Isaac Owusu
Ticats.ca
Monday’s Labor Day Classic will be the official homecoming game for the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
But on Sunday the Ticats’ players toured their new digs at Tim Hortons Field, one day before they take on rivals the Toronto Argonauts.
Taking the first step into the locker room made an impression on receiver Bakari Grant.
“It’s amazing. It’s great like they always said it would be, from the materials, to the setup. Everything in there is top in the league. They made everything clean, neat and paid close attention to detail,” he said.
Grant was on the team in 2012 when they played their final game at Ivor Wynne Stadium on October 27, 2012. In that game he caught three passes for 87 yards and a touchdown.
After calling many other stadiums “home” since then, finally getting a chance to open the team’s final destination on labour day truly resonates with Grant.
“It’s not just a game, it’s a Labour Day Classic. It’s our first true game back home in Hamilton. If you can’t get up for this game then you’re playing the wrong sport,” he said.
Grant will get his first opportunity since July 4th to catch passes from Zach Collaros, who makes his return to the team after missing five games due to injury.
Collaros, in his first year in Hamilton after spending two seasons on the Argos as their backup quarterback, not only make his first appearance in over a month but he does it against his former team.
Moving into his new locker room was quite the experience for Monday afternoon’s starter.
“It was pretty cool. They did a great job with the facility. The field is beautiful. We saw some videos today of some Labour Day classics from years before on the big screen, so that was pretty cool. The weight room is going to be awesome and the locker room is huge. The guys are definitely excited,” he said.
“I’m glad to have Zach back,” head coach Kent Austin said on the eve of the game.
“He’s had a good week of practice. The guys around him practiced well. Zach is a competitor, he’s had a lot of success in his past, so he’ll be ready to play and he’ll play well,” Austin added.
Ensuring that Collaros has the opportunity to play well is offensive lineman Brian Simmons.
Following Saturday’s practice he gave a glowing review of the team’s facilities at Tim Horton’s Field.
“I am very impressed. It’s wide open and you can see everybody. It’s literally state-of-the-art, I’m very impressed because I was here when Ivor Wynne was still around, so I know what we came from,” he said.
The four-year veteran is no stranger to the rivalry between the two teams, but this one will be the most special for him.
“They always say if there is one game for us to win it have to be this one. We know for the people in the city that this is the one that matters. We’ve been hearing it all week, I even heard during bye week, when I was on vacation, fans telling me ‘hey, make sure that you win’ and I was like ‘wow’. It’s a huge rivalry, more like Toronto versus Hamilton, rather than Tiger-Cats versus Argonauts,” Simmons said.
