Courtesy Vancouver Sun:

Whenever a B.C. Lion is losing hope, he only has to look across the locker room at Amariah Farrow to receive a shot of instant joy.

“He’s just a good person, and a much better person than you [sportswriters] are going to be able to portray in the newspaper,” guard Sherko Haji-Rasouli said Friday. “That’s not a knock at anyone. It’s just that he’s such a great guy to have around. There’s not a bad bone in his body. And I don’t know how you capture that in words.”

True enough, it’s hard to do justice to the country-boy flavour of the big, joyous man from Alabama whose speech pattern is punctuated with a string of “yes-sir, no-sirs.”

A dutiful son from Clanton, Ala., Amariah phones his mom, Mildred Johnson, and his grandad, the Rev. Elijah Good, every day to keep abreast of happenings in Clinton County, the state’s largest producer of peaches.

He’s worked as a fruit picker, lifeguard, bouncer and a builder of recreational vehicles, a job he had last winter in Abbotsford to tide him over to the start of Lions training camp. For three CFL seasons, Farrow has existed on $500 a week as a practice roster player, but he’s good with his money and regards the soaring Canadian dollar as a Christmas bonus.

“When I used to take that $500 across the line [international border] it don’t go far,” he says. “Now, it’s kind of like getting a raise.”

Tonight, against the Calgary Stampeders, represents Farrow’s fourth game of the 56 he has been eligible to play since he joined the team in the spring of 2005. Activated from the practice roster because of a knee injury to left tackle Rob Murphy, Farrow will mark his 2007 season debut in a game at BC Place that means nothing. But for Farrow, it’s a once-in-a-season opportunity to emerge from oblivion.

“I’m playing the game like it’s a Grey Cup game,” he says.

“I’m going to go 100 [miles per hour, not km/h] on every play, no matter what. I don’t care if we’ve locked up first place. I’m putting everything into it.”

Farrow’s last start with Lions was just over a year ago — Oct. 28 against Winnipeg — a game, incidentally, in which he replaced Murphy, who had another knee injury. It was the Alabaman’s only appearance in 2006.

“He played well in that game,” Murphy says. “The strides he’s made since then, fast-forwarding a year, have been monumental. It’s a good reward. Am’s a great guy. He hasn’t played at all this year, but you couldn’t tell by looking at him. He approaches practice like a game. His spirit is infectious. We’re all happy for him.”

Two years ago, the Lions saw a player who was eager to please and full of life but also one who was raw and overweight. Farrow, 6-5, 325, looks like an athlete now and his technique is more refined, but playing ahead of him are two tackles — Murphy, last year’s CFL most outstanding lineman, and Jason Jimenez — with experience in the NFL and NFL Europe.

“Physically, there’s no question he can get it done,” Haji-Rasouli says. “Am’s the best raw athlete on our offensive line, I believe. But the lack of experience, the rawness and the lack of knowledge of offensive line play are where he needs to improve. I think he understands that.”

While Murphy, a two-time All-American at Ohio State, had his shots in the NFL, and Jimenez, from Southern Mississippi, is trying to sustain his NFL dream, Farrow is just trying to find regular work in the CFL. And he’s fine with that. He has his ‘99 Chevy Tahoe, his regular paycheque plus a $500-a-month living allowance from the Lions, and buckets of chicken, Subway sandwiches and homemade chocolate cake coming through the door after practice. Plus, he gets weekends off, although, frankly, he’d rather be working.

His last road trip to a meaningful game was Nov. 19 last year, for the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg, which he watched in street clothes. And he’s got Nov. 25 circled on his calendar this year. Farrow knows he’s going to Toronto, if the Lions repeat as West Division champions, and he’ll be an involved tourist once again, unless anything untoward happens to Murphy and Jimenez.

His devotion to the game is tested every week, but he’s never yet failed a course in enthusiasm. “The B.C. Lions are like family to me,” Farrow says. Being around them gives his life meaning, even if tonight’s game doesn’t have much. Still, this is his time. Amariah is coming out of the shadows. And for 60 shining minutes, this is as good as it gets.