Lowell Ullrich's article on Geroy Simon ...
Geroy Simon keeps building a Lions legacy
'I set goals. When I reach a goal, I set another,' says star receiver
By Lowell Ullrich, The Province June 26, 2012
KAMLOOPS — It was one of the ongoing subplots this year, the kind of thing to pass the time during the endless run of practice sessions.
A small mountain overlooks the spectacular setting at Thompson Rivers University and the site of the B.C. Lions training camp, but when it is suggested a name for the overlook is needed, it proves to be as difficult a chore as it is for club staffers to stake the peak as their own.
Mount Braley, Buono and Benevides were obvious submissions made for comic relief, but every time one of the equipment staffers would march up and plant a Lions flag on their behalf, it was removed later that night.
The suspicion was the deed was done by a local Riders fan.
Mount Simon was next, and with a league record in his sights it was immediately suggested that the receiver who is about to become the most prolific in CFL history should scale the peak one day to enjoy the view and, better still, pose for the kind of picture that gets you on the front page of a newspaper.
Geroy Simon would not go there, however, in more ways than one. Mostly, he joked, he wasn’t about to do his classic touchdown pose atop the hill because, given the Arctic conditions which prevailed throughout camp, he might become a permanent fixture.
But not going to the top of the mountain is also symbolic, he said, because there simply are more things to accomplish in a career that is about to continue into a 14th CFL season and, it appears, considerably longer.
It is the Lions’ hope that Simon will end his pursuit of Milt Stegall and become the league’s receiving yardage leader when the defending Grey Cup champions face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at B.C. Place Stadium Friday.
The goal is 67 yards, nothing less. Stegall played 14 seasons and finished with 15,153 yards. In slightly less time, Simon is on the verge of capturing a league record that has been hard to maintain. In the last 12 years, five different receivers have spent time at the top.
It is why the record will have some meaning at the conclusion of his career, Simon said. For now, there is simply more to do for a franchise that had little or no credibility when Simon joined the Lions 12 seasons ago. More mountains to climb.
The receiver said he stopped measuring himself against others a long time ago, content that what he was doing would eventually rank him above them all. What remains a driving force in the life of a player who offers to the public both a boastful and shy side is that he is challenged to produce as much this season — when he will turn 37 years of age just after Labour Day — as he did at the start of his career.
The goal this year, aside from trying to lead the Lions to consecutive championship wins for the first time in franchise history, is to be the best 36-year-old receiver of all time. Simon was shown a list of the greats in the league in their 37th year (see below) and it didn’t take long for him to realize that half of the greats had gone on to other things at his age.
Being the best 36-year-old is just another challenge gladly accepted, Simon said, but it is the same kind of challenge he had already put in front of himself for years, whenever he sees a rookie defensive back at training camp.
“I set goals. When I reach a goal, I set another. I want to just keep dominating some of these young guys. I want to send some of these guys home,” he said.
“Some of these guys sign with the team and they see my age on the website and they say, ‘Man, he’s about done; he’s just hanging on.’ When they get here they see this guy can still bleeping play,” said Simon.
“Some guys, just because they came from a big college, think their ticket is written. You got to come in and, especially on this team, you got to be excellent. You can’t take a play off. We don’t have a spot as it is. Look on our offence and tell me where there’s a [roster] spot, even as a backup?”
Any receiving newcomer quickly will discover that Simon has a regal presence at camp even without talking, but more often than not will hear from him as well. Simon was constantly blasting new teammates again this year for not paying attention to detail on route assignments, one of the reasons why he is practically considered a coach on the field.
But beyond what Simon gives to the Lions verbally is the attention he pays to his physical conditioning, which would be an inspiration to anyone his age.
Rest assured, the man has his vices. “I like doughnuts and cakes,” he said. “I love food. I love to cook.”
However, snack indulgences are more than burned off by a workout regimen that clearly has set another standard with the Lions and become the source of admiration even of those who guide him to his goals.
It’s impossible to get a sense of Simon’s offseason work ethic by following him around for a day. A month or two would be better.
Simon says he differs from most colleagues when it comes to training because he continues to work out at the end of each year, then shuts down for nearly a month prior to training camp. He will visit the weight room, but remains more possessed about maintaining his speed, which is done with the help of track coaches Yves McDavid and David Moore.
Few know Simon better, however, than Chris Boyko, a personal trainer who began working with the receiver before being hired as the Lions’ strength and conditioning coach. There are no 36-year-olds that Boyko has seen who can match his star pupil, he said. But that, in part, is because Boyko is one of the few people who can push the right buttons with Simon.
