By Mike Abou-Mechrek, Special to the Leader Post February 15, 2011 3:02 Recently, I had started to believe that I, Mike Abou-Mechrek, was finally becoming part of the "media." You know, one of those guys who some players avoid so that their personal lives don't end up on the front page of the Leader-Post.
My fears were allayed about a week ago when I got a tidbit of information from one of my best friends, Alexandre Gauthier, that he asked me to keep under wraps.
I really don't understand the mining/drilling world, so I'm not really sure what his off-season job is, but I know that he and his family live in Calgary and his job brings him to me, in Regina, once a month.
During a visit on Feb. 3, he let me know that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had released him before his contract expired, and that he was free to explore the CFL's free agent waters once he cleared waivers.
It was no secret to anyone that the Riders would be interested, as you'd have to not have any ears if you didn't hear the rumour last year that the Riders and Ti-Cats had agreed on a deal to bring him here, only to have the deal kiboshed before the ink was dry. So once he told me he was released, we started working on how much I would charge him for renting a room in my house next season.
I have often talked in this space about how great of a place Ottawa was to play in because of the players, coaches, management and people. It was a true family environment. Alex and his then-girlfriend, Shanny, were two of the people who made the Renegades such a great team to be a part of. (It definitely wasn't our won-loss record.)
The first time I met Alex was certainly one of the most awkward situations in my life. It was two days before the first day of training camp. I had arrived in Ottawa early to get acclimatized to the area. My then-girlfriend, Kathie, and I checked into the hotel that Renegades president Brad Watters had set up for us, and then we went out to dinner and a little .
To our surprise, when we got back to the room, our room, we didn't expect to see a 6foot-6, 326-pound naked French man laying in our room. I wanted to be that guy, but I'm not French. We were not impressed . and we have not even gotten to the awkward part yet.
I knew who Alex was by name alone and I wasn't impressed. I was always a grinder. I didn't have a lot of natural ability but, if you gave me a real shot at something, I wouldn't disappoint. He was the first pick overall in the 2002 CFL draft and his bio included provincial rankings in just about every organized sport, but he chose football -and here he was, in all his glory.
"Hi, I'm Mike," I said, extending my hand to be shaken by this giant.
"Alexandre," he said as he squashed my hand and shook me about the room. The "conversation'' proceeded as follows:
Me: "So, did you just get in?"
Gauthier: "IF?"
Me: "If? If what?"
Gauthier: "IF?"
After about 10 minutes of "ifs," I finally clued in that Alex's ONLY word in English was "if." Years later, I found out that he thought "if" meant "what."
He didn't even know "I don't speak English," and why would he? He grew up in Gaspe, Que., and went to university in Laval. Good thing that languages are "my thing.'' Not only did I get a 50 per cent in Grade 9 French -after which I was asked to never speak French again -but I also have my high school transcripts that include seven high school English courses/attempts, scarred with a bunch of 50s and 60s -so who would be more qualified to teach this future all-star the language of the CFL -English.
I spent the rest of the night doing other things in another room, but since that day I have had a personal attachment to "The Goat," or "Les Grossman" (translated, it almost means "The Fat Man").
We spent the next two days together, joined at the hip. Alex was a great rookie, but I wanted to punch him in the face every time he said "if.'' What the heck is "if"?
That was only my fourth year in the league, so I wasn't a savvy veteran, but I felt Alex's pain. I knew how hard it could be to be a rookie, but I could only imagine what it must be like for him to not understand a word anyone was saying to him. We stayed close and I translated things for him the best I could (which wasn't very well) and my French was surprisingly impressive and getting better.
It was a whole new ball game when Shanny came to town to watch one of our games.
Shanny didn't even know "if" AND she is very shy, so the English she did pick up didn't come out -at least not until Kathie (my thengirlfriend) sat next to her with a couple of those $11 beers. After about $99 (you do the math), Shanny and Kathie were speaking Frenglish and having a great time.
I could go on and on with the adventures of the Abous and the Goats, or even the rest of the Ottawa offensive line. It seems we were all at the same stages of our lives and that's what I think made the Renegades such a great team to be a part of.
Val St. Germain, potential future Rider (ooops; sorry, Brendan Taman) George Hudson, the Goats and the Abous all bought our first homes around the same time, married our girlfriends around the same time, and even had our first children all within a year of each other.
The Goats, and maybe one day George, are tremendous people who will fit into Riderville very well.
Goat's on-field accomplishments are what they are -outstanding. There will be no drop in play by moving Gene Makowsky from tackle to guard, full-time. It's rather scary when you look at how the Riders' O-line will look on opening day. From left to right, it will likely be Goat, Geno, Marc Parenteau, Chris Best and Dan Goodspeed.
With all due respect to the likes of Jeremy O'Day, Andrew Greene and Roger Aldag, this might be the best lineup the Riders have ever had across the board. I'm comfortably saying that a minimum of 60 per cent of the Riders' offensive linemen will be CFL all-stars in 2011. Congratulations, Brendan Taman.
One last thing you need to know about Alex is that not only is he fat, he's also slow. A great combo!
(I welcome your feedback at mike.aboumechrek@investorsgroup.com)
Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Goat+great+friend/4284003/story.html#ixzz1E268hiEp
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