6/23/2007 11:00:59 PM
When The Dust Settles…

Well, training camp is officially over and the roster is made. The 2007 Edmonton Eskimos are in place and we begin our first practice for the 2007 season in a matter of a few hours that will come quickly for me tonight. Some of those that ventured down this path three weeks ago aspiring to be a part of this team for this year will get little sleep this evening however as final cuts were made over the past two days. It’s an odd feeling to be cut from a professional team, especially after you’ve already made at least one team in your career. After you make that first one, you really and truly feel in your heart that you should and will make every team, every year that you try out for. Sadly, it doesn’t quite work out that way but the odd thing is that, even when you know as a player that you may be “on the bubble” or teetering between employment and unemployment…it’s still completely shocking. Many will say in their exit interview that they weren’t surprised, or that they saw it coming or what have you, but our confidence as players dictates that even when in doubt, we still feel that we’re the best option for the team. Then again how shocked could we be right? I mean from the time we report to camp in most cases, the battles are laid out there in black and white on the front page of the sports section. From there, we’re put into direct competition for reps at our first position meeting, when the depth chart is laid out for training camp, and it snowballs from there. Each day is chronicled by news beat writers, and fans who make their daily assessments online, and of course the ever present eye in the sky that see’s all…the camera that is. Every mistake is noted, every success recorded and the evaluation process begins at every position. And this is how it is at every position, for every year, for every one of us.
The rare exception comes when you have a franchise player, or a perennial all-star that happens to be in his prime and also has a big fan in the head coach or general manager. If that’s the case for you as a player then God bless you and enjoy it while it lasts, for time outruns us all. Take Mookie Mitchell for example, who was by all means that franchise player for the majority of his career in the CFL. I can’t imagine there has been too many camps that Mookie was worried about his job in the least, and rightly so! Mookie should be a first ballot Hall of Famer much like a Terry Vaughn or Milt Stegall will be and has been the man for more years than I can count. Yet sometime between 5 yrs ago in Toronto and this evening, it was decided that he has lost enough in his game to warrant his being replaced. This is a part of the game that we as players knew about and accepted a long ago when we signed our first contract, but it’s much easier to accept when you’re a twenty-something on the way in, as opposed to a thirty-something on the way out. You want to know the truth about Mookie Mitchell? Has he lost a step? I’ve never timed him, but I’ve seen him go 1 on 1 against men 12 yrs his junior and make the young lads look like they’ve never covered before in their lives. And that was just last week!
So to me the real question is what makes Milt Stegall at 36 yrs, less replaceable in Winnipeg then a Mookie Mitchell in Toronto or Edmonton statistics aside? The answer may be more about scouting, than ability. If Winnipeg had been able to find a young man to put up numbers comparable to Milt’s within the last 5 yrs to unseat him, perhaps his spot as “The man” wouldn’t be so secure. Perhaps it depends more on the quality of the new blood and less on the old thoroughbred losing steps then people may think. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, I learned a great deal from Milt for a year and a half, and then for the past 3 wks I’ve watched Mookie and Jason Tucker intently absorbing as much as possible from them as they make it look so easy. It definitely saddens me to know that those may have been the last times I could watch Mookie do his thing.
Often times, its bitter sweet on cut-down day when the dust settles. On one hand the bullets have ceased and I’m glad to be alive. As I look around to see who’s alive with me, it’s nice to see that my camp roommate T.J. Acree is still alive as well! I’m happy for him and he’ll do a fine job for us this year. But by the same token, Mookie’s release comes as a direct result of T.J.’s emergence. Like I said…bitter sweet when the dust settles. But glad to be alive.
To all of those around the league who got bad news today, good luck in all you do and keep your head up. ©