Argos ditch malarkey on way to Grey Cup
Excited about his team’s future, Van Zeyl reflects on trials overcome
Chris Van Zeyl has been a member of the Toronto Argonauts for nine seasons. He has seen some things.
There have been great highs, like the Grey Cup win at a soldout Rogers Centre in 2012. And there have been lows. So many different kinds of lows. There was the absentee owner, and the “home” games in northern Alberta and the nomadic existence when they were displaced by a Blue Jays playoff run in 2015 and had to play before boutique crowds down the road in Hamilton. There was the time last year in mid-season when the team cut four wide-receivers on the same day. That was pretty much all of the receivers. There was a GM fired and a coach who departed.
Asked when he knew that the 2017 Argonauts might, finally, be something different, Van Zeyl says it did not take long.
“When you’re on a team where there’s all that malarkey and craziness going on, and then you become a part of a team like this, almost immediately,” he says. “In training camp, we saw the difference.”
Van Zeyl, Toronto’s right tackle, is a giant of a man. At 6-foot-6 and more than 300 pounds, wearing an Argos tuque at Grey Cup Media Day and sporting a bushy beard, it feels a little like talking to Paul Bunyan, minus the blue ox. When he shakes a hand there is an awareness that he could crush a few of your digits if he was of a mind to do so.
But the 34-year-old from Fonthill, Ont., is also thoughtful and earnest when talking about his team, a reflection of the trials that the Argos have overcome.
One could just feel that the mood around the team was off last season, he says, after so many hurdles and too many losses.
“As soon as I came in this year, you could feel the love,” Van Zeyl says. “I don’t even know the best words to use. There was a unity and” — he pauses here, still trying to put a large finger on it — “like, just, a better feeling.”
Less malarkey, if you will. Van Zeyl isn’t sure which part was worse: the ownership changes, the franchise homelessness or the tough losses.
“It seems like every year there’s been a new challenge,” he says. “But I think the beauty of this team is no matter what challenge has come our way, we’ve always figured out a way to work through it.”
He points out that this season, the Argos changed practice facilities mid-season — they have changed practice sites in recent years like most people change socks — and it almost felt like routine.
“Guys that have been here for a number of years, we almost expect it now,” Van Zeyl says. “It’s easier to push through that stuff.”
He also says that, with all the moving around, all the team could do was try to focus on playing football.
“As long as you have a meeting room, you have some film that you can watch, there’s a field you can practise on, whether you have to take a bus to it or you can just walk outdoors and get on the practice field immediately, it doesn’t matter,” he says. “You have to win a football game and you know what goes into winning a football game.”
Van Zeyl is one of four Argos who were on the 2012 championship team, along with quarterback Ricky Ray, defensive back Matt Black and linebacker Marcus Ball, who left for the NFL but came back to Toronto this year. When he talks about those players, it is evident that they have fought some battles.
“Those guys will always hold a place near and dear to my heart. It’s just … you just spill blood, you’re doing all those things,” he says. When his quarterback takes a hit, he says, “I always try to get back there to see Ricky on the ground. It’s not a walk to go pick him up, it’s a run, because I know that if I’m hurting, he’s hurting.”
Would a team that breezed through several normal seasons have developed the same kind of bonds?
“That’s what builds character,” Van Zeyl says. “We’ve been through everything. I don’t know of any other team that’s been through what we’ve been through.”
He says he’s spent time this year explaining the importance of focus to his younger teammates, and how they shouldn’t get caught up by small distractions. He says the new guys know that when it comes to distractions, the Argonauts veterans know what of they speak.
“It comes from a place where they know we’ve been through it all,” Van Zeyl says. “You can trust us a little bit more, you know?”
And so now the Argos have a nice home stadium, and a permanent practice facility and stable ownership. These are simple things, baseline requirements for a professional team, but for this one they mean a lot.
“I’m extremely excited for the years to come. I love what we have,” Van Zeyl says. “Other players might come in and, compared to some other teams I’m sure it’s a little underwhelming, but for me, I’ve been through it all, I’ve seen it all and I love what we have.”
Even if it took a while to get it.