“It’s brutal,” Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri said, in response to being a healthy scratch for Monday’s game against the New York Islanders.
Perhaps, though it’s not without good reason.
Kadri was late for a team meeting Sunday, and had to face the music of his head coach who was none too pleased with Kadri’s tardiness.
Kadri said he overslept by 20 minutes.
Though he was extremely apologetic to his teammates and coaching staff, he was still punished by being held out of the lineup.
An unfortunate break for Kadri, although he’s not the first, and most certainly will not be the last player to miss a team meeting for one reason or another.
Former Boston Bruin, and current Dallas Star, Tyler Seguin missed a team breakfast and meeting on Dec. 6, 2011 and was subsequently scratched from the Bruins game that night.
“Honest mistake,” said Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli. “But we have team rules and we have to abide by them. He has to abide by them, and that’s the reason for the scratch.”
Luckily for these professional athletes, an honest mistake results in only missing a game.
What about those of you who have overslept and missed something important?
Kind of like me, when I overslept and missed my flight from Toronto to Vancouver late last year.
Tabloid magazines are always quick to point out how “celebrities are just like us,” when they’re seen using hand baskets at grocery stores, or pumping gas into their vehicles.
It helps me sleep at night knowing that Ryan Gosling is not above using a shopping cart.
Being a sports guy myself, I can now say multi-millionaires Seguin, Kadri and I are basically the same person.
You know, minus the amount of zeros in my savings account, the peak physical condition and thousands of people cheering (or booing) my name night in and night out.
When I was on my way home from a friend’s wedding in Belleville, Ont. in October, I pulled off what people have recurring nightmares about.
My flight from Toronto to Vancouver was scheduled for 6:40 a.m., with a connecting flight to Whitehorse leaving around 10:30 a.m.
I did what anyone would have and set about seven alarms to make sure that if I managed to sleep through one or two, the others would stir me from my slumber to make sure I got halfway across the country on time.
I’m not usually a deep sleeper, and I often wake up before my alarms go off anyway.
This morning however, I was not so lucky.
My first clue that something was wrong was when I rolled over to see my phone had been unplugged from its charger.
That meant at some point I had looked at my phone then rolled over and fell back asleep.
Sure enough, I lit up the screen to see “7:23 A.M.” staring back at me.
Part of me wishes there was a camera in my room, if only to see how quickly I jumped out of bed.
I might have given Usain Bolt a run for his money when it came to the title of “fastest man alive.”
A lot of things ran through my head after leaping to my feet, most importantly, “what do I do now?”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I thought to myself, “did I actually do this? Am I actually one of those people who slept through their alarm and missed a flight?”
After freaking out momentarily, I figured there’s no point in rushing out of the room since I won’t be able to catch the plane that’s already 600 miles away.
I took a shower and jumped on the airport shuttle to Pearson International Airport arriving at around 8:15 a.m.
I strolled over to a check-in agent and casually said, “I was supposed to be on the flight that left an hour and a half ago.”
“Uh-oh,” she said, with a slightly worried look on her face.
Luckily for me I wasn’t just a normal paying customer.
At the time, I was working for that airline in Whitehorse as a baggage handler, and we were given flight passes which were good for cheaper, one-way tickets to any destination that airline flew. As long as there were seats available, of course.
So I told the check-in agent that I was flying with one of those, and I was easily able to be booked on the next flight about two hours later with no issues.
Lucky for me that saved me probably around $1,000.
I got some breakfast and sat down at a counter that had iPads bolted into them, so I could waste my time until my flight left at about 11 a.m.
I learned that I’m not a very good poker player, though going all-in regularly is probably not a good strategy if you’re trying to win money.
While I was able to get on the next flight without facing any repercussions, aside from personal embarrassment, there was still one problem.
Remember when I said there was a connecting flight to Whitehorse at around 10:30 a.m.? Well, that was the only flight to Whitehorse.
The airline I worked for had just the one flight in from Vancouver each day, and I wouldn’t be arriving in Vancouver until about an hour after that flight was leaving.
The bad news actually ends there, however.
I was able to stay with a good friend of mine from college. We went out for dinner and shared a bunch of laughs.
When we walked into the restaurant, the girl standing at the front door said, “Craig?” in a tone like she was expecting me.
I had never seen this girl in my life, but it turns out she was my friend’s best friend from Vancouver, and had evidently heard a lot about me.
Terrible things, I’m sure.
The next morning I took the sky train to Vancouver International Airport and was on my way home with no issues.
Although I was at the receiving end of a few jokes from my co-workers when I got back to work the following day.
Since Kadri, Seguin and I have so much in common, I’m expecting a phone call from one of them any day now to come hang out at their giant condos in downtown Toronto or Dallas.
Maybe I should turn the volume up on my phone so I don’t miss it.
