Corey Grant
CFL.ca
The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. Summer vacation is coming to an end and kids are getting ready for back to school. This can only mean one thing…LABOUR DAY.
Labour Day signifies the halfway point of the CFL season and that means that the playoffs and Grey Cup are just around the corner. But before those games are played there has to be the “Labour Day Classic Weekend” which kick starts the second half of the CFL season.
BC versus Montreal, Winnipeg versus Saskatchewan, Edmonton versus Calgary, and Toronto versus Hamilton are the matches for this weekend, which places rival teams, cities, and provinces against each other to battle it out on the gridiron in pursuit of a Labour Day Classic victory.
Now, are this weekend’s games any different than any other regular season game because it’s Labour Day?
As I’m sitting in meetings with Marcus “Chunky” Adams beside me, we focus on every word coach is saying making sure we know our responsibilities for the game. Coach makes a point and leaves us with a quote to take with us as a reminder during our final hours of preparation before the game and we listen intently because we know we might be drawing on those few words/phrases in the 4th quarter during the Labour Day game.
We hit the practice field for our day before walk through to do our final fine-tuning of the week’s game plan and the stands are packed with fans. People’s faces painted, music playing, the P.A. announcer calling out each player’s name and the endless cheering as player’s names echo across the speakers. This is because it’s Labour Day.
Fans stand in line waiting 20-30 minutes just to take a picture, talk to, or get an autograph from their favourite players. They also take this chance to wish the players and coaches good luck before the game because it’s Labour Day.
The atmosphere that surrounds the Labour Day game is like homecoming for a college or university student. No other regular season game has this much anticipation or has been sold out before the season begins. In Saskatchewan, the game means so much to the fans that the organization had to add an additional 2000 seats.
In Hamilton, if you only win one game a year it had better be the Labour Day game against Toronto. I remember those words coming from fans back when I used to play for the Ticats and also uttering those same words as a fan, growing up in Hamilton.
The passion for the Labor Day game is no different or less intense than the battle of the QEW or the Prairies or Alberta. And let’s not leave out the Friday night game to kick start the weekend festivities between BC and Montreal playing in front of a sold out Molson Stadium. These rivalries make the CFL the great league that it is and the rivalries add to its rich traditions.
But as a player we must stay focused on our task and do our best to treat the Labour Day Classic games as just another step in getting to where we want to be at the end of the year: The Grey Cup game.
Gene Makowsky pointed out to the team that the season is 18 games long and treating one regular season game as being more important than any other regular season game is doing a disservice to your teammates and yourself (even if it is Labour Day).
Each game must be treated as a step in the process of getting to the final goal because at the end of the year you‘re only asked: “Who won the Grey Cup?” and not “Who won the Labour Day Game?”
So my advice is to let the fans enjoy the partying and get all caught up in the hoopla of Labour Day and all players “RIDE” together with your teammates to win the game that is right in front of you.
Remember – it’s just another game or is it????
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.
