NOW ‘EVERY DAY IS GAME DAY’ FOR BURRIS AND HIS BIG SMILE
Personable football star starting over as rookie co-host on TV morning show
Professional quarterbacks are morning people, and Henry Burris was no different when he played, arriving at the stadium before 6 a.m. for breakfast, film study and meetings with his coaches.
But even he had to adjust to the mind-altering experience that has become his post-football life. As a co-host since February of CTV Morning Live, a four-hour weekday television program produced in Ottawa, Burris sets his alarm for 3:12 a.m. so he can arrive by 4:30 a.m. and begin his preparation.
The show begins at 6 but even when it ends, Burris usually stays for another 90 minutes at least, getting the lineup for the next day, doing television or radio hits and completing scripts for the features he does during halftime of Canadian Football League games. He puts in a seven- or eight-hour day minimum, but can play golf for the first time in two decades, spend more time with his wife and become more involved in the lives of his two sons.
There’s a downside, of course. Burris is usually in bed by 9 p.m. At least twice per week, he has an afternoon nap. But if he’s fatigued, he masks it well; the omnipresent gap-toothed grin, eye contact and warm handshake remain his staples.
“In the game of football, you practise and prepare for game day. Every day’s game day for us here,” said Burris, 42, who announced his CFL retirement on Jan. 24 after leading the Ottawa Redblacks to an upset Grey Cup victory in November — and was on the set the following month. “I’ve had days where it’s been tough. That’s part of the transition, trying to adjust my body.
“I’ve lived in this tunnel that’s football for the last 20 years,” he added. “I want to learn as much as I can about the city. … Now I can be a dad, I can golf. There’s a world of politics out there. There’s so much out there I want to be re-educated on.”
The transition has been relatively seamless. Burris was a broadcast communications major at Temple University. While playing for the Calgary Stampeders, he did winter internships at a local TV station. Even after joining the expansion Redblacks in 2014, Burris would fill in occasionally on the morning show. Always quotable and a media favourite when he played, Burris appeared comfortable in front of a TV camera.
“You still have to bring that charisma, that energy,” Burris said. “It’s all about you having a passion for something. It’s one thing to get up there and talk about a topic. It’s another for people to feel your excitement about it.”
Burris said he’s made plenty of mistakes along the way, just like when he was a pro football rookie. He reviews and criticizes his work while conducting weekly reviews with management. When he arrives for work and flashes his smile, he seemingly transforms everyone’s attitude. And after the program’s done, a steady stream of people stop by for a hug or chat. Or to look at the Grey Cup ring he wears, only on the mornings of a Redblacks game.
“The biggest thing is you have to have something. You can’t just be on TV,” said Ziyada Callender, the supervising producer. “He’s making it look easy . ... I never thought he would adjust so quickly. He’s flourishing.”
Unlike Anthony Calvillo, who took a year off when he retired before becoming an Alouettes assistant coach, Burris said kicking back and putting up his feet was never an option because he would have become too restless. Instead, he was eager and passionate to continue in broadcasting. Nonetheless, there are other coals in the fire. He wants to run football camps for children and Burris will soon meet with distillers, having developed a bacon-infused bourbon he hopes to market.
While he misses the interactions with players and dressingroom banter, Burris said there’s no itch for the game. He said he was going to retire this season, regardless, the third Cup victory of his career merely icing on the cake. He felt Redblacks management was pushing him aside in favour of Trevor Harris — although Burris, playing on an injured knee, passed for 461 yards and three touchdowns in Ottawa’s overtime Cup victory against Calgary — and he had no desire to be a backup.
It’s only when Burris discusses his career — at the time of his retirement he was third in CFL career passing yards (63,369) and touchdowns (373) — that his mood changes. He mentions the general managers who wanted him out or his salary reduced; the criticism; the Good Hank-Bad Hank comparisons. Burris has heard it all.
“You want to be appreciated for the work you put in,” he said. “Regardless of the work I did on the field, I never felt it was appreciated. It was time to go. It seemed like people thought I was a bad guy ... a me-guy. For me, there was always some negative tag they wanted to stick on my game so it would overshadow what I was doing.
“My stress level’s a lot lower now. I have a lighter load, although I’m busier. In football, you’re judged on every throw. I love what I’m doing and find it easy. I’m happy and thankful. Now I can sleep in peace at night.”