TORONTO — In a perfect world, Henry Burris would hold up the Grey Cup late Sunday night in celebration, hug his wife and kids, smile for all the cameras and say goodbye to the Canadian Football League.
A happily-ever-after ending to a fairy-tale career.
Only sports don’t always work that way.
As much as we admire Burris, are amazed by him, applaud him, and are astounded by him — he has become the football guest who never leaves — this may be his exit stage right.
Win or lose the Grey Cup on Sunday.
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This could well be his last shot after so many shots. The last time to be Good Hank. The last time to leave Bad Hank behind. He may not be as old as the Grey Cup, but he’s close. And he looks fresher.
Smilin’ Hank has seen the best and worst of Canadian football over the past two decades, always wearing that wide smile of his. So engaged and so engaging. Others have been better, some older than him at 41, but few have been more fascinating: a human football encyclopedia of sorts. A story that never seemingly ends. An athlete who should probably be preserved in a specimen jar.
“This has been my job for 20 something years,” said Burris. “I have nothing to prove.”
Then he talks about how much he has to prove.
“Right now, it’s all about going out there and getting the job done. Talking isn’t going to prove nothing. Watch me go out there and do my job. And the fact is, people do provide motivation. This is the icing on the cake (for me) and the cake tastes that much better (when you win).
“For an athlete, when people tell you you can’t do something, that makes you stick your chest out and move your chin that much higher.”
That has been the Burris story. One of victories and demons.
He played well enough to start the Calgary run of greatness — just not well enough to stay.
He played well enough to take Hamilton to the Grey Cup before he was asked to leave.
He has been a starting quarterback in three of the past four Grey Cups and four of the past nine.
The way it ended in Calgary still stings. Because he thought he was part of the fabric of the team and the city — the way he’s part of the fabric of the Ottawa Redblacks and a big part of that city. Burris doesn’t just quarterback teams. He moves in, rolls up his sleeves, gets out in the community, builds something, makes a difference.
“They say you can’t take it personal. I take it personal. As far as the journey that I’ve been through in this league, the ups and downs, the crap that I’ve had to deal with, to me, it wouldn’t be complete without having another Grey Cup as a part of that.
“Right now it’s my time. So I’m going to take full advantage of it.”
When the game is over, when the championship has been won, then he’ll have a decision to make and the Redblacks will have a decision to make. The two aren’t necessarily independent of the other. At home, after the parade or after the disappointment, when everything is quiet and the emotions have calmed, Burris will make a decision about his future, about whether to continue or not.
He’s already applied for Canadian citizenship and he deserves to be granted that. He works here, lives here, plays here, pays taxes here, takes his kids to hockey here. What could be more Canadian than that?
“This country has done so much for my family and I,” he said. “Both my sons were born here. They’re both hockey players. They don’t want to leave the ice. If we took them to Oklahoma or Texas or down south, they’d kill me with their sticks.
“This is the life that they know. My wife loves it up here. I love it up here. We just hope that the government or whomever is in charge will recognize that. When you’ve been here so long, it’s hard to let go.”
Burris said this Grey Cup isn’t about him. It’s about his wife. It’s about his children. It’s about his family.
“Is this my last hurrah or is it not?” asked Burris. “If this is it for me, you want to go out with a bang. The fire is still lit in me. There have been different igniters. Logs have been added to the fire. It’s time to go out there and let them all burn.”
And then, maybe, we get an end to the story. The right kind of ending. Neatly and cleanly.
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