[Eug Wanker]

The soccer player from Belle River, Ont., was presented with a daunting challenge. After having his name drawn at random from 200,000 entries, he would line up for four field-goal attempts during halftime of last night's Toronto Argonauts-Hamilton Tiger-Cats game at the Rogers Centre.

There were lesser prizes if he made the shorter kicks. If he was successful on the big one, the 50-yarder -- hardly automatic, even for a big-time professional place-kicker -- he'd collect the "million dollar" prize.

Diesbourg was limited to a half-hour of official practice this week with the Argos' kicker, Noel Prefontaine (an insurance company official stood on the sidelines, timing it to the minute). Then last night, in front of a crowd of more than 40,000, and a big television audience on TSN, he lined up for the kicks.

The first three had enough distance, but each of them sailed just wide, right. Then, with the crowd screaming and the announcers hollering, the show was paused for a commercial, which if they did it during the game, would be the tactic known as "icing" the kicker.

Diesbourg must be a cool customer indeed. He paced off his approach to the ball, reminded himself to try to pull the kick farther left, then let fly. The line drive bent perfectly between the uprights. It would have made any professional in any league proud.

[MacNStein]

that's tough, very impressive. I was a kicker for 3 yrs in HS (place kicker and punter) and my longest field goal in a game was only 46yds (however, it was the longest kick I was ever allowed to try in a game).

That's probably the longest I've ever seen someone kick in a contest. I'm sure the insurance adjuster went pale.

[mdc]

haha, he probably did go pale.

but damn, congratulations to that guy. well deserved.

[wdlove]

Congratulations on a kick well done.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

that's tough, very impressive. I was a kicker for 3 yrs in HS (place kicker and punter) and my longest field goal in a game was only 46yds (however, it was the longest kick I was ever allowed to try in a game).

That's probably the longest I've ever seen someone kick in a contest. I'm sure the insurance adjuster went pale.

Yeah. I was a soccer player in high school, and while I could inconsistently kick a 40 yard field goal I don't think I could have kicked a 50 unless I really trained for it. Getting the distance AND the accuracy is quite difficult, especially for an amateur who before this week had never kicked a football before (North American football that is).

BTW, it's being paid out as $25000 per year for 40 years. Not ideal, buy hey. It's still a million bux.

P.S. I watched the footage on TV. The pro players and everyone else just phreaked when the ball went thru the upgrights. It was like they won the Grey Cup.

[Mithras]

Tough break on it being Canadian dollars, but still really cool.

[DarwinX]

I saw this yesterday and was amazed. I hope to see the video sometime. Very impressive indeed!

[Randman]

Well, it's 1 mil canadian which is like US$47. And the installments are C$25,000 for 40 years, plenty of time for interest to pay it off the sponsoring company.

Funny thing is that still makes him the highest-paid CFL player right now. Pretty good considering he shanked all of his other tries.

For the record, my best was 35 yards in practice and I wasn't the kicker.

[The Godfather]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

...especially for an amateur who before this week had never kicked a football before (North American football that is).

If this is shown in the U.S. news, it would be a great adertisement to [non-American] Football.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by The Godfather

If this is shown in the U.S. news, it would be a great adertisement to [non-American] Football.

This kick was perfect timing for Toronto. Yesterday was also the day that Toronto agreed to build a 10 million dollar soccer stadium.

[ReggieX]

I saw this last night during the Leafs/Bruins game, one of the other TVs had this on. His first 2 I saws were just wide, but definitely on the mark had he angled a bit more to his left. Seeing the 3rd winning one was very cool.

Originally Posted by Mithras

Tough break on it being Canadian dollars, but still really cool.

Right, considering the C$ is hovering at the highest it's been in 20 years.

[Eug Wanker]

Heh. $851073 US ain't bad. Too bad it's over 40 years though. At least it means he can max out his yearly RRSP pension plan payments, and then some.

[kmkkid]

Originally Posted by Randman

Well, it's 1 mil canadian which is like US$47. And the installments are C$25,000 for 40 years, plenty of time for interest to pay it off the sponsoring company.

Funny thing is that still makes him the highest-paid CFL player right now. Pretty good considering he shanked all of his other tries.

For the record, my best was 35 yards in practice and I wasn't the kicker.

Are you really THAT in the dark about foreign markets?

[olePigeon]

I hope someone posts a video, I love those "amazing shots" clips.

There's another great one where some guy in his early 40s at a basketball game (mid 1980s from the looks of it). He had a chance to win US $250,000 and a brand new car. He had to first make a layup, make a shot from inside the free throw, then a shot at the free throw, then a three pointer, a shot from half court, then finally a shot from 3/4 court behind the other free throw. All under 45 seconds.

He did it; and best of all, the long shot was nothin' but net. I can imagine the Football crowd and players, cuz on this video everyone went nuts.

