Kimberlyn Chow couldn't stop fidgeting as she waited to meet her football hero at Pine Centre Mall.
"I like his Superman move; it's cool," said the timid nine year old about meeting B.C. Lions' all-star receiver Geroy Simon.
"I'm nervous."
Chow was one of about 300 fans of all ages at the mall Thursday to introduce themselves to the Lions' receiver along with offensive lineman Angus Reid and safety J.R. LaRose as the players travel around the province showing off the Grey Cup they won Nov. 27 with a 34-23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Simon received loud cheers from the polite, yet eager, fans who turned out to get a glimpse of the Lions' players.
"It's a great feeling knowing I have so much support and the things I do on the field are being recognized by the individual fans who buy my jersey," said the 36-year-old, who has played 13 seasons in the Canadian Football League - 11 with the Lions and two with Winnipeg. "That's why I go out and play. You play for Grey Cups and for the people that support you."
Since the Lions won the Cup it has visited various cities and towns throughout the province. Before the Cup contingent arrived in Prince George they spent the morning at a school in Kamloops before hitting 100 Mile House and Williams Lake. On Friday, the Lions took the Cup to the Native Friendship Centre before stopping by both Prince George and Duchess Park secondary schools.
Angus Reid has centred the Lions' offensive line for the past 12 seasons and knows how much it means to the kids to see their favourite players, especially with the Grey Cup.
"These are long days, driving from town to town and city to city," said Reid.
"At many points you get exhausted and don't want to do it anymore and then you see the kids and it brings you back to when you were nine, 10, 11, 12 years old and how
excited and how big of a deal it is."
The 35-year-old grew up in Vancouver and had many opportunities to meet Lions'
players or stop by practices growing up, but he'll never forget when Hall of Fame offensive lineman Jim Mills took the time to chat with him, take a photo and even presented the youngster with one of his old T-shirts.
Reid said seeing the smiles on the faces of kids these days brings back memories.
"You turn into a kid again and it all just becomes happy, you forget about the stress and you just enjoy it," said Reid.
The Lions will have possession of the Grey Cup until May, when it's returned to its trophy case awaiting the 100th winner in Toronto in November.
Prior to the 2011 win - when the Lions became the first team to win the championship after starting the season 0-5 - the last time the cup travelled the province was in 2006.
Reid said the Lions should return a similar club to the gridiron in 2012 as they had last season.
"We're still a team that's getting better," he said.
"We have a lot of youth and a lot of guys developing and I think our goal for the team this year wouldn't be to bring in a bunch of new players, it would be to do our best to keep the ones we have."
The new CFL season will kickoff in late June and while Chow will be tuning into Lions' games on TV to see Simon catching touchdowns, Reid is looking forward to the same as well.
"It's going to be something I can tell my kids and, hopefully my grand kids, that I played with Geroy Simon," said Reid. "He's a legend and the neat thing about Geroy is he's a better guy then he is a football player."
