Connie Dobson
Special to CFL.ca
Every time I see, hear, read or think about something in the CFL, I fight to hold back a few tears. Is that sad? I don’t really know why this game has that effect on me but even the mere thought of it gives me ducky bumps (Ducky bumps are goose bumps to most people)!
My name is Connie Dobson, and I am a Rider Fan!
Some of you may know me as the girl that has ‘I’d rather be a Rider than a ******* Eskimo’ tattooed on my neck. Others who don’t, now do! After reading Keith’s bucket list fan blog – and yes, tearing up during it – I decided that I should write about my tales of love and despair I’ve endured after years and years of cherishing my beloved Green and White!
Wherever do I start? First of all I guess I should say that I reside just west of Edmonton, Alberta. I have lived in Alberta my whole 23 years of existence. Since 2006, I drive 858km to Regina and 858km back for EVERY SINGLE HOME GAME. Yes… a minor exception due to the terrible planning of a wedding, but other than that, most people at the game think I’m just your average Reginaonian with season tickets.
Why do I do this you ask? Simple… If you spoiled yourself too and went to every game, you wouldn’t be content just sitting at home watching it on TV either! Ok… or maybe I’m just completely insane! But who could resist all that the Riders have to offer?
Taylor Field is where so many of my life’s greatest memories have happened. From fourth quarter magic to last second losses, rain games and thunder bowls, heat stroke, 100 km per hour winds, frostbite and hail the size of golf balls… heck sometimes all of that in the same game! Crazy Saskatchewan weather! I live for game days, but you will never ever ever find the Saskatchewan atmosphere anywhere else…believe me, I’ve tried! There’s something about these people, that even though you’ve probably never met them before you know you share this massive bond with them.
We all cried together after wide left 2004, of course, we never ever talk about it unless we just lost big time to Calgary or something and bring up the past during a drunken post game crab fest! Not one person will ever forget where they were November 25th, 2007 when Christmas came early to Rider Nation and the Riders finally brought home the Grey Cup after 18 years of “it’s ours next year.”
I was one of the fortunate ones that was able to be right behind the Rider bench at the game, bawling my eyes out in disbelief that it finally happened for us. I’ll never ever forget the moment Fred Perry jumped up into the stands and gave me the sweatiest hug I have ever gotten in my life. Wow, what a fantastic week.
Who else was watching the East Final when Kevin Glenn broke his arm? I remember that moment, Dad and I looked at each other and we said ‘Wow, we are actually going to win it this year’. All of us share these moments, and that’s a lot of what I love, that pushes me to do what I do, so that I can continue to have these memories with you.
Growing up our only vacations were heading home to Saskatchewan to watch our Riders play. Might I add the road from Jasper to Regina is a very very very long one, and this trip we made many many many times a year. I’ll always remember when Donald Narcisse came out to meet me on my birthday when I was 3 or 4 years old and gave me a great big hug and his glass cutter gloves, which I will always treasure. Or Bobby Jurasin and his massiveness I remember specifically saying, his legs are the size of my whole body! (Fast forward about 17 years and he’s still in playing shape signing my butt so I could have it tattooed and have it forever! That’s right, I’ve made Bobby Blush!).
I got my passion for the Riders from my Father, obviously, and even he, had no idea that his only daughter would turn out to be so cool! One of his proudest moments of being a father came one day when he was in the radio station in Fort McMurray doing his weekly radio show “Pigskin Picks with Chris the Rider fan” and I called in to ask him to come next door to the tattoo shop to sign a consent form for me to get a tattoo at 15 years of age.
“NO!” he said, “You’re not getting a tattoo!”
“But it’s a Rider tattoo daddy,” I said.
Not even two minutes later he was there willing to sign and even paid for to get done!
Football has definitely brought my father and I closer together. I remember getting woken up at 5:30 in the morning before he went to work to talk about the game the night before. Now-a-days I get up at 2:30 in the morning to go to work… maybe I should turn the tables and give him an early wakeup call game chat!
So to sum up my childhood, I was a little Rider kid from day one. Going through pictures from when I was a child I always have to laugh because no matter what kind of event was being photographed, a Rider game was always on the TV! When people ask me why the heck I live here and am a Rider fan, I always say because I was raised right!
