Sleep doesn’t come easy

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This article was published 15/08/2024 (471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The night is just beginning for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers when the game ends.

Ask anyone in the locker room and they’ll likely tell you the same thing — it’s nearly impossible to get any sleep when the adrenaline is still pumping from battling it out on the gridiron.

That especially rings true when it’s a road game in Vancouver, where the Bombers (3-6) will be Sunday to take on the B.C. Lions (5-4) at 6 p.m. CT. By the time the Blue and Gold retreat to the locker room, shower, pack their belongings, hop on the charter plane, and land back in Winnipeg, it can be 5 a.m.

“The rush is still in you, so you sleep super late anyways. Like me and Deatrick (Nichols), we’ll be texting after games until 5 or 6 a.m.,” said Bombers dime back Redha Kramdi.

“So, I don’t really mind getting home late because everything we do on the plane — laughing, kicking it, watching movies — I’d be doing at home alone.”

You’d think left tackle Stanley Bryant could go for some shut-eye on the flight after an evening of blocking defenders who weigh nearly 300 pounds, but that’s not the case.

“I rarely get any sleep because I (take) C4 (pre-workout), energy drinks, advil, some of everything, before the game,” said Bryant.

Plus, that’s a time for eating. When they visit the Lions, Bryant will order food from Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House and save it for the journey home.

“I think they’ve got the best calamari in Canada. Just us O-linemen do that, though. I mean, we’re fat,” laughed Bryant. “But sometimes they’ll have pizzas and stuff for us after the game. The team takes care of us.”

It’s also not easy catching Zs when defensive end Willie Jefferson is blasting tunes on the plane as the team’s unofficial DJ.

“I usually try to have a mix of music for everybody,” said Jefferson.

He’s not kidding.

The playlist caters to all, with 90s RnB, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Chris Stapleton, Tim McGraw, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182, NYSNC, Future, and Gunna all making the cut.

“I just want to have a vibe right after the game,” said Jefferson.

“I take requests. Even in the locker room, we have music playing and if somebody’s like ‘Hey, can put this on?’ I give them my phone and tell them to put it in the queue.”

Jefferson — who sits at the back with a group of veterans featuring Kramdi, Nichols, Kenny Lawler, Brady Oliveira, Nic Demski, Chris Streveler, Jamieson Sheahan, Sergio Castillo and Mike Benson — even lets rookies have a say. They do, however, make the first-year players take their bags off the aircraft and lug them to the bus when they arrive in an opponent’s city.

“(Celestin) Haba grabbed my bag last year, but this year it’s been DA (Devin Adams),” said Jefferson.

When the Bombers lose, DJ Willie takes the night off.

“It’s quiet. Headphones on,” said Bryant.

The night before kickoff, sleep is no issue — at least not for Lawler.

“I sleep like a baby. The work is done,” said Lawler, who’s expected to return this weekend from a broken arm he suffered in Week 1.

“I probably had a nice dinner and I’m in bed. At that point it’s just about going out there and having fun.”

Lawler should sleep extra well in Vancouver as he’s no stranger to torching the Lions inside BC Place. He had the best game of his career on Oct. 2, 2021 when he hauled in 12 passes for 205 yards and a touchdown in a 30-9 victory over the Leos.

The day before, he enjoyed some seafood at The Victor inside the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver hotel.

“Better book the reso, bro,” chimed in Demski.

“You gotta book it back,” added Oliveira.

The coaches aren’t the ones strapping on the pads and licking their wounds post-game. According to head coach Mike O’Shea, that doesn’t mean the ones who handle the Xs and Os can pass out once their heads hit the pillow. If anything, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame linebacker finds it even more difficult to do so since he started wearing a headset.

“By the time you probably could wind down enough to get to sleep, you’re going back in the office to get ready for the next meeting,” said O’Shea.

“As a player, you don’t necessarily have to speak to everybody the next day, so, you might head somewhere to enjoy some time with your teammates and then you can help yourself fall asleep maybe.”

Depending on the result of the game, no one minds returning to work the following morning on zero rest.

“If we won, no one’s complaining about nothing,” said Lawler.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31