Sport - Football
Event - Grey Cup Game - Sunday November 25, 2007 (Annual Championship game for Canadian Football)
Issue
The game is being played in Toronto this year. It features the Winnipeg Blue Bombers against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The winner will be the 2007 champion of Canadian football.
Saskatchewan is favoured not just by the odds makers, but by the sport fans as well.
Point to say - "Who you rooting for?" or "Do you think Saskatchewan will win?"
Follow up point - "It's wild; Saskatchewan has only won this thing only twice (in their entire 97 year history)!" - you add the part in parathesis if you feel brave enough.
Backgrounder
The appearance of the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the Grey Cup is rare indeed. They've made it the finals only four times since 1976. But when they make it, it is much welcomed. This team is the league's heart-and-soul franchise. They are community owned. They play out of the smallest CFL city. There is nothing big-city about this team, its fans or its style.
Stephen Brunt, a columnist for the Globe and Mail, sums it up:
For the 'Riders, for their fans in the province, and for the great green diaspora (Saskatchewanians in exile run head-to-head with displaced Newfoundlanders in this country, and both places belong in any discussion of distinct societies), the relationship remains intact, remains as real as any in sport, anywhere.
To be in the company of 'Rider fans is to be reminded why you ever gave a damn about a team, about a player, about a uniform, in the first place. Not sports marketing or game presentation or brand loyalty, but our guys versus their guys, joy and agony experienced in the company of those who share a place, a background, and a passion.
Links
Canadians still care about their game vs the American game.
Stephen Brunt's column.
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