So thank you Mom and Dad for bringing me into this Green and White world the way that you have. It’s gotten to be a normal daily occurrence in our home to have the “Who’s the ultimate fan” battle between my Father and I. Each of us calls each other ‘Part Time’ constantly, even though he really has no reason to belittle me in such a way, and he, honestly buys the tickets to the game, although is so busy with work and doing lots of other things doesn’t have as much time to come down to games as much as he’d like to! It’s all in good fun though; we all know who the real part time person is! Haha MOM! JUST KIDDING! Please don’t hate me!
In the summer of 2005 I decided that I wanted Arby’s one weekend and drove myself from Fort McMurray to Edmonton to feed my hunger and decided that I shouldn’t go back home again. I made the first step to changing my life completely, finally I was able to go to more and more football games and have the freedom to do what I wanted without the constrictions of being stuck in the middle of nowhere.
I started going back to Saskatchewan more and more because I was able to, and I realized that my heart truly belonged in Saskatchewan. I really hate when people talk bad about Saskatchewan, I’m SO sick of that joke that in Saskatchewan you can watch your dog run away for a week! Bah! Get some new material people!
I honestly love the drive. It makes me giddy! You will never see a happier person then me driving to Regina for a game. Throughout 2006, 2007, 2008 seasons and up until now in 2009 I am pretty sure that I have only missed coming out to one or two games. So let’s do the math, that’s almost 70,000 kms only counting the games in Regina that I go to… wow… is that sad?
During my trips to Saskatchewan I’ve met some amazing people, who have become what I believe will be lifelong friends. I refer to them as my Saskatchewan family and I know this makes me terrible, but I see them more then I see some of my actual family in Regina.
They range from our family friends, the Guays, who have let me into their home week after week, making it my home away from home. To Liz, the most awesome person in the world who has been like family to me ever since I can remember. To
my tailgate friends who have become more of an extended family over the years: Norm, Tom, Ricky, Theresa, Donelda, Stephen, Terry and Jay. We have all been there for each other in our times of need and I’m honoured to call these people my friends. I can’t forget all the people in Section 28 who make every game something different. To Whalebone wearing a shiny full body unitard when its 40 degrees outside; so many times that I will never even remember. In the pouring rain, scare the poop out of you thunder, beautiful July afternoons… Every game I meet new people and over the years I have made some very good friends sitting there or should I say standing there, as everyone knows, Section 28 does anything but sit! I have shared some of the most spectacular games with these people and plan to for many many years to come!
I’m sitting here thinking about all the wonderful things that football has brought into my life and I can’t help but wonder where I would be if I had been sitting anywhere else in Edmonton at a game in early 2006. I barely remember the game, but I remember the group of people sitting in front of me. One of whom I had no idea at the time would ever become such a huge part of my life. This person is Matt LaBuik, or if any of you know me at all, ‘My Matty’. Through our shared passion for the Riders we became instant friends and eventual became best friends. Over the 2007 and 2008 seasons, I completely fell in love with the man. He is my piece of Saskatchewan that I have found in Alberta. I don’t know what’s in store for the future, but I know that somehow fate brought us together at a Rider game, and if soul mates really do exist, I’m sure he is mine.
All of these people are what make me even more proud to be a Rider fan. Rider Pride is what has kept our team from folding many times over. The passion that all of us have for the game and this team just makes me so proud to be a part of something so amazing.
Finally, I feel at home. I’m not the only crazy person that loves the game as much as I do. I’ve been told all my life how weird and different I am because of my love of this sport and this team. But I am not alone. Everyone everywhere knows about Rider fans, and I don’t care how many radio stations proclaim that their fans are the “Greatest fans in the CFL” we know that is not the case!
I live for the game days when the tailgate starts at 9am even though the game doesn’t start until 8 o’clock at night! Nowhere else can ever compare to Regina on game day, from the oldest to the youngest, richest to the poorest, everyone is decked out in green and white! There is nowhere else that I would rather be!
Connie Dobson posts on Riderfans.com as RiderChick15 and is a faithful member of Section 28 at Mosaic Stadium.
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