By: RB Bryan Crawford
Road trips are both a treat that comes with playing in the Canadian Football League, while also being a hassle. On one hand, the opportunity to travel across this great country of ours is fantastic. From Montreal to Vancouver I have had a chance to see and explore the downtowns of some of our countries finest urban centres, eat in some great restaurants and stay in some fine hotels. However, packing up and leaving home every other weekend isn’t all that desirable. Travelling means flying out early the day before the game and then flying back early the day after which, is usually your off day when playing at home. But since travelling is a necessary part of playing the game, there are some great cities to go to and play in. My hope is that one day the league will become a truly national one with teams stretching from coast to coast. Three of Canada’s most historic cities, Ottawa, Quebec City and Halifax would each make great additions to the CFL for both the fans of our league and its players. These three cities I’m sure would all be among the most popular road trips for players, along with current favourites Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
My personal favourite city to go and play is definitely west over to the Rockies to Vancouver. Sandwiched between the ocean and the Rocky Mountains is a modern metropolitan centre which is easily among the most beautiful in the world. The only problem is that as a road trip you have to deal with a long flight and a three hour time change, which makes it tough on the body and therefore a very difficult place to play. Once there, one of my favourite things to do is walk from our downtown hotel to the pier at the Vancouver convention centre where you can look out over Stanley Park, the Lions Gate Bridge and North Vancouver. Despite the beauty of the city I’m glad we only have to make the trek once a season.
Travelling is usually more of a thrill earlier in your career. My first road trip as a pro in the CFL was to Regina. The smallest city in the CFL, travelling to Regina isn’t like a trip to Montreal or Vancouver. It isn’t a big city with fancy restaurants and shopping. It’s a small city that appears out of the plains of southern Saskatchewan. The city itself spans a relatively small area with the airport, stadium and downtown all located within minutes of each other. Although most guys find it a relatively boring place to go, for some reason I’ve never minded it. Maybe it’s where we stay, the historic Hotel Saskatchewan smack in the middle of the quaint city centre, or maybe it’s the atmosphere of Mosaic Stadium that welcomes visiting teams with unbridled enthusiasm. Playing at old Taylor Field in front of a packed house of watermelon heads is quite a thrill and makes playing the game that much more fun; just as long as we don’t have to play there too late into the season when its starts to get mighty cold. The capital city of Saskatchewan may not be the most exciting city in the league to head to on a road trip but what ever it lacks in big city flare it makes up for by being home to some of the proudest and most loyal football fans in the entire country.
The thrill of making a road trip to play in different cities, however, starts to ware off after a couple trips around the league. Its unfortunate, but the fact of the matter is that each of these trips is a relatively quick business trip and subsequently carried out as such. It’s not a vacation and you don’t have time to see much outside the bus trips between the airport, stadium and hotel. The job at hand is winning the game and therefore always foremost in your mind. You spend all of your time preparing your self to perform at your best when you take to the field.
When we arrive in a city a day before the game it’s usually straight to the stadium for a light, walk-through practice, then it’s off to the hotel for meetings. It isn’t until late in the afternoon that we have free time for the rest of the day, but even then the primary objective is finding food and then getting back to the room for a nap to recover from the toll of travelling.
Flights first thing in the morning mean starting the day before the sun. The long flights to the western provinces mean being crammed into a small airplane seat for 3, 4, or 5 hours. For me being what football teams consider a little guy (5’10”, 205 lbs.) it’s not that bad, but just imagine being 6’3”, 250 lbs. or even 6’6” 300+ lbs. and you can see how filing into an aircraft isn’t eagerly anticipated. Regardless, you make the best of each road trip. Going for dinner with your teammates the night before the game or after a hard fought battle is always a good time. But the fact of the matter is that home is sweet and no team would ever leave the friendly confines of their own city if they didn’t have too.
Getting the opportunity to travel across the country is great but no matter how nice a city may be no one likes leaving their homes and families. When it comes down to it, a hotel is a hotel, you can only walk around the local mall or shopping district so many times, and eating out is great but never as good as a home-cooked meal. I definitely couldn’t imagine being a baseball player and travelling as much as they do. Seeing other cities across our country is nice but there’s no place like home.
As seen bye-weekly in the Kingston Whig-Standard