Week five? Make that game five. The Riders rumbled into Calgary on the heels of a disappointing loss to the Edmonton Eskimos. They let a 20 point half time lead slip away and walk out of their own park with one more in the loss column. One more loss would be the beginning of a disasterous season.
Betcha Calgary now knows how Saskatchewan feels.
Last minute heroics by the Riders and a picture perfect toss from Darian Durant to Chris Getzlaf. Bet Getz’s brother Ryan, who has a Stanley Cup ring with the Ducks, woulda been proud. The game was amazingly back and forth. The Riders went up, Calgary tied, the Riders come back. The game went right down to the wire, end in favour of the Green Riders, 24-23.
Yet another one point game.
Next week, the Riders are back on the road as they go to B.C. Place Stadium, and take on the happless B.C. Lions. So far this year, the Leos are the disappointment of the CFL, as they are proving to be just as good as the Detroit Lions of a couple years back. At least the Leos have one victory. For the Riders, lets hope B.C. doesn’t decide to come out of their slump next week in their domed stadium.
Speaking of domes, talk around Regina is constructing a new domed stadium for the Riders, and other events to be held in the Queen City (Zodi always laughs when I say Regina, for obvious reasons, so now I’m just going to get her to call it the Queen City). As they said in TSN.ca’s The Reporters, I am completely against this idea. Football in Mosiac Stadium (Taylor Field for us old timers) is always about the four or five hour drive to the Queen City, and sit outside. Not a domed stadium. As Damian Cox said, when they changed to a domed stadium in Minnesota, there seemed to be a change in attitude. Mosaic Stadium has to be about teams coming in, and freezing during October games and playoff games in November. Sweltering during July and August. And dealing with the unpredictable prairie wind. Many say that the Riders have the best fans in the world, and consider them the thirteenth man in a league where there’s 12 players per side. Count mother nature to be the fourteenth.
That is depending upon whether or not the Riders win or lose.
Until next time…
…keep ’em flyin’!
Turn the Page 