Johany Jutras
By: Justin Boone
jboone@ticats.ca
As a member of the Ticats offensive line, standing in the face of an oncoming pass rush is where you make your living. It’s your comfort zone.
You get used to standing shoulder to shoulder with four other guys equal to your colossal size for roughly 45 seconds, that’s the time it takes for the five of you to huddle together with the offence, take your spots on the line of scrimmage, and stand strong as you defend your position.
During those intense moments you get to learn a lot about your fellow lineman, like how they deal with pressure. Day after day of hanging in the football trenches inevitably creates a bond between men, which is why they say offensive linemen are like a fraternity, a close-knit group of brothers, who are as tight off the field as they are on it.
“It’s easier for us on the offensive line this year because coach [Jeff] Bleamer is back, and the majority of the line is back,” explained centre Marwan Hage. “Where we are right now as an offensive line is what took us two months to get to last year.”
Hage is only one of a cast of characters that Bleamer has been put in charge of wrangling once again this season.
“I’ve never coached an offensive line with this much personality in my life. Most offensive lineman are very low key, but between Marwan and Peter [Dyakowski] and Cedric [Gagne-Marcoux]… they stir the pot, they keep things interesting.”
Following dinner last weekend, the O-linemen were once again traveling all together back to their rooms at Les Prince Hall, where they were about to have a different type of bonding experience, one they had no idea was coming.
“The funny thing about it was that we told the rookies to take the stairs because the vets get the elevator,” recounted veteran tackle Jonta Woodard. “Little did we know they would all have a good laugh at our expense.”
And so Woodard and Hage stepped into the elevator for a routine two-floor ride, along with guard George Hudson and tackles Marko Cavka and Charles Thomas. But what a difference 45 seconds can make.
It takes five lineman to bring a pass rush to a hault, and apparently it takes the same number of them to bring an elevator to an unplanned stop. Despite a Do Not Exceed sign listing the maximum capacity at 2500 pounds or 15 people, the quintet of Tabbies blockers weighing in at just over 1500 pounds found themselves stuck in between floors.
Forget 45 seconds, try 45 minutes trapped next to five big bodies, with little room to move and the walls sweating due to the heat. At least they have that unique fellowship to fall back on right?
“I was starting to think about who I was going to eat first,” quipped Hage. “Marko is too skinny, I’m not sure how lean the meat is on George and Charles, so I think I would have gone with Jonta.”
Aside from the uncomfortable setting within the elevator, things only got worse when the news spread and the other linemen acted like brothers do, poking fun at their situation.
“Everyone laughing at us from the outside, and I understand because I would have been laughing if I was on the outside too,” admitted Hudson, who was taking the elevator for only the second time in camp. “But it wasn’t even funny man, it was 45 minutes and it was hot in there.”
Dyakowski, the resident jokester, was one of the first on the scene.
“They were reckless and that’s what happens,” he joked. “I was trying to give them advice from the outside and they wouldn’t take it. I’ve been stuck in an elevator on a couple of occasions. One time I was fortunate enough to have the fire department assist me in the rescue, and another time I had to find my own way out. Fortunately I was in an older model with an escape hatch that was only bolted shut. I was able to bust through that and climb out diehard-style.
We’re still in the process of checking the credibility of Peter’s story. In the meantime, don’t expect to see any of the lineman waiting around in the lobby for the next available elevator, they’ve become fans of the stairs.
