Corey Grant
CFL.ca
It wasn’t an easy road and I’d like to take this time to say congratulations to the Calgary Stampeders and the Montreal Alouettes. These two teams have earned the right to represent the Eastern and Western Conferences in the “best” sporting event of the year.
The Grey Cup!
This is the Championship game, an opportunity to call your team the best team in 2008, and better yet, create memories that will last a lifetime. As an athlete you dream about playing in THE game. You train the entire off-season to get to this point, putting your body through things you never thought possible just to be given a chance to call yourself a Champion. Every second of training camp, the regular season, and the playoffs have contributed to both of these teams reaching the goal that every team in the CFL has set at the beginning of the year.
The Grey Cup!
This game means different things to each player, but the objective remains the same, and that’s to WIN. For the veteran player who is thinking about retirement, it’s a chance to go out on top. For the rookie, it’s a chance to start your career off with a Championship, and for the players who “they” say can’t win the big game, it’s your chance to prove “them” wrong. This is more than a game, it’s an opportunity for players and management of the winning team to call themselves Champions and nobody can ever take that away from them.
For the players I say, “enjoy the week leading up to the big event, but remember this isn’t like any other game, so you can party for a couple of days now or for months later.” This is the biggest game of the CFL season and it’s the responsibility of both teams to live up to the hype and as a player and a Canadian I know this game will exceed all expectations. The only question that needs to be answered is, “Will this game go down as a classic like so many Grey Cup games before it?”
It doesn’t matter how many Championship games you’ve played in, or at what level, because this game is different. The crowd is louder; the atmosphere feels more electric, and the emotions… that feeling in the pit of your stomach, it seems to lasts just a little bit longer than usual. The anxiety and importance of every play is magnified 10x while being scrutinized by every fan. The players love it because its…
The Grey Cup!
To the players, live in the moment and take it all in because the game will be over in the Blink Of An Eye and you don’t want to be left saying, “I wish I could have or I wish I did…”
“When you step on the field knowing that everything you worked for comes down to one game, you get that realization: this is what it’s all about, and this is why the game was made.” –Unknown.
The GREY CUP GAME make each play count! No excuses, No regrets!
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.
