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September 20, 2002
Food fit for a B.C. Lion
Noah Cantor flips quarterbacks and quarterpounders.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
On Sept. 8, a busload of rather large, hungry men gathered at an
unsuspecting restaurant in the heart of Winnipeg, Man. After their
traditional game-day breakfast, the members of the defensive line
of the Canadian Football League's (CFL) B.C. Lions headed back to
their hotel to spend the rest of the day preparing for their evening
match-up versus the hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers. However, there
was one person abstaining from that week's game-day rituals. That's
because nose tackle Noah Cantor was honoring his Jewish heritage,
celebrating Rosh Hashanah at a Winnipeg synagogue.
Though Cantor was able to play in the evening match-up, breakfast
and practice was substituted that day with apples, honey and Tashlich.
While balancing football with the rest of his life can get complicated,
it is already quite a familiar task for Cantor; a task that has
taken a new twist recently.
Last winter, Cantor established a partnership with friend and fellow
Jewish community member Gerald Tritt, who owned a small fast-food
store in West Vancouver called Vera's Burger Shack. Since then,
Tritt and Cantor opened a second Vera's in the heart of Kitsilano
and business has been great.
"It's been really busy and on the sunny days it's been great,"
Cantor said. "We're looking in maybe December or January to
get another one up and running."
Cantor guessed that much of their success comes from the fact that
Vera's makes their own burger patties every morning. A poll in the
Vancouver Sun earlier this year awarded Vera's the distinction
of having "the best burgers in town."
"In the off-season, you're always looking for something to
do," Cantor said of his new-found passion for flipping patties.
"[Vera's] gave me somewhere to go and I had the opportunity
to learn a new business."
This season, the B.C. Lions have been running a TV and print promotional
campaign that hopes to gain fan support by suggesting their players
are ordinary workers just like everyone else. The cameras could
have just as easily visited Vera's last winter where Cantor was
working side by side with his employees frying potatoes while sharing
football stories with his customers. He'll be doing the same thing
this winter, as well.
Cantor said he and many of his teammates also keep busy in the off-season
doing charitable work, like visiting children in the hospital.
"We're all responsible for being role models," he said
of his team's celebrity status in the community. "I like to
do as much as I can because it's nice to give back to the kids.
They like the chance to meet some B.C. Lions and get some autographs.
"It really hits you when you see some of the things they've
gone through," he continued.
Cantor is a free agent at the end of this season but he hopes to
sign a new contract with B.C. and play another year or two in the
CFL. However, if things don't work out with the Lions, he will have
to re-think his future in the CFL.
"It's a different reality for someone playing in the NFL or
the NHL who gets paid millions a season to play," he said.
"To be 32 and have a business and a life in Vancouver ... you
get to the point where you have a family and you can't just pack
up and leave just to have fun. You have to think about your future."
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