Special Report: Rider Road Games

Last week I said that my field reporter Dom would be filing a report from Calgary. Turns out this guy is harder to track down than good press on OJ. But unlike good press on OJ I did actually manage to find Dom. So with out further adieu, here's the debut report from Dominic Dufour, The Man in the Bush...
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Hello, this is Dominic coming to you from the road, where thousands of Rider fans felt as disgusted as me and went home disappointed after the second ugly loss in a week. I hit the road in support of the green and white for the games in both Winnipeg and Calgary, and after both I was left shaking my head wondering why exactly this team has forgotten how to cover the pass. Since most of you reading this were either at the game or watched it on tv, it’s pointless for me to comment on the team's struggles, plus I can leave that to the Rider Prophet. So instead, here are some thoughts from the road in what was a tough week being a Rider fan.

Memo to the fans in Winnipeg: where do you get off calling us from Saskatchewan rednecks, have you never been to Brandon? Now for the Banjo Bowl, the plan in Winnipeg was to create the same atmosphere as Labour Day in Regina, which failed miserably. If you're going to yell random gibberish, at least make it intelligent and have it make sense. "Riders Suck", yes at the time we were #1 in the league, and yet I was listening to many drunken fools yelling this as me and my party were leaving CanadInn’s stadium. I did not respond in kind since I did not want to stoop to the level of a Bomber fan, not to mention the fact that I was badly outnumbered. Now some Winnipeg fans tried to start fist fights with Rider fans who had made the trip, which came to me as no surprise because even though us Rider fans were outnumbered in bodies, in a battle of wits they stood no chance. So I left Winnipeg, and on the drive back home to Regina I tried finding some positives out of it all. Two thoughts came to mind. The first was how thankful I am I don’t live in Winnipeg. The second was the fact that I was going to Calgary on the weekend and certainly the Riders would be more motivated in front of what was basically a home crowd in cow town.

First off, a kudos is well deserved for all my fellow Rider fans that were at the airport Saturday morning at 5 a.m. The Riders truly do have the best fans in the league. The Riders vs. Calgary pre-game tailgate party in Calgary may be the most fun atmosphere before a game other than the Labour Day Classic in Regina, with the only real problem being that it eats up about 1/3 of the available parking around the stadium. Now, for those that haven’t been to McMahon, it’s a horseshoe and you can access your seat from any entrance, and might I add, one beautiful stadium. Especially when the Riders are playing, mostly because there’s more green than red. So with me and thousands of others looking on from one loud pro-rider section, the team once again played terribly. The Riders defense showed in body, but not in spirit, and for some reason which I’m not quite sure, forgot hot to tackle. The offence, well…yeah. So for the second week in a row, I had to listen to serenade of "hey, hey, hey, goodbye", and more chants of "Riders suck", and certain profanities I choose not to mention. Once again finding the silver lining in it all, I walk out of McMahon dignified, not answering any of the comments, and thinking to myself… 'oh, I’m sorry, you'll have to speak up - I can’t hear you all the way down in third place.'

Dominic Dufour - "Man In The Bush"