The ironic 13th man

Oh, the irony.

The 97th Grey Cup was played this past weekend to determine the Canadian Football League champion. The game matched the Saskatchewan Roughriders taking on the Montreal Allouttes, and was one of the closest championship finales in recent memory... Other than of course the 2005 final when my Eskimos won the Ring in double OT.

The Roughriders notoriously have the most passionate fans in the CFL, which is easy to explain when your field is named after a fertilizer company. Face it - there's just not that much to do on the plains. So taking their cue from the Oakland Raiders (you knew there'd be a tie in), these green crazies routinely put watermelons on their head and call themselves the 13th man... As normal Canadian teams play with 12.

I say normal because the 13th man is actually what LOST the Roughriders this game. With just a few seconds left and trailing by 2, the Als lined up for a potential game winning 47 yard field goal. The clock struck zero and the kick sailed wide - which should have won the game for Riders. The only problem, the Riders were flagged for having TOO MANY MEN on the field! Yes, at that moment the 13th man really was a nightmare!

After moving up 10 yards, the Als easily made the kick and were crowned Grey Cup champions. No word on exactly how that guy pictures above felt as he looked at his sign...

J. Twice

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