Rooting for the Saskatchewan Roughriders has always been as easy as liking maple syrup. As long as you didn’t have another strong CFL allegiance, getting behind the team that meant more to its community than any other was a natural. What possible motivation was there to tell all those nice people from Canada’s breadbasket to take to their expansive skies and fly a kite?
But what’s a non-partisan to do now that Saskatchewan is the bad guy?
OK, that might be a touch extreme, but as Regina gets set to host the biggest game in three-down football on Sunday, there’s no denying the passion that’s always existed in Saskatchewan is accompanied by something else. Arrogance? Not quite, but there’s evidence of a chestiness we’d previously never associated with a province that always seemed to typify this country’s humble ethic.
How else do you explain what we saw on the field at McMahon Stadium in the West final between the Riders and Calgary Stampeders last Sunday? As if the green guy’s 35-13 dismantling of the Stamps wasn’t enough, the turf itself was inscribed with an ad for Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall’s ‘Think Sask’ campaign, an endeavor designed to attract people to his province by promoting its ongoing economic growth and opportunity. It’s like they walked into an Alberta ranch and left a note on one of the stalls for all the farmhands saying, “When you’re serious about being a real cowboy, come work for us.”
The play-by-play voice of the Riders, Rod Pedersen, couldn’t help but notice the sea change while speaking with Sportsnet The Fan 590’s Jeff Blair on Monday. “Our premier—sports fan, 45-year-old guy, cool guy—just shoves it in people’s face,” Pedersen said with great enthusiasm, “because we had sand kicked in ours for so long and the bully kind of grew up.”
So basically, “Up yours, eh!”
From this corner, the sight of Saskatchewan reveling a bit in its newfound might is welcomed. Why shouldn’t a place that, for years, watched its youth leave for better opportunities get a little excited about the way the worm has turned, thanks largely to a booming energy sector and the trickle-down effect it has created?
Besides, we’re willing to bet the core principles of Saskatchewan haven’t changed that much. Maybe there’s a bit of preening now, but the province’s in-the-bone passion for the Riders remains a very authentic, endearing trait. Remember the ruckus the Maple Leafs caused in Toronto last spring by making the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade? While sheer volume of people may dictate a difference between the two scenes, just know that everyone in Regina—whether from the city or having made a pilgrimage there for Grey Cup weekend—will be every bit as invested in the home team on Sunday as blue and white supporters were watching game seven in Boston.
“I don’t know if it can handle it,” Pedersen said of the host city. “I’m worried they’re going to burn it to the ground. This is the biggest party in 107 years of this province’s history.”
Rider pride has always stirred up that kind of emotion—Saskatchewan pride has just taken things to a whole other level.