It feels amazing to have won this award.

It’s great to finally get recognition for all the hard work we’ve put it and it’s an acknowledgement of all the great things we did as a team this season. It’s just an amazing feeling.

I just want to say to the Eastern reporters that I’m still going to be giving them a hard time from time to time. It’s just an East-West rivalry thing, but it’s all in good fun.

I was a finalist for this award in 2008 and I thought I had a pretty good chance to win it, and I had my heart broken. I was hoping to avoid that this year and I knew that wasn’t going to be a problem when my wife Nicole told me: “Whether you win the award or not, you’ve had a great season and nothing can change.”

To have that kind of support from my wife, from my friends, from my teammates, from Dave Dickenson and from Coach Huff means a lot to me. That kind of support makes winning the award that much sweeter. It provides that sense of closure.

I’ve been told that this is the first time a Stamp has won this award since Dave won it in 2000 and the sad thing about that is that we didn’t make the Grey Cup in either of those seasons. Winning awards is nice, but it’s all about the rings and this would have meant so much more if I would have had all my teammates here with me to go for a championship on Sunday.

I have to acknowledge Anthony Calvillo, also. He’s a model of consistency and one of the best quarterbacks of all time. To go up against him for championships and for awards is an honour for me.

As for me, winning the award just raises the bar for me. Now you have to go out there and do it again, except this time do it in a season when you go to the Big Show, the Big Game at the end of the season. That’s the challenge and I’m looking forward to it.

Henry Burris, #1
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