The Canadian Football League has been a part of Canadian heritage for decades, but perhaps the most global exposure the CFL has ever received is due to the infamous fight between Angelo Mosca and Joe Kapp that occurred during Grey Cup weekend.
At a luncheon to raise money for CFL alumni, Mosca and Kapp were involved in an altercation that stemmed from a controversial hit Mosca made in the 1963 Grey Cup. The video of the 70-somethings fighting has become so popular, in fact, that Mosca is scheduled to be a guest on Dr. Phil next week to discuss grudges.
“I’m still wondering what happened,” Mosca said on Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Thursday.
“I walked in the room and I hadn’t seen Joe Kapp in 48 years … and I said ‘how you doing Joe baby!’ and he said ‘go F yourself.'”
The two CFL legends were supposed to talk about the hit from 1963 among other things.
“I think (we were on stage) to talk about football just in general and have a few laughs and some jokes,” Mosca said.
However, fisticuffs ensued.
“(Kapp) was at the table where I was, he was bumbling and stumbling … then he took a flower that was on the table and he started dangling it in my face,” Mosca said.
“Well you don’t dangle things too long in my face, I’ll tell you. He rubs it right in my nose, so I took my cane and I whacked him over the head with it. I don’t walk as good as I usually do and I stumbled and fell down and then he kicked me.”
At first it was met with laughs but that changed quickly when the people in attendance saw Mosca fall to the ground.
“Oh I’m fine. I know how to fall,” joked Mosca, who in addition to playing football was a professional wrestler. “I’ve fallen a lot over the years, about eight or nine thousand matches.”
Instead of letting bygones be bygones, though, the two men have not made up.
“He refused my hand in 1963, why should give it to him in 2011,” Mosca said.
Kapp accused Mosca of mouthing obscenities at him prior to going on stage. Mosca denies this. “I couldn’t believe what he did when he said ‘go F yourself.’ Then I told him to stick the flower up his butt. I wanted to see if it would grow.”
After the scuffle Mosca, who is known for his jovial and outgoing attitude, said he “felt bad about it because it took the wind out of the sails of the room.”
“Joe and I could have had a lot of fun with this thing but he chose another route,” Mosca added. “I’m at a different stage of life and I’m at a different stage of pro sports. I represent (sports) as a gentleman. Things go on in life and things change and I try to change with the times.”
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Do you think the exposure this incident has garnered is ultimately a good thing for the CFL?
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