On This Day In Roughrider History: Cheaters Always Prosper

The playoffs are just around the corner, so for today’s installment of “On This Day In Roughrider History” I though I would take a look back at some Roughrider playoff history.

Cheating is generally something we would expect from the likes of the BC Lions, Chinese gymnastics teams, French judges or a wife who is a dirty, dirty tramp. While the Riders were never as blatant cheaters as the others, they too have on occasion shall we say done things that may not be entirely on the level to win football games.

On this date back in 1956 the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the West-Semi final over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers because an astute Rider waterboy found Winnipeg’s playbook before the game and gave it to coach Frank Filchock.

Now there are 3 lessons to be learned from this piece of Rider lore. The first is that good things happen to those who cheat (write that down kids). The second is that people from Winnipeg are stupid. The third is that, much like movies have taught us, given the chance, a waterboy can single-handedly lead a football team to victory.

On This Day In Roughrider History: Gross Miscalculation

Not all noteworthy events in our illustrious team history have occurred on the field. For today’s installment of On This Day In Roughrider History we will remember one of the many off-field occurrences that are part of Saskatchewan Roughrider lore. While the subject of today’s post was neither a big event, nor anything overly significant in the grand scheme of things, I sill feel as though it deserves mention.

I’ll take you back in time one year to 2008. Riderville was still basking in the glory of being Grey Cup Champions. Merchandise was flying off the shelves at a record pace and fans were clamouring to snatch up as much Grey Cup memorabilia as they could… mainly because they knew that Grey Cup wins only come around roughly every 2nd decade.

The Riders, being the generous citizens in our community that they have been for years, decided to use this massive demand for memorabilia to benefit local charities. They began auctioning off autographed game worn memorabilia with the profits of the auctions going to charity.

It was on this day one year ago today that one of those many auctions closed… and the winning bidder got the honour of purchasing James Johnson’s game worn helmet for the low price of $2820.

This is possibly the biggest overpayment since Hamilton signed Casey Printers. Obviously the buyer was not very market savvy. I mean its common knowledge that a new football helmet will cost you between $100-200. Now having that helmet signed by a famous athlete will greatly increase its value. However, having it signed by James Johnson will actually devalue it roughly 50%. Furthermore you have to factor in that at the time of the auction James Johnson was at the apex of his career and has since plummeted like my pension fund. Today, that helmet would likely only be worth, at most, a 4th round draft pick. Which, interestingly enough, is more than James Johnson himself went for.

The buyer was no doubt hoping that this piece of memorabilia would be worth many more thousands once James Johnson established himself as the greatest defensive force of our generation… Unfortunately for the buyer, the only thing Johnson established himself as was the least talented player to ever be named Grey Cup MVP. At least he can take solace in the fact that his misguided overspending greatly benefited a local charity. I mean he would have been better off just donating the money directly and getting a tax receipt but that’s beside the point.


Misguided love for crappy players… an unfortunate part of our Roughrider heritage.

On This Day In Roughrider History: Opening Old Wounds

Well what was supposed to be a regular feature on the blog makes its glorious return after an 8 month hiatus. What’s that? You didn’t even notice it was gone? I don’t blame you, because the reason for the extended hiatus was that I also forgot about it.

Anywho…
Today marks an important anniversary in Rider history. It was 1 year ago today that the Riders sent shockwaves through the CFL and brought Rider fans to a near riot by trading reigning MOP Kerry Joseph to Toronto. The deal included a 3rd round pick in 2010 and in return we received Glenn January, Ron Flemons (who we ended up trading back for TJ Acree), 1st round pick 2008 (drafted Keith Shologan) and a 2nd round pick in 2010.

At the time, I was just thrilled to find out we wouldn't be getting Michael Bishop in exchange. Five months later Bishop did land in Regina, and the next three months served as a harsh reminder of why I had been so ecstatic at the time.

A year later this move looks even better than when it went down. To summarize, in exchange for the reigning MOP we got the chance to cut a whiny receiver, to bench a linemen before he bolted via free agency, a 1st round pick who has yet to make an impact and an upgraded draft pick next year… that I’m pretty sure we already traded away.

Blood boiling yet?

