Although he's a new face on the Edmonton Eskimos, Jason Barnes already has a lifelong fan.
He has for a while now -- his whole life, to be exact.
After scoring his first CFL touchdown in last Friday's 36-10 victory over the visiting Toronto Argonauts, Barnes received a call from his older brother, Matt.
"He just told me congratulations," Jason said. "That definitely felt pretty good getting into the end zone. We're not going to be satisfied with that, so he told me to keep working hard to get where I need to be.
"We're each other's biggest fan, so I'll talk to him after his games, he'll call me up after my games and stuff," said Jason, a six-foot-three, 185-pound receiver who was brought in from the Eskimos practice roster four weeks ago.
At six-foot-seven, 226 pounds, Matt is a versatile small forward with the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic.
Although it's his seventh different NBA team in as many seasons, Matt is proving his worth to Stan Van Gundy and the rest of the Magic coaching staff with his versatility on defence and his ability to adapt to game situations.
"He's a journeyman," said Jason. "I talked to him back in the day because he's been up and down, he's been cut from teams and stuff so I definitely know how it is.
"It's been a long journey for him, so he kind of set the mode. He always told me it's not going to be easy to get where you want to go.
"He's definitely persevered through all that and it's definitely paid off for him."
Having a mentor as a brother is helping Jason through his rookie year in the CFL.
"At the beginning of the season it was pretty tough because I wasn't sure of my role," Jason said.
"I was on the practice squad, so he just told me to stick it out and stick with it and he told me hard work pays off."
As much as they support each other, they also push each other through brotherly competition.
"We were always going back and forth, no matter what sport it was," said Jason, who also played basketball before choosing football as his career path.
"Our whole family's favourite sport is football. Matt just thought he'd have a longer career in basketball than football; he's actually a pretty excellent football player as well. He was a receiver. In high school he led the nation in touchdowns, I think."
The two never played on the same high school football team.
"We're four years apart, so he was in college when I was a freshman," said Jason.
"He has big shoes to fill but I chose to go the other way."
The two are still just as competitive.
"In everything, no matter what it is: golf, softball, pool, video games, whatever it is we're always trying to one-up each other, that's just how we are but it's definitely fun," said Jason, who plans to see his brother next over the Christmas holidays.
"I think I'll probably go out there to visit him in Orlando, I think our whole family is going to go out there.
"We're only together probably six weeks out of the year (when) we're home at the same time."
