The Toronto Argonauts are about to head into the belly of the beast.
On Monday, they'll play a road game in Hamilton against their biggest rivals, the Tiger-Cats. The felines are a perfect 7-0 at Tim Hortons Field, which will be sold out and filled with fans who despise the Double Blue.
Everything screams out intimidating situation for the Argos: An important road game in a hostile environment against a team just two points behind them in the standings.
But there's one thing that is making the trek a lot easier to take; it feels like a home game.
The Argos travelled across the country to play their first four games of the season with the Rogers Centre booked by Blue Jays dates and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pan American Games. When all was said and done, the team logged just under 30,000 kilometres.
Knowing that they don't have to hop aboard a plane this week to play has had a positive effect on the Boatmen. It's only about a 45-minute drive from the Argos practice facility to Tim Hortons Field, so, from a travel perspective, this is a piece of cake.
"It's a lot better than having to fly across country and stand in check-in lines at the airport and grab your stuff and live out of a hotel," said head coach Scott Milanovich. "We're glad to be back."
Defensive end Ricky Foley has seen just about everything in his 10-year career, but this road trip was different. He's happy to be in a situation where it's been a normal week of practice without the added hassle of hopping on a plane to play a game two or three time zones away.
"It won't [feel like a home game] on game day obviously," said Foley, who is just happy to playing in the eastern time zone for the first time this season. "After a while it takes a toll. You get swollen up and jet-lagged and get tight muscles, so it's nice to be making little trips."
Sitting in an airplane for a cross-country flight can be uncomfortable at the best of times and that discomfort can increase for people who are a bit bigger than average.
Chris Van Zeyl would fit into that category. The Argos right tackle is 6-foot-6 and 312 pounds, but he doesn't complain about flying, at least on the way to the game.
"It's not so much on the way there," Van Zeyl told TSN.ca. "But on the way home when you've got all the lactic acid and stuff building up and have to sit in the seat for five hours it definitely takes its toll. Getting off the plane, you're sore."
Van Zeyl lives in Burlington, Ont., which is closer to Hamilton than it is to Toronto. He loves it when the Argos play in Hamilton, but not necessarily for the reasons you'd think.
"It'll be a nice 20-minute drive and I'll get some per diem for it," chuckled the offensive lineman.
It will be a different type of road game for slotback Dave Stala. The 13-year veteran is a native Hamiltonian who will make his first trip home wearing double blue.
He was an incredibly popular player during his five seasons in black and gold - the other seven were with the Alouettes - but playing there as a member of the rival Argos will be unique.
"It means a lot," confessed Stala. "I'm from Hamilton so to whoop up on them would be pretty good, but they're a good football team. The most important thing is to get a win, it's a divisional game."
The receiver was a late addition to the Toronto roster, signing less than a week before the regular-season opener. Friends and family were thrilled to see him catch on with another CFL team.
But the Argos?
"I definitely got a lot of grief from back home, I'm still living there," said Stala, acknowledging the anti-Argo sentiment that runs rampant in Hamilton. "But I'm over here. I'm part of the Argos and we're going over there to win."
"It's going to be a lot of fun," he continued. "It's going to be a hostile environment, I've played many games there and we're going to hear that [anti Argos] chant and it's just going to pump us up and get us going."
It will be interesting to hear the crowd reaction at Tim Hortons Field should Stala make a catch, especially if it comes at a pivotal point in the contest.
After all, he's an Argo now.
