For Brett Lauther, it was a chip shot.
All he was asked to do, for the purposes of an uproariously funny video that the Saskatchewan Roughriders circulated earlier this week, was to punt a bag of Ruffles potato chips in the general direction of, well, me.
Sure enough, I had a chip on my shoulder.
The concept was to have some of the players — Lauther, quarterback Trevor Harris, receiver Mitch Picton and linebacker Derrick Moncrief — demonstrate that they were, as President-CEO Craig Reynolds put it, “in football mode.”
Accordingly, the players and a crew from Tandem X Visuals visited the business office and interacted with resolute non-athletes (yours truly) and an erstwhile quarterback of note (Craig Reynolds of Foam Lake Panthers fame).
The players then performed football functions while the office staff went about its duties.
So there was Moncrief, blocking a faux employee — an actor, actually, who was part of the Tandem X team — from being able to access the microwave in our lunch room.
The million-dollar phrase: “Nobody likes cold noodles.”
And there was our President-CEO, trying to conduct a meeting about the June 16 home opener against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (the theme: Dad’s Night Out) while Harris and Picton were playing catch.
And, yes, there was me.
I was enveloping a chair in the alumni lounge, seated to the left of Lauther. The Roughriders’ kicker was outfitted in gridiron garb, including a helmet.
My opening line, which was flubbed several times before something intelligible was recorded, was: “Hey, Brett, could you pass the chips?”
Lauther then grabbed the bag of chips, got up, and punted it.
To quote John Candy from SCTV: It blowed up real good.
“I was curious when they said, ‘We’ll do two takes,’ ” Lauther said the other day. “I was thinking, ‘Who’ll clean up the first take?’ ”
Not to worry. Lauther nailed the first take.
At the time, I was actually standing to the side, so he punted the chips at an empty chair.
That being done, I sat back down, picked up a bunch of chips, and spread them over my hoodie in order to make it appear as though I had been in the line of fire.
Then the cameras rolled again. My lone remaining (cue hyperbole) contribution (snicker) was to grab the chip off my right shoulder, deadpan a “thank you,” and devour the crunchy delectable.
Once that was done, the fine people at Tandem X worked their magic and sent the video back to the Roughriders.
As soon as the 70-second clip was disseminated via various platforms, my phone blew up — sort of like, you know, a bag of chips. Lauther noted the same reaction.
“When your phone goes off like that, usually it’s because something’s going on,” he said earlier this week while watching the Roughriders’ rookie camp at Griffiths Stadium. “I was hoping that I didn’t get released before training camp.”
To his relief, only the video was released.
“It’s good to have something like that,” Lauther said. “Football is a pretty serious job, but you have to keep it light.
“They did a really good job with it and it was a lot of fun.”
Thanks in large part to Lauther who, true to form, came through when the chips were down.
Last October, when I was with the Regina Leader-Post, I wrote a column on CTV Saskatoon’s Matt Young and a weekly retrospective that he was about to launch.
As one who admittedly spends far too much time living in the past — hey, how about Neal Armstrong walking on the moon! — I was absolutely overjoyed to learn that Matt was planning to dig into the station’s archives and treat viewers to some sporty images from a few decades ago.
Near the end of the interview, I made a shameless request: Would you, by any chance, have access to the Roughriders’ Aug. 30, 1981 game in Edmonton?
Although Edmonton won, 44-34, it was an event to be celebrated.
During the 2-14 seasons of 1979 and 1980, the Roughriders were easy prey for the Edmonton dynasty.
But then the Roughriders of 1981 journeyed to the Alberta capital in late August and threw a serious scare into one of the CFL’s all-time powerhouses.
Roughriders quarterback John Hufnagel, in relief of a struggling Joe Barnes, threw for 405 yards — in a little less than three quarters!
Hufnagel’s counterpart, Warren Moon, put up 418 yards for Edmonton.
It was a wonderful game. And, thanks to Matt and Classic Sports Moments, I was able to relive it on Tuesday. (And Wednesday … and Thursday … and Friday … because I kept watching it.)
There was Hufnagel, feathering a long touchdown pass to a wide-open Dwight Edwards.
There was Joey Walters, making three of the 14 touchdown receptions he registered in 1981, when he amassed 1,715 yards — an enduring franchise single-season record.
When I get home from training camp, I’ll watch it again … and again … and again.
My wife, you see, was kind enough to set the PVR.
THE MASS ZINGERS
Thomas Judek, the Roughriders’ Communications Co-ordinator, has served up one priceless one-liner after another.
It is getting to the point, really, where I should just hand this column over to him, go for a bike ride, and watch our online-traffic numbers soar.
As an example, I bring you a dinnertime conversation at the University of Saskatchewan’s Marquis Hall.
Various staff members’ birthdays were being discussed and me, being the resident team historian/annoyance, was citing significant events that occurred on or near those milestones.
Thomas, who was born in 1997, mentioned his birthday — Oct. 1 — and inquired as to its historical significance.
I couldn’t wait to jump all over that one, pointing out that the first game in the history of this franchise — originally known as the Regina Rugby Club — was played Oct. 1, 1910, when the Moose Jaw Tigers provided the opposition.
To which Thomas responded: “Did you have a front-row seat?”
BUFFET OF BARBS
Before Thursday’s workout, Tyler Daku — the Roughriders’ Social Lead — treated a handful of servers to a perfectly executed swim move as he navigated his way past a pop-up tackling bag.
As we admired his grace, he took the magnificence one step further by uttering this gem: “I was practising getting past Rob on the way to the buffet.”
(Note to self: Steal from his plate.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
It is somewhat fitting that we routinely ingest breakfast, lunch and dinner at Marquis Hall.
The Roughriders, after all, are the CFL franchise that once brought us offensive lineman Marcus Hall.
He played in six games with the Roughriders in 2016.
STAR-PHOENIX STAR
What a joy it was to yak with Saskatoon StarPhoenix sports editor Kevin Mitchell during rookie camp.
It should be noted, in all immodesty, that Kevin and I have combined for three National Newspaper Awards.
Kevin won all of them.
ROLL CREDITS …
- Nice people who deserve a plug: Brett Lauther, Brad Loafer, Trish Woodfield, Ron Woodfield, Connor Woodfield, Anthony Partipilo, Lula Lynn Sanden, Anne Reynolds, Dale Reynolds, Anthony Vitale, Andre Bolduc, Devin Jones, Jamal Morrow, Nick Zieger, Ed McQuarters, Jack Abendschan, Dave Ehman, Cheryl Ehman, Greg Urbanoski, Trevor Doroshenko, James Kennedy, Dominic Akakpo, Courtney Odelein-Akakpo, Selmar Odelein, Mercedes Prosofsky, Shaylah Davies, Wally Sadowsky, Nadine Sadowsky, Dani Jean Reynolds, Joseph Reynolds, Evan McFeeters, Lake Korte-Moore, Kalija Lipscomb, Brooke Schaeffer, Kooper Richardson, Matt Young, Dale Isaac, Vivian Isaac, Les Lazaruk, Rodney Clemons, Shea Patterson, Kevin Mitchell, Blaine Pelletier, Liberty Pelletier, Noah Pelletier, Braden Konschuh and, with special thanks, the amazingly nice staff at the U of S.
