CALGARY STARTS TO CHEER FOR THE RIDERS

By Ian Hamilton,

CALGARY — Ken Miller paused for a moment Saturday when asked why he thought his Saskatchewan Roughriders seem to have been adopted by Calgarians during Grey Cup week.
Was the Roughriders’ head coach getting emotional thinking about it? Was he stumped? Nope. Turns out he was just thinking up a punch line.

“We’re a likable bunch of guys,” Miller finally replied with a huge grin, prompting media members in the McMahon Stadium media room to burst out laughing.
But seriously, Ken . . .

“I think that some of our personality comes through,” he continued. “The team that we have is truly a group of men who get along together, who work for each other, and I think it’s the kind of a feeling that most people would like to have in their workplace or workforce.

“I think maybe there’s a bit of a feeling that maybe they’d like to join in that team spirit that we have.”
Calgary appears to have joined the Rider Nation in advance of Sunday’s Grey Cup game against the Montreal Alouettes.

There are Roughriders signs in downtown store and hotel windows, waitresses in restaurants and bars are wearing Saskatchewan jerseys, and — whether it means anything or not — one Calgary newspaper has added a green strip with white lettering on its front page promoting its coverage of the Grey Cup.
“How can they not like us?” Roughriders linebacker Mike McCullough said. “There’s a lot of people from Saskatchewan in Calgary. They’ve kind of hidden it over the year, but now that (the Calgary Stampeders are) out, maybe they’re all starting to come out of the ranks and show their allegiance. It’s nice to see.
“We’re the Western team, so I think even the Calgarians are starting to take us on a little bit.”

As the Roughriders took the field for their walkthrough Saturday, workers were shovelling snow from the seats and stairways at McMahon Stadium. More than once, one of the workers bellowed “Go Riders Go!” from the upper reaches.

“I don’t know if they’re necessarily Calgary people,” McCullough said. “I think some of our stadium workers might have infiltrated the ranks here.

“No matter where we go, we seem to be the adopted team. We’re fortunate to be able to play for a province that seems to follow us everywhere we go.”

“We’re the (Dallas) Cowboys of the CFL,” added cornerback Omarr Morgan. “We’re Canada’s team, man. It’s good. Everywhere you go, you see people with green on. It’s not just in Calgary. It’s Edmonton, Toronto — everywhere, man.

“It means the world to me. We’ve got the best fans in all of our professional sports.”

But isn’t it kind of doubtful that stadium workers moving snow at a Calgary facility are Saskatchewan fans?
“They are,” Morgan said with a smirk. “They don’t know it, but they are. At heart they are. It’s great to see them. They’ve been treating us good since we’ve been here and using all their facilities. Everybody’s been great.”

The stadium truly will be full of Roughriders fans Sunday, since Saskatchewan residents have been making their way to Calgary all week. Their arrival, plus the presence in Calgary of the converted, likely will give the Roughriders a huge home-field advantage.

“It’s amazing first of all that so many people would adopt us,” Miller said. “I thought we’d have a lot of support here, but I thought that most of that support would come from people who drove over or flew over from Saskatchewan.

“But really, the number of people who are working around the town who have said they’re going to cheer for the Riders has really been amazing.”

ihamilton@leaderpost.canwest.com