With June just around the corner and high school football spring games and camps kicking off and wrapping up to finish the month it is hard not to think of summer and the 2012 Saskatchewan Roughrider football season.
However it is not football that is in the news lately when it comes to Saskatchewan's beloved CFL team, but business and politics. Over the last couple of years politicians, football fans, and sports columnists throughout the province have debated day in and day out about the merits, or lack thereof, of building a new stadium in Regina for the Riders. Football fans want a new stadium, certain politicians want government funds to go to other needs, and others just really don't care.
This debate can go on forever, and I am sure almost everyone reading this column has been subjected to one discussion or another about the laundry list of issues involving the stadium, whether it be the concept of a dome, where it should be built, funding, etc. But there is one question and one point that I find is ignored in all of the debate.
Isn't Taylor Field good enough? Yes I know it is now known as Mosiac Stadium and will probably be known as something else when whatever big money Saskatchewan based company decides to get its name on the inevitable new stadium, but Taylor Field has been home to childhood memories of countless Saskatchewan residents in its lifetime. That is why it was saddening to hear in the news this week that once the new stadium will be built Taylor Field will be torn down forever and will be replaced with what will likely be new houses and apartment space in Regina's inner core.
Now I get and understand from being a young adult that we live in a culture where the next best thing is brought out every second day, and the new stadium will bring in new excitement and energy into a Riders team and fan base that is going through a rebuilding process, but is all of this really all that necessary? Rider fans, myself included, always wax poetic about the "13th man" and the deep roots we have supporting a team the true blue collar "Saskie" way if you will.
So why do we need to pump millions of dollars into a brand new comfy stadium where the true fans will likely be priced out as is the fear with all stadium changes?
Since when did we as a province care about having the shiny new toy over the reliable, yet slightly worn, relic that always has been there for us?
The annual summer trips to Taylor Field are childhood memories I will never forget and playing there as a member of the YRHS Raider Gridders still remains one of my favorite moments from high school sports.
Disagree with me all you want and tell me all the pros of your new stadium and all of the bells, whistles, and perks that are going to come with Saskatchewan having a new facility, but at the end of the day Taylor Field will be the only football field that will ever truly feel like home.
