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HAMILTON — In the past week, the world has watched LeBron James stage-manage not only his own future but those of a half-dozen professional sports franchises. It is as if he had the entire NBA on a string.
But for much of the rest of the professional sports world it just doesn’t work that way. Few pro athletes can make his type of money, make his type of demands, or have such control over their futures.
Pro sports is filled with insecurity. Like the rest of society it has an upper crust of millionaires and a whole lot of blue-collar workers who aren’t sure where the next pay cheque is coming from. And, nowhere is that nomadic lifestyle more evident than in the Canadian Football League.
When Brian Ramsay showed up at training camp last month he had every reason to believe his job on the offensive line with the Toronto Argonauts was secure. Today, he lines up against the Calgary Stampeders wearing a Ticats uniform.
A couple weeks ago, Marcus Thigpen was home in California, an unemployed father of three who was discovering that in “real” life there isn’t much call for a guy who’s greatest asset is running fast.
“I was the 100-metre champion in Michigan but my passion has always been football,” said Thigpen, who is the only player in Indiana University history with more than 1,000 rushing yards (1,621), receiving yards (1,028) and kickoff return yards (2,009).
But it has not always been a love requited. The sport has kicked him around a bit.
“I had no idea about the CFL until I got released from the Broncos and Eagles. I definitely want to go to the NFL. But my agent kept talking to me about this league and I want to take advantage of it now,” said Thigpen, who arrived in a blaze of glory last week when became the first Ticat to return a kickoff for a touchdown since Cornell Burbage in 1994. Thigpen also returned a missed field goal 118 yards for a second TD.
“Coming out of college, it’s difficult to accept when someone tells you you’re not good enough. It’s heart-breaking,” said Thigpen, “but I’m a pretty spiritual person and believe everything happens for a reason.”
Ramsay had no reason to believe he wouldn’t be an Argonaut. He had appeared in 51 games, 33 as a starter over three years. The Argos had signed free-agent Cedric Gagne-Marcoux. And Chris Van Zeyl had looked good filling in when Ramsay was hurt late last season. But throughout camp the Argos maintained Ramsay would be back as soon as his injury healed.
“I never had any idea. When I came to camp in Toronto it seemed business as usual. Next thing, I’m out the door. I didn’t see it coming, but it’s the business side of football,” Ramsay said.
Players often are the last to foresee their demise. The Argos have changed almost half their starting lineup from last year. The Ticat roster shows three first-year players from the Canadian draft, 13 free agents and five players picked up in trades.
When the public thinks of pro athletes they see fancy cars, adulation and groupies. But, just as often an athlete’s best friend is his suitcase and a road-map to the next tryout.
Thigpen admits he’d never even heard of Hamilton. He wouldn’t know Michael Clemons from Samuel. “I think I’ve heard the name,” he said, “but down in the States we don’t get the CFL.”
But one game and a half-dozen practices he’s intrigued by football’s alternate universe. “When I walked out there and saw that field I got excited. It’s big ... all kinds of room for me to work,” said Thigpen.
Ramsay is working as the sixth man on the Hamilton O-line, learning his second playbook in a month and is almost at a point where he doesn’t need a GPS to get to work.
“After a couple years you kind of set your roots, but then something like this happens and brings you back to the reality of pro sports,” he said.
“A couple times driving here I caught myself slowing down at the highway exit (to the Argos’ practice facility), but I’m starting to feel at home.”
Thigpen, too, has just about forgotten the latest of unkindest cuts the sport inflicted a few weeks ago.
“I was upset when I got let go by Saskatchewan, but I went home and I got to see my daughter being born. I’ve got three kids, but it was the first time I’ve been there to see my child being born. Then, a day later the phone rings and it’s Hamilton ... sometimes even when it seems bad — you just have to believe things happen for the good.”