Last call for Rider Nation at Taylor Field

Final Roughriders game a surreal thought for storied stadium

All smiles after a Riders win at 2009 Labour Day Classic at Taylor Field.

    My mind is working overtime thinking about what this drive will be like.

    When I leave Saskatoon early Saturday morning for Regina, I will be heading to the Saskatchewan Roughriders final home game at Taylor Field/Mosaic Stadium, which will be the team’s 611^th contest at that facility. They face the B.C. Lions at 5 p.m. local time. It is definitely a day I never imagined happening.

    For generations, many residents from Saskatoon and from all corners of the province of Saskatchewan have made the jaunt to the provincial capital to support the “Green and White.” During that drive on Saturday, I know my mind will be jumping through all sorts of memories.

    As far as football stadiums in Canada go, Taylor Field holds an esteem similar to that of Lambeau Field in the United States, which is home to the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Over the last decade, it has been common for fans of other CFL clubs to make the journey to see one game at Taylor Field in order to experience the passion of Rider Nation in person.

Rider Nation enjoys a pre-game practice field party before a 2006 game.

    When I first stepped into Taylor Field, I didn’t know how much I would take that place to my heart.

    A year after moving to Regina, I attended my first Roughriders game on July 26, 1996. The hosts were taking on the powerful Toronto Argonauts led by arguably the CFL’s all-time greatest player in Doug Flutie.

    The Argos jumped out to a 34-14 lead at halftime and cruised to a 40-16 victory. The Riders were so bad that game it almost hit a comic level. As those that follow the team know, the Riders have had many hapless down stretches.

    A crowd of 24,902 turned out and filled most of the facility that sat 27,732 at that time. There were those that left early in the fourth quarter, but most of the spectators stayed to the end.

    I was impressed. Out of the 20 years I had been alive to that point in time, I had lived a total of 16 years in Winnipeg. Football was the sport I loved the most, and I discovered it watching the Cal Murphy era Winnipeg Blue Bombers win Grey Cups in 1984, 1988 and 1990. I went to many games at old Winnipeg Stadium to see the Bombers play.

    The Bombers were so successful that fan expectations in Winnipeg hit the point that a season that didn’t finish with a Grey Cup win was deemed a failure even in 14-4 and 13-5 campaigns.

Fans get pumped up at the 2010 Labour Day Classic at Taylor Field.

    Watching the Roughriders fall to the Argonauts that warm summer night in July of 1996, I almost couldn’t imagine them ever winning the Grey Cup. That game was also the first time I went to a sporting event where the fans had a good time despite the fact their team was hammered on the scoreboard.

    I was also just weeks removed from getting dumped by my long time high school sweetheart girlfriend from Winnipeg. For me, stepping foot onto Taylor Field was a move towards becoming more of the community of Regina and Saskatchewan. While I was born in Winnipeg, my family came from Saskatchewan, so this was a return to the roots.

    My late father’s heart was with the Riders, and I remember him talking about what it was like to go to the deciding game of the 1970 West Final series, where a 14-2 Roughriders team dropped a 15-14 heartbreaker to the Calgary Stampeders at a frigid Taylor Field and fell in a best-of-three set 2-1. The cold heartbreak was pretty large that day.

Fans are all set in legendary Section 28 for a 2007 game at Taylor Field.

    Due to the family ties to Saskatchewan, the Roughriders were always a second favourite team, but they were going to be elevated to a favourite spot.

    After making my first game at Taylor Field, I began meeting players and coaches from the team due to the fact it was easy to interact with them in the Saskatchewan capital. I started to make regular appearances at Taylor Field to support the people I was getting to know.

    I remember hanging around with members of the University of Regina Cougars men’s basketball team in the fall of 1998 talking about how we hoped the Riders would go on a big winning streak to save the job of then head coach Jim Daley. Daley’s wife, Diane Hilko, was a gifted assistant coach with the Cougars women’s basketball team, and the Roughriders bench boss frequently appeared on campus.

    Soon, friends from the University of Regina Rams football team were suiting up for the Roughriders. The link really got solidified as soon as I moved to Medicine Hat for a 10-year stay starting in September of 2004.

The Riders Pep Band performs before a game at Taylor Field this year.

    When you left Saskatchewan, your identity was highly linked to the Roughriders, and the passion took another step. I would be part of the mass group of Roughriders supporters that made a few of the team’s road games in Calgary causing those matches to be dubbed the “Christmas Tree” games due to the mix of red and green colours in the stands.

