A few weeks have passed now and I’ve had a chance to think about the trade from Hamilton to my hometown of Calgary. It’s just a real exciting opportunity to come play at home in front of all my family and friends.
I grew up loving this organization so I actually had to learn NOT to like it for a few years when I was in Toronto and Hamilton. It’s nice to be able to go back to the roots.
Ever since the trade, a lot of people I grew up with have messaged me and both my parents have been hearing from people that they grew up with saying. “Hey, I hear your son is playing for the Stampeders.” It’s been a pretty exciting time for all of us.
I’ve lived in Calgary my whole life. I went to Bishop Carroll high school, I played at the University of Calgary. So I’ve played at McMahon Stadium, just never as a member of the home team in the CFL so it’s exciting to finally get that chance.
I’ve been coming to McMahon for a long time — since I was probably five years old, we’ve had season tickets. We were up in section P for a while and then we moved around.
My favourite player was Dave Sapunjis. I have a Dave Sapunjis jersey, actually. It doesn’t really fit anymore unless I really wanted it to. It was from a ways back. I once got a chance to be around Alondra Johnson, too. He was running a training program for high school players back probably when I was in Grade 10. That was an exciting opportunity getting to train with him when he was in his final few years in the league.
It’s nice to come into a familiar environment. Mike Gibson was the offensive coordinator in Hamilton during my first year there, so I know him. And a couple of the offensive linemen, I know very well including Dimitri Tsoumpas I’ve stayed in contact with since we went to the combine together four years ago.
Then there are guys like Rob Cote, who I knew a little bit in university and always stayed in touch with. So there are a lot of familiar faces in this locker-room. It’s such a small league so once you play a few years, you know everyone really.
Right now, I’m working full time and training full time, so life’s pretty busy. I’m looking forward to the start of the football season.
Mark Dewit, #53
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