News
September 3, 2012
Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
There are many Labour Day Classic rookies on the Edmonton Eskimos this year, but none of them are more excited about Monday’s game than Ryan King.
The novelty of being an Eskimo hasn’t worn off on the 26-year-old long snapper, who grew up in Edmonton. King played four years of junior football with the Edmonton Wildcats (2004-07) and went on to a three-year career with the St. Mary’s Huskies in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
The Eskimos selected King 53rd overall in this year’s Canadian college draft and he hasn’t stopped smiling since then.
“I’m loving every second of this and being able to play for my hometown team,” King said. “In the beginning, it was pretty surreal. I was just trying to take it in and survive and get through the first couple of games. Now that I’m nine games in, things are going well and I’m getting better each week.
“I should be here for the long run, so it’s just great to get to know the vets and be in the locker room. The facilities, the support staff, everyone, it’s just amazing. This whole organization is top notch.”
After watching the last 10 Labour Day Classics from the couch, King said he couldn’t wait to take part in his first one.
“I never really thought that it was going to be amped up like this in (the locker room),” he said. “For me, it’s new every week, playing new teams, but you can just feel it in the air here that it’s Labour Day weekend and we’re in Calgary and that’s obviously a hated game.
“I’m just real excited. I came into practice (Friday) morning, I got up early, I was wide awake. Usually, I’m trying to get an extra 10 minutes of sleep, but I think it’s going to be pretty cool to play in this game.”
King’s family and friends have been excited about Edmonton’s games this season, as well. In what may be an Eskimo first, a longsnapper is the team leader in ticket requests for home games. Friday’s rematch game with Calgary at Commonwealth Stadium promises to be King’s busiest day of ticket-gathering this year.
“Oh my god. It’s – yeah. It’s crazy,” is how King describes the ticket demand. “My phone blows up. I turn it off the day before the game because I just don’t want to have to deal with the tickets, but it’s an exciting time for my family and friends, not just me. “I try to accommodate everyone I can, and there have been a couple of hundred tickets bought so far this year.”
King’s father, David, has been an Eskimo season ticket holder for 10 years. Thanks to his son, he has a lot of company this year.
“They expanded that (section) this year, so there’s 20 seats (around David),” Ryan said. “I got one other corner up top and I usually get 20 or 30 guys up there per game. I got a good price on the tickets there, so it’s cool to look up and you can actually see all of your buddies up there.”
King hopes that Monday’s game will play out in a relatively normal manner. His favourite memory of the Labour Day battles doesn’t have that normalcy to it, though.
“I can’t remember what year it was, but I will always remember Ed Hervey,” King said, recalling the infamous dust-up that broke out in the 2003 Classic.
Hervey was ejected and suspended a game for swinging his helmet at Calgary defensive back Davis Sanchez.
The swing alone was bad enough. That his helmet hit official Brent Buchko, likely sealed his fate. Hervey is now the Eskimo head scout.
“There was a big fight and I remember Ed being in it,” King said. “I remember that, and now it’s funny because Ed’s the one that brought me in here and he got me drafted.”
coleary@ edmontonjournal.com
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