Green is the colour, winning is the name and partying might be the new game. Last week, the city of Regina and the province celebrated the Roughriders’ fifth Grey Cup in franchise history.
Smoking cigars, crushing beers and celebrating like there is no tomorrow has recently become common practice for championship teams. Look at the celebrations by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Florida Panthers.
The celebrations were extravagant, starting Sunday night with the first party on the Green Mile since 2013. On Monday, Rider Nation welcomed the team home with a rooftop celebration at Mosaic Stadium, followed by an impromptu karaoke performance later that night with the Grey Cup at O’Hanlon’s pub.
On Tuesday, the Roughriders and their fans celebrated with a parade that ended at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building. Many fans were thrilled to see their heroes return with the top prize in Canadian football, but some were turned off by the language and behaviour the team exhibited.
But recently on the Evan Bray show, numerous callers and texters were divided on the issue, with some expressing concern and disgust at the celebratory actions of the Roughriders. Others expressed gratitude for the team and said that they should be able to celebrate as freely as possible.
Rowyn Whitney, from East End, Saskatchewan, attended the parade on Tuesday afternoon, said, “As a lifelong Roughrider fan, they deserve to let loose. They’ve been grinding for months to reach this goal, and they did it. As far as I’m concerned, I think what they’re doing is fine, even with the language they’re using. Nobody’s getting hurt, everyone is having fun, and they are sharing the cup with Rider Nation.”
Behind closed doors, foul language is pretty common in the world of sports. Fiery leaders like Corey Mace and Paul Maurice are great examples of this. The two are champions and are consummate professionals who have guided their teams to greatness, yet they have displayed explicit language in public.
Mace, the second-year head coach for the Roughriders, used some colourful language to greet the fans on Monday, as well as at the parade on Tuesday. Mace said, “How ’bout them m****f’n Riders!” Yet, Mace’s language is rather PG compared to Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who was quoted as saying,
“Thirty [expletive] years. Thirty [expletive] years! For every [expletive] one of ya, 30 years!… I got one more word for you, and actually, it’s not for you [the fans]. This is for you [expletives] (the players). Freeeeeeeeedom!”
This tirade by Maurice makes Mace’s language sound rather tame by contrast.
Actions of the players are also being scrutinized. Several players were smoking and drinking at the legislative building, which raised some eyebrows. Players like Travis Kelce have remained one of the NFL’s most popular players. For the better part of a decade, he’s been among the top 50 in jersey sales. Kelce’s antics have been rather explicit compared to the actions of the Rider players.
Mace told reporters last week that he didn’t believe his team had gone overboard with their celebrations.
“Personally, for me, it was pretty PG, man, the way that we feel. We want to do everything for this fan base, and we cussed.”
