Laval
Where do you go when you have just climbed the biggest mountain imaginable?
Naturally you visit the mountains home and see if you can stick around again.
(Bandit original Dahlin Brooks and I pre game at QC)
We admired Laval’s indoor facility. This place housed the best game of foam roller baseball i’ve ever seen with DB Zach Ismael hitting a walk off in the 4th inning.
In the 2012 preseason we made a return visit to Quebec City to take on Laval. This time tropical storm Irene would not play a part. The day was hot as could be and pure sun. Perfect throwing conditions. Too bad the Rouge Et Or faithful were so angry they wouldn’t allow us to snap the ball on anything other than a third sound cadence. AGN and the boys don’t need any help flying off the ball in a pass rush, but their crowd ALWAYS gives it to them.
I sat in the locker room and prepared with Ben as always.
My parents made the trip as always.
We found time to get away from it all and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city as always. Thats me the naked guy.
We stayed in the tiny dorm rooms.
Kyle again put on a show in the first half opening rouge Et Or memory wounds with gashing runs reminiscent of the 2011 Vanier Cup. When I entered the game all was right in the world. No backup rule rain, my full compliment of weapons at the ready and a chance to prove I was ready to take the next step.
I went 5-18 for 141 yards and 1 touchdown. Awful stats to begin with. Now factor in that I had thrown a 99 yard touchdown on one of those five completions. Was it a bomb down the sideline? Did I look off everyone in sight and fool the defence? Nope.
We ran five verticals and a running back checked down. I stepped up in the pocket (Thanks a lot AGN) and found Matt Kit. Local Hamilton boy done good. He grabbed the ball and headed for the sideline. Somehow against the best defence in the country he was in the end zone 99 yards later.
Time to revamp my stats without the fluky 99 yard touchdown. 4-17 for 40 yards…
I wanted nothing more than to leave Quebec City. What we had learned in that moment was how little separation there was between competing with Laval and being dominated.
A Regular Season To Forget
We returned home to a decal which constantly reminded us of the impending pressure to succeed but we we became the most boring highly scrutinized team I’ve ever seen.
Every game Benny And I took our spots during the national anthem. We’ve never talked about needing to do this every game. It just kind of started happening in 2011 and we’ve done it every game ever since.
During the 2012 regular season I accomplished absolutely nothing. I believe the high of being wanted, heh needed as a three game starting Quarterback and fill in punter in 2011 left me wanting more. I felt useless. Kyle was a machine, a wrecking ball of Cyrus proportions that smashed his way through anyone and anything that doubted him. In comparison I was the backup QB with the goofy hair and a lack of purpose.
I lived with emerging superstar Ben O’connor and wild man DB Scott Martin. We had a humble small 3 person apartment above a driving instruction school in Westdale. We plastered the living room wall with good memories in an attempt to recreate the vibe of 2011 and remind ourselves of who we are and what it means to be MacMen.
We opened the season at home against Guelph who really thought they were hot stuff. With my dysfunctional funky punting style along for the ride we won 50-9.
We travelled to Waterloo on a short week of prep. I played lots but remember little other than executing the game plan. 68-21.
We travelled to Ottawa. Always a great chance to bond in the hotel. We did that, and we also deconstructed Gee-Gee football 45-16.
Sensing a theme here? By mid season we had a futon in the locker room. Things were clearly on the up and up.
We beat Queens at home 33-20.
We beat Western on the road 33-27. Ho hum another day in Quinlan’s office.
We played under the lights at York 54-14.
Kyle got one more dig in on his local team Windsor 39-18 on The Score and we finished the season off in a 43-0 blowout of Laurier. Never mind the clear fumble that was called down by contact..
I had never understood the psychology of being unhappy while successful until 2012. Like a wealthy businessman with a perfect car, home and family who hates his life and becomes the world’s greatest philanthropist I looked for other ways to contribute.
Thats when I started to visit the McMaster children’s hospital for visits and became a team member of McMaster Athletes Care. I wasn’t doing anything on the field why not do something off of it.
