Casey Printers makes his return to Hamilton, leading the Lions in the playoffs.
Somehow, someway, perhaps it was just meant to be.
A week ago the storyline for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats became Kevin Glenn coming back to Winnipeg, the team that cast him adrift in the off-season after five years, and beating the Blue Bombers.
Now the storyline this week - at least from a quarterback perspective - is Casey Printers coming back to Hamilton to face the Tiger-Cats in the East semi-final on Sunday at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Similar to the Bombers and Glenn, the Ticats unceremoniously disposed of Printers. Hamilton invested considerable sums of money to sign Printers in September, 2007, hoping he could be the pivot to take the Tiger-Cats to the promised land of the playoffs and, maybe, the Grey Cup. In 2004, he received the award as the Canadian Football League's Most Outstanding Player. He threw for 5,088 yards and tossed 35 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. In only his second year in the league and his first full season, he became a star.
It shone so brightly that after another season in the CFL, he cast his eyes on the National Football League. Kansas City won the bidding war for him, but following a season and a half as the third stringer who didn't play a single regular-season down, the Chiefs cut Printers.
And there was the Ticats with a multiple-year contract totaling $1.7 million, including a $500,000 signing bonus. Printers parlayed his magnificent season with the Lions to a fat NFL contract, and now had a sweet deal back in the CFL, where his salary hovered around the $60,000 mark. He had come to B.C. in 2003 as an unknown commodity without any bargaining power, but four years later the Ticats opened owner Bob Young's vault.
The story goes that upon his first day with his new teammates, Printers said something to the effect, "This is my team." It went downhill from there.
He completed only 53.3% of his passes, had six touchdowns against 14 interceptions and a puny quarterback rating of only 63.8% in one and a half seasons.
The same Printers who lit it up in B.C. flamed out in Hamilton. He suffered various injuries and the Ticats and their fans felt the pain. The Ticats couldn't wait to part company with him and dispose of his contract, which wasn't guaranteed, and look to the future.
It's been a revolving door of quarterbacks in Hamilton, but Glenn, whom the Ticats signed as a free agent to provide some backup relief for sophomore Quinton Porter, is firmly established at the position. No other team wanted Glenn other than Hamilton, but he has keyed a three-game win streak for the Tiger-Cats.
And then there is Printers, the team anybody could have had after the Ticats released him. But somehow he developed a reputation as a malcontent. When the Lions suffered a rash of injuries in September, they reached out to Printers as insurance. He returned to B.C. older and more mature and accepted his role as a practice-roster play, earning some $600 a week.
And then he started to move up on the Lions' depth chart because of injuries. He debuted as a starter three games ago and showed the same kind of flair and athletic brilliance that he did back in 2004. He repeated it in his next game. Only a thumb injury in the last game prevented him from doing it a third time. He left the game early in the first quarter, his season believed to be over because of ligament damage. It is now reported to be only a sprain.
There won't be any guessing games whether Printers will start. Head coach Wally Buono has already declared that.
One wonders how the Ticats' fans will react. It's not like he's Mike O'Shea, who became Benedict Arnold after he signed with the Argos after three seasons in Hamilton.
Casey Printers barely had a chance to leave any kind of lasting legacy in Hamilton. For one game, anyway, he will have a chance to do just that.
