Welcome back everyone, it’s good to see all of you again. When I last talked to you guys we were 6-0 and trying to stay undefeated through the bye week. Unfortunately we didn’t make it, even though we gave it our best effort in the 2^nd half of that Calgary game. Had we played that way in the 1^st half of the game it could have been a different story but we didn’t and the credit (and win) goes to Calgary. Just like when we win, we have to learn from our mistakes and get better because just as coach Gibson says all the time (and I agree with him) “Each game you either get better or go backwards”. The difference between winning and losing is that the exact same mistake you made on a play can make you either cringe or laugh, depending on the outcome of the game. You never want to make mistake but when you win it’s easier to look at that mistake and tell yourself “hey I screwed up but we won”…and then you make sure you don’t do that mistake again. When you lose, usually that same mistake will sound something like this in your head “You suck!! You really suck!!!”…and then you make sure you don’t do that mistake again. The game was especially hard for me to watch from the sideline and not be able to contribute and be out there with my teammates. We lost another piece of the puzzle in the game too when Belton Johnson broke his leg. Chris Best filled in very nicely and it was great to see him get in there. I’m not sure people realize how hard it is for someone who hasn’t played in a game in 7 weeks to jump in and make the transition from practice to game. Practice speed and intensity isn’t the same as an actual game so it takes a few series to get yourself up to game speed. 

 

Following the game everyone went there own way. Most guys are not fortunate enough to have their family live in Regina with them, so being able to go home for a week is very nice. I know some guys went home to see their kids and wives (congrats to Corey Grant on the birth of his little one), some went to see their parents, some to see their friends and others took little vacation to recharge their batteries. As for me, the biggest fun my girlfriend and I had was going to Cornwall…and by that I mean the Cornwall shopping center…10 minutes from where I live. As we walked through the mall, I tried to do some shopping but as some of you may not know, shopping mall and “big boned” people don’t go well together. I tried on a few shirts from different stores. I swear some of the labels on these shirts are wrong. I usually fit in a XXL but some of these XXL shirts looked like they were made for “skinny-fat” people. Some of the shirts stopped before they even reached my belt, others were so tight they looked like someone had spray painted them on me and one of them even gave me trouble to put my arms down comfortably (c’mon Gap). Beside this exciting trip, my week was very uneventful. I did some treatment and worked out everyday so I can come back on the field as soon as possible. I ran a few errands, I’m not a procrastinator so I didn’t have a lot of stuff built up on my to-do list, and played lots of video games…and I mean a lot. I was actually pretty bored on some days. In an attempt to get out of the house I asked if anyone would be at the stadium so I could get a 2^nd round of treatment in the afternoon to which I was told in a typical sarcastic response from Ivan (our trainer) “sure you can come in to get some treatment in the afternoon…good luck getting in the building though cause no one is going to be here”. One day I got home around 11:30am and had nothing to do…not a single errand to run, not even something as small as picking up some milk, so I played videogames for 3 hours straight, got bored and had some lunch, found nothing on TV to watch, still couldn’t figure out anywhere to go (and I’m suppose to stay off my leg so random walking isn’t a great idea anyways), so I played some more video games…for another 3 hours! I’d like to say thank you to Sony for inventing the Playstation 3 for entertaining me that day…and that was my bye week…and I tell you my friends, I’m not making this stuff up…