the Leos.

I too was glad to see McCallum come back and retire as a Lion. He had a fantastic career, and was especially accurate on field field goals in the playoffs as a Lion. The Lions have had a couple of great kickers in their history, and have struggled when those kickers weren't around.

He had a solid career that lasted for more than 2 decades, 2 time grey cup champion, but his time has come.
If I can recall he never missed a field goal for us in the playoffs.
If I'm not mistaken Paul and Lu are the only 2 players in all pro football with more than 3000 points.

I wonder why he chose to retire as a Lion and not a Rider. He still lives in Sask does he not? From a post football career perspective, you might think that there may be advantages to retiring as a greenie.

Sir Purrcival wrote:I wonder why he chose to retire as a Lion and not a Rider. He still lives in Sask does he not? From a post football career perspective, you might think that there may be advantages to retiring as a greenie.

McCallum grew up on the Lower Mainland and works as a realtor in Maple Ridge. He didn't even move to Regina last year when he played for the Riders. He just flew in for games.

Wally had some interesting quotes at McCallum's retirement announcement:

Lions general manager/coach Wally Buono said that McCallum had approached him about retiring as a Lion.

“I wasn’t surprised. I was happy,” said Buono. “For me, with what Paul’s done, it just makes sense.

“Paul had the choice. Living here, growing up here, it would make sense for him to retire as a B.C. Lion.

“It’s a great story. There are two sides to sports. There’s the business side and there’s the human side. Sometimes the business side overshadows the human side and, days like today, you can let the human side win.”

Steve Ewen article

Ok, that makes sense. For some reason, I thought he continued to live in Sask.

Sir Purrcival wrote:Ok, that makes sense. For some reason, I thought he continued to live in Sask.

and live under the constant threat of manure, I wouldn't expect so

Great, great kicker. FGs especially. Accurate punts also.

Happy ending.

One of the most accurate kickers of all time, he still holds the record for longest field goal of 62 yards. With the designs of the new stadiums in Winnipeg and Saskatchewan that record may be hard to break.
Just another interesting fact, he is the only CFL player to have played against all three teams out of Ottawa.

WestCoastJoe wrote:Great, great kicker. FGs especially. Accurate punts also.

Happy ending.

We're still taking about football right?

Would you live in Regina after what the fans did to his lawn ?

I wouldn't but there is a whole province of people who live there that among other things wear hollowed out watermelons on their heads. How is one to judge rationally a people like that?