THEY ARE ALL STARS — AND THE CFL FOUND A WAY TO TREAT THEM LIKE IT
Given the excitement shown by the players, it’s clear this bash isn’t just a treat for fans
You’d call it fun and games, except there are no games.
Fifty-six of the CFL’s biggest stars began arriving in Regina on Monday for CFL Week, a festival of football with follies being a late-night option.
The CFL is a league where there is no Pro Bowl or all-star game. There isn’t a time or place for the CFL versions of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid to hang out together without a meaningful game involved.
They’ve come to be interviewed, sign autographs, pose for pictures with fans and have some beers with football nuts and each other in the Fan Cave. It’s like they are a bunch of curlers in the Brier Patch.
Maybe the best part of this for the fab 56 who are being flown in from all over North America is that your average CFL star doesn’t really feel like a star in the middle of March. Many are totally anonymous, living in Podunk, Iowa, with their college exploits forgotten. Playing in a foreign country, even with games on ESPN, leaves them out of sight and out of mind. And even in Canada, when hockey is peaking, fans tend to forget even the top players until they start playing again.
It was arrival day Monday at Regina International Airport. In a way, it was only appropriate that Chad Owens — the CFL’s most outstanding player in 2012, a six-year veteran of the Toronto Argonauts who played last year for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — was first to show.
Owens became a Saskatchewan Roughrider in the off-season and was making his first visit to his new home. He flew from Hawaii to Vancouver to Calgary to Regina and was greeted by a dozen fans wanting pictures and autographs.
“This is going to be special,” he said of the week ahead. “The league is making the players feel special. The fan engagement is on a whole new level now. And it’s even more special because it’s in Saskatchewan.
“It’s going to be unreal. I’m looking forward to it. In Canada, it’s a different kind of stardom. Any time I can be part of something where you can interact with the fans, I’m going to be all over it. I wouldn’t miss this week for the world. I’d like to thank the CFL for bringing me out here because flying me from Hawaii I know is not cheap.”
Next to arrive was Winnipeg Blue Bomber Matt Nichols, who flew in from Spokane, Wash.
“I think the great thing for me is to interact with the guys I battle against every week during the season,” he said.
“For all of us to be here without a game the next day, we can all let loose and just be guys hanging out with each other. All the other quarterbacks will be here, so I can interact with them and talk about how they handle some things.”
Nichols said it’s also cool to show up in Canada and be a CFL star here instead of a no-profile guy in Spokane.
“It is kind of nice to just be a dad and a husband and all of those types of things,” he said. “But when it’s football, I’m all in and excited to be here. This is going to be a great week.”
Next in was a flight from Edmonton with Odell Willis, Almondo Sewell and Adarius Bowman. Willis, who has never met a microphone, camera or a spotlight he didn’t like, looked like he’d died and gone to heaven.
“I think this week is something like an all-star week. It’s all the guys from around the league all gathering. I’m looking forward to being with players from around the league, and I’m going to love being around the fans. That’s what I’m going to like the most, is interacting with the fans,” Willis said. “This is good for everybody, the coaches, the players and the fans.”
Sewell recently attended his first CFLPA meeting.
“I met some of the guys from the meetings a couple of weeks ago. They’re great guys — I never thought they were. It’s a good thing to meet the players around the league you’ve never talked to,” he said.
Bowman said he’s glad he’s still playing so he could experience this day.
“As a veteran going into my 10th year, I think it’s amazing to have an event like this now. We didn’t have anything like this in my first years in the league. I’ve heard there is going to be an amazing fan base out here. I’m very excited to see the new stadium as well.
“This is a tough place to come to play, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to just come here visiting. And I want to meet some of those receivers from Ottawa — for me, I’m still a fan.”