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"This is much bigger than us": Henry Burris' pre-game speech Friday, and experiences after 9/11, show Redblacks-Als was more than a game (video)

Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris talked to his team about how much Friday's game meant in a pre-game speech.
Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris talked to his team about how much Friday's game meant in a pre-game speech.

Friday's CFL game between the Ottawa Redblacks and the Montreal Alouettes was an emotional one for everyone involved. The game came only two days after shootings shook the nation's capital, and there were initially questions about if it would be played at all. The Redblacks and the CFL elected to go ahead in a thoughtful way, though, beginning with a pre-game ceremony to honour the fallen that saw players from both teams come out and hold a giant Canadian flag while everyone in the stadium sang the national anthem. The game marked the first professional sporting event in Ottawa since the shootings, and it meant a lot for the fans there, but it also had a substantial impact on the players. That's shown in Redblacks' quarterback Henry Burris' emotional pre-game locker-room speech, which TSN captured:

 

Burris talks about how this game has meaning for many in the city beyond the players, and he has experience with that. Ahead of Friday's game, he spoke with Tim Baines of The Ottawa Sun about how his NFL career was affected by the 9/11 attacks:

A bit more than 13 years ago, when Burris was a quarterback with the NFL's Green Bay Packers, he was supposed to play a game against the New York Giants, at the Meadowlands, on Sunday, Sept. 16. But five days earlier, as Burris was sitting in his hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn, across from Lambeau Field, news of planes crashing into towers in New York City flashed across his TV screen. It was insanity, a changing of the world as we knew it as 9/11 unfolded. Four days later and Burris and his Packers teammates would have been on a plane heading right into that chaos.

The game against the Giants was postponed, played the first week of January. The day before that game, the Packers toured the World Trade Center area, the bulldozers and trucks still trying to clear the horrible reminder of the terrorist attacks, the ashes still smouldering.

"When we drove up, you could smell the burning flesh," said Burris.

Burris told Baines he saw Friday's game as a way to help the community recover.

"We'll have an opportunity to contribute to the healing process that's already started here in Ottawa. To get a big victory would definitely help soothe some of the pain that will live on with us for a long time and won't be forgotten."

When the Packers played their first game after 9/11, on Monday Night Football, at home against the Washington Redskins, Burris said the experience was incredibly emotional.

"To go through that experience, it's prepared me for what's going to take place Friday night (in Ottawa)," he said. "The emotions that were within Lambeau Field that night, I expect the same here. It was electric. This game will be about more than just football, this is about our passion, our pride for our country, for our city and for the people who put their bodies on the line for our safety."

The Redblacks came up short in their attempt to get a win, falling 23-17, but they still accomplished something for their city, and they were affected themsleves as well. Burris told Yahoo's Neate Sager afterwards that the game had a big impact on him and his teammates.

"Guys in the locker room, we care," he said. "We care about the people in this city. To go through that experience of going out for practice one day and all of a sudden, people in this city, their lives are put in danger and there was a victim who lost their life. We wanted to go out there and put on a great show for our fans and help alleviate the pain from what happened. Guys wanted to go out and do a perfect job. Definitely there were a lot of emotions going crazy and at some point guys were shaking as far as all the pain that was going on this city. Definitely, we wanted to help alleviate it and let the growth process begin."