Kelly Bates
CFL.ca
Big Week… really big week out here on the coast!!! The game versus the Riders in itself makes this a huge week, but I also have a couple of other reasons to enjoy the immensity of this week (there are so many synonyms for the word big).
What makes this weekend a particularly gargantuan weekend for me personally are a couple of factors. This Saturday has been dubbed Super Football Saturday out here on the west coast. For the first time in the history of BC Place there will be a doubleheader played under the dome on the same day. The first game will see the Simon Fraser Clan face the heavily favoured University of Saskatchewan Huskies, or as it is affectionately known, The U.
The U is my alma mater. I lend a hand in coaching in the offseason back in Saskatoon. It will be great to watch these players in action. On top of this, almost the entire coaching staff of the current Huskies also coached me. They were instrumental in getting me to where I am today in the game of football. I will get to watch them coach and, in turn, I will be able to play in front of them once more, later that night as we take on the Riders.
This game is the start of a home and home series with the Riders. Quite literally these next two games will determine whether we will make a move towards first in the west or look to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004 without clinching first place. It is quite evident how this game alone makes this the biggest week of the year for our organization.
The second factor that makes this a ginormous (not a real word, but I like it) weekend for me is my father is making the trip out from the prairies to watch the game. This is not something that tends to occur all that often, so it adds to the overall importance of the weekend for me.
You see, my love of the game of football has its roots cemented in my father’s love of the game. Literally, from the second day of my life on I have been in awe of this game. Well not literally in awe… I was an infant and, therefore, understood very little at the time, but you get the jist of it. My father sat me in front of the Television in the hospital and we watched the Riders take on the Stamps. The Riders lost.
Over the years, my father and I have shared in the ups and downs of the Riders as big fans. My father even went so far as to buy a Rider share a few years ago in support of the team (is it possible to get a refund on something like that?). Well I have finally converted him to a full on Lions fan. All it took was me being drafted by the Lions.
This weekend when we both enjoy this game, me as a player and dad as a fan and part owner of the Riders via his one share, I hope we can again enjoy another Rider loss just as we did on the day I was introduced to this great game.
Kelly Bates has been a regular starter along the BC Lions’ offensive line since 2003. He was a 2007 CFL All-Star and played his 100th career game in Week 3.
