Bring on a blizzard, baby!

Cold-hearted Bombers would welcome bad weather for West Final

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Brandon Alexander grew up playing football under the sun as a native of Orlando, Fla. It was the same story in college, where the now 28-year-old starred for the University of Central Florida Knights.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2021 (1408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon Alexander grew up playing football under the sun as a native of Orlando, Fla. It was the same story in college, where the now 28-year-old starred for the University of Central Florida Knights.

It wasn’t until Alexander travelled north to Winnipeg, after a brief stint with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons — yet another hot setting — did he begin to understand what it meant to play in frigid conditions. In fact, it didn’t take long in his bid to make the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to realize he wasn’t in Kansas, er, Florida anymore.

“My rookie year, as a rookie in minicamp. I was here in April and there was ice on the side (of the field), and it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit,” Alexander said following Sunday’s practice.

Playing in below-zero temperatures has become old hat for Brandon Alexander, who grew up in Florida. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)
Playing in below-zero temperatures has become old hat for Brandon Alexander, who grew up in Florida. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

“It’s April. Back at home, it’s 90 degrees. So, that already right there changed my mindset. That was literally the first day I got here. So, already had to buy in.”

Fast-forward to today and battling between the lines in below-zero temperatures has become old hat for the Bombers all-star safety. Watch Alexander this week, his energy level seemingly rising as the weather steadily dips, and you would almost think he prefers the cold to more balmy conditions.

Turns out, it’s just part and parcel of being in the CFL — or, more specifically, playing on the prairies. If you want to play for the Bombers, the weather is just something you need to get used to.

“None of us are concerned about the weather. We practise in this outside,” Alexander said. “We are out there regularly.”

But not everybody has been in the CFL for years like Alexander. There are a handful of rookies on the team that have never played in freezing temperatures and are getting up to speed this week with the fierce cold.

Nic Demski grew up in Winnipeg, playing his high school football at Oak Park before staying in the province for his post-secondary schooling, playing four years with the University of Manitoba Bisons.

“I was telling these guys back in middle school or elementary school we used to wait for winter days when the snow would fall down so we could play tackle football outside,” Demski told reporters earlier this week. “I’ve been moving around in snow since I was a young kid. This is just natural for me. That’s the way we play football. It starts in the trenches. It starts with toughness and physicality. We’re going to come out there and hit and make some plays.”

It helps that Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea is as immune to cold weather as anyone in the Great White North. O’Shea grew up in North Bay, Ont., played 16 seasons in the CFL and wears shorts on days many would don ski pants.

For O’Shea, the message is simple: playing football at this time of the year is a privilege and so it should be treated that way, weather and all.

“I had never really played in the cold until I got to Winnipeg,” said right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, who started his career with the B.C. Lions and moved to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, never having made the playoffs until joining the Bombers.

Nic Demski grew up in Winnipeg, so knows all about playing football in the winter. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press files)
Nic Demski grew up in Winnipeg, so knows all about playing football in the winter. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press files)

“So, I got to Winnipeg and got around some great people, great staff, great organization, started winning…like we say, it’s not cold enough here and so you forget about it.

He added: “We’re just trying to take the identity of our coach, man. I don’t know, some of you guys might know him a little better than me, but I think coach O’Shea is a pretty tough guy.”

The Bombers spent the end of the 2019 season, and through their Grey Cup championship run, playing in really cold temperatures, like what they’ll see Sunday when they host the West Division final at IG Field. That experience, O’Shea said, should bode well if Mother Nature decides to wreak havoc.

“The majority of this crew figured this out in October of 2019 when we got that big snow dumping, that early winter, and then we were in it for a long time,” O’Shea said.

“Everybody recognizes that this is the time of year that you want to be in practising. You want to be working in this weather. It means you’ve done some things right up to this point.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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History

Updated on Sunday, November 28, 2021 8:47 PM CST: Corrects spelling of Orlando.

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