    When Roy Shivers became the Roughriders general manager in 2000, the brain trust of the team worked to strengthen its links with former Saskatchewan residents that lived across Canada. When the team began to have a resurgence in the early 2000s, the Roughriders were boldly marketed as “Canada’s Team,” which is something that sticks to this day long after Shivers tenure with the squad ended.

    While living in Alberta, the best games were still the ventures back to Regina for visits to Taylor Field. It always felt like a homecoming.

    The anticipation was always there for the tailgating that went on in various parking lots near the facility and getting to the practice field for pre-game festivities. When the game ended, parties often went long into the night along the nightclub strip on Dewdney Avenue and the early hours the morning.

Darian Durant runs for an OT winning TD against the Eskimos this year.

    Soon, the Roughriders hit new heights with the dawning of the Darian Durant era at quarterback. He joined the team in 2006, was a backup on the 2007 Grey Cup winner, became the undisputed starter in 2009, guided the team to Grey Cup appearances in 2009 and 2010 and led a magical home Grey Cup win in 2013 with a 45-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

    I was at that home Grey Cup win, and that is still my best memory of being at Taylor Field. I wished that night would never end.

    Durant also became my all-time favourite CFL quarterback, and it has been fun watching him lead the Roughriders to many victories. One of the most scrutinized positions in Canadian sport is being the Roughriders starting quarterback. I could see a large number of CFL great signal callers failing in that role.

    Durant has taken ownership of that position, and you can tell being the Roughriders starting quarterback is important to him.

Gainer the Gopher makes his rounds at Taylor Field after a Roughriders TD.

    All of these thoughts cross the mind as the final Roughriders game at Taylor Field approaches. The Rams will actually close out the facility as they have the potential of hosting three U Sports playoff games there next month.

    However, Taylor Field’s identity will always be first linked with the Roughriders and Rider Nation. Since moving back to Saskatchewan in late July 2014 and settling in Saskatoon, I have tried to make as many Roughriders games as possible. This last CFL game at the storied park will be an emotional one, and the day and night will no doubt speed by way faster than you would like.

    The goal is to soak in the one last memory that will be made.

    If you have any comments about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Rumblings are a plenty for Roughriders

Darian Durant is attended to by the Roughriders training staff on June 27.

    If you live in Saskatchewan, you know you can talk about the CFL’s Roughriders at any time, all the time and get heated dissecting every facet of the team.

    Since taking the field and falling in their regular season opener 30-26 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on June 27 at Mosaic Stadium, there is no shortage of things to discuss surrounding the green and white in Rider Nation. Everything is not all good, but everything is not all bad.

    • The worst news revolves around starting quarterback Darian Durant, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon shortly before halftime in the season opener. Durant completed 13 of 18 passes for 165 yards, two touchdown passes and no interceptions before being carted off the field.

    Durant tore a tendon in his right elbow last season in a 30-24 win over the Blue Bombers on Sept. 7, 2014 in Winnipeg. That injury occurred when the officials didn’t blow a play dead at the snap with certainty in a loud Investors Group Field, which saw half the players stop and half continue on the play. Bombers defensive end Bryant Turner continued with the play and nailed Durant to cause the injury.

    The elbow injury was created by an unfortunate set of circumstances. The ruptured Achilles occurred due to bad luck. Durant dropped to the turf after following through on a pass, and he wasn’t even contacted on the play.

    The 32-year-old has already cemented his place as a Roughriders legend leading the team to a Grey Cup championship at home in 2013 and Grey Cup appearances as a starter in 2009 and 2010. He was also part of the Roughriders 2007 Grey Cup championship team as a third stringer.

    For anyone that has dealt with Durant for a number of years, you know he legitimately cares and enjoys being the starting quarterback of the Roughriders, and he has excelled in that role. That hasn’t always been the case for a club that endures arguably more scrutiny from its fan base than any other sports team outside of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

    Here is hoping Durant’s luck changes on the injury front in 2016.

   
    • The Roughriders need to play tougher and more aggressive defence going forward in 2015, if they want to have any shot of challenging for the Grey Cup. Against the Bombers, the Roughriders defence gave up 28 first towns, 325 yards passing, 145 yards rushing and failed to force a turnover. Winnipeg running back Paris Cotton had 108 yards on the ground on just 13 carries.

    The Roughriders defence missed numerous tackles and was non-existent. The fact the Bombers were able to drive the ball at will was also disheartening. Safety Tyron Brackenridge is expected to return to the Roughriders defence for Sunday’s game against the 1-0 Toronto Argonauts (1:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium), so that should help Saskatchewan’s defensive unit.

