CALGARY —As thick, fat flakes of white begin to float down from the gorged heavens, Stevie Baggs considers the rather curious phenomenon of average, grown-up people living in a frigid climate with kids, jobs and mortgages stuffing watermelon husks on their heads.

“Well, I’m from Florida,” jibes the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ richly entertaining Mouth From the South. “So the first time I saw a guy wearing one, I was like ‘Cool! Can I get some of that?’ ”

Anwar Stewart’s introduction to Melon Mania dates back seven years.

“When I first went there (to Regina), man, there were no tall buildings, everything was . . . flat,” reveals the Montreal Alouettes’ senior sack man. “And I’m thinking ‘What else do these people have to do besides cut watermelons in half and stick them on their heads? So, yeah. Makes sense.’

“But seriously, those fans are great. Crazy, but great.”

Know what’s crazy great about Sunday’s 97th Grey Cup Game at McMahon Stadium? Besides the signature melon headgear, that is?

Two predatory defensive lines, capable of slamming lockdown on the most potent ground games and pursuing ad libbing quarterbacks with the single-minded mania of David Janssen tracking the one-armed man on the ’60s TV drama The Fugitive.

Go on, break down the Calvillo-Durant duel the whole livelong day. Size up Fantuz vs. Cahoon, Cates vs. Cobourne, Saskatchewan’s DBs against Montreal’s unparalleled over-the-top fly boys. Get a kick out of the differences of the head coaches involved, one of whom reminds you of a favourite, doting uncle (Ken Miller), the other of your high-school trigonometry prof (Marc Trestman).

“The game,” agreed John Chick, the CFL’s 2009 defensive player of the year, “is usually decided in the trenches.”

It has always been thus.

As inimitable ex-Stamp Eddie Freeman used to say: Pressure busts pipes. Pressure also disrupts quarterbacks, even those as elusive and strong as Darian Durant or as cunning and accurate as Anthony Calvillo.

Well, the four defensive ends in this game can list 43 QB sacks between them — a league-pacesetting dozen each for Baggs and Montreal’s John Bowman, 10 for Chick and nine for Stewart. The interior sets — Keith Shologan and Marcus Adams for the Riders; Kieron Williams and Eric Wilson of the Als — are formidable in their own right. The Als, in particular, stepped on the throat of virtually every running game, limiting teams to a paltry 75 yards on average.

The Riders, though, have been in a more miserly mood of late.

From an Alouette standpoint, the multiple looks that Saskatchewan defensive co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry’s hatches out of his fertile imagination can cause multiple problems.

“They use so many different schemes,” says Montreal’s Scott Flory, this year’s top offensive lineman, “move their personnel around so much, that you have to be on your toes, read what’s happening and make sure you’ve got your man. We’ve seen a lot of coach Etcheverry’s defences over the years, but every time you think you’ve seen it all, he comes up with a new wrinkle. I’m sure they’ll be another one (Sunday).

“What really helps us as an offensive line is we get to practise against our D-line, Anwar and John and Kieron and Eric and the rest, every day. And not just on a hand-on-the-shoulder-pads, either. At game speed. Every day. That prepares us for any defensive line we happen to come up against. And Saskatchewan’s, obviously, is a very good one.”

Baggs isn’t shy about admitting he’s keen on matching his barbershop quartet up against Stewart’s, even if they’re never on the field at the same time.

“Oh, yeah. You look at it this way: Anwar Stewart has done everything in this game. He’s a Grey Cup champion. He’s won a defensive player of the year. He’s warrior. And Bowman’s a great bookend for him. The difference between those two and John and I is that we’ve only played together one year. This is my first year starting, so I’m almost like a rookie. You give us some time, we’ll do great things, too.

“You want to be pitted against the best; see how you stack up.”

The Baggs-Chick tandem presents different sorts of headaches for blocking assignments.

“They’re very, very different, as players and people,” says Adams. “Chick is pure power. He’ll run overtop of a guy or throw him out of the way to reach the quarterback. Stevie’s more of a finesse player, using his speed to get around the outside

“Chick’s a quiet, unassuming guy, from Utah State, right? Stevie’s from Florida and . . . well, not quite so quiet.”

Fresh off collecting his outstanding defensive player hardware at the Telus Convention Centre, Chick was looking 48 hours ahead, not 12 hours in the past.

“No,” he replied to a question about being an award winner. “I don’t feel any different. It was a great night. I was so happy to have my teammates there with me. But I’m more excited about the game coming up.

“I think we’re all ready to go.”

Amen to that.

And in picking a winner, throw out the records, the form chart, the head-to-head matchups. On Sunday, keep those eyes glued the big hogs up front, on both sides of the ball, and go from there.

“I don’t care, you could have a thousand Deion Sanders in a defensive backfield,” maintains Stewart. “But if you’re soft up front, if a team can’t stop the run or hunt down the quarterback, it won’t matter anyway.

“That battle down in the trenches, that’s where the war is won and lost.”

The war, and the Grey Cup.

(Calgary Herald)