Q & A WITH JASON CLERMONT

SASKATOON -- As a regular feature, StarPhoenix reporter Cory Wolfe gets personal with a sports figure. Today, Saskatchewan Roughriders slotback Jason Clermont gets cornered.

Wolfe: You were all over newspapers in Saskatchewan when you signed with the Roughriders last week. Pick a magazine cover you’d like to grace.
Clermont: To build my real-estate business and end up on the cover of Forbes would be pretty cool.

Wolfe: As a Regina Ram, you played against junior football’s Saskatoon Hilltops and later the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. Which former rival will never get a Christmas card from Jason Clermont?
Clermont: It’s funny you ask that because a couple of them have. Tyler Baier was a (real-estate) client of mine and he got a Christmas card this year. And (Lions offensive lineman) Kelly Bates is a friend of mine, so he got a Christmas card. I actually get along pretty well with most of those guys, but if you would have asked me that when we were playing, I would have said they wouldn’t be worth the stamp.

Wolfe: (Laughs) OK, harken back to childhood. What’s your most memorable gift from Santa?
Clermont: We didn’t have a ton of loot growing up. Just before my grandpa passed away, he gave each family — he’s got two daughters and a son — an Amiga computer. That was the first computer we had. That was pretty ridiculous for us. We were able to play some racing game that made us late for school every day. It was supposed to be a tool to help us get through school and really, it kept us away from school.

Wolfe: Eric Tillman was Ottawa’s GM in 2002 when the Renegades owned the first two picks in the Canadian college draft. You went fourth overall to B.C. and years later, Tillman described himself as “not the idiot who passed on Jason Clermont (but rather) the idiot who passed on him twice.” Did you use that as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations?
Clermont: (Laughs) No, not even close. I do appreciate that he did pass over me twice and I do appreciate that Toronto did the same thing. The opportunities that I was granted in B.C. allowed me to become the player I am. That’s the thing about sports — you’re only as good as the opportunities you’re granted and what you do with them. I thought that Jason Sulz from the U of S would long be a CFL star before I ever put on a jersey. The same with a (Rams) teammate of mine, Chris Warnecke. They just weren’t given the same opportunities as me and I was blessed that the chips fell where they did.

Wolfe: Before last week, when was the last time you wore a Roughrider jersey?
Clermont: Uh, 1999 in a pre-season game against Calgary I wore No. 79. If you want to call it “playing” . . . I think I got in for two series in the fourth quarter.

Wolfe: You alluded to the fact that you’re a realtor during the off-season. Statistically speaking, did you have a better year as a football player or as a realtor?
Clermont: I think I worked as a realtor for four months and I put together about 40 deals. And I think I had 50 catches, so I had a few more catches in football but now that I’m going to be here year-round, that might even out.

Wolfe: What is the ratio of suits to sweats in your closet?
Clermont: Well, I was sponsored by Reebok so we’ve got a ton of Reebok sweats and hoodies and stuff like that. I’ve got probably three suits in my closet here and I think I have one or two in my condo in B.C.

Wolfe: That’s reasonable. It covers things off without being excessive. What would your glamour licence plate say?
Clermont: I’m not really into that.

Wolfe: You know what Milt Stegall said . . . 7-11 ’cause he’s always open.
Clermont: I think I’m more like Wal-Mart. I’m open most of the time, but when the season comes around and you really need me, I’m open 24 hours.

Wolfe: (Laughs) Very good. Who’s your favourite athlete to watch, any sport?
Clermont: We got pretty into the whole Michael Phelps thing during the Olympics. It was pretty special what he did.

Wolfe: If you were writing a tell-all book, which former teammate would make the juiciest subject?
Clermont: I might need to throw a “no comment” on the juiciest, but the most interesting would definitely be (former B.C. Lions linebacker) Carl Kidd. I’d like to give you his phone number and you wouldn’t have to ask me why. He was a cliché-a-minute and he had a saying for everything. He was from the deep south and he had a story for everything. And he had side businesses going on that were incredible and hilarious at times. He is by far one of the biggest personalities I’ve ever met. We put (quarterback) Spergon Wynn in against Toronto in 2003 when we did the East crossover. We lost the game and the quote from Carl Kidd was: “That’s what happens when you take a knife to a gunfight.”