Orlando Franklin: On representing Canada in the NFL

Denver Broncos offensive lineman Orlando Franklin is giving Yahoo Canada Sports an exclusive first-person account of life in the NFL. Franklin grew up in Toronto before playing at the University of Miami and was drafted by the Broncos in the second round in 2011.

It’s definitely unique being a Canadian player in the NFL. I know in Denver I’m not going to see the Canadian flag very often. But one of the cool things about the Broncos is that our assistant strength and conditioning coach, Jason George, is Canadian. And the team owner, Pat Bowlen, has a lot of connections to Canada. So one of the cool things they’ve done is put a Canadian flag in the weight room. We have the American flag and the Canadian flag side by side. I think that’s pretty cool.

When I go to a stadium, especially when I go for the first time, I find myself looking around to find the Canadian flag. Seattle has the Canadian flag. I think it’s pretty cool that they acknowledge the Canadian fan base since Vancouver is close and a lot of those fans come down. My rookie year, right before Christmas, we played in Buffalo and I thought it was really cool that they played the Canadian anthem too. I find myself trying to look for that stuff, and I’m actually disappointed more often than not because most cities don’t have a flag or play the anthem. I go to hockey games a lot. Often they’ll play the American anthem and the Canadian anthem but you’ll definitely see both flags.

I know there are a lot of Canadian NFL fans and we actually have a decent amount of Canadians playing in this league. I’m just happy that that number keeps rising.

Some of my teammates don’t even know that I am from Canada. When they find out they’re like “You’re Canadian?” I was born in Jamaica but I definitely consider myself Canadian. But they always think I’m from Florida because I lived there for seven years and went to the University of Miami.

A sign of how Canadian I am: I find myself going to local restaurants and ordering French fries and asking them if they can put gravy and cheese on it. I try to create my own poutine. I’m in awe that it’s not a regular thing here.

Speaking of Canada and football, I see the Grey Cup is this week. I’ve got two friends who went to Miami with me who are playing in the Grey Cup this week. Jeremy Lewis and Joel Figueroa both play on the offensive line for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and both went to Miami with me. So I’m definitely going to be routing for Hamilton this week. Me and the strength coach put a little friendly bet on the game.

I was at the Toronto Argonauts home opener back in the summer with some friends. During the season it’s hard to pay attention to CFL football when you have to prepare for NFL football. Each week I watch about six games on my upcoming opponent. So it’s hard to watch anything beyond that.

Follow Orlando Franklin on Twitter and Instagram.

More from Orlando Franklin:

-How football led me down the right path, and to protecting Peyton Manning

-Giving thanks to the mentors who helped me get where I am today

-On being part of history, and what it takes to win big games

-A look inside the week-long grind of an NFL player

-What went wrong against the Patriots, and how we fix it

-On giving back to the community through charitable work

-I've never been 100 percent healthy going into a game

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from Yahoo Sports http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/orlando-franklin--on-representing-canada-in-the-nfl-162926636.html