Go Riders Go!

Green is the colour
football is the game
We're all together
and winning is our aim
So cheer us on in the sun and rain
Saskatchewan Roughrider is our name


Well as I have just finished my first season of summer flag football, I thought I'd put in my two cents on how awsome it is that the Roughriders are 6-2 this season.

It's nice that in the first season on Kent Austin back with the riders (He was their quarterback the last time they won the Grey Cup) that they are having some success. What a move it was to get Kerry Joseph. I was a long suffering fan of the team for 12 years, it's nice to have one that looks as good as they do now.

My dad bought season tickets the year after they won the Grey Cup in 1989. I went to almost every game over the next 10 years, and the occasional game after I moved to Ottawa in 2000. I have never seen fans like the Rider fans, they eat bleed and sweat green! A lot of them have to come in from several hours away just to see the games. I remember one guy telling me that because he had inherited the tickets from his dad, he's been considered a season ticket holder since before he was born! (he has been going to games since he was 3 years old!)

I miss the sense of community that comes with the sort of communal emotional experience that is being a football fan. 10 years of 9 games a season. They are not what you would call friend but the feeling of cameraderie is there. I mean how many people can share the ins and outs of a CFL team with you, given that so many players switch teams so often these days.

I really hope for all those long-suffering fans that we may be at the beginning of something good, hell we might even have a home playoff game! (There hasn't been a home playoff game since like the mid 80s if not earlier..)