Reilly ready for animosity, love from Eskimos fans
Former Eskimos star QB expects to revisit ‘a ton of memories’ after move to Lions
“Ladies and gentleman welcome to the ‘Mike Reilly Returning to Edmonton Conference Call,’ ” was how the moderator began the CFL special media event Wednesday.
Prior to answering a question, Reilly referenced that.
“First of all, I think it’s most important that we have a conference call named after my return,” he laughed and called it “craziness.”
The day Reilly walked away from six seasons as an Eskimo to go to the B.C. Lions in free agency, he knew this wasn’t going to be a normal bit of pre-game buildup or business.
The first question, predictably, was on what kind of response he expected from the fan base Friday evening in Commonwealth Stadium.
“I spent six years in Edmonton and went through a lot of life-changing experiences on and off the football field. Obviously, on the field there was winning a Grey Cup and a most outstanding player. Off the field, there was being married prior to the 2015 season and having both my daughters born in Edmonton during the 2016 and 2018 seasons, respectively. I’m at a totally different point in my life the first time I was back in Edmonton.
“The first time back in Edmonton is obviously going to bring back a ton of those memories. I’m glad it’s happening early in the season. If it had been later it might have been an entirely different experience.”
Reilly said he has not spent time worrying about how he’ll be treated by the fans.
“I’m really not concerned about it. I’m sure it will be mixed. I think a lot of the fan base there knows it was a great opportunity for me to come to B.C., but at the same time there’s going to be that animosity for me leaving the team. And I get that. I totally understand that. They have a great fan base there and one I had the privilege of playing before for more than 100 games.
“I understand that once the game is kicked off, I am the enemy. But I am excited to come back and play another game in that building.”
The best Reilly figures he can expect would be some sort of pre-game response from some of the fans to show appreciation of the time he spent here prior to a night of being booed once he takes the field to run his first play.
One question that I had that I hadn’t had the opportunity to ask of Reilly goes back to the so-called garbage bag day exit interviews with the media.
I remembered him, after he’d taken his turn, going around the room shaking hands with everybody. I didn’t recall him doing that any other year and asked if it was because he knew then that he wasn’t coming back?
“I can tell you right now with 100 per cent certainty that I did not know that I was not coming back to Edmonton. But it was also the first time in my career that I was going into potential free agency and knowing that there was a chance that I wasn’t coming back. So no, I was not checked out at that point.”
I was curious about the process that was involved.
When you make a move like this, did he actually get out the pen and paper and draw the line down the middle and write “Pro” on one side and “Con” on the other?
And if he did, I assume location, dollars, history with Ed Hervey, opportunity to make a difference with a franchise currently not drawing many fans and by extension with the league, all lined up on the pro side.
But was there a worry about performance of the team and the ability to be Mike Reilly? That, I believe, crossed the minds of some people watching the opener who saw a defence that looked like it might spend a long time on the field this year and an offence with a questionable offensive line and no running game in the opener.
I pushed Reilly’s buttons on that on the conference call.
“I didn’t physically have a sheet of paper to write all that stuff down. There was a big list for both sides,” said the quarterback, who completed passes for 26,929 yards, completed 66.4 per cent of his passes while adding 3,040 rushing yards and passing for 143 touchdowns and running for 45 more.
“I didn’t think there were negative types of things from the football side of things. I knew Edmonton inside and out extremely well. Obviously, I’d spoken with them a ton in the off-season about what I thought we needed to do to improve as a team. I felt very confident that if I stayed in Edmonton that we were going to be a very successful team. And speaking with B.C. about the direction they were going. As for a concern about whether I could be myself, no, I didn’t have that concern at all.”
I saved the important question for last.
“What is involved with your hat selection for such a significant game?” I asked the QB who has made himself a haberdashery study in the selection of what chapeau he chooses to wear on each road trip.
“I know that I have to bring out something special, not just for the road trip but for my first time back in Edmonton.
“I don’t want to spoil the surprise about this hat. I think that everything is going to look pretty sharp, but I’ll let everybody be the judge when I get to Commonwealth. I’d love to give you more information. I can say I’m happy with the selection. I had to make sure I look good going back there.”