Luc Mullinder
As a young pro, part of my pre-game routine would be to walk out to field level and absorb the atmosphere and energy that a CFL Game Day brings about. I would noodle around the field, out of everyone’s way listening to music and simply observe everything that was going on around me and use that energy to get me psychologically ready for battle.
The most important part of this game day routine of mine was timing. I would wait until Jeremy O’day, Rob Lazeo, and Chris Szarka would come out as a group and walk 1 lap around the field together.
That was my cue to start my actual physical warm-up of running and stretching etc etc.
Those three did that 1 lap every single game for the first two years of my career. I would always wonder what the hell they were talking about. They never seemed too high, or too low, but that 1 lap was clearly a structured part of their personal game day rituals. There was a couple of times that I wanted to ask to join em, but I wasn’t an idiot. I knew that infringing on ones pre-game ritual was about the same as asking to use one’s mouth guard. HUGE NO-NO.
It never failed. The three amigos. They’d be half-dressed and fully taped up. To this day, I still wonder what they would talk about during that brief period of time.
Then 2007 came. CHANGE.
Other than a bunch of off-season moves and releases, the most memorable transactions that year was the Saskatchewan Roughriders trading Rob Lazeo (and something else I think) for Wes Cates…All of Ridernation knows how that ended up working out, but when I found out about the news, the first reaction of mine was, “What the hell are O’Day and Szarka gonna do now before the game?!?”
When we played Calgary for the first time that year, I remember being in a hurry to get down to field-level because I wanted to see how things would play out between the three amigos. After all, this was Calgary vs. Saskatchewan; a rivalry like no other!!!
Would they ignore each other? Would Laz have a new walking buddy and thumb his nose at all of us? Would Szark and O’Day exclude Laz on purpose? WOULD THE WALK BE CANCELLED ALTOGETHER?!?!?
These were legitimate thoughts in my head. They literally consumed my game-day approach.
As I jogged out onto the pitch in high anticipation of a “snubbing” or some sort of bad blood, I encountered the same thing that I had seen in my first two years with the team.
Right there, walking around the field, two guys in green and one guy in sh*tty red and white; Rob Lazeo, Jeremy O’Day, and Chris Szarka had picked up right where they had left off. The lap was back.
I was actually relieved to see this, and we can use this in reference to today’s game as John Chick hits the field against long-time brethren’s like Rob Bagg, Dan Clark, and Darian Durant.
Football creates brotherhoods, not bad blood. It’s the business that sours things for players.
One misses his old friends when one has to don new colours. It’s an awkward time, because as much as one enjoys his new teammates and the process of coming together with them, one always wants to send a text to his old friends and pick up right where they left off together. A lot of the time, one doesn’t hit “send” because they feel like they’re literally no longer part of the family.
I’ve been through that feeling. Rob Lazeo probably went through that process, and I know for a fact how much John Chick misses being around his old boys, and the rest of Ridernation.
Today’s game represents something much more than an Rider legend playing for a bitter rival. Today’s game is going to be a mixed bag of emotions.
For guys like John Chick, and Darian Durant, there may be an actual feeling of contentment. Even though they’re playing for opposite sides today, at least they’re in a more familiar setting…They’re on the same field again. Sometimes that’s all one wishes for when they’re cutting their teeth in new colours. That feeling of familiarity. #family