“He amazes me sometimes. If he’s looking a bit sluggish, that’s maybe because I’ve pushed him to a point where fatigue should set in a little. If I know he hates to do 20 [repetitions] I’ll push him to 21. But push him a little past his comfort zone and he ends up being a little better every year. There’s really no limitation at his age,” Boyko said.
Retirement? Get the record and head off to a new life as an NCAA coach somewhere after the season? Simon gets plainly irked at the suggestion. He has three seasons left in him if the body agrees, he said. Retirement is for those who know their body is breaking down before it becomes evident to others.
“I stole my last two years,” said Lions receivers’ coach Travis Moore, who breaks out into a full laugh when reminded his 10-year CFL career ended as a 35-year-old.
“I keep telling him that as long as he keeps taking care of his body there’s no reason why he can’t keep playing. Once you lose a step, it’s time to go. But he’s still running, with the ball in his hands, past younger people.”
And as long as the league has younger defenders, Simon has plenty of motivation. Another Simon secret is simply knowing it’s OK for the odd doughnut, or for that matter, a round of golf, which the receiver does more than occasionally.
“That’s one thing young guys can learn from him. There’s something you can do all the time to get better even if it means strategically planning rest,” said Boyko. “Some of the younger guys are afraid to rest because they feel they’re going to miss getting better.”
Simon vacationed in Arizona and Mexico and made a trip home to Johnstown, Pa., last winter, but worked his holidays around his training. If his work ethic isn’t enough of a legacy, Simon said it will be just as valuable to eventually be known as a three-down superstar who doesn’t have a four-down attitude.
“I want to leave a legacy as one who worked hard, not only on the field, but having success,” he said. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t care what people think about me. But people are going to know I’m a genuine person who has his good and bad days.
“But for the most part I have a kind heart.”
If there is anyone on the Lions who does enough at work already it’s the receiver who holds just about all of the team’s pass-catching records. But even during the few moments he and his teammates had free time in Kamloops, Simon did the meet-and-greet thing with grace, showing up one night unannounced to catch a UFC fight at a local bistro and impressing the customers with his charm.
“I don’t take myself that seriously that I think I’m some big star that can’t give someone two minutes,” said Simon. “What’s two minutes? Thirty seconds? If you say hi to someone for 30 seconds it makes them feel good.
“Travis Lulay and I were talking about this the other day: You get guys that are stars and they are [bleeps] to people just because they think they’re better people.
“My kids always ask me, ‘Dad, why do people like you?’ I said it’s because I’m nice to them and I catch a football. There’s days I don’t feel like it but if that happens I stay at home. If you’re a recognizable face you have to be recognized.”
That could likely happen Friday, regardless of whether or not Simon ends up in the end zone doing his trademark pose, which represents a complete contrast from a player who constantly has stated he feels he could be released at any time.
There have also been times, Simon said, when he took less money from the Lions to improve his chances of getting to the top of the receiving mountain.
“There might have been a couple of years where I could have made $50,000 more but that might have cut my career short. How many guys have been cut not because of them but because of their contracts? Look at Jarious [Jackson],” said Simon, reflecting on the Lions’ 35-year-old backup quarterback, who latched on with the Toronto Argonauts this year. “He’s gone because of his contract.”
But Simon is here because former general manager Adam Rita had no receivers midway through the 2001 season, when he joined the Lions, and Wally Buono gave him a chance to be the team’s top pass-catching option.
Simon lists his current boss as a career influence, but there have been others.
“People help me and they don’t even realize they help me,” he said. “I have a cousin, Chuckie Wyatt; he was the biggest thing in my hometown, and I thought, ‘If I can only be as good as him.’ He doesn’t even realize he helped me. People like my high school football coach, Tom Fleming. [Lions offensive line coach] Dan Dorazio. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have got into Maryland. I just want to keep saying thank you. Even [offensive co-ordinator] Jacques Chapdelaine. I want to say thank you by going out and being successful.”
Only Stegall has been more successful to this point, but even the flamboyant former Winnipeg receiver-turned-TSN analyst never left Simon in awe. Simon used to spice up his Twitter page by referring to himself as a Goat, as in Greatest Of All Time.
Soon it will be no idle boast.
“Milt has been a big inspiration. I used to say, ‘Man, this guy’s good, but I think I can probably be better.’ I never said that to anybody but that’s just the way I think,” Simon said.
“A lot of people measure themselves against other people. If I can be the best I can be, my best is better than anybody else’s best.”
And nobody has to name any mountains for him, either.
haha
