Green Fiction

No, it is not a misspelling, and I am not talking about Graham Greene again. This is a blog all
about fiction and writing, but I need to make a side step into the world of sports just for a moment.

When I was a kid somebody, maybe my dad, gave me a shirt with the number 34 on the back and a very well known football logo on the front. Number 34 was George Reed, the logo was the Saskatchewan Roughriders. So I was born into this heritage, and those who follow Canadian football know there is nothing like a Rider fan. You find them everywhere, in every city across Canada and even in other countries. There is a joke about landing on another planet and listing the people you would find there - I think it goes like: a lawyer, a reverend, etc., and a Rider fan.

I used to play a bit of football, and watch a lot of it. I don't watch it, or really any sports on TV anymore. I still go to baseball games for the meditative experience, but I don't follow the big leagues. Though, there is a time when my heritage burbles up (if heritages could do that), and it doesn't happen often, barely once a generation. It is when the Riders make it to the big game, the Grey Cup - I don't like calling it Canada's Superbowl, because there is something so uniquely Canadian about it that is defies parallels. There are those people who have never watched a game all year become football fans during Grey Cup week. Although, this does depend on who is playing. And if you believe the media, this year, the year Saskatchewan finally made it to the final, it seems like every man, woman, child and dog has suddenly become a football fan. The ultimate underdogs with the best fans in sport have made it to the show, and it's better than the best fiction.

Me, I'll be thinking of that shirt from my childhood and finding me a case of Saskatchewan Pilsner. That's the one with the green label.

Go Riders.