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Fans seem to like that you have a connection to the league as a former player, but you also bring in the business background as a former exec at AGF Management and HSBC Securities.

This league belongs to the fans, but what I’m super excited about is that I can relate to the fans because I’m one of them. I could just as easily switch places with them and sit in a seat, drink a beer and cheer for the team the way they do. I can relate to the players because I love them, I know how hard the game is to play. I have a great respect for the work it takes to be a player. And then I look at from the teams’ view and I know how hard it is to run these businesses. Maybe in that way, I’m able to bring some of that experience from my own love from each of those areas to the table and hope that combination of experiences allows me to be a successful leader of this league.

I’ve heard you love being at your cottage. What’s the best thing about it?

The best thing, and I think all offensive linemen would relate to this, is the food. First of all, my wife, Barb, is an amazing cook and that, at least in part, explains why I’m this big. It’s the cooking, sitting together, eating, even the cleaning up. It’s being together as a family. One of our favourite times of the year at the cottage isn’t in the summer. We love having Christmas at the cottage. It’s quiet, the fireplace is on. I don’t think of the cottage as just a summertime thing; I think of it as an all-year place. It’s not so much what time of year it is, it’s that Barb and our girls are there, we’re all together, we’re all in the kitchen making dinner, sitting around the table laughing and telling stories. That’s what the cottage is about.

What’s so special about the cottage?

It’s all about family. The cottage is where we meet. It’s more than symbolic. The cottage has a way of stripping away the frenzied pace of the world. Your dinners last longer at the cottage. They just do. The cottage and families are synonymous with one another. The world is just a little bit slower there.