First Win Down

How refreshing is it to see our Saskatchewan Roughriders march down the field? How awesome is it to see every receiver catching what's being thrown? How nice is it to see a Quarterback play with heart and responsibility?  There's a culture change happening in our hard to say easy to draw province and it's appearing before our very hopeful eyes.


On July 1st, our nations 150th birthday Rider Nation gathered for the official grand opening of Mosaic Stadium.  The amount of anticipation and giddiness could only compare to that of the week preceding the 2013 Grey Cup.  Our opponent? Our biggest rival and arch enemy - the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  I sat in section 126 cowbell in hand.


There's a thing that tends to happen for us Rider fans.  When there's a huge game or one with ultimate meaning things don't seem to go all that well for us. It happened when we said farewell to Taylor Field and it happened on Canada Day as well.  So when we were defeated by the Matt Nichol's led Bombers it didn't matter much to me.  I celebrated when Dave Ridgeway kicked a commemorative field goal. I shook my cowbell until my arms ached. I yelled until my voice was hoarse.  Then when I woke up Sunday morning...the day after...I was mad.

I was angry because the 'bumblers' could say they won the first game in our new home. I was ticked off because our secondary should have known better than to not contain Weston Dressler.  I was disappointed that I again had to drive 2 hours home after another loss.  What did it feel like to win? I don't know. It's been so long I can't remember.


If you know one thing about me though, it's that no matter what the circumstances I try really hard to see positive things.  I know situations can always be worse.  So when we headed to Regina on Saturday to see the Riders take on the Hamilton Tiger Cats I had a bit of hesitation.  I knew the TiCats didn't have a very good showing in week one but they were also coming off their bye week.  It had been a similar story with the Bombers.


Yes, there was a very disappointing interception after Kevin Glenn marched down the field but I saw something happen that I haven't seen in this new age of Roughriders.  I saw them fight back and when I saw that from the players - that not giving up attitude, well, I didn't give up either.  I saw a team that was communicating, I saw everyone fighting for every yard and I saw us playing our game no matter what the opposition was attempting to do.  I saw a brotherhood of team mates and I loved every moment of it.

Guess what else I found out? The Montreal Alouettes won the first game at IGF in Winnipeg.  I found out John Chick & Justin Cappicciotti couldn't keep us down.  I found out Kevin Glenn is a tremendous professional and answered questions with a decorum that I'd not seen before. Durant who?


I. Am. Excited. For. THIS. Team.


I am not delirious.  I know we beat a very poor team.  I know we have the bye week and then travel to Calgary.  I also know Calgary has some demons of their own they're fighting.  I think it's totally possible for this Riders team to go into McMahon and pull out a win.  The Stampeders play the Alouettes while we have two weeks to prepare. In the meantime, what do Rider fans do in the bye week?  Let's revel in the first win of the Inaugural Season.