ABOVE: Is this the moment the Grey Cup broke?
VANCOUVER – The Calgary Stampeders may have been a little too excited to win the 2014 Grey Cup. After their 20-16 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at BC Place, a member of the Stampeders appeared to break the Grey Cup trophy.
Calgary linebacker Juwan Simpson hoisted the Grey Cup when the cup section of the trophy started to split from its base.
“I think I’m the one that did it,” said Simpson. “I don’t know. I grabbed it and was excited, and all of a sudden, it got a little (loose.) Some glue and some duct tape and it’ll be good.
“I don’t know if I was holding it (when it broke) or I was holding it before it went off, but I felt it weaken in my hands — and I politely gave it to somebody else.”
If the CFL comes after Simpson for the Grey Cup damage, he’s got it covered.
“But I got me a Grey Cup cheque,” he said. “In a worst-case scenario, I can pay for it.”
The Stamps get a $16,000 bonus for winning the Grey Cup.
This is hardly the first time the Grey Cup has gotten banged up.
The Edmonton Eskimos damaged the statue three times. An Edmonton player accidentally dropped it in 1978, then an Eskimos player sat on it in 1987. In 1993, Edmonton offensive lineman Blake Dermott headbutted it.
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The B.C. Lions damaged the Grey Cup in 1996 when the trophy broke away from its base.
Most recently, one of the handles of the Cup broke off as the Toronto Argonauts were celebrating their 2012 championship — the trophy’s 100th anniversary.
It also survived a fire in 1947 when the Toronto Argonauts rowing club — the reigning champions — saw their clubhouse destroyed.
Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said he saw the top of the trophy break off, but he wasn’t too concerned about it.
“We won a Grey Cup, man — that’s all that matters,” said Mitchell.
-with files from Canadian Press
GALLERY: Breaking the Grey Cup
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