Friday Commentary: A Classic Weekend

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A coupla three or more thoughts entering the weekend …

#1 – I forgot it was Plaza of Honour weekend until I saw the three inductees addressing the team on Friday on the turf at Mosaic Stadium. Rob Bagg, Dan Clark and Paul McCallum all went into the Saskatchewan Roughriders Hall of Fame last night and one thing that struck me was that all their feats were accomplished at Taylor Field. Of course.

Hopefully people pause this weekend and reflect on what this trio accomplished with the Green & White. Dan Clark is the classic local-boy-does-good story, and my favorite quote from him was that everyday he showed up for work at the old place, he was grateful. He played like it.

Rob Bagg was another classic story, a walk-on who actually made the 2007 Roughriders but wanted to go back to Queens to finish his degree that season. Eric Tillman and Kent Austin were stunned and when the team won the Grey Cup that year without Bagg, the Kingston product showed up in 2008 and said, “No big deal”, he’d just win another one with the Riders. In 2013, he did.

And McCallum is obviously a massive part of Rider lore, and we all know why. Despite his infamous “miss” in the 2004 Western Final, Paul still set a CFL record as a Rider and is #2 all-time to Dave Ridgway in most team kicking stats. His numbers would be #1 with most franchises.

It’s always been the greatest weekend on the calendar yearly for Rider Pride, and I’m sure this weekend will be no different. I MC’ed 20 of them, and went to a several more as a fan.

However it’s never been a guarantee that the team would win on this weekend despite the nostalgia that’s generated around it. Come to think of it, it feels like just about every year the team finds itself in a must-win scenario in the Plaza game, and that’s what we have Saturday against Montreal. That makes things fun too.

I guess that’s only one Friday thought. But it covers it all …

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

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