It will be cold and it will be festive and a lot of booze-filled fans will be feeling neither pain nor a chill on Nov. 24 when the two best teams collide in the Grey Cup Game on the Mosaic Stadium turf at Taylor Field, but the big question is: What colour uniforms will the players on the field be wearing?
People from Carlyle to Lloydminster, from Hudson Bay to Cadillac will be hoping that at least one of the teams is wearing green, because that would mean their beloved Roughriders are in the annual Canadian Football League classic in their own back yard.
That's one of the story lines as the 2013 CFL season kicks off this week: The Grey Cup will be held in Regina for only the third time in the league's 101-year history and if the Green Riders are in the big game, they will have pulled an upset or two along the way.
Riders' fans, of course, always think every year is their year, but if the Western representative in the Grey Cup is not the B.C. Lions, then there will be many surprised fans in the other nine provinces.
In a quarterbacks' league, the Lions have, in Travis Lulay, the league's best pivot. He was recently ranked as the second-best player in the league in a poll of football writers and broadcasters, and was joined by eight of his team-mates on that Top-50 list. (No. 1 was Chad Owens of the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts.) Only Montreal Alouettes, led by QB Anthony Calvillo, had more on that Top 50 list (10).
A couple of other interesting story lines as the CFL season gets under way involve the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. One of the questions about the Bombers is this: Are they as bad as their pre-season record would indicate (24-6 and 52-0 losses)? And will their fancy new stadium, Investors Group Field, be the kickstart they need to return to respectability? The Bombers are coming off a season where they missed the playoffs and had by far the worst point differential (minus 155) in the league.
In Regina, though, the fans have Grey Cup fever, and it's only July. So what else is new? Riders' fans always think their team is going all the way, and this year, they hope they'll get to see it unfold right before their eyes on Nov. 24.
Snipped from Ian Hamilton's column in the Regina Leader-Post: "Several U.S. senators sent a letter to the Washington Redskins, asking them to change their name. "In a perfect world," scribbled comedy writer Alex Kaseberg, "the Redskins write back: 'You're right, it is an awful and disgraceful name we should be horribly humiliated by and ashamed; it conjures up memories of a truly criminal history. From now on we are the District of Columbia Redskins.' "
AP golf writer Doug Ferguson on final day fashion at the U.S. open: "(Billy) Horschel wore pants with octopus prints, and he putted like he had eight arms."
Golf writer Dan Jenkins on Twitter, as reported on golfworldmonday.com: "Charl has made three bogeys and a double in his last four holes. In South Africa, that's known as Schwartzeling your pants."
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "Tim Tebow signed with the Patriots. 'Belichick owed me a favor,' explained Jesus."
The Sports Curmudgeon: "Absent a situation whereby Tom Brady undergoes multiple amputation surgeries, there is no way Tebow is going to 'compete for' the starting QB role (with New England)."
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Pablo Sandoval is too short. His weight of about 270 would be fine if he were seven feet tall. So he needs to grow 13 inches or lose 50 pounds."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "Joe Torre's daughter caught a baby that fell from a second-floor fire escape in Brooklyn. Major League Baseball will issue a statement congratulating her just as soon as she is tested for PEDs."
R.J. Currie of sportsdeke.com: "Kobe Bryant of the Lakers isn't sure he'll be ready for the start of next season. He's recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and a strained coaching relationship."
Another one from Currie: "Hayley Wickenheiser says the University of Calgary helped her get a degree by planning exams around her hockey schedule. In response, NCAA athletes have said, 'Exams'?"
Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, not impressed with Louisville's uniforms at the College World Series: "Players look like they came from a garage sale at Lady Gaga's house."
Headline at SportsPickle.com: "Tiger Woods back to not being back."
Blogger TC Chong, on Ottawa's new CFL team, the RedBlacks: "Their logo will be a checkerboard."
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, on the poor play in the finals by Miami's Chris Bosh: "Does Bosh actually get a championship ring or just a participatory ribbon?"
