There were a few ugly things that happened this past Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.
Certainly Buck Pierce's gruesome elbow injury tops the list, followed closely by the lack of protection provided to Darian Durant by his offensive lineman.
Not to be outdone, however, was the town of Avonlea's coronation as Riderville - ahead of the much more deserving Yorkton.
Being bested by a small town, that garnered sympathy votes from many of the densely populated surrounding areas, will be a hard pill to swallow for a Riderville campaign that put Yorkton on the map.
This was supposed to be in the bag, what with the unparalleled celebrations that "Football Week in the Parkland" consisted of.
The Rider Pa-Ride down Broadway featuring past and present Rider greats, happened in only one of the prospective Riderville candidates -- at least, to my knowledge.
This was only compounded by the Jordan Matechuk football camp, Football Night in Saskatchewan and several additional events (my apologies to those I've omitted) going on all throughout town - where Roughrider representatives were highly visible.
I can recall having a week of nothing but Riderville celebrations to attend and cover in early May. My calendar was literally packed for an entire week of Riderville events, all held in anticipation of a decision expected much earlier than September 5.
However, the Yorkton is Riderville campaign was ultimately doomed by the shifting rules and conditions of the process as well as a selection method (online voting) that is unreliable at the best of times.
The voting public was not suitably informed about all the events that Yorkton put on - despite the best efforts of the tireless Riderville committee (who put in more hours than it is possible to conceive).
Ultimately, Avonlea benefited from a proximity to Regina and an outpouring of bandwagon support. Had the contest been determined on the actual definition of the initial "Riderville" contest, this would have been over a long time ago.
The sour grapes from this unfortunate decision will pass and eventually the lasting memories will be only of a community banding together towards a cause.
Yorkton is Riderville - don't let an online popularity contest fool you.