Wake Me Up When November Ends
The trend of boring success continued in the playoffs. We casually took care of Western at home under the lights earning the right to play a Yates cup at home for the first time in nearly a decade.
I knew I had absolutely no threat of ever being called upon to enter live game action. Kyle was invincible in the regular season, and traditionally in the playoffs he took the form of football jesus with lights shining around his body so bright he was difficult to look at so I decided to workout the morning of the Yates Cup.
I’ll never forget people strangely recognizing me in the gym shooting looks like don’t you have a game today. A question which my body language responded to with “yah kind of, its more complicated than that”.
Kyle called the 2012 Yates Cup the most boring game he ever played in saying all he had to do was not turn the ball over to an opportunistic Gryphon defence. I would have to agree. 30-13 was the final in front of an amazing Ron Joyce crowd.
The next week we hosted the CanWest Champion Calgary Dinos in the Mitchell bowl on a strangely humid and foggy late November evening in Hamilton. They were the monsters of the West. They had the most dominant pass rush in Canada behind eventual CFL #1 overall draft pick DT Lindon Gaydosh. 45-6 was the final. Yawn. Kyle’s last game at home as a player. A situation I would later face and come to appreciate as he did.
After the game I remember telling my family who were there with the 13th man how useless I felt.
They should just dress someone else to help on specials. In no way was I being selfish and wanting to play. I was just worried I was detracting from the teams success and wanted the best for everyone.
This is not the face of a man who is enjoying having just won a national semifinal. As a team we had set such a high standard for ourselves that blowing teams out wasn’t enough. In this same time period I had learned to hold myself to such a level that anything short of Quinlan-esque greatness was not enough. The positive of always staying focused on the next game or challenge ahead is that you are always ready. The clear downside is that you never enjoy a damn second.
If there was one thing I could change about my career it would be to breathe it all in more and enjoy the moments in between the memories. Don’t get me wrong i’ve had a hell of a time here.
We had Declan’s Afro inject some culture into the locker room.
Robert Babic appreciation day at walk through.
Never ending Defensive Back wrestling fights.
And the reappearance of Zubaz tights to a football locker room.
but at some point this shift occurred that required laser focus and perfection or I felt inferior and disposable.
The Greatest Game Ever… Again?
In the 2012 Vanier we were destined to get the rematch with Laval.
The football gods wanted it this way and it was so.
Ticket sales were insane. The hype around campus was the greatest I have ever seen and the fans did not disappoint.
The message all week was we have been here before, we have done this, we can do it again. I like to let my t-shirts speak for themselves.
But too much emphasis was put on recreating the past instead of embracing the future.
We still had the same fun Vanier Cup week as 2011. Kyle and the Offensive line all dressed the same, we had great team meals and I got to experience the rich and fabulous life of McMaster Football receivers in their robes.
We emerged to the biggest crowd I will ever play in front of, 95% Maroon. Heaven. I still remember looking up into the 500s after our introduction and realizing that people like me had paid money to watch us play from way up there.
Amazing.
Kyle again played out of his mind in the most difficult of circumstances. Not the least of which was escaping AGN and his crew.
Laval was able to run the ball effectively controlled the clock and limited our trademark explosive plays.
We tried to make halftime adjustments but it was to no avail.
All of that adds up to a Vanier Cup loss for us and a sinking pit in my stomach for three hours. I have never wanted to throw up on an empty stomach so badly in my life. The mighty Marauders were tamed caged and slaughtered and my friend, mentor and a person I have the utmost respect for was done.
Kyle waved goodbye to the moment in the most elegant of ways. Displaying a never dieing passion for his teammates, school, city, family and friends and I will always remember how he played the game. He has been such a large influence on my development and there is no way I would be the player I have become without being surrounded by him.
But Kyle was now gone, the job was mine to lose and the direction was in question. Needless to say we had set a sustain standard of excellence around the Maroon hallways of DBAC.
We had somehow been able to stay atop the mountain under the most boring pressure I had ever felt in 2012. The question then became in 2013, who are we?
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