It’s amazing that in the decades of 4th Quarter collapses, I don’t ever remember one like this. To lose on a ‘too many men on the field’ penalty is hard to fathom even for a Rider fan. There seems to be a difference this time around though. I feel it myself and was surprised to find that I wasn’t alone. This was a loss with hope. In fact, notice below a letter forwarded to me, that was sent this morning to the Mayor of Regina:

Dear Mayor Fiacco,

I know you and City Council are among the many people of the province who share the feeling of disbelief and devastation after the end of last night’s game…. Watching the Montreal players celebrate, and listening to the eloquent but painful interview with Coach Ken Miller (especially his statement that “the disappointment of this loss is going to affect us as long as we’re on this planet”), an idea started to percolate:  that Rider Nation should hold a parade for the Riders in a couple of days – a ‘Rising Above Defeat’ parade, held in a spirit of snatching hope (if not victory) from the jaws of defeat.  I know there is a gathering at Mosaic Stadium this afternoon, but here are ten reasons for one more celebration for the Riders of 2009:

1.  The Riders had a great season, won the Western division, hosted and won the Western final, and in the process, brought a whole province (and a whole lot of fans outside the province) a great deal of joy.  The way in which we lost the Grey Cup has left all of us shaking our heads in absolute dismay, but it doesn’t seem right to end the season on that note, given the tremendous year we had.

2.  The Riders played well enough to win.  All those prognostications about the Alouettes being a far better team, about them being ahead of the Riders in most statistical categories, being the class of the league, 9 point favourites, we disproved and defied all of that.  We didn’t win, so this is not a victory parade – we’re still hungry for one of those – but we certainly showed we were capable of being Grey Cup champions.

3.  A small mistake on the penultimate play of the game cost us big.  But there is no value in scapegoating anyone.  In fact the end of the game eerily resembles much of human life, where often enough, things that go really wrong are at least in part our own doing.  Nothing is going to let us play that play over, or a handful of others plays which could have won us the game.  So rather than concentrating on who is to blame and dumping on their lawn, let’s do something positive and thank the players and coaches for a great season.

4.  This is not only a talented team which evokes a great deal of hope for coming seasons; it is also a classy team, with very likeable players and coaches, especially a head coach and starting quarterback who are two of the more intelligent and articulate people in football, who have the ability to keep things in perspective, and who have gained our respect not only for their coaching/playing, but for who they are.

5.  A great deal has been made about Rider Pride in the past weeks, and rightly so, but Rider Pride isn’t only about winning, about jumping on a bandwagon because we happen to have a championship-contending team.  Rider Pride has shown itself strong in the midst of football’s equivalent to the great depression (a couple of decades of losing seasons).  Doing something for the team now would show that Rider Pride is about supporting a team, players, a franchise, even when we didn’t quite pull it off this time.

6.  The players have obviously been grateful for the fan support from Rider Nation especially in recent weeks.  Celebrating the team in the days ahead would be a way of showing the players that there really is something different about this publicly owned franchise, and that there are some serious advantages to playing here rather than in the larger markets of the CFL.  It would show the class of the Rider Nation.

7.  Part of what makes sports exciting is that someone wins and someone loses.  But ‘loss’ isn’t the right word to describe that game or that season.  We certainly can’t call it a victory parade, but perhaps a ‘rising above defeat’ parade to show our resilience, to help put things into perspective, and to remind the rest of the CFL that we’ll be back….

8.  It would be somehow revealing about our knowledge and love of football on the prairies if we managed to have more people out for a parade for the Riders than the Alouettes would have at their victory parade in Montreal.

9.  What are our choices, eh?  Sulk and rage, or deal with it, make the best of it, and let our coaches and players know our gratitude for a year that has been special in many ways.

10.  It would be an anticipation and foreshadowing of a victory parade (hopefully) next year at this time.

Yours Sincerely,
Don Quixote and Friends (bleeding green)

Well Don Quixote, I couldn’t agree more!

I’m not sure if I’m fooling myself or not but it sure feels better than just focusing on another devastating loss.

NR