Tuesday, November 23, 2010

RIDER ROMANCE





Saskatchewan Roughriders fans Brandy Olfert (left) and husband Nate Olfert of Ottawa on their wedding day.
Photograph by: Brandy Olfert, Handout


REGINA — Rider Pride helped Nate Olfert find his Rider bride.


The 2007 CFL playoffs were a catalyst for their relationship. During the East Division final, Brandy Harrison (the future Brandy Olfert) was driving in the area of an Ottawa pub called The Arrow and the Loon, where Nate was watching the game with a group of friends.


"I drove by a bar with a Rider flag on my car,'' Brandy explained. "I got stopped at a light for a very long time."


Nate said his group had been given a table in the back of the restaurant when they arrived. Knowing they were going to be loud and boisterous, they asked to move to the bar. The waiter moved them right next to the window.


After seeing a fellow fan — coincidentally an attractive woman —


stopped at the light, Nate and his friends were pounding on the window and waving to get her attention.


"Anytime I see someone wearing green, I like to talk to them," he explained.


"I look over and the entire window is full of Rider fans, yelling at me," Brandy remembered. "I was totally intimidated."


"The light changed and off she went," Nate said.


Brandy watched two quarters of the West final at home before getting the courage to go back to the bar instead of watching alone.


"In walks this attractive woman in a Rider jersey and that was actually how I met my wife," Nate said with a laugh, adding that it took him a while to recognize her as one of the passengers in the car.


"A year later he finally got up the courage to ask me out," Brandy


remarked.


"Despite being a big loud guy, I'm pretty shy when it comes to women," Nate said.


Nate Olfert was born in Nigeria where his parents were missionaries, but his father is originally from Saskatchewan. Nate lived in the United States for nine years, but lived in Saskatoon before and after, and therefore considers himself to be from Saskatchewan.


His first Roughriders memory is watching the 1989 Grey Cup on satellite television at a friend's house in the United States.


Brandy is originally from Alberta, but was introduced to the Riders by a friend before moving to Ottawa to attend Carleton University about seven years ago.


"I've been a Leafs fan all my life," she laughed, adding that being a Riders fan came naturally to her, even after moving to Ontario.
Both would love to move to Saskatchewan, a place they consider home.
Soon after they started dating, the couple was telling everyone that they were going to get married.


"The decision was made for both of us after dating for a couple of weeks," Nate said. "We had to go through the formalities of actually getting to know each other."


They got married in Jasper a year ago in December and are about to celebrate their first anniversary.


"Looking back, there was a whole lot of coincidence that led to that meeting. It seems like there was something steering us together," Nate said. "That was a pretty magical year for the Riders and it worked out to be a pretty magical year for us, too."


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