There hasn't been much going on in the CFL lately. Pieces of news have been few and far between. They've resorted to articles about players pets and who can be named best dressed CFLer.
Meanwhile...
* crickets *
...a dog barks in the distance...
🎵 a birdie chirps...
With this lull in activity every off season I find that my own rabid fan status wains and I wonder over to other activities and my influences change. Some people turn to other sports - Saskatoon Rush, Nascar and hockey of course. Many of you haven't known me a long time but March seems to be a time for when I explore. There was the Dean Martin infatuation of 20-something. We won't discuss the whole vampire thing. Last year I researched my family tree and actually found a cousin living in Montreal who I didn't know existed. This off season was going along like normal and then in February I watched (finally) Bohemian Rhapsody and it seemed like everything changed for me.
I've made no secret that while I write this blog and am administrator for ABC Rider Fans, that in "real life" I am a piano teacher. While I've always maintained that music is what I do - it's not my life...it's an illusion because it really does consume my life. Where I am able to strike a balance is that I only teach after school hours so while you are likely gearing up to go home after your work day, I am gearing up to start teaching. 'Tis the life of a musician I suppose. What these hours allow me to do is follow football during those off times except when I need to do research or find music or actually come up with a plan or strategy for my lessons, which by the way is unpaid time but I'm dedicated and I do it happily.
So there I was coasting through CFL off season and coping with some other health things that always seem to crop up at this time of year but you know everyone has "stuff" to deal with. One of my students...my best student if I'm honest (and fav but don't tell the others!), is playing Bohemian Rhapsody for the SAM music festival in May which runs close if not at the same time as Roughrider training camp. We had decided on this selection before Christmas so it had nothing to do with my off season doldrums but everything to do with the reason one quiet Saturday night I decided I should watch the movie. I called it Professional Development. I actually streamed A Star is Born the same night but for whatever reason (I'm heartless?) it had zero effect on me, yet the story of Freddie Mercury made me feel a whole myriad of things that I can't even begin to sort out or explain in any form.
I was 18 when Mercury died from Aids in 1991 and when I think back to "me" back then I often refer to myself as a stupid teenager. Maybe I was just oblivious? I remember the news but life went on. I didn't realize until now how excruciating that event actually was. Is it possible to mourn someone nearly 30 years later? Well just like I seem to be stuck in this musical cycle, many football fans are stuck as well. Bring back Dressler is one of the newest cries. When will Rider fans move on? Are we still in 2009 mourning too? The Roughriders need to continue to move on to the future instead of looking back. Unlike, Queen's front man, most football players are replaceable even if we've loved their character and personality. To everything there is a season. The show must go on.
With most things in my life even when I don't think music plays a roll it's there in the background noise. If you're still with me here and wondering what any of this has to do with the football blog you've grown used to reading well it made me realize how much I've grown in all ways and continue to evolve and how fortunate...blessed really, I am to have a slightly successful page which is somewhat accepted by a mostly male dominated sort of hobby and industry. No one ever told me I couldn't and I always knew I could do things, mostly artistic types of things with extreme ease. I can do anything! I've often said. So while Roughrider football is an obsession in my life, music is a thread weaving itself deeply through it. A team wins a championship - We Are The Champions. A Calgary Stampeders game comes to an end - Sweet Caroline. The Saskatchewan Roughriders score a touchdown - Green is the Colour.
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When the city of Regina hosted the 2013 Grey Cup they knocked the halftime show out of the park by having flying snowmobiles and a rocking Hedley (at the time) group. Randy Ambrosie said that the Riders pitch was so good they could have landed the Olympics so naturally that makes me question what kind of half time show was pitched. Does the halftime show need to be Canadian or should they reach farther into the stars to bring the most epic halftime ever? Can both be done? What's your opinion on this and who would you like to see as the 2020 halftime show?
This time of year - March, the cold snap finally comes to an end and we are looking for signs of life. While it'll be a while until we see daffodils here in Saskatchewan, birds are returning and the snow is sinking as the sun grows higher and higher in the sky. Our beloved CFL teams will be re-awakening after all the moves in free agency. The CFLPA negotiations will get settled. Soon it'll be draft day. Some people are already looking forward and talking about training camp in Saskatoon. Our passion is renewed. The season is renewed. We feel anew.
I'm ready for the next chapter.
Go Riders.