I won’t get into why I still maintain this was a good move. By now you either like it or you don’t and there’s no changing your mind. So let's agree to respect each others views, no matter how wrong yours may be.

…

Highly controversial trades, a proud part of our Roughrider heritage (at least since Tillman took over).

On This Day In Roughrider History: What Happens In Vegas

Welcome back to our continuing series of notable moments in Roughrider history.

For today's installment we take you back to 1994. The CFL was in the midst of its US expansion. Four American teams competed that season including Sacramento, Shreveport, Baltimore and Las Vegas.

With the exception of Baltimore, successful was not a term often used to describe the American franchises. But the Las Vegas Posse were in a league all to their own when it came to failure. Losing record, poor attendance, poor facilities, you name it. To their credit, they do hold one CFL record to this day... the lowest recorded attendance in CFL history (to be fair, they were hosting the Blue Bombers that game so that may have been more to blame than anything the Posse did).

It was on this day back in 1994 though that one of the most infamous moments in the brief Posse history occurred. The Riders traveled to Las Vegas to play the Posse in their home opener. While the game itself was quite forgettable (mainly because we lost), what happened before the game was quite memorable. Given that it was the Posse's home opener, nerves ran high. Especially for a local lounge singer by the name of Dennis KC Parks, who was to sing the national anthems to open the game. Though he had never heard the Canadian anthem before, Parks remained confident, after all he was a seasoned lounge singer. What's the worst that could happen?



Honestly, I think the only way Parks could have embarrassed himself anymore is if he would have intermittently tossed in "Try the veal" and "I'll be here all week".

Being associated with embarrassing moments in football... a proud part of our Roughrider heritage.

On This Day In Roughrider History: One Hull Of A Fullback

Welcome to my second installment featuring notable moments in Roughrider history.

For today's history lesson we take you back to 1994... Ace of Base ruled the airwaves with their smash hit The Sign, the Dallas Cowboys had just handed the Buffalo Bills their 4th straight Super Bowl loss and children everywhere were playing Mortal Kombat on their Sega Genesis... ahh those were the days... now where was I? Oh right the Riders...

It was on this day 14 years ago when we signed a young Canadian fullback by the name of Bart Hull. That's right Bart Hull as in the son of NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Hull. Bart Hull as in the brother of the NHL's 3rd alltime leading goal scorer Brett Hull. Now if for some reason you aren't as familiar with Bart's career as his family's here's a quick history lesson...

Bart was a 1st round pick (4th overall) by the BC Lions in the '91 Canadian College Draft where he played until signing with the Riders. A recurring knee injury brought an early end to his career.

Can you imagine what it would have been like for poor Bart at Hull family get-togethers...

Mrs. Hull: So Bobby what's new?
Bobby: Well Mom, I was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
Mrs. Hull: Congratulations! And young Brett how about you?
Brett: I just became the 3rd alltime leading scorer in the NHL Grandma.
Mrs. Hull: Well isn't that nice. Bobby Jr.?
Bobby Jr.: My hockey team won the Memorial Cup.
Mrs. Hull: Good for you! And who could forget Bart...
Bart: I play fullback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Mrs. Hull: ... that's ... okay... I guess... so how many records do you hold?
Bart: None Grandma
Mrs. Hull: Win any championships?
Bart: No.
Mrs. Hull: (whispers to Bobby) Is he adopted?

So on this day we salute Bart Hull and all others who's highly successful family members make their life accomplishments look meager by comparison.

On This Day In Roughrider History

In my never ending quest to impart my vast array of Rider knowledge to you, the reader, I'm introducing a new feature to the blog that will focus on noteworthy events in Roughrider history.

Whether you know it or not today marks an important day in Roughrider history that we only get to mark once every 4 years...

It was on this day back in 1952 that Rider fans mourned the death of Ruffie the mascot goat. Ruffie died during measures to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease.

Tragic indeed. At least we can take solace in the fact that Ruffie's probably head-butting angels and eating discarded tin cans in that big football stadium in the sky.

So, on this Leap Year Day, we remember that brave little goat who went the way of other Rider icons such as The Flame as the victims of public safety concerns. Let's just hope Gainer doesn't meet an untimely fate as someone tries to get a quarter for his tail.

Mascots that have nothing to do with our team name, a proud part of our Roughrider heritage.