Their chance at Blue and Gold glory

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/06/2009 (5940 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s a stranger in a strange land, living out of a suitcase in a hotel room hundreds of kilometres away from his wife and two kids.

And, truth be told, Aaron McConnell is enjoying every nanosecond of it, from the gruelling four hours on the practice field to the endless meetings in between until the moment the defensive lineman’s head hits the pillow after another exhausting day.

But reality is also staring the likable Oklahoman — and every other would-be Winnipeg Blue Bomber in training camp — straight in the face: His football career could blossom into a new chapter or end at any minute, whether it be a missed tackle in tonight’s Blue-Gold scrimmage or a monster quarterback sack in next week’s pre-season tilt against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

"Honest to God, I enjoy every day I get to step out onto the field," began McConnell. "There’s times when it’s like, ‘I just don’t know if I can hit anybody else.’ But then you’ve just got to flip that switch and say, ‘Man, I get to hit somebody today!’ It’s play by play out there sometimes. I’m already living the dream and I’m doing it because I love it. That’s why I’m here.

"But it IS going to be taken away one day, whether it’s my decision to walk away or their decision to take it away. I’m OK with that. I’ve got life figured out, to be honest, until God changes it. It’s not a thing that if they cut me tomorrow I would go crawl into a shell and be totally depressed. It would suck because of everything I have learned about the Blue and Gold and I have learned to love it in the short time I’ve been here. But at the same time, if it happened you have to go on with life.

"It’s not death."

No, but it can sure feel like it sometimes especially when, after dedicating your entire life to a craft, you get that dreaded ‘Coach wants to see you in his office’ message. Case in point, we give you receiver Justin Surrency, who has had stints with the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings and is still looking for a football home.

"That’s why anything like the Blue-Gold game is so important to me," said Surrency, a 25-year-old product of St. Paul, Minn. "Practice is important. Individual drills are important. So a scrimmage can be critical. It can break you down if you let it get to you. One of the things is just being sore. A lot of guys aren’t used to playing with this soreness. If you’re not taking care of your body, looking at your playbook… it never stops in training camp. Sometimes it seems like you never get a break.

"But this is what I want to do, so… "

McConnell had the rug pulled out from him last fall when word broke that the Arena League had shut down. He had spent the last three years with the Colorado Crush and Nashville Kats and then — kapow! — that financial lifeline had dried up suddenly. But it also gave him a sense of perspective.

"That helped reaffirm to me that there’s always something else," said McConnell. "Look, I’m worried right now about just getting to this first game so I can send money back home for food. But this isn’t life, this is a game. Life is trying to figure out how my wife — who can’t work — is going to pay that $180-a-week daycare bill… she’s ready to pull her hair out while I’m up here.

"A lot of guys here are on edge every step they take. Man, life is too short to be like that. If one thing goes away, another door opens and you roll with it. And I’m meeting people here I’ll speak to for the rest of my life. I’ll have phone bills for the rest of my life to Doug Brown in Canada, for example.

"It’s about the journey. And, man, this is awesome."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Blue-Gold scrimmage

When: Today, 6:30 p.m., Canad Inns Stadium.

Admission: free, but donations will be accepted at the gates for the Never Alone Foundation and Youville Centre.

How it works: It will be offence vs. defence (quarterbacks off-limits for hits), approximately 60-90 minutes in length. There will be four or five series, with drives starting at the 25-yard line. A stop — no first down on two plays — earns the defence a point. A defensive turnover is three points. All offensive scoring is as per real-game action. All drives will be a maximum of 10 plays.

How a player can stand out: "They have to be playmakers," said head coach Mike Kelly. "I’m looking for guys that are playing with that chip on their shoulder. And they have to be assignment-precise — we can’t be out there blowing assignments. I don’t care how good an athlete you are, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re not going to be here very long.

"I’ve heard that for so many years… ‘Oh, that guy isn’t much of a practice player but boy when those lights come on… ‘ I don’t know if I buy into that philosophy. You practice like you play and you play like you practice. And if you’re two different people… I’m not into that whole Jekyll-and-Hyde thing."