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October 26, 2024

ROBSERVATIONS: Thank you, Rider Nation … appreciating Mace’s good graces … Trevor with the weather! … saluting two great fans

Truck or treat!

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ game-day team — piloted by Seth Strankman and Eva Fletcher — has expertly incorporated Halloween into a Saturday events package that is part of Fan Appreciation Day.

One lucky attendee will receive a new vehicle (courtesy of Capital Auto Group) at halftime of a CFL game between the Obsidian-clad Roughriders and the Calgary Stampeders. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m., at Mosaic Stadium.

The pool of candidates will consist of the Pick 6 Draw Showdown winner from each of this season’s 10 home games (today’s contest included).

How will a winner be determined from among the 10 finalists?

To the delight of any neigh-sayers in the audience, a horse-race-style game will be held at halftime.

The first person to reach the end zone will be presented with a most attractive option — choosing from among six brand-new vehicles, a truck included.

The key to getting there first: Good wheels!

As an appetizer, Halloween-themed contests will be held during Party in the Park to determine the premier pumpkin carver and best-dressed fan.

Additionally, the band EPIC will perform on the Coors Light Stage in Confederation Park.

The first 1,000 kids who enter the stadium will receive a complimentary Roughriders Halloween candy bucket. The buckets and Halloween candy will be distributed at all four of the Guest Services locations.

After the game, fans will be welcomed on to the field and invited to get autographs from the players.

This is all a way of saying thank you, thank you, thank you to the Roughriders’ fans.

Also worth noting: The regular-season finale will not be the last CFL game at Mosaic Stadium this season.

Here’s to a home playoff game! (Tickets are available HERE.)

The best-case scenario on Saturday calls for attendees to celebrate giveaways and takeaways.

Giveaways: During today’s game, fans will receive gifts such as toques, fan chains, cowbells and autographed footballs and, in one case, a free furnace or air-conditioning unit from Regina Plumbing and Heating.

Takeaways: Entering today’s game, Saskatchewan boasts a CFL-best turnover differential of plus-25. The Montreal Alouettes, at plus-10, are a distant second.

Ideally, the Roughriders will eclipse the franchise single-season record of plus-27, set in 1994.

That, too, would be a treat.

FOOTBALL FORECAST

Quarterbacks are accustomed to dealing with pressure. But barometric pressure?

Such was life for the Roughriders’ Trevor Harris during the bye week.

An appearance on CTV Morning Live, alongside receiver Samuel Emilus, included a surprise stint as a weather specialist.

“They asked us a couple of minutes before: ‘Do you guys want to do the weather?’ We were like, ‘Sure!’ ” Harris said. “I think they cycled through the clips faster because they were trying to confuse us.

“We just had some fun with it. It was a good time.”

After handling the duties without a sweat — not even a trace of precipitation — could a post-football career in front of a weather map be in the forecast for Harris?

“I might have to check out Indeed and throw my resume in there after I’m done playing,” he said with a chuckle.

SORRY, COREY!

The preceding quotes from Harris were gleaned from a Tuesday media scrum.

The always-eloquent quarterback’s first group interview of the week often approaches 10 minutes. Tuesday’s session, by contrast, was an economical 4:30.

So, as he stepped away from the pack, I approached him with the intention of jokingly observing that “you got off easy this time.”

I had barely emitted the “you” before crashing into and ultimately toppling Head Coach Corey Mace, who had been patiently standing nearby while awaiting his turn in front of the cameras, the microphones and the resident Senior Journalist and Roughriders Historian.

Is the historian, er, history?

I was consumed by that not-unreasonable fear while apprehensively asking Corey if (gulp) he had a policy regarding overly (albeit accidentally) aggressive media members.

“They’re done,” he said.

“I’d be very surprised if they were able to ask questions.”

Especially after The Hamilton Incident.

Following a 33-30 victory over the host Tiger-Cats on June 24, the Roughriders’ travelling party (yours truly included) boarded a Regina-bound WestJet charter.

Mace was already sitting down when I attempted to lumber down the aisle while holding my computer bag and a since-discarded piece of carry-on luggage.

The latter item had been purchased a mere 16 years earlier. Its deteriorating state was such that the once-retractable handle was protruding and therefore dangerous.

Or so I discovered when the handle collided with a front-row passenger named Corey Mace.

That was the first strike.

Then came Tuesday.

To my astonishment and relief, I was still employed on Wednesday … and Thursday … and Friday …

Beyond that … well, let’s hope for an encouraging forecast.

Can you help me with that one, Trevor?

“IF YOU KNEW HIM, YOU LOVED HIM”

Martin Sereda, one of the Roughriders’ official photographers from 1982 to 2016, passed away on Sept. 5 in Regina. He was 88.

During a second career that spanned nearly 40 years, he photographed six Grey Cup Games in addition to capturing images of Regina Pats games from 1977 to 2014.

Martin often worked in collaboration with another supremely skilled photographer, Bill Dubecky of Royal Studios.

Born in the small Saskatchewan community of West Bend on Feb. 14, 1936, Martin married the love of his life (Mary) in 1958 and moved to Regina two years later.

A proud father of Terry, Debby, Laurie and Greg, Martin’s love of local sports was also apparent.

“Dad was extremely proud to be a photographer for the Saskatchewan Roughriders — a team he loved to watch and cheer for and sometimes even swear at, like so many of us,” Terry Sereda said.

“For so many years, he watched them at the home games through a camera lens, going back and forth along the sidelines.

“He talked fondly about travelling with a few of the Riders and the times they had after the 1989 Grey Cup, going all around Saskatchewan. To receive a Grey Cup ring from the team was truly a highlight in his life.

“I don’t think there’s a kid in Regina or surrounding areas that played any sport who didn’t have an individual and team picture taken by Bill Dubecky or my dad. He followed up by taking pictures of those kids’ kids — another thing he was proud of.

“He was a kind and caring and a very generous, genuine man. If you met him, you liked him. If you knew him, you loved him.”

CURT WROTE THE BOOK

The sad news arrived earlier this week that Curt Phillips passed away in his sleep on Oct. 17, at age 63.

I met Curt in 1997, not long after he had self-published what quickly became an invaluable resource — “Saskatchewan Roughrider Player Reference, 1960-1996.”

In the early years of the Internet, historical statistical information pertaining to the Roughriders was routinely difficult to find.

Curt to the rescue!
He later issued an all-time coaching register, which also adorns my cluttered desk.

“Curt was a private man who kept a small circle of close friends, but he was liked and loved by all who came to know him,” read a portion of his obituary, published in the Regina Leader-Post.

“He had a mind for numbers, and he was always happiest when he was at work compiling long lists of CFL and NHL statistics. Several of his books of statistics were published.

“Even in the final weeks of his life, he was seen working on a new book of hockey statistics, and a project devoted to his favourite player, Mario Lemieux.”

In my books, Curt Phillips was a superstar in his own right.

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Ted Wyman, Eric Anderson, Lauren Anderson, Thea Anderson, Ken Schneider, Pete Paczko, Robby Williams, Terry Britton, Terry Sereda, Gail Mund, Carol Hoeving, Brent Buchko, Dr. Jordan Buchko, Michele Fedyk, Meagan McLellan, Kelsey Brazil, Cal Filson, Scott MacAulay, Molly Campbell, Govind Achyuthan, Jonathan Halvorson, Seth Strankman, Eva Fletcher, Jake Wieneke and, with a desperation reiteration of profuse apologies, Corey Mace.