Flashback Friday

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have fallen to 0 – 4 and look to turn things around in week five against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Let's face it, Rider Nation has learned to have high expectations from the football club in the last few years and the Grey Cup win in 2013 at home has put fans over the top in reaction to losses. It's not easy being green these days. Canada's Team has the moniker of “bumbling losers” and that didn't come from anywhere else but the pile of losses the team used to have in seasons past. So just where were we the last time the Roughriders were 0 – 4?

Well jump in your DeLorean, Doc because we're headed back to 1995.

In 1995, I was 23 and had been married 3 years. (For the love of Gainer, don't do the math!) The number one song on the radio was “Waterfalls” by TLC. Who? And the movie we were all headed to the theatres to watch was Apollo 13 starring the iconic Tom Hanks. Windows 95 was being released and the newfangled technology of DVD was announced.

1995 was the year the Oklahoma City Federal Building was bombed killing 168 people. The President of the United States was Bill Clinton and our Prime Minister was Jean Chretian. Terrorism was a thing that happened over seas. There wasn't airport security and you didn't need a passport to travel.

Major League Baseball players were on strike.

OJ Simpson was found innocent.

The San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl while the BC Lions were coming off their win over the Baltimore Stallions in the 82^nd Grey Cup with Kent Austin as their starting quarterback.

It seems like another world, doesn't it?

What would you say to 1995 you? If you would have told me I'd be a rabid Roughrider fan back then I'd probably have laughed at you. Football was the farthest thing from my mind back then and even if I'd have wanted to watch most of the games were blacked out.

And I don't mean the power was off.

Rod Pederson was ending his tenure as voice of the Prince Albert Raiders.

Things were awfully different in 1995.

The Riders played on Taylor Field.

The guys who are on the banners now, played for the team then.

The coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders was Ray Jauch while the GM was Al Ford. Ray Jauch was only the coach for that year. I suspect it was because the Riders failed to make the playoffs.....again.

Next year country. That's the way it was.

There were lots of players on the '95 team who we now consider legends. I bet they didn't feel like legends when they went 0 – 4.

There were highlights of 1995. Gene Makowsky was drafted in the 2^nd round in 1995. This year, 2015, Geno-Mak is being inducted into the Hall of Fame on August 22^nd . What an amazing career and to think he had it all with our Riders. That is special and doesn't happen often.

Don Narcisse was MOP while Ray Elgaard was MOC.

Interestingly enough, Paul McCallum was the kicker in 1995 and he's “forgotten all that crap” and returned this year. Thank goodness because we needed him.

So maybe you're wondering, what happened to the Roughriders back then?

What happened in week five?

I'm not sure you really want to know.

They lost.

They lost 36-15 to the San Antonio Texans.

Since 1995, we've developed a new Roughrider fan culture. We buy merchandise and we go out in droves to grocery stores to meet players and buy anything with a wheat sheaf emblem on it. We've created something that no other fan base has but they all admire. We are in touch and connected and we care about winning more than any group of people could.

On Sunday at 5pm I will be in my section 14 seat ready to cheer on my Riders as Kent Austin brings his TiCats in to Mosaic Stadium for only the second time since they were defeated in the 2013 Grey Cup.

Let's make another magical memory.

"Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast"

Learning to Win

I've had piano students, who are good students but there is a potential there that can't be heard or seen and yet it is felt. I've pushed and motivated and used incentives to try to get them to that next level.

Winning.

It can be frustrating on both sides. The student feels that they are doing the work. Things just seem to not go their way in festivals or exams but you both keep plugging along learning, developing and hoping.

The preparation is there. The talent is there. And then suddenly.....

.....K A - B L A M – O.....

It all comes together and they break through the barrier like John Chick breaking off the edge for a huge sack.

They've learned how to lose and then they learn how to win.

Our Roughriders are having similar struggles. Coach Chamblin says they just have to correct some things and the team will start winning. I believe it because I can also feel it. I've been Piano Coach and know sometimes it comes down to one correctable issue and then everything clicks. Unfortunately, in music lessons this could take months or seasons and in football we aren't afforded that time and finicky fans want results now.

I'm not sure what the football pundits want to see besides a win like the rest of Rider Nation. The Riders have come close to winning all three games so far. They have been the highest scoring offence in the CFL. The games have been exciting except for the flags that litter every game this season. That “W” is just within reach.

So instead of trying to be rational like the majority of Rider fans and completely over reacting, they need to blame someone because isn't that the way of society lately? Blame someone else. It's Coach Chamblin's fault apparently.

~ shakes head ~

The Saskatchewan Roughriders win as a team and lose as team and that includes all coaches. What happens in the locker room is a bonded brotherhood that none of us on the outside could possibly understand.....and it transcends seasons and years. 
 

YOU should be fired.

Could you imagine?

Don't we all screw up from time to time?

Heck, I broke a piano once and even though we laugh about it now.....it was darn scary at the time, but I retained my job!

The fact is, the three-and-one play in the Lions/Riders game came down to the officiating issue that no measurement was taken and due to the new rules a coach cannot ask for a measurement. What do you do armchair coaches? You are on the sideline and you don't know how far it is to get the down. Do you gamble? Do you kick the field goal? The safe answer, and in my opinion the correct answer, and what Coach Chamblin elected to do is kick the field goal in over time. You have to take the points. If you gamble and don't get it the other team wins anyway.

Maybe you're thinking but it shouldn't have come down to that. I remarked that the last plays reminded me of the similar breakdown of plays in the 09 Grey Cup.

Yeah, I said it.

It was THAT close. The momentum was on the Lions side. The officiating? Well you decide. Sometimes the learning moments come in the losing.

We lost heartbreakingly in 2009. We lost again in 2010. But then we learned how to win in 2013.

Remember those down times. We are on the brink of greatness.

Stay patient.

Stay loyal.

I support Coach Chamblin.

I know he can do it in the same way I knew my piano student would break through this year.

She won this year.