Mitchell Blair
The last time Rider fans saw Chris Milo on the field, he was getting helped off of it having suffered an ankle injury in a Thanksgiving Day win over the Toronto Argonauts. Perhaps the injury was a pre-cursor to the end of the Riders season as they didn’t win a game after Milo was forced to the sidelines.
Milo is putting that injury in the rear-view mirror and he is already concentrating on 2013 and doing what he has to do to make the green and white successful.
“I’ll be ready when camp starts,” Milo says with a laugh. “It takes time to rehab that, but I have been working hard in the off-season to get ready and even though it’s a while before we go to camp, I can assure you I’ll be 100 percent and ready to go when it comes time for camp.”
While Milo is spending his winter strengthening the ankle to get ready for camp, he is also a full-fledged member of the work-force. Thanks to a work program started by the football team, Milo and teammate Keith Shologan are working for Farm Business Council. It is something Milo is grateful for.
“I wanted to find something to put on my resume and start a career after football because you never know when the opportunity that you have is going to end.” Milo said. “I called the gentleman at FBC and had an interview with him and it all worked out. It’s great to have job security in the off-season and give you something to fall back on if for whatever reason football ends up not being a part of my life. It also gives me a reason to get out of the house in the winter-time and make the wife happy.”
Milo is one of many Riders who are starting to make Regina their year-round home. The Montreal native could have gone home in the off-season, but he says living in Saskatchewan is something he wanted to do once he became a member of the green and white.
“I had this discussion with my wife during and after the draft process in which I said wherever I ended up is where I would call home. Once I got here and saw the fans and the classy organization that we have to make Regina home.” Milo said. “If we are going to live this experience, we want to live it to the fullest and we don’t want to travel twice a year. We both love it here and when you add to the fact that I’ve got a job here and that I love interacting with the fans and we’ve got such a great organization it really makes it easy. I just hope I can have the long career that other Rider kickers have had in the past because it’s a place that I really do love.”
It would be hard to imagine Milo not being a part of the team in 2013. He certainly has proven in his short time as a Rider that he can perform the duties asked of him by the coaching staff. He is looking forward to getting back on the field, playing in his first playoff game and hopefully celebrating with the rest of his teammates on the Mosaic Stadium turf on the night of November 24 which of course is the night of the 101st Grey Cup.
