One of the main discussions around Ridernation, as the team gets prepped to kickoff against Ottawa has been the insane bad luck that the Riders have been hit with regarding injuries. Specifically on the offensive line.
I for one can’t remember during my playing days, or as a side-mission member of the media, when Saskatchewan has ever been hit with something like what they’re seeing at the moment. We’re currently on our FOURTH right tackle, and have lost four of the top 7 olinemen to the 6-game injury list. That’s tough considering how much the other units (D and STs) need to be leaned on to float the obvious turbulence that this presents an offensive unit.
The most common response from you guys, when I tweeted about it has been to remind me of our time together in 2008 when our team was hit with about 8 major leg injuries.
Now I originally started to pen a comparison between the two years, but arguing which team (08 or 24) was worse-off seemed like a dark way of going about the exercise.
Instead, I’ll talk to you about how we persevered….Well, maybe “perseverance” isn’t what I should coin it as we lost the West Semi-Final to BC that year, but that (in my opinion) was due to our GM at the time, refusing to start the Darian Durant era in Riderville and opting for an athlete who’s “arm could deal with the SK wind.” What we did not acknowledge was that athlete (Michael Bishop) couldn’t read a defence.
I actually don’t know what’s worse…the fact that we tried to sell the wind as a factor that needed to considered when choosing a QB to back our Grey Cup hopes on, or that people bought that BS. #WeWouldaKilledWithDoubles
Anyway…what kept us together that year, and what will set this years injury-laden team up for success is that we were truly a family.
We did everything together, from going on fishing trips, to gaming, to playing poker tournaments on every Day 3.
We literally poured everything that we physically had, into relationships.
Whether it was keeping the guys that were injured-close, or making the guys who were replacing those guys feel like family; our 2008 team spent a ton of our off-time investing in each other.
It’s an advantage that small-town Saskatchewan has over the other major centres when a team really needs to galvanize. Everything’s 10 minutes away!
It was easy to drive over to Getzlafs house with a couple of the fellas to play Monopoly or Settlers of Catan with guys that normally would’ve had their own group of guys they competed with. It was real easy to gather at the casino tables after our lift or film to donate money to the blackjack tables…it wasn’t necessarily about the money. The guys built bonds.
I really believe that was the variable that kept us afloat that year during the rash of injuries that hit us, and it’s been great to hear that this 2024 team has already been investing in their relationships outside of practise. One of the nice offshoots that the internal focus helped us with was the fact that we never really heard any of the outside narratives about us in the media. That’s always a good thing regardless of whether the narrative is good, or bad.
Our 08 team was so strong, in fact, that even when we lost the BC game (*cough cough QB turnovers) at home we still got together the next day to play paintball with a huge group of guys. We were truly a family.
You’ll hear teams breakdown their huddles pre-game with a number of words... “DOMINATE on three! ONE TWO THREE _______!!!”
Or
“TOGETHER on three!”
There’s also the timeless, “FAMILY on three!”
Sometimes your opponent is a really good team, as Ottawa looks to be.
You counter that by entering the hostile environment as a FAMILY.
Cheers to the fellas going 1-0 this week. As a family.
