Corey Grant
CFL.ca
Well, here we are with the 2008 CFL season set to begin. Training camps are over, cuts have been made, and rosters set with new faces and many old ones. The question of why the coaches let one man go and kept another runs through the minds of many players and critics, but they get paid the Big Bucks, so they must know what they’re doing (Hey, they kept Me!!).
Preview shows have started with teams being ranked, which bring comments such as “Why are we so low and they’re so high? Oh we’ll show them!” These are the words spoken if you’re not number one on the list. Player rankings, and players to keep an eye on are out (I didn’t make the list again “DAMN”), as well as, fantasy pools being finalized. The always-popular prediction questions of: “Who will be the 2008 Grey Cup Champion?” “Will the defending 2007 Grey Cup Champions, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, repeat?” “Who will be the surprise team of the year?” “What player(s) will have the greatest impact for his/their new team?” (Like D.J. Flick did for us last year) “Who will capture the League’s MVP Honour?” Everyone has his or her own opinion and reasons…but is he or she right? I’ll keep mine to myself, but I do have all the answers wink, wink. All of these questions will be answered in due time.
Pre-season games gave rookies an opportunity to show the coaches that they could play at this level and veterans the chance to re-establish their own position on the team…and gave “us” 30-something guys the ability to prove “we” can still get the job done and run with these young ones…“Veteran Savvy I believe is the term we call it”…I swear these rookies all run as alternates for the U.S.A and Canadian Olympic Track Team (I’m Canadian so I have to put down our track team too).
Now, its time for the regular season to begin. The starters are going to play all four quarters (you better be in shape because the game is going to be fast and there is no tapping out). As for the rookies who the coaches believe can replace the aging veterans, well it’s their time to prove them right. The training that you started back in January…Squats, Bench Press, Power Cleans, Sprints, (I knew I should have done one more rep)…the early morning runs, the day you decided not to go out but hit the gym instead (saying to yourself, “Someone, somewhere is training to take my job!”), the sports psychology book you read to take your game to the next level, has you ready for the 2008 CFL REGULAR SEASON.
What happened last year means nothing! Everyone is PERFECT right now and all eyes are on the 2008 Grey Cup. We all BELIEVE that “NOW IS OUR TIME” to win the Championship…But there can only be one CHAMPION!!
A coach once told me, “Two points in June is just as important as two points in November.”
Time to go out and get those two points!!!
LET THE “REAL” FOOTBALL BEGIN
Corey Grant is a 10 year CFL veteran who has played with the
Ti-Cats, Alouettes and, for the last 7 seasons, the Roughriders. A
Stoney Creek, Ont. native, Corey has won Grey Cups in 1999 and 2007.
He was
named the East Division Outstanding Rookie in 1999.
