Courtesy Edmonton Sun:

HAMILTON - Warren Kean is allergic to grass, but he makes his living as a kicker for the only CFL team with a grass field.

The Edmonton Eskimos rookie is a former vegetarian whose memory of the first time he consumed red meat makes him feel ill. He rides his bike to work every day through the River Valley and admits to breaking the unofficial speed limit more often than not — thanks to learning his riding habits in mercenary Montreal.

In short, Kean is a kicker, a character and the heir apparent to Sean Fleming in the CFL’s northern outpost.

“I’m not afraid to do my own thing,” Kean said Friday, all bundled up in an army jacket in the lobby of the team hotel in Hamilton. “I guess I’m eccentric. I don’t think I’m borderline weird, but I go to my own rhythm, I think. But show me a kicker who doesn’t.

“To be able to stand around and do nothing all game, and then be called out to kick the game-winning field goal after an hour of doing nothing? You’ve got to be a bit weird to do that.”

Weird or not, Kean, 23, is set to make his CFL debut today in the Toilet Bowl, a season-ending clash between the lowly Eskimos and the hapless Hamilton Tiger-Cats. With both teams eliminated from playoff contention, the game means nothing in the standings, but everything to a kid who has apprenticed all season long under Fleming, who plans to retire at the end of the season after 16 years in Green and Gold.

Fleming will handle the punting duties today, leaving Kean to take care of field goals and kickoffs.

The Eskimos drafted Kean in the first round of the 2007 college draft. The Concordia University product started kicking back in high school in Dundas, Ont., where the football coach lined up a row of soccer players and asked them to kick the ball through the uprights. Kean booted the ball the furthest and unwittingly kicked off a football career.

“I got my leg strength from playing goalie in soccer at the provincial level,” he said. “I enjoyed goalkeeping. In soccer, it’s me, the other guy, and the ball. In football, it’s me and the ball. I’ve got a great snapper and a great holder. And when you get it done, you’re a hero. If you don’t, you’re a zero.

“That’s the best part, the risk involved.”

Kean takes a bit of risk kicking for a living when it comes to his allergies. This is a guy who is allergic to, among other things, grass, ragweed, dust mites, cats, cantaloupe and pollen. More often than not, his sinuses are plugged and he relies on daily antihistamines and asthma medication to keep himself clear.

Kean grew up in a vegetarian family. He started eating meat in university when he realized he was too skinny to go anywhere in football. Back then, Kean weighed 165 pounds on a heavy day. These days, the six-foot-one kicker tips the scales at 200 pounds.

“My mom is cooking me a special dinner tonight,” he said. “She refuses to cook a regular steak, so she went down to the butcher and got an organic steak.”

In university, Kean’s eating habits changed when he went for dinner one night with an assistant coach.

“He gave me what he thought was the best cut of meat,” Kean said. “Right in the middle, rare with a big hunk of fat in it. I didn’t want to be rude, so I was eating it. Without even realizing it, I put this big chunk of fat in my mouth and I had to spit it into my napkin. He didn’t notice at the time.”

The Edmonton coaching staff has noticed Kean as he has gone about his work this year. In practice, he routinely makes field goals from 50 yards or longer.

Practice is one thing, but the game means everything. And, tonight, Kean finally gets his chance.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t feel nervous,” he said. “It’s more excitement than anything else.

“I’m looking forward to this. I’ve been waiting for this for an entire year.”