SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - Watching his young son Michael enjoy his first year of tackle football has Mike O'Shea itching to return to the Canadian Football League.

The middle linebacker will play a 12th season with the Toronto Argonauts after signing a one-year deal plus an option for the 2009 campaign on Monday night.

"It's exciting. It's pure, so it's easy to watch and it gets your heart pumping," the elder O'Shea told CBCSports.ca, referring to minor football.

"He [Michael] has been around football for a while, so he gets it. He seems to do a lot of things right out [on the field] and that's exciting to see him think the game as much as it is to see him be physical out there.

"He was begging me to let him play. I was holding it off as long as possible. It's just a gut feel that you don't need to start really, really early in life. I didn't start until I was in Grade 9 ... but he's having fun. I'm glad [I signed him up]."

And the Argos are thrilled to have O'Shea, a 15-year CFL veteran, back as captain of their vaunted defence.

"I'm just excited about going to [training] camp [on May 31] and playing football again," said O'Shea, who became a free agent on Feb. 16.

At the end of last season, O'Shea talked to rookie Argos coach Rich Stubler about coming back and retaining his role as captain of the defence, but it took seven months and the exchange of four contract offers to come to an agreement.

"The negotiation took almost as long as his tenure with the Argos," Toronto general manager Adam Rita said in a statement. "We now have our defensive leader back on the field."

O'Shea admitted there were times when thoughts of not stepping on the field this summer entered his mind.

"In the toughest part of the negotiation, there was a fleeting moment where I would have thought, 'Ah, I guess I'm not playing next year,'" said the six-foot-two, 225-pound native of North Bay, Ont. "I don't believe I ever thought of the word retirement. Retirement is something you would choose to do. Before the end of [last] season, I made the choice to play again."

The 37-year-old O'Shea, who said he never pursued a deal with any other CFL club and wasn't going to use another team for leverage, realized earlier this off-season that the hunger to play football remains.

"There were a couple of days where you say, 'What am I doing going to work out and put myself through this?' and then I'm there with the guys I train with, [teammates] Kevin Eiben, and Taylor Robertson and [linebacker] Ray Mariuz [of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats], and within five minutes of working out I'm excited to be there. This is why I'm doing it, to be around these guys," O'Shea said.

"And even though they're not all teammates, just being in that atmosphere where you're training together and you're working hard and you've got the same goal to win the championship, that was proof there that I needed to play again."

O'Shea finished the 2007 season eighth in the CFL in defensive tackles with 77, his highest total since 2004 when he had 89. He added four special teams tackles and four quarterback sacks.

"His play has been as good, or better, in the past few seasons as it ever has. I look forward to seeing Mike play for many more years to come," said Stubler of O'Shea, who holds the Argos' record with 754 career defensive tackles.

On Oct. 20, 2006, O'Shea became the first Canadian and third player in CFL history to post 1,000 career tackles, joining fellow linebackers Willie Pless (1,241) and Alondra Johnson (1,084). He'll enter this season with 1,083.

But all that matters to O'Shea is getting a chance to hoist the Grey Cup for a fourth time.

Still fresh in his mind is Keith Stokes's 81-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the third quarter of last year's East Division final that gave the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers a 19-1 lead over Toronto en route to a stunning 19-9 win.

"We missed an opportunity last year to win the [Grey] Cup and we've got too good a team to let that happen again," he said. "Every year it's the same driving force in the off-season, the chance to win the Grey Cup, hoist that trophy, look around at the guys that are winning it and see their expressions, see their emotion, see their passion.

"The culmination of a long year coming to fruition. It's all really about winning the Cup."

Sets his own goals

Throughout his CFL career, O'Shea has prided himself on finding new ways to gain an edge on the competition.

He began this off-season doing isometric exercise, a type of strength training involving a series of static contractions that stimulate the development of lean muscle tissue and help the muscles fire in the correct sequences.

For the 2008 season, O'Shea believes he needs to contribute more to the Argos' pass rush, but not necessarily in terms of posting more sacks.

"There are always ways to improve leadership-wise and improve as a teammate," said the five-time East all-star and 1999 CFL most outstanding Canadian. "I strive every off-season to be as strong and fast as I can and take care of these other areas that are more important."

Joining O'Shea at training camp will be a couple of young Canadians that Toronto management and the coaching staff hope will be part of their linebacking corps once O'Shea's playing days are over.

Aaron Wagner of Lethbridge, Alta., spent last season with the Argonauts after being selected in the 2006 CFL college draft out of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Quebec native Eric Maranda will participate in his first CFL training camp after returning to Laval University in Quebec City last season for his final year of eligibility.

But don't expect O'Shea to waltz into camp with the idea he will be the starting linebacker for Toronto's season opener on June 27 at Winnipeg.

"I've been told my role [as a starter] will remain unchanged," said O'Shea, who had two separate stints with Hamilton before signing as a free agent with Toronto prior to the 2001 CFL season. "Having said that, I always go into training camp expecting to get cut. I train like that, I compete in camp like that and I think that's what has allowed me to be on this team for a number of years. I firmly believe I need to win my job.

"And it's not just for me. I think I need to win my job for my teammates, too. You owe it to your teammates to go out there and show them you have the desire and you have the ability to get the job done for them. I think if you show up to camp complacent, with the idea that it is your job already, you don't instill a lot of confidence for your team."

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