If the FBI wanted to hide someone in the witness protection program, the Canadian Football League would be a good place to start.
Look at Ben Cahoon. He's been a star receiver in the CFL for more than five years, played in two championship games, won one, played in two all-star games and led his team in receiving the last four seasons, but it's all a secret in the States. When he returns home to Utah in the offseason people ask him what he does for a living.
"I come back and no one knows," he says. "I have to answer all the questions about what it's all about. It's good football. Fox (TV) shows NFL Europe games, but the football is better here."
Cahoon, who plays for the Montreal Alouettes, isn't getting famous in the CFL, nor is he getting rich, "but I'm playing football for a living and paying my bills and having fun," he says.
Cahoon, who had to walk on at Ricks College and BYU and later "beg" for a tryout" with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has always been judged too small and too slow. At 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, he runs the 40-yard dash in the low 4.5 range.
"That's fast enough if you're 6-1," Cahoon says, "but if you're short you've got to be blazing. Everybody's looking for these freaks of nature like Randy Moss or Terrell Owens — tall big guys who can outmuscle guys and run."
Cahoon's calling card has always been his Velcro-like hands. At BYU he earned a reputation for spectacular catches, which usually fell in one of three categories — one-handed, leaping, diving. When he reported to his first training camp with the Alouettes, his teammates, coaches and management types were so impressed by his hands that they actually started a countdown to see when Cahoon would finally drop a pass.
"You expect a guy from BYU to have caught a lot of passes, but the things this guy does every day in practice amaze me," Coach Tracy Ham told the Toronto Globe and Mail during Cahoon's rookie training camp. "If he's anywhere near the ball, he'll get to it."
Cahoon developed his hands in high school by catching 500 passes a day each
summer. Standing 10 yards apart, he and his practice partner would fire passes at each other — high, low, fast, slow — for hours.
"I haven't met a ball I haven't caught before, either in practice or in my sleep," he says. "Catching is about repetition. If you're nervous about dropping the ball, or thinking too much, you'll have drops. But if you practice so much it becomes second nature, you won't drop the ball."
In five and a half seasons, Cahoon has caught 324 passes for 4,740 yards and 24 touchdowns. So far this season, seven of his 38 catches have been for touchdowns, and the Alouettes, the defending league champions, are 7-1.
Cahoon did part of his growing up in Canada, moved to Orem when he was 8, and attended Mountain View High. After spending two years at Ricks and two years on a mission for the Mormon Church, he signed on with BYU and led the Cougars in receiving in 1997.
After spending a few days in the Tampa Bay camp, Cahoon "saw the writing on the wall" and went to Montreal, which had made him the sixth pick overall in the CFL draft.
"I thought I'd tear it (CFL) up," he says, "but I quickly realized every player up here was The Man in college and the talent was a big step up from big-time college football. I barely made the team my rookie year."
He also discovered that the CFL version of the game wasn't a bad way to go for a receiver — three downs to make a first down, an extra wide field and end zones. "It's three-down football — you've gotta throw," says Cahoon. "It's just like BYU in the good old days."
When he first moved to the CFL, Cahoon promised his wife he would play just one year "to get it out of my system." That was in 1998; they're still there. "We just kept on saying one more year," says Cahoon.
Cahoon struggled to make ends meet for his young family while playing his rookie season on a salary of about $23,000, but in the off-season, the Alouettes awarded him a contract and a big raise — "They said they wanted to keep me happy."
But nobody is getting rich in the CFL, where the average salary is less than $50,000 in Canadian money (about $35,000 American). So at the young age of 31, Cahoon is wondering if the end is near. "I've got to grow up and get a real job soon," he says. "It's difficult to start a different career at 35 or 36. I'm always keeping my eyes open to look for a good opportunity. You can't retire on a CFL pension."
E-mail: drob@desnews.com