STAMPS DEDICATE SEASON TO SLAIN MATE
Stampeders players honour the memory of teammate Mylan Hicks, who was shot dead outside a Calgary nightclub early Sunday, before practice at McMahon Stadium on Tuesday.
No. 31 was on their minds. And, in a way, still in their midst.
Calgary Stampeders players, back to work for the first time since Sunday’s early-morning murder of Mylan Hicks, paid sincere tribute to their fallen teammate.
Osagie Odiase — Hicks’s roommate and fellow practice-roster worker — wore his friend’s number during Tuesday’s workout at McMahon Stadium.
And for Saturday’s game in Hamilton, Jamar Wall will forgo his familiar No. 29 jersey for No. 31.
“That was just something I felt in my heart that I needed to do,” Wall said. “I felt that we’re a family. It’s not just a team. We buy into each other. We spend most of our hours with each other. I loved him like a true brother. It would be my privilege to do that.
“He never got a chance to play in an actual game, but if you saw him in practice, he was constantly flying around, constantly doing what he was supposed to do. I love that. I feel that that’s who I am.
“It hit me really hard. I just felt like that was something I needed to do.”
Without exception, before practices start, players gather for a series of rah-rah chants. Tuesday’s display included an exuberant jig by Odiase. Teammates hooted their approval.
Subsequent drills featured a lot of pep, a lot of joy.
Football served as a release. The enthusiasm, which fuelled impromptu post-practice sprint showdowns, was legitimate.
“I feel like our focus was through the roof,” said Wall, “just because we have something else to play for. There’s still energy around, but we have (Hicks) in our hearts.”
Added Rob Cote: “Football for us, for a lot of people, is very therapeutic. You could see by the end of practice the mood was very different from when we came in for (the morning) meetings.”
Hicks’s alma mater, Michigan State, intends to honour the defensive back Saturday at Indiana by wearing black socks and black shoes. (“Mylan, of all the Spartan gear, liked to wear black,” coach Mark Dantonio told the Detroit News.) Players will also put No. 6 — his jersey number there — on their helmets.
With memorial plans of their own, the Stamps resume what had been a dream season, 11-1-1 on the strength of a 10-game winning spree. It was shortly after the latest triumph that the unthinkable happened.
Celebrating with teammates, Hicks, 23, was gunned down outside a Macleod Trail nightclub.
“It’s still kind of a surreal deal for us … like, ‘OK, I can wake up any minute now,’ ” said Wall. “We’re not going to be distracted at all. It’s going to be a big-time motivational factor. We all had a relationship with the guy.
"He was quiet and kept to himself, but he was a family member. He was a soldier that rode with us.”
Now the Stamps are left walking the sometimes uncomfortable line between mourning and moving on.
There is no playbook for emotion or etiquette.
“If someone’s in a good mood or feels that something’s funny and they laugh, then they feel guilty,” said coach Dave Dickenson. “So just be yourselves. Understand that we know what happened.”
Hicks’s locker stall remains untouched.
It stands as both touching tribute and grim reminder.
“It’s weird,” said Cote. “You don’t know what to think, how to act. You’re just looking at all your friends and everybody’s feeling this pain and we don’t know why we’re feeling it. Everyone is feeling something that is so unexpected, so tragically wrong.”
Hicks’s folks, Renee and Reggie, are travelling from Detroit to Calgary this week. This is an important step for everyone – players and staffers, Mom and Dad.
“I think our team wants to talk to the parents,” said Dickenson. “I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life, (but) some other guys have had some very negative experiences. I’d like to think the parents could draw strength from us and vice versa.”
No surprise, the Stamps have dedicated the rest of the 2016 campaign to the memory of Hicks. According to Cote, there is zero desire to put this ordeal behind them.
“Football seems like it doesn’t matter at all at a time like this,” he said. “It seems insignificant. But, at the same time, if this was me, what would you want (the players) to do? There is nothing he would want us to do except to go out here … and try to achieve something great in his name.”
Whatever fate awaits the Stamps, one thing is known. No. 31 will be out there. If Wall hadn’t asked to tug on the kid’s jersey, someone else would have.
“I’m absolutely floored and just so happy,” Cote said of Wall’s gesture. “There’s no right guy, there’s no wrong guy. I’m happy that his number will be on the field.
"He will be in our thoughts every day and every play.”