There was no irresistible impulse to drop a shoulder and wallpaper the kid canvassing the press box peddling 50-50 tickets.
No involuntary muscle twitches when the ball was in the air down below at field level. No instinctual facial tics on impending impact.
No whooping. No face paint.
In fact, no discernible competitive withdrawal symptoms whatever to report.
“It went smooth, in that regard,’’ reports Josh Bell, of Friday night’s personal career coaching opener.
“Easy.
“I didn’t have to hit a 300-pound lineman. I didn’t have to make a tackle. I didn’t have to break a sweat.
“Pen and a piece of paper. Watch what was going on, talk into a microphone. Fine.”
A beatific smile.
“Perfectly fine.”
Over the summer, of course, there’s been re-vamping of the Stampeder secondary. Tommie Campbell is in Montreal. Bell, the four-year mainstay at safety, is up in the press box donned in coaching togs.
As well, All-Star corner Ciante Evans is out for a while due to a busted pinkie finger.
Meaning Bell, the loquacious first-year secondary tutor, will be depending on nine-year man Brandon Smith and five-season stalwart Jamar Wall to establish the ground rules and set the example.
“I knew coming into this change,’’ says Bell, “that if I had those two guys, Smitty and Wall, to lean on I’d be OK. They make you feel everything’s under control. Make it easier to sleep at night.
“We’re going to have a younger group but these two, they’re such great examples. Just watch, see how it’s done, and follow.
“The humility they have, the amount of work they put in … who they are, what they do, how they go about their business, permeates throughout our room.
“Those guys, they are amazing to me.
“Amazing.”
Neither Smith nor Wall was dressed for the pre-season opener versus B.C., but they’ll be back in harness Friday at New Mosaic and naturally when the Stamps open their 2018 regular-season account at McMahon Stadium on June 17 against the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
They are, in a sense, an extension of their new coach.
“Me, Smitty and Bell, we played together awhile -we all think alike,’’ says Wall. “Bell and I were roommates on the road. We kinda speak the same language on things. We were together in the meeting room. We talked every day. With him being a coach, man, it’s great.
“He was that kind of general to the boundary, him and Smitty. And I was the general to the field. Having the two of us out there, and (Bell) up in the box, should work out really well.
“It’s going to be a little different this year, with new recruits. But there’s a lot of talent here. Real good potential.
“I’m an older guy but my job isn’t safe. I’d like to think so but realistically this is a business. No one’s safe.
“I know this: There’s going to be some really tough decisions come Saturday or Sunday.”
For Smith, too, quiet leadership is as natural as jumping a route and knocking away a pass.
“I’ve seen quite a bit of rotation at the boundary corner side, specifically, over the years,’’ he says. “Making sure over there we’re all on the same page is my responsibility.
“My main thing is that we’re assignment sound, playing fast, playing strong. I’m not an outspoken leader. That’s not my forte.
“I want to continue to lead by example. You always hear the saying: Actions speak louder than words. Well I’m more of an action-type person.”
That understated style the two men share, easy to overlook if you aren’t someone in the know, maybe doesn’t generate a lot of screaming headlines.
What it does help in generating is ongoing success.
“They don’t say much, either of ’em,’’ says Bell, a world-class chatterer, with a teasing grin. “I’ve been trying the last couple years to get them to celebrate, kind of sell themselves.
“But they’re happy to allow their body of work to speak for them. Smitty? You know you’re coming around the corner, he will hit you. He doesn’t do mistakes. Smitty has had to do it every year, with a new boundary corner. He’s the daddy, the big brother. And he just keeps excelling.
“J-Wall has a superpower of communication, watching film and taking what he’s learned out on the field and passing it on to everybody else.”
As Stamp partisans know only too well, Bell was one of those on-field, in-uniform coach-in-waiting type players during his days at safety for the Red-and-White.
Now he’s turned to two stalwart comrades-in-arms to assume the critical role.
“I’m so focused on being a good enough as a coach that I can’t think about what I’m missing by not playing,’’ he confesses.
“My peers, those guys I’m in the coaches room with, I want to make them proud. I want to hold up my end of the bargain.
“And having people like J-Wall and Smitty there to rely on gives me great comfort.
“I’m just looking for them to be who they are. When I got to Calgary I learned what it meant to be a Stampeder from those men.
“And now they’ll pass those standards, that knowledge, on to others.”