I just heard on the news that he doesn't have a phone, so he didn't even know he was traded until today and arrived in Winnipeg too late to participate in practice. Who the heck doesn't have a phone in this day and age? :?
Aside from this his hobbies including gardening and picking up cans? The gardening I can see, but is the can thing actually true?
Either way it seems like the Bombers picked up a real eccentric. It is kind of refreshing to see a guy with a cheerful attitude like Smith though. I hope he can perform well for my Bombers.
The cans thing is 100% true. He takes all the cans at training camp and practice and turns them in for $. It's been an ongoing joke in Vancouver ever since he's been here.
Apparently he also charged people by the minute to make calls home through his skype account at training camp.
When you read articles decribing his 'spendthrift' ways, that is what they mean. All of this is from The Province or BCTV, etc. Not heresay.
He is not exactly cheerful, more like he doesn't care. When he was injured, he went shopping with his wife, or worked in his garden rather than be on the sidelines, even on the night they had the Bobby Ackles tribute.
Read this article to get an idea of what you are in for.
We had a guy locally we called Pop Bottle Pete. He would go around to almost every garbage can around and collect bottles. Legend has it that he is very rich, because all he ever did is collect bottles(Saskatchewan used to have a ban on canned drinks, only bottles were allowed). There are oddballs in every walk of life, so why shoud the CFL be an exception?
As of 15 years ago Manitoba had no deposit on cans.... Not sure if this has changed I have not lived there since 95.
I know that lots of can depos in Sask on the Sask./Man. border actually had to close down because people were flooding Sask with Man. cans and the depos. were paying out....but not getting any money in return!!!11
This was going on around 93. (Man am I ever getting old) anyways....I hope for Smith's sake that times have changed(pun intended)
How freakin’ hard up for negative news are you people? Give your collective heads a shake. Joe Smith likes to garden and spend time with his wife. He recycles bottles and watches his nickels and dimes. Ooooh… what a loser! My God, you run a man down for these rinky-dink offences? And in this day and age of gangsta yahoos in pro sports.
To me, Joe Smith actually sounds like someone I’d be proud and happy to have as a neighbour. His biggest “crime” against humanity? He doesn’t spend his every waking moment and ounce of energy thinking about his job when he’s off work. Remind you of anybody you know? Yes it does … it reminds you of just about everyone you know.
Headcase is what he’s been called. Headcase?? I think the only headcases are the people on this forum who refuse to accept that the players under those helmets are actually real, live, breathing human beings … not just football-bots.
Well even for soft drink cans you can get about fifty cents a pound or so. It takes about 25 cans to make a pound so I don’t think anyone has gotten rich that way.
No problem. I agree with what you wrote. Better to have a guy who likes gardening than a gangster who may as well have an advance reservation at the local prison.
I am sorry if anyone needs to give their head a shake its you. For one its a privledge to play football and there are thousands of people that would love to have that oportunity that just never made it, so to not care about it at the end of the day is ludacris, Joe Smith aproaches football in the way an accountant aproaches their job and I am sorry there is way too much emotion in football to be that robotic about football. Secondly everyone should take some pride in what they do for a living, it doesn't have to be all you are but you should be proud of what you do and the effort you put in. Joe doesn't seem to care much about the sport or fans, and does look at it just as a job. In my opinion being a professional football player is more than a job and 99% of players feel that way.
Joe will be cancerous in that locker room. If the team was winning I am sure that it wouldn't have much effect, but Winniped gave up one of their leaders that doesn't really care much about football let alone being a leader. It will be easy for the locker room to adopt his who cares we are just doing this for a paycheck mentality.
Before the trade I actually had the Bombers to win, now I don't think its going to happen.
You can bet that if you play for Wally, privilege and emotion have nothing to do with it ... it's all about business. And brother, I can just about guarantee that most GMs are like that. For them, it's all about the job (same as the accountant you mention). Loyalty, long service, devotion to the team? Those are just quaint notions where football management is concerned. Players are always asked to put everything else about themselves secondary to the game, because if they don't, they're not being true gamers or real "professionals." They're supposed to be all about emotion, love of the game and complete loyalty to the team. But, when the team cuts, waives or trades them (just prior to the Sept. cut-off point) because their services are no longer vital to the bottom line ... well ... that's just business. Suck it up Pro. I think Joe Smith was run out of BC because The Great Buono took the Ackles thing personal ... end of story.
I’m sorry, I just have to say that I loved your post, and I’m officially taking back the thunder to you my friend. That was awesome to read. Made my day. People in life give themselves far too much credit; more than they are deserving of. Total morale booster if I’ve ever seen one myself. I must say this.
As for Gardner Joe. I love it that he told Wally to stick to laying bricks, rather than enact as a football coach. I don’t care for Buono’s cholesterol commercials, (as we’ve all learned that appearances can be deceiving.)
I can assure you that Smith will enjoy an active lifestyle in Winnipeg if gardening is his thing he loves. We’ll welcome his with open arms. I know what Vancouver is about, though people are not near as conceited about life where I come from. So, you get the idea. I can tell you one last thing though, Charles should never have left Winnipeg.
You can have Smith and his oddities. He'll be hard pressed to find as nice gardening, scenery or shopping malls in Winnipeg as he did in Vancouver though.
Good luck Joe. I hear phone plans are cheaper in Manitoba.