Them big Calgary football players are scared of a teeney-wheeney gopher!

Well, a gopher with attitude, of course.

Background: The Calgary Stampeders host the Saskatchewan Roughriders this weekend for the CFL western semi-final. And the Stamps won’t let the Riders’ mascot, Gainer the Gopher, onto the field: Gainer punted from McMahon Stadium.

Calgary’s not showing much class here - last year, the Edmonton Eskimos and the BC Lions both let Gainer onto the field during the Riders’ play-off appearences. (Calgarians, take note: yes, your rivals to the north are showing more class.)

I guess the Stamps are spooked by the thought that for the Riders, games in Calgary are already like home-games (it’s estimated at least 30% of the seats will be filled with Rider fans).

The Stamps must be afraid that one furry gopher may just put the Riders over the top.

Class aside, doesn’t demonstrate much confidence in their own abilities. :dubious:

Huh. I like the Stamps, but I don’t see a need to exclude the Roughriders’ mascot from the game. Hell, if the playoff game was at Taylor Field, I’d expect the Stamps to take their horse. (Ralph the Dog is, to me anyway, just a brief aberration; the Stamps’ real mascot is a horse. Who will once again walk through the lobby of the Royal York in Toronto, if we can manage it. :wink: )

Dunno about this upcoming game though. I watched the Roughriders play the Esks last Friday, and I wasn’t that impressed. Even if Gainer the Gopher is there for the Calgary game, will it really make a difference?

(I hope not. Go Calgary!)

Well, the Riders weren’t playing Joseph, Keith, or about 10 of their starters (literally - they left them in Regina); it was Crandell’s first game back from a dislocated elbow; Butler’s still dealing with the concussion; and it was the first start this year for many of their second and third stringers. And the Esks only won by 2 points. I wouldn’t put too much into it.

(ps - got your e-mail - meant to reply but got tied up - will try to get back to you sometime this weekend.)

Yes, last Friday’s game really meant nothing. I got the feeling that Saskatchewan basically let Edmonton have it; that last-minute field goal didn’t have a lot of effort behind it. But it let the Edmonton fans who endured the snowy evening save some face and go home happy.

No, I’m putting very little into it, actually. Like I said, the game meant nothing. Saskatchewan still plays in the playoffs; Edmonton heads for points south and no doubt the golf course. The Esks fans at Commonwealth saw Edmonton win; the Riders fans have a playoff game to look forward to. Everybody’s happy.

(Gotta say that I won a pair of tickets to that game in a raffle, and even though my western team is Calgary and my eastern team is Toronto, I had a blast. I get to very few CFL games, so attending any game, no matter who is playing, is a treat.)

Thanks for the attention to the e-mail. I wasn’t sure if I should send it, but I took a chance.

At least you only have 1 Roughriders team to deal with now.

It doesn’t matter. They’re still the Green Riders to me.

Winnipeg’s going down this Saturday. But if they don’t, I hope they beat the Als next weekend. It’ll be nice to see them at home in the Grey Cup.

Well, this controversy was important enough to make this morning’s CTV news, and get some comments on “Canada AM.” Most of the viewer feedback was in favour of Gainer going to the game in Calgary, and even Calgarians were saying he should be there.

Suppose adding to it is the fact that most of them are from places other than Alberta, where the only small rodents they’d probably have occasion to see are rats. Rats which are illegal in Alberta. I’m sure they’re just trying to avoid breaking the law. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah, just rub salt in the wound, why don’t you?

  • Rysto, Ottawa native

Headline!
Stamps Licked; Can’t Roughride A Dam Squirrel!

Gainer Unbound!

Roughriders Upset Stamps [30-21]

So maybe it wasn’t such a good thing for the Stamps to ban Gainer the Gopher from McMahon Stadium. It looked like a Christmas display, of course, with green and red everywhere. But gopher paraphenelia was in abundance - Gopher toques, gopher masks, mini-Gainers. Plus signs, lots of signs: “Free Gainer!” and “Win One for the Gopher!” were common, based on the t.v. coverage. And the fans were loud.

Gainer declined to accept the insulting offer of watching the game from the stands, and instead found a comfortable burrow full of Rider fans in the Casino Show Lounge in Regina and watched the game on the big screen. Once the game was won, the fans carried him on their shoulders in triumph around the Lounge.

I wonder if the Lions will be more receptive to his visiting them next week?
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…

Why not? I’m sure Leo is hungry.