Who is smilingriderfan?

Pandemic.

When Covid shut down the CFL in 2020 I found myself without anything to compose blog posts about as well as a lost desire to try to keep up with everything that was going on.  Following the pandemic news and keeping safe in our bubble became the top priority and everything else took a back seat.  Well now that things are starting to feel more like what we used to call "normal" I realized I owed everyone an update on my site.

You might be a long time reader of this blog or you might have just happened upon this site from a link from social media and I thank you regardless of how you found your way to ABC Football.  In late 2019, someone reported my blog page as spam and that has created a lot of issues.  You may have noticed the address has changed.  I had to do this to be able to share my blogs on various social media platforms without getting red flagged. This really really sucked.  Over the next while, I will be updating links and hopefully restoring all the fun things I tried to offer on my blog page.  

In early 2020, I had started a Youtube channel and that as well has been dormant.  I'm going to leave everything in place but at this time I'm not 100% certain I will make videos like I had originally planned.  It's a lot of work to film and edit and if the last year has taught me anything its that a lot of things I spent time on were simply not worth it.

So that's the background on the last year but who was I before the world shut down?  Feel free to click on the About Me tab. You'll find all the necessary information there.  If you prefer the long winded version, then by all means stick with me. * smile *

This is not a blog post about how I became a Rider fan because I think I've already been there, done that, and bought all the Rider tee shirts. If you are interested, this is my Origin Story.

I grew up in Prince Albert and in 2001 moved to Saskatoon.  I took music lessons all of my teenage years and when I was 17 I began teaching piano lessons.  Music has always been a huge part of my life and livelihood.  Except for a 5 year hiatus when we moved, I've always been a teacher.  My interest in practice ebbs and flows but I strive to keep learning and being the best instructor and mentor I can be to all the students who cross my path.  I probably should have become a school teacher but...well, I didn't.

I thought I was going to be a writer.  I did a few years of Arts & Sciences...basically enough to know that I was neither good at learning in that forum and that the learning how had nothing to do with the act of actually doing it.  Now I know that I could have made different choices but things always have a way of working out and because of them I met my Husband who you may have seen me refer to as "Hubby". We celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary in December and the one thing we enjoy doing together is going to football games.

I've always been able to succeed at pretty much anything I've ever tried.  That's not me being egotistical.  It's the truth.  No one ever told me I couldn't do something.  I always felt that I was free to pursue my passions.  I play music, I bake, I travel, I draw, I snap photos.....

On a social media forum which has long become extinct I began blogging about every day life, my love of donuts and my teaching stories.  My readers ( a handful of friends ) became wildly aware around 2008-ish that a lot of my blogs were about football.  Some of those very early blogs can be found in the archives on this very page.  It became apparent that I could just write about sports and eventually my page got moved here to Blogger and eventually through a few name changes we arrive at what ABC Football is today.

This page will always be from the fans perspective and over time I think I've become more level headed and logical and less radical.  Yes, I know, crazy words from a Rider fan!   I try to not take football or myself too seriously and I think that's evident through my CFL Power Rankings.  I think we can look everywhere, especially in Saskatchewan, and be bombarded with Roughriders news from sports media people.  I try to not let what's going on around me influence my perspective.  Why try to fit in?  

Sometimes you have to excuse me.  I am the music teacher after all and that often takes precedent.  It also means you might be swamped with vague musical quotations from my current obsessions.  It might mean I don't get to write regularly because of my schedule.  I'm okay with it and I hope you are too.  I will always share my newest posts on my Twitter account, Instagram and the ABC Football Facebook page.  I firmly believe that while I am a Roughriders fan first and foremost, that is not all that I am.  I am diverse and sometimes complicated.  I can enjoy several things at the same time and remain smilingsandra or smilingriderfan or whoever I am :)

I am the administrator of ABC Rider Fans on Facebook.  The group doesn't have the big numbers that some Facebook groups do but the people who are on the page have fun.  It's not uncommon to go off topic or to joke around with each other.  We are friends.  If you've joined, you can expect Game Threads hosted by moderator John Strutt and we love it when everybody posts and shares.  You can expect CFL news while being Rider fans.  The rules are simple and easy to follow.  Search the group up and join in.

A question I get asked often is "why ABC?".  At the time, I wanted something that would come up on a Google or Facebook in an alphabetical type of search.  I also thought ABC could refer to the abc's of football and almost in a football 101 type of way.  Yes, it is also an acronym for Anyone But Calgary and that's a cool thing too but it does not mean the group/page is completely anti-Stampeders.  Not really anyway.

I am a Roughriders season ticket holder.  I look forward to gathering once again with Rider Nation in 2021.  If you see me, stop me and say hi!

I'd love to interact with you.  If there are blog topics you'd love to see me discuss then by all means let me know.  Thanks for reading and as always...

...Go Riders!