    • Offence wasn’t a problem for the Roughriders in their season opener. Under Durant or backup

Kevin Glenn (#5) calls out signals for the Roughriders.

Kevin Glenn, the offence looked good. The Roughriders put up 285 yards through the air and 212 yards on the ground without injured star receiver Weston Dressler, who is expect to return on Sunday.

    Glenn has put up Hall-of-Fame numbers in his 14 seasons in the CFL. With a full week of practice with the first-team offence, expect Glenn to be that much more efficient going forward.

    Life is also coming full circle with Glenn, who started his CFL career with the Roughriders before moving on to play with Winnipeg, Calgary, Hamilton and British Columbia. The 2003 West Final looked at one time to be Glenn’s last with the Roughriders. As a backup, he entered the contest with the Riders trailing the host Edmonton Eskimos 23-2 for an ineffective Nealon Greene.

    Glenn gave the Roughriders a chance to in that contest, who eventually fell 30-23. During that offseason, the Roughriders brass of general manager Roy Shivers and head coach Danny Barrett backed Greene, who had been erratic his whole Roughriders tenure, as the starter going into 2004.

    That decision led to Glenn’s departure from Rider Nation, as many felt he should have been elevated or given the chance to compete for starter status. Glenn resurfaced in 2004 with the Bombers after a couple of transactions.

    Now a cagey veteran, Glenn will have his chance to lead the Riders as the starter.

    • Kicker Paul McCallum also had a back to the future moment, when he resurfaced with the Roughriders this week. The 45-year-old last played for the Roughriders in 2005 before moving on to excel with the B.C. Lions.

    McCallum’s name was linked with one of the most infamous moments in the Riders’ history. After he missed a chip shot field goal in overtime of the 2004 West Final helping the host B.C. Lions pull out a 27-25 win, his home was vandalized, he was threatened and manure was dumped on his neighbour’s property.

    McCallum was brought back to add more consistency with the kicking game, which wasn’t there with Chris Milo. Milo, who is well-liked by the Roughriders organization, struggled last season hitting 71.4 per cent of his field goals, and he often hit the post. He was 1-for-2 in the team’s regular season opener, but it is obvious the Saskatchewan coaches still have big concerns.

    Since 2009, McCallum hasn’t had a campaign where he has made less than 84.6 per cent of his kicks. Last season, he made 38-of-42 field goals for a 90.5 per cent success rate.

Any one that has followed football for any length of time knows an accurate place kicker will always find work and age won’t be a barrier.

    Over the long term, the Roughriders would love for Milo to regain his form from 2013, when he made 46-of-52 field goals for an 88.5 per cent success rate.

    • As the Roughriders go forward, the coaches also have to step up their game.

Since becoming the Roughriders head coach in 2011, Corey Chamblin has done an excellent job overall. With that said, the coaches always have to get better too. Chamblin preaches that to his players and that also has to stick to himself and his staff.

    In the opener with the Roughriders down 30-26, they faced a third and three from midfield with under three minutes to play. Chamblin went with conventional wisdom, and the Roughriders punted hoping to get a defensive stop and one last possession.

    Coaches are responsible for putting their players in the best positions to win the game, and this looked like a smart move. Unfortunately, Chamblin didn’t do a good job in reading the flow of the play.

    The offensives on both sides were running the show. At that time in place, the Roughriders needed to get the go-ahead score, as time was running out.

    Chamblin needed to mirror Bill Belichick, who is the head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots, and gamble at this point in time. With the way the Bombers were moving the ball, the chances were high the Roughriders would not get another possession, and Winnipeg did indeed ground out the clock.

    A good head coach knows that each game contains its own story and makes the best decisions to try and win with what is occurring. He can’t worry about making a decision to slight one side of the ball or the other, and he is able to get that message across to his players no matter what the outcome.

    Belichick always has the message that he always expects to make it when he gambles. Chamblin can say the same thing, if the gamble doesn’t work.

    At some point in time, the game hits a critical juncture, where you have to go for it. Chamblin needed to gamble on that third and three.

    • Penalties. As far as penalties go, the officials should go back to calling things the way they did in 2013. The tweaks that have been made to calling penalties in 2014 and this season have helped grind the CFL game down. The way calls have been made in 2015 really hasn’t led to more scoring in the early going outside of the Hamilton Tigers-Cats bombing the Blue Bombers 52-26 on Thursday night in Winnipeg.

    The only other squad to score 30 or more points was when the Bombers beat the Roughriders on June 27 at Mosaic. Offence wasn’t really broke in 2013 and didn’t really need fixing.

    If you have any feedback about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.