Murray Wood The end of the great Canadian game as we know it
The last Roughrider home game was the last CFL game in Saskatchewan played on a CFL-sized field. Murray Wood thinks it's...
In our neighbour’s backyard, we used to play football, using the chokecherry trees as goalposts that we avoided while pretending to be Ron Lancaster, George Reed, Gord Barwell or Ed McQuarters. They were star players accumulated by general manager Ken Preston on the 1966 Saskatchewan Roughriders team that won the Grey Cup.
We knew all the players. Some of them lived a few doors away in our neighbourhood and spent many years with the Riders. Through the subsequent eras, there have been dozens of memorable players who had long, illustrious career with the Roughriders: Roger Aldag, Gene Makowsky, Eddie Davis and Darian Durant quickly spring to mind.
Of course, times have changed as free agency and salary caps cause changes to CFL rosters. So when a Green Zone listener texted our show to ask “Whose Rider jersey should I buy if I want somebody who’s going to be with the team for a few years?”
What a great question!
My answer: Willie Jefferson or Naaman Roosevelt.
