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August 12, 2011

Brendon’s Blog – Day Before In Vancouver

Written by: Brendon LaBatte

Welcome back to yet another edition of Brendon’s Blog.

I write today from the airport as we prepare to head out to Vancouver. This is one of the best travel trips we have during the year. The time change allows us to depart in the late morning rather then the early morning. Sleeping in is a rarity during the season and it’s always good to head into a road trip with the batteries fully charged.  Once we arrive in B.C we’ll immediately proceed to Empire Stadium for our day before walk through. A chance to loosen up the travel legs and answer any last questions we have about this week’s game plan.  This concludes with the traditional O-line “ball game”. A game where our six travelling linemen cirlce around and have two balls being thrown amongst the members of the group. A dropped ball, holding a ball for an extended period of time, a bad throw eliminates you. The rules are made up and enforced at the Judge’s discretion. The reining champ and current Judge is Obby Khan. The winner of the previous week’s game is annointed the judge for the following week’s game. It’s a tradition that runs very deep amongst a lot of offensive lines in the CFL. Most lines will have some sort of little ritual or game that they do together before each game. It’s a great way to have some competitive laughs and although occassionally tempers flare, when we hit the locker room all is forgotten.  

Once we change out and arrive back to the hotel it’s time to go for supper. Now, in 2009, when Fred Reid set the Bomber single-game rushing record, the O-line went for sushi the night before much to the delight of Glenn January and Steve Morley.  I’m more of a night before steak guy so sushi seems a bit odd to me. However, last year we lost after eating at the Keg so this time out I gotta go back to the sushi. After filling ourselves full of fish and rice, we’ll proceed to a cupcake shop where we get some dessert to walk along the beach with. This time out to B.C we’re going to go back to what has worked best for us in the past. Hopefully the new found superstition pays off and we can perform the way that we did two years ago in our last game before the bye week.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I hope I offered some insight into what the day before a game entails when we head out to British Columbia.

Brendon LaBatte