Joel Bell knows the Grey Cup game isn't life and death.
He's seen the carnage from a real war.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders starting offensive lineman lived in Egypt for three years as a youngster and spent eight years in Croatia while his parents helped families rebuild their lives following the civil war that ripped apart the former Yugoslavia.
"What I've seen and what I've gone through, you realize life's pretty cool," Bell said on the eve of the Grey Cup game. "The more travelling you do, the more things you get to see. It really shapes who you are."
Anyone taking a simple glance at the 24-year-old rookie would have every reason to be afraid, since Bell is a beast of a man at 6-foot-7, 310-lb., with wild long hair.
Underneath that exterior is a soft-spoken, religious man whose life has been shaped by the time spent overseas.
His parents, Richard and Beverly, are Southern Baptist missionaries who finally returned to Ohio this year after heading to Croatia in 1993.
Bell lived there after the civil war which tore apart the country was over but saw the aftershocks of the horror before returning to the U.S.
"There was still some stuff when we were there. The city we were in was shelled by rebels while we were there, but nothing crazy," he said. "We weren't in any real danger while there."
His father is a veterinarian who raises money to purchase cattle for farmers to help rebuild their lives.
The memories of his time in Egypt and Croatia are burned in his mind.
"Egypt, it was really dirty, trash on the streets. They use horses there, so manure is all over the streets," he said.
"I remember playing with kids who lived in little shacks. The building manager where we lived, their family lived in a makeshift shack in an unfinished courtyard."
And Croatia?
"Children begging," he said. "A lot of places, there were war-torn houses with bullet holes and where mortars have gone off.
"I don't really think about that much. One thing that shaped me is my parents, my values. You change in your life and decide which way to go. That experience with my parents shaped me into who I am today."
Today, he's a starting right tackle going for a Grey Cup crown.
Not bad for a young man who never played football until high school but wanted to dearly after watching games from videos sent to his family and video games as a teen.
Bell attended Furman University, a Division 1-AA school in South Carolina, and was signed by the NFL's Buffalo Bills but cut after mini-camp.
The Roughriders signed him a couple of weeks into the season, and before long, he was starting. Still, he knows the sky's the limit.
"I'm pretty raw. I learned some stuff at the Bills camp and all that coach (Bob) Wylie has taught me here has helped me," he said. "It's been a great experience."
RANDY.SPORTAK@SUNMEDIA.CA
