Each week, Toronto Argonaut linebacker Mike O’Shea answers your questions. To submit a question to Mike please send an e-mail to askoshea@cfl.ca.
Mike,
It says in the media guide that you are a member of ACTRA…how did you feel about teammate Kerry Joseph and Jesse Lumsden’s performance in the Future Shop CFL All-Star promotion? Think you could’ve done a better job?
Thanks,
Natalie U. (Toronto, ON … ACTRA Member!)
A: K.J. of course put forth a simply stunning performance while Jesse’s was lacking in substance and depth. I have only seen the commercial once and thought that it accomplished what it set out to do. When an athlete is asked to appear on a commercial, he is doing so as his celebrity and not as an actor and therefore should not be judged too harshly. Obviously, since you felt compelled to write in about this commercial, it has had some effect on you, which is the general purpose of any ad. I couldn’t have done a better job because I couldn’t throw for 4000 or rush for 1000 yards.
Hey Mike,
I am a big Argo fan and even though this year has been a bit of a struggle I still have faith this team can make the playoffs and do some damage! How has the change to Don Matthews affected practice and game day? How do his pregame speeches differ from Stubler or Pinball?
Thanks,
Adam M. (North York, ON)
A: The switch to Coach Matthews has brought about a few changes to the daily practice and game day routines. Practices are a bit longer with more focus on specific drills to sharpen fundamental football techniques that sometimes get left by the wayside in favour of game planning. These drills are not physically taxing by design as they are a small segment of a play where a particular skill set needs to be employed.
On the day of the game, we now can arrive one half hour later but we meet for our quiet time focus period 50 minutes earlier.
As far as pre-game speeches, each coach motivates in his own particular style, but the message is the same. Know your assignment. Work hard. WIN.
Mike,
I’m from Kingston and I’m a huge Queen’s fan, but I still respect your style of play. You’ve seen every style of offence over the years while manning the middle of the D, how do you see the trend going in the next couple of years? Do you think teams will revert to more jumbo offences or stay spread out with five and six receiver sets?
Thanks Mike and go Gaels!
Dave S. (Gananoque, ON)
A: It’s quite all right that you cheer for Queen’s. I’ll still respect you. Offensive systems can sometimes be dictated by other factors such as personnel. If you have bruising fullbacks, big receivers or depth at o-line, you would be more apt to run double tight end sets and run the ball. The philosophy of the coach dictates whether you find players to fit the system or you build the system to fit your players but usually it’s a combination of both. There really is nothing new in football, just coaches trying to stay ahead of the trends by looking at their roster and their opponents’ rosters to field a better team.
Mike O’Shea enters his 16th CFL season in 2008. He is a three-time Grey Cup champion and the captain of the Toronto Argonauts’ defence. He is the CFL’s all-time leader in defensive tackles by a Canadian and is second all-time on the overall list. In 1999 he was named the league’s outstanding Canadian player.
