Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
Well, it’s finally here.
For many of us in the Rider Nation, Labour Day weekend is the most exciting day on the calendar annually. I’ve long said it’s like a mini-Grey Cup weekend, but I’m starting to think it’s even better because we’re assured the Roughriders will be in it every year!
This year’s Classic, the 43rd edition if I’m not mistaken, threatened to hit an all-time high for excitement with the news the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were negotiating with former NFL bad boy Adam “Pacman” Jones and planned to have him in the lineup for Sunday’s game. Alas, the Bombers gave up their pursuit of Jones on Wednesday evening and issued an apology for the circus the situation had become.
Still, it won’t take away from the hoopla surrounding this weekend.
Even in the lean years for this franchise, the Labour Day Classic was the one game on the schedule you could trust would always be sold out. The 2009 Classic sold out this past June, before tickets were even printed for the clash!
Many of the fans in the stands will be out-of-towners, or Saskatchewan expatriates who come home for the weekend making it a massive Saskatchewan homecoming weekend.
Of course, we’re infiltrated by thousands of Blue Bomber fans as well who habitually make the six hour trek east for the showdown. That’s what makes the weekend so great; fans from both teams begin spilling into the city on the Friday afternoon and don’t stop partying until they awake Monday morning for the drive home.
I can see it now; visions of fans clad in blue or green hanging out of cars in downtown Regina, honking their horns and waving their team’s flag out the window. The hotels, restaurants and bars are bursting at the seams all weekend long as we celebrate this Canadian game with the annual clash between the CFL’s prairie rivals.
I often get asked ‘What is my favourite Labour Day Classic’. Well, my first one as Voice of the Riders in 1999 stands out as the Riders knocked off the Bombers but receiver Curtis “Cadillac” Mayfield set a franchise record returning two punts for touchdowns in the games. Sadly enough, it would be the last game the Riders won that season as they stumbled to a 3-15 record.
Who can forget the 2002 Labour Day clash? Rookie Rider quarterback Rocky Butler was pressed into service because of injuries to the Riders’ top two quarterbacks. Butler astonished the Bomber defence by rushing for three touchdowns in an improbable Rider victory.
The 2007 Grey Cup championship season provided some chills on September long weekend as well when Rider quarterback Kerry Joseph sprinted 27 yards to the endzone in the dying seconds for an eventual 27-24 victory over the Winnipeggers.
Even without Pacman Jones, this year’s Labour Day confrontation promises to be just as good as all the others. Rider quarterback Darian Durant will make his first career Labour Day start and said this week the game can’t come soon enough. He feels he’s been steadily progressing in his first true season as the starter here and after two weeks off since their last game, he’s excited to get out there and shoot out the lights.
Oh yah, what about the records?! You can generally throw them out the window when these rivals get together because it’s a huge game in the standings for both contestants. The Riders find themselves in a second-place tie with Calgary at 4-4, just one win behind first-place Edmonton and one win up on fourth-place B.C.
The Bombers are 3-5 and while they were written off early, they pasted the Lions 37-10 in their final game before the bye and new quarterback Michael Bishop is 2-1 since arriving in the Manitoba capital. A win would pull the Bombers even with Hamilton for second place in the East, and pad their lead over last-place Toronto.
The return of Michael Bishop to Regina provides some intrigue as well. Bishop provided us with countless thrills and spills over the final 11 games of the 2008 campaign but was cut loose two days after the West Semifinal against B.C. where he was responsible for three turnovers in the opening quarter of the game. There’s little doubt he left on somewhat bad terms and you’ve got to know he has revenge on his mind.
It’s reasonable to ask who has the edge in this game; Bishop or the Rider defense. Bishop feels he knows the Riders’ tendencies on defense but their strategy has been overhauled since new coordinator Gary Etcheverry took over. On the other hand, not much has changed with Bishop. Rider coach Ken Miller called the Bomber quarterback “consistently inconsistent” this week and I suspect the Riders know what buttons to push in order to rattle him.
If you want to get into the nuts and bolts of it, Winnipeg coach Mike Kelly is getting plaudits around the league for “re-revolutionizing” the Canadian game by employing two backs with success and star tailback Fred Reid is coming off a game where he set a Bomber record for rushing yards. The Riders will be keying on him and it begs the question, can Bishop beat the Riders through the air alone?
As always, time will tell.
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