Rider fan cheers before the start of the 97th CFL Grey Cup football game against the Montreal Alouettes in Calgary on Nov. 29. Little did he know that a 13th man would in fact be a nightmare for the Roughriders.
Photograph by: Mathieu Belanger, Reuters
Photograph by: Mathieu Belanger, Reuters
REGINA — The 13th man is here to stay.
That is the emphatic message from Saskatchewan Roughriders president-CEO Jim Hopson.
"We're not going to abandon it,'' Hopson stated on Thursday. "It's who we are.''
Until Sunday, the 13th-man concept had entirely positive connotations for the Roughriders. A marketing campaign — "The 13th man makes all the difference'' — is predicated upon the impact of the Canadian Football League team's ardent fans on its performance.
Until Sunday, the 13th-man concept had entirely positive connotations for the Roughriders. A marketing campaign — "The 13th man makes all the difference'' — is predicated upon the impact of the Canadian Football League team's ardent fans on its performance.
Then came the 97th Grey Cup, in which the Roughriders lost a 28-27 heartbreaker to the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. For a few seconds, it appeared that the Roughriders had won the game, after Montreal's Damon Duval missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt as time expired.
However, the Roughriders were flagged for too many men on the field, and Duval was given a second chance from 10 yards closer. His do-over, from 33 yards away, split the uprights and wounded the Rider Nation like a dagger. Since then, fans and commentators have been referring to the 13th man for reasons the team could not have envisioned when it was formulating fan-based slogans and ensuring that the number 13 was prominent.
"It's so much a part of who we are now. The (Rider) Nation has embraced it,'' Hopson said. "I had a chance to sit and watch the Western final this week. I hadn't had a chance to sit and watch it because we were so busy going to the Grey Cup. So when I was at home Monday night licking my wounds, I watched it and, my goodness, the comments from the TSN people and the crowd ...
"They kept showing the crowd and talking about the 13th man and the impact of the 13th man, and it even happened in Calgary at the Grey Cup. It's there. The 13th man is very real. It might have been a great marketing idea to start with, but I think our fans have taken it beyond the idea of a whole marketing slogan. They believe it and our players believe it. You hear them refer to the 13th man in their post- and pre-game comments.''
Hopson even thanked the "13th man'' at Mosaic Stadium when a welcome-home rally was held on Monday.
"We can't deny what happened in Calgary,'' he said. "All we can do is become a better team from that experience, and I think we will.
"We can't deny what happened in Calgary,'' he said. "All we can do is become a better team from that experience, and I think we will.
"A lady came up to me and congratulated me and talked to me about how she had never seen a party go flatter than the party she was at when we lost. She said she was going to get a T-shirt that says 'I'm the 13th man,' with this whole thing about who the 13th man was.
"I think our fans are pretty proud of that and a big part of it. We won't abandon it, nor would we abandon any of our players. You win as a team. You lose a team. So we'll stay the course.''
Those sentiments have been reinforced by a deluge of messages Hopson and others in the Roughriders' organization have received from fans since Sunday's heartbreaker.
"I've had a lot of fans e-mail me and say, 'This will make us an even greater franchise. We will grow from this,' '' Hopson said. "I think that's what Darian (Durant) said in his remarks — that you build from this and you go forward.
"Having said all that, if I could rewrite history, I know what I would want, but you can't.''
I AM THE 13th MAN !!!!!
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