Renew or Not to Renew

There was a gasp around the room.

I looked around to see shocked faces.

I had just told everyone that I had decided to not renew my roughriders season tickets. It's true and it was not a decision I took lightly. We had until February to make a firm decision and while l absolutely loved attending games at the beautiful Mosaic Stadium we ultimately decided this was the best scenario for me and my husband.

Yes it makes makes me sad.

Why Sandra why? I want to say first and foremost that covid and the whole pandemic actually had little to do with it. We had attended most home games last season and felt it was important to support our riders during that time. We really enjoyed our seats in the stadium and the fans around us were fantastic. Last season I never felt unsafe being in a crowd and the product in spite of the whole situation was good. What I did feel was the digital tickets are a pain but then add in having to show my identification and vaccine status as well at the time just added to extra stress that l just did not want to deal with. I know that all restrictions are now lifted so it isn't exactly the same, but it definitely was a factor in us wanting to travel to games.

At the time and because I could not attend the late season games in 2021 I evoked the Covid promise the Roughriders had for season ticket holders.  I cancelled the remainder of the season and got a refund while preserving our seats.  With the money we got back, we bought a tread mill.

Remember when gas was 40 cents a litre in the summer of 2020? Good grief. Now we are looking at $1.78 and that might not be so bad for a couple like us but when you are looking at driving from Saskatoon to Regina several weekends in a row you start questioning whether it’s worth it. There are options I suppose to car pool or the Rider bus which goes to games but it’s nice to be your own chauffeur and go on your own timeline.  Is the price of gas going to interfere with your travel plans in 2022?  How will this impact those traveling from destinations farther than Saskatoon?  All good questions I think.

I'm not going to lie that attending an entire season of CFL home games is a big commitment.  When you don't live in the host city as I've stated above there's lot's of time involved in getting there.  For us, it's an entire day.  Many fans don't live in Regina and Rider fans are known for travelling far and wide to attend games.  You work Monday to Friday (if you're lucky) and then spend a whole day getting to the game and getting back home.  Just like that the weekend is shot.  Some games, especially those 8pm starts means us diehard fans get home at 2 or 3am.  That meant, for us anyway, that most of the next day is exhausting.  It's something that the Covid shutdown of 2020 taught me, my time is more valuable than I used to think it was.  Yes, being at a home game at Mosaic Stadium is amazing and nothing beats Bring Em Out but there's something to be said for staying home and watching on tv and preserving the rest of the day.  When you combine several weekends in a row all summer/fall long it's something I am no longer prepared to do.

In the provincial budget it was also announced that sporting and entertainment events would now be included in the 6% PST.  This doesn't come in until October 2022 so if you've already paid for your Roughrider season tickets it won't have any impact on you this year.  It will going forward though.  Perhaps now is the time to lock in your tickets for the 3 year VIP offer the Riders have and you'd likely want to get the balance paid now too.  Will this affect attendance in the future?  We will have to wait and see.

None of this means I am not a fan.  In fact, I think this decision allows me to be a better fan and better at keeping all my pages up to date like I used to.  Work, travel, games, blogging, etc etc is hard to keep up with when you're never home to actually write anything down!  I've found that when I had the pressure to "I need to write about Saturdays game" it was really REALLY hard to find the inspiration to do it and hence we've had such a long long break where I haven't shared anything.  It's a part of something I've really missed.

So after we considered all the different aspects and pros/cons of Roughrider CFL season tickets I responded to the January 25th email which stated the deadline to renew season tickets for the early bird pricing was February 1st.  

"Hi.  I hate having to make the decision because I've really loved having season tickets and have enjoyed the entire experience however, I will not be renewing my season tickets."

I received this great response.

So there it is.  Decision final.

Now, when does Training Camp start?  Will it be in Saskatoon again?  Us Rider fans are waiting patiently.

Spilling The Tea

So I was sitting here dreaming of the summer days and sipping on a tumbler of Watermelon Oolong iced tea when it hit me.

Not the watermelon of course because for one they are rather elusive in Saskatchewan in January.  No what hit me was that one of the major things I changed in my life during this pandemic was drinking tea. 

𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑔. 

Er, yes I know, but if we don’t have a bit of fun in our lives then what’s the point. 

So as a Saskatchewan Roughriders fan it’s only fitting that I enjoy Watermelon tea, but gosh, what flavours would or should fans of other teams enjoy?

Well you’re in luck because I’m going to tell you. 

Remember when the BC Lions donned the orange and white uniforms? I called them the Creamsicles. I’m not sure if other people did but I did on several occasions. The Dollar Tea Club has a Creamsicle flavoured tea. How do they do it I don’t know but when steeped and then poured over ice…yum yum. No need to run down the street after the ice cream truck. 

What is the Montreal region known for? Well smoked meat sandwiches of course.  As far as I know there aren’t any smoked beefy teas and if there were I don’t think they’d be very popular.  What do we do? Drink a cup of broth? No no no.  What other items smoke or maybe toast? Marshmallows do! David’s Tea has a wonderful Toasted Marshmallow tea which is reminiscent of sitting around a summer campfire holding your marshmallow on a stick trying to get just the perfect brown colour without it catching fire and falling off.

Here are a few other suggestions for CFL related team tea drinks…

Toronto Argonauts Frosty from Bird and Blend. Sadly this tea is seasonal so it’s not available right now but it does boast a beautiful blue hue when steeped.

For the Hamilton Tiger Cats I did consider a liquorice tea since that’s the flavour of tiger tiger ice cream but then I stumbled across this flavour and well…it’s only right to honour Tim Horton’s in some way.  Donut Herbal tea from Tea at the White House

Ottawa Maple Chai Sticky Buns from Desserts by Deb This flavour is also sold out but Desserts By Deb has so many mouth watering flavours that I’m sure when she’s back from holidays the store will be stocked with something every beaver tail craving would adore  

Winnipeg Blue Bombers should no doubt be Blueberry Pancakes from David’s Tea.  This tea is fantastic.  It doesn’t really steep up blue but the flavour is insanely good…just like that Bomber defence.  Let’s just hope with their recent signings they don’t leave too many Quarterbacks pancaked on the ground.

Calgary Stampeders could be several flavours including Smores Chai but I’ve gone with a Valentine favourite Red Red Velvet Cake from David’s Tea.  It is a black tea with red and white sprinkles.

Edmonton Elks was a no brainer. Prancers Punch from David’s Tea fit the bill but don’t waste time trying this one out. It’s also from the Christmas collection of flavours and will soon be gone.

Have any suggestions for me? I know most fans probably enjoy other drinks but having tea for me is a source of relaxation in these strange times.  It was fun putting this together and thinking about which team suited which flavours.  Hope you enjoyed it too!