Profiled by Roy MacGregor in Monday’s Globe: the Macklin branch of the Cosh family, whose Saskatchewan Roughrider fandom has made them “as well known as some of the players.”
They drive five hours each way from their town near the Alberta border to attend every Roughriders home game. They have season’s tickets for six—Robin and Lori and their four children, 12-year-old Taylor, nine-year-old Keifer, Laine and six-year-old Connor—and treat becoming an “owner” the way other families regard First Communion or bar and bat mitzvahs.
Sunday afternoon was the day Laine came to pick up her share—an official document declaring her one more owner of this community-owned team.
Her parents have their shares, her big sister and brother have theirs —leaving only the youngest, Connor, to sulk and dream of the day he, too, becomes a CFL owner.
Normally I’d be pretty taken aback if a Globe columnist called my relatives “eccentric” in print, but let’s face it, he’s being polite: raising your kids as Rider fans is arguably a form of child abuse. MacGregor writes of my uncle and aunt that “The $1,400 they spend a year on regular season’s tickets, they believe, is the best bargain available in pro sports.” Well, sure, it’s a heck of a deal when they’re 11-5, but if history is any guide, Connor is gonna be drawing a pension cheque on the Moon the next time that happens.
Comments (21)
Many years ago I'm in the Regina airport waiting for a flight to Edmonton. There's maybe 50 people in the immediate area around me as a group of people swing through the arrival doors fresh off a plane from Calgary.
Jack Gotta is the first to exit the doors. The Riders were known to be looking for a head coach, but I don't think any of the 50 knew Gotta was in the running (I certainly didn't).
In the maybe 15 seconds it took for Gotta to get to me and then pass by, the whispers grew to a few "take the job, Jack" to an ovation to whoops and hollers.
I wear to God this happened. 