A pair of North Vancouver football players on very similar life paths finally went spinning off in different directions this past month, punctuated by events surrounding the CFL regular season opener between Hamilton and Toronto last week.
Both Spencer Watt and Bo Palmer starred for head coach Jim Schuman's Windsor Dukes in high school and both played for Simon Fraser University before getting drafted into the Canadian Football League. Watt, a receiver, went in the third round of the 2010 draft to the Argonauts while Palmer, a running back, went in the fifth round to the Tiger-Cats in 2012.
The two were slated to reunite on the field in Toronto's home opener June 28 but only one of them made it onto the Rogers Centre turf. That would be Watt, and the fourth-year pro not only suited up, he stole the show.
With the Argos trailing 34-25 in the third quarter, Watt hauled in a 50-yard pass to put the Boatmen in scoring position. Two plays later, however, the drive remained stalled on the 20-yard line. Normally in that situation a team would take the field goal but the Argos lost Swayze Waters, their only kicker, to injury on the opening kickoff of the second half. The emergency kicker was none other Mr. Spencer Watt.
"(Head coach) Scott Milanovich looked at me, we made eye contact and I thought he was going to let me kick the field goal," Watt said in an entertaining interview posted on the Argos' website following the game. "I wanted to kick it, I think it was like 25 or 30 yards - but he had no faith in my leg, so we went for it on third down."
The Argos, in fact, did end up calling on Watt on the next play but it was to score six points rather than just three. The speedy receiver ran a corner route and Ray found him a couple of yards into the end zone. When he saw the coverage the Tiger-Cats were in, Watt knew he could beat his man to the corner.
"I just figured that Rick being Ricky, he would see it and throw it," he said. "I just ran as fast as I could once I saw it in the air. I actually lost the ball in the lights - there's a little split second where I kind of look surprised . . . I kind of hesitated when I couldn't see the ball and then readjusted once I saw it."
There was still, however, the matter of the extra point.
"I scored the touchdown, all the hoorah-rah. I looked back and then was like, 'Oh yeah, Swayze's not going to kick the ball. It's me.'"
Watt took a simple one-step approach on the convert and knocked it through. It wasn't the most beautiful kick ever, but it went in.
"We actually were practicing a little bit the past couple of weeks trying to get my footing down," said Watt. "I (always) thought I could kick but I never actually figured I'd be doing it on a pro level."
The Argos then scored again on their next possession to take a 39-34 lead that survived some tense moments down the stretch to stand up as the final score.
Watching all the drama unfold from his current home in North Burnaby was Palmer, a talented young runner who expected to be taking part in the action, not catching it on TSN. Palmer, however, is in the very odd situation of being a "retired" football player without having played a single game as a pro.
"I just decided to retire 43 years early, you know," Palmer said with a laugh when contacted by the North Shore News, chuckling over a question about bridge tournaments and early-bird specials.
In actual fact, the retirement is more of a professional loophole that will allow the Tiger-Cats to keep Palmer's player rights while he spends a year recovering from surgery that will keep him out for the entire season. After getting drafted in 2012 Palmer played his final year at SFU where he began experiencing some leg injuries. He played through them and showed up for Hamilton's rookie camp this spring looking to earn a spot on the club. But the pain persisted and, before main camp started, an MRI revealed a torn labrum in his left hip as the cause of all the problems. Though he could no longer play, the Ti-Cats kept Palmer around for the duration of training camp so that he could meet all the team personnel, learn the playbook and soak up the atmosphere of pro football. Then when camp broke and final cuts were made, Hamilton listed the rookie as "retired." While on the surface it doesn't make much sense, Palmer said that the move actually is a commitment from the team that they want him back when he's ready.
"They could have just cut me, and I was really worried that that was going to happen too when I found out I was going to need surgery," said Palmer. "I'm very happy that they didn't. . . . They've made me feel very comfortable that I will remain a Tiger-Cat post-surgery and into the rehab."
Watching from the couch, however, is still tough to take even though Palmer can see the path back to the team.
"It feels strange - I got to know a lot of those guys throughout the month that I was there for training camp so it's kind of interesting watching the team play when you can't be there," he said. "It's definitely not the way I'd hoped to (start my career) but in the big scheme of things it's really a good thing. I can kind of compare it to a redshirt year in college - it gives me a chance to fully recover rather than trying to play my way through the season at 60 or 70 per cent. It really gives me a chance to fully recover and start it the way I had always imagined."
Palmer is slated to undergo surgery some time in the next month and after that he'll have his sights set on being on the field wearing yellow and black for next season's opener.
"That is the No. 1 goal right there," he said. "I'm quite confident that I'll recover from the surgery and be able to really pursue that."
. . .
Watt and the Argos came back down to earth this week, losing to the Lions 24-16 Thursday night in BC Place. It was a quiet homecoming for Watt as the ball didn't come his way much and he managed just two catches for 20 yards in the defensive struggle. The Argos will be back in action next Thursday when they host the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