[KeyLimePi]

Wasn't there a story where a guy was picked at random at a hockey game for a $1 million slapshot from center ice. He made the shot but they wouldn't give him the money on a technicality? Did I imagine that whole thing?

[mdc]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

I hope someone posts a video, I love those "amazing shots" clips.

There's another great one where some guy in his early 40s at a basketball game (mid 1980s from the looks of it). He had a chance to win US $250,000 and a brand new car. He had to first make a layup, make a shot from inside the free throw, then a shot at the free throw, then a three pointer, a shot from half court, then finally a shot from 3/4 court behind the other free throw. All under 45 seconds.

He did it; and best of all, the long shot was nothin' but net. I can imagine the Football crowd and players, cuz on this video everyone went nuts.

is this video around? i'd love to see this.
half court and 3/4 court is so far.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by KeyLimePi

Wasn't there a story where a guy was picked at random at a hockey game for a $1 million slapshot from center ice. He made the shot but they wouldn't give him the money on a technicality? Did I imagine that whole thing?

?

It would be pretty easy to score on a slapshot from centre ice, or did they have a goalie there too?

Originally Posted by mdc

is this video around? i'd love to see this.
half court and 3/4 court is so far.

Yeah that's insane. I did see a different one though on TV where the guy was IIRC allowed one shot from centre court, and he hit it. Swish! Dunno how much money he won, but the whole stadium phreaked out.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by mdc

is this video around? i'd love to see this.
half court and 3/4 court is so far.

I don't know. I just remember seeing it on Real TV, it's a show where they have amazing videos.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

?

It would be pretty easy to score on a slapshot from centre ice, or did they have a goalie there too?

No, no. I've seen it. They have a board there with a little hole and the guy hit the puck accross the ice and it went in. However, it hit the edge of the hole, bounced a bit, and was mostly in. I think they sued the company but I don't know what happend.

[Eug Wanker]

Here are the contest details:

Diesbourg’s name was randomly selected from nearly 200,000 entrants who participated in the Wendy’s Kick for a Million promotion.

Broadcast live on TSN during Wendy’s halftime show at the Hamilton @ Toronto game on Thursday, October 27, Diesbourg will attempt field goals ranging in distance from 20 to 50 yards, with lucrative prizes for each successful kick. Should Diesbourg split the uprights on his 50-yard attempt, he’ll win the grand prize of $1 million. Diesbourg can potentially win any combination of the following prizes with successful kicks:

20 yards - $1,000
30 yards – SONY Digital Imaging Package
40 yards – SONY HD Home Theatre Package
50 yards - $1,000,000
On October 26, Diesbourg will receive training from Toronto punter/kicker Noel Prefontaine in order to ready himself for the big event.

So... The guy missed the 20, 30, and 40 yard kicks. The only one he hit was the 50.

Diesbourg attempts from 20, 30, 40 all missed wide right. After being forced to wait for about five minutes because of a commercial break, which carried Diesbourg's attempts, he lined up the 50-yard try before a large Rogers Centre gathering on its feet.

Diesbourg hit the ball true and it had just enough leg to get over the crossbar for the big money. He was then mobbed by members of the Argos as they returned to the field.

Diesbourg was allowed a 30-minute practice session on Wednesday with Argos kicker Noel Prefontaine, which proved beneficial because he had never kicked a football before. Prefontaine skipped out of the locker-room early to watch Diesbourg attempt his kicks.

"For him to miss the first three and to come back and hit the last one is unbelievable." Prefontaine said. "I think he's going to get a trial (with a CFL team)."

Diesbourg showed a strong leg Wednesday, not surprising given he has a strong soccer background. He made five-of-eight tries from 40 yards out in practice and while he was 0-5 from 50 yards out, he missed with plenty of distance.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

That's probably the longest I've ever seen someone kick in a contest. I'm sure the insurance adjuster went pale.

Toronto Star:

Earlier this week, Diesbourg made insurance company executives who were underwriting the prize nervous when he made five of eight attempts from the 40-yard line and two from 45 yards outs at the Argos practice facility.
Overall, he put 17 of 33 attempts between the uprights.

"He did a great job and I think he has a chance to kick that 50-yarder," an impressed Prefontaine, the Argo kicker who was giving Diesbourg pointers, told the Star's Rick Matsumoto.
Under contest rules, Diesbourg has not been allowed to practice for tonight's kick except for yesterday's half-hour session with Prefontaine.
And that workout was closely monitored by an insurance company representative, who halted the practice at 1:37 p.m., precisely 30 minutes after it began.

[brapper]

Originally Posted by Mithras

Tough break on it being Canadian dollars, but still really cool.

Ya, but it's tax free here.

[ReggieX]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Here are the contest details:.[/i]

Ah, OK. So the two I saw that he missed were for prizes as well! Interesting.

[olePigeon]

Anyone have a video yet? I wanna see that.

[nredman]

cool, thank for sharing. sounds like the Vikings kicker last weekend