Here we go RIDERS, here we go!!

*WoOt* *wOoT*

That’s right. A double woot.

Today the Saskatchewan Roughriders will atone for their 13th man debacle from 2009. You see, the Riders have a distinct advantage at their home stadium (and some away stadiums) whereby the crowd becomes an extension of the team. In Mercan rules football, you would call it the 12th man, as up here, North of the medicine line, we have 12 players on the field of play for each side, not 11.

So last year, the Grey Cup game was hosted in Calgary, and for all intents and purposes, when the Riders are here, it is a home game. Hence, we had the advantage of the thirteenth man. (the crowd noise is the 13th man. please keep up).

Ok, the short story is. Montreal had a 50 yard FG attempt for the win. They missed. It appeared that the Riders had won. But wait. Penalty flags… What for? Um to many men on the field. There was an effing 13th man on the field. Yep, you heard me right. 13th man on the field, when there is only supposed to be 12. Ya-huh. Ok. Dang. Move the idiot kicker 10 yards closer and give him another chance. Yeah, he made it. we lost.

We have been dealing with the 13th man jokes for a year now.

Guess what. Riders are back in the final again. Also, Montreal is back too!

Redemption will be ours.

AND I was at the game last week, whereby the aforementioned Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the hometown Calgary Stampeders. Heck of a game. Here is what it looked like to me.

Wow… McMahon Stadium looks CooooLD!

 

If the Riders weren’t in the game, I figure there may have been 20,000 people show up. WITH the Riders in the game, 33,000.

Almost there…

People still tailgate, even in this weather. There was a really funny smell coming from this group…

Just makes you want to book your next Caribbean vacation, doesn’t it?

 

Almost into the warm stadium. Not.

 

We made it to our seats. Dad had a large furry Muskrat die on his head on the way into the game. He said it was warmer than the hat he brought, so he left it there. Look! Ryders Eyewear, at the Riders game! Shaaa- ZAM!

Most of the Linemen were bare armed. There were a few times when the officials were looking at challenged plays that took 8-10 minutes. Those guys must have been ffffff freezing… gawd. This shot is just prior to kickoff.

This guy, James, was happy at the beginning of the game as the Stamps (red) went up 11-0 early on. Spoiler alert: he left sad. boo hoo.

 

I was hungry, so I buggered off down there (photo) to buy a couple burgers. While I was waiting in line, the Riders scored 2 touchdowns in the last couple minutes of the half to take the lead. Yeah! Then I tried to put some mustard on my hamburger, but the packet was frozen. It was the first time I put a mustardcicle on a burger. The Burger was pretty gross and it gave me Food Poisoning the next day. Remember way back when, like a week ago when I had Food poisoning for the first time ever? Yep, again. Dang. It was another tough day… oh well, it’s been a week now and I am finally able to eat a full meal again without feeling ill. sah-weet.

 

So. As I was heading back up to our seats, I thought this was a pretty cool spot to take  a photo. The home team wears red uniforms. This is what I mean by the 13th man, all that GREEN at an AWAY Game! YEah!. Rider Nation is EVERYWHERE! However, as I was taking this picture, a dude totally wiped out down the stairs.

I casually flipped the little green camera over to record video. Here is the result… Fun stuff indeed. Not too many people were injured in the making of this video.

Even at halftime, people went back out to do some more tailgating! wow!

Here is Dad, looking impressed.

The Game itself was really good. For being so incredibly cold out, there were some pretty amazing passing plays, and not too many turnovers!

It got cold enough in the third hour to have to pull out the Balaclava. Dad had one too. This thing was a life saver.

This video pretty much tells the WHOLE story in 36 seconds! The Riders got a first down and can now run the clock out! *WoOt*

I just thought these two pictures captured the feel of just how cold it was…

And now, as a treat to you, for reading all the way to the bottom of this post, here is a little instructional video of how to dress for a Football Game in Canada in November. Dad and I both were VERY well prepared after watching this video, and we both really enjoyed ourselves! I don’t know who the model is in this video. Never seen him before. Just a random video I found.

Now don’t say I never gave you anything, dear readers.

The Riders will play for the Grey Cup today at 2pm EST. Wish us luck! Oh, and if you have to ask about anything Canadian Football wise, just wiki the Canadian Football League for all the answers. The bottom line is, the game is very entertaining on both sides of the border…