Coming back wasn’t a difficult decision at all. I knew I wanted to play and I know I have at least another six good years in me.
The last few years, my role has evolved into being purely the long-snapper for the team. Of course, I do a few other things with backing up on the o-line, the d-line and at fullback/tight end, but my main responsibility is to long snap.
The main thing is I keep myself in pretty good shape and I’ve been pretty healthy. I suffered a few injuries in the past that may have sidelined some people but I know my body pretty well and that, all things being equal, if my performance stays where it’s at and my health stays where it’s at, there’s no question I could play for quite a few more years.
My wife and I consider Calgary home. We love it here. We’ve had both our children here and we’re expecting our third here. For me, there’s no question that my first option was staying in Calgary, to maintain that continuity in my personal life for my family and my professional life as a player.
I’ve been with Calgary for six seasons. I came in when the new ownership group took over in 2005 and played for head coach Tom Higgins and we turned things around pretty quickly. Then, when Coach Hufnagel came in, we won a Grey Cup that first year. There’s no other place than Calgary that I’d want to continue this adventure.
My wife and I have two boys and I have two Grey Cup rings, so with a third child on the way that means we have to win another Grey Cup pretty soon. You can’t fear challenges and the challenge now as an individual and as a team is to win a Grey Cup. Everybody’s got different motivations to be successful and really, at this point of my career, I want to win. I’ve always been competitive, but having another boy on the way and trying to win a ring for him just adds another log to the fire. Every day when I go to work, I’m thinking that I have to get the job done.
It’s so special to be able to have my kids with me when I’m playing professional football. One of my best memories is to have the kids be able to walk on the field with me after a game and come into the locker-room. We love that. One of our favourite pictures in the house is me walking with the boys hand-in-hand and now I’m hoping to add another little body to that picture pretty soon.
Before going any further, I want to thank the fans. The fans have been great to me and to the team and part of my reason for signing here is I feel like I’m on missionary work to convert the masses of Riders fans into Stamps fans. I don’t know how successful we’ve been, but we’re going to keep working at it just like the missionaries of old days going into dark and hostile territory. I’m going to show those Riders fans that I’ve converted — I was a Montrealer with deep roots in that city and now even my hockey allegiances are changing to the Flames. Hopefully, I can get some of these Riders fans converted to the city that’s adopted them.
As for my off-season, I’m substitute teaching so maybe I can do my missionary work at the grassroots level. Maybe the older fans are too old, so getting the kids when they’re young is the way to go and I’m trying to make them into Stamps fans.
In addition to the teaching, I’m also doing the radio show on the FAN every once in a while and I’m also a mortgage broker with S & R Mortgage and Mortgage Alliance, so if anyone want to throw a mortgage my way, we can get it done.
And of course, the football season isn’t too far away so I’m really looking forward to that.
Randy Chevrier, #56
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