So as I touched on in the Monday Mailbag, I was attacked by a few Rider fans over the weekend for my take on their fanbase. I was called jealous, a hater and some other nasty things that I simply will not reprint here. It was not the majority opinion, and not even the majority opinion from Riders fans, but there is still a segment of Rider Nation that views themselves as holier than thou.
Well, one of their own has decided to voice an opinion. Rider fan Jeremy Gourlay is also not a fan of the Riders adopting the "Canada's Team" moniker and makes many excellent points as to why. While he was not as harsh on the fans of the green and white as I was, his reasons are not much, if at all, different from my own.
So maybe, just maybe, all the Rider fans who took exception to what I said in my piece should check out Mr. Gourlay's. A voice from within Rider Nation is telling them to cool it, so maybe they will take it to heart more than they did mine.
It is a heckuva read and shows the side of Rider Nation that I want to be representative of the fanbase. More attitudes like Mr. Gourlay's will go a long way to changing the beliefs held by many CFL fans outside of Saskatchewan.
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Attacked by some Rider fans, is a very harsh way to put, responding to an attack on Rider Nation by your article. It is very difficult to sit back and read your blog with out responding and I think that I tried to do it fairly respectful. Here is a link to the 2014 CFL attendance records and the fact that the Riders drew over 2,000 more on the road than any other team.
ReplyDeletehttp://stats.cfldb.ca/league/cfl/attendance/2014/
Also, if you look at the TSN ratings for Rider games you will find that they draw more viewers than any other team. Here is one example.
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/the-great-canadian-ratings-report-193422068.html
Looking thru the comments of the post I commented on, anyone that that didnt publish their name was very much attacked by you as dumb, " result of sibling fornication ", etc.
Now I would say that is an attack.
My point is the Riders are a very popular team and have been trying to assist the rest of the league in marketing their teams. The Riders will partner with any non profit group or business that they feel is a respectible cause.
You made your points and you knew there would be responses and now you are only taking the ones that agree with you as credible.
I really dont care what you write or think. I am proud of the team and fans that we have and we will continue to love our team and the CFL. If you think that is an attack, well so be it.
Well Josh, you have me thinking now and I guess I wonder what examples you have of the arrogance of some ( as you put it ) Rider fans. Excluding the Canadas team issue. We basically have one person, our radio, play by play guy that uses this. I expressed my opinions to him back about 2009. We have lived in Winnipeg and Edmonton and I know both places have avid fans and this just makes them mad.
ReplyDeleteBut what other examples. If it is comments on TSN articles, all teams have jerks and ours is no different.
But if it is the Rider fans that go to games all over Canada, they pay their money and some come to your town to watch our team. They will be proud and loud, the same as your fans that go to others stadiums.
If it is the billboards we post in the Western cities, it irks their fans, but definitley helps promote rivalries. Winnipeg answered by putting a Bison trucking semi outside Mozaic stadium and I thought that was fine. In BC they guaranteed a win and again it got more interest in the game.
Or is it the pep rallies the Riders have before away games. The other teams could do the same or at least have them in their own cities before games.
You wrote, how ashamed we should be of all the people that had to leave our province to get work. We are sad they had to, but not ashamed and I have said for years that our biggest export was people, only behind Ontario....but it is 10 times bigger.
I am sure that it could be the way we support our team on social media. Just remember, it is not just those living in Saskatchewan, but we do have fans all over Canada.
Please explain, where you see our arrogance and why you dislike any team with a large active fan base.
The fans of the teams in the west dont like it when we have a significant fan representation at their games, but they take our money.
So fill us in on the things you think make us arrogance.
To me ur no better then those of rider nation. Problem lies in social media and people like u with nothing better to do in life!! get some real problems!!
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