It is a full on annual tradition now. Summer in Saskatchewan means hopping in the car, making our way south to Regina, getting dressed in green, and heading to a Riders game. And like our football trips the previous two years, we were given yet another spectacular day to sit outside and cheer on the good guys. As one super Rider fan used to quip… sea of green, sky of blue.

But to back up for a moment, we’ve now been in the province long enough to have some favourite Regina things outside of football. On the road trip down, we stopped at Joe’s Gluten Free Foods on the outskirts of Regina to pick up some amazing gluten-free doughnuts, and once we checked into our hotel, I headed to Malty National, one of my favourite breweries in the province. Lucky for me on my quest for lunch, there was an amazing Mexican food truck parked outside the brewery so my visit got a touch tastier than I was expecting.

Back to the game… We were both ready for a western rivalry game against Calgary and decked out in green, like about 33,000 others would be in the stadium, and countless more across the province watching on TV.

After sitting on the sunny side of the stadium last year on the hottest day of the summer, we wisely got tickets on the shady side this year. With the ongoing popularity of the team, we couldn’t snag lower level seats, but there’s really not a bad view at Mosaic.

Every year as the team runs onto the field as part of the pre-game ceremonies, I get a little chill up my spine. It might sound hokey, but I love that this team is mine and that I share that with just about everyone else in this province.

Perfect night for football, good seats on the 35 yard line, cold beer in my hand… it’s kickoff time.

For the first quarter, it was like the Riders forgot they had to play a football game. Calgary scored early and often to jump out to a 24-0 lead. And while what was happening on the field wasn’t terribly entertaining for us Rider fans, there was plenty else going on, like watching this hot air balloon hover over the stadium. I wonder what their view of the game was like…

While the Riders fought hard for the last three quarters, they just couldn’t crawl back into the game. Lots of field goals from their Nova Scotia kicker (my favourite player, of course) kept things interesting, but their offence really only ran two plays all game – runs up the middle and short screen passes. It was the first game I’ve ever attended that I felt like my team had more chance to score when they were on defence. The final 34-22 score made the outcome seem closer that what we witnessed.

Although the wrong team ended up winning the game, it was another a great experience and fun time down in Regina. I’m already looking forward to the release of the schedule for next season and buying tickets to a game or two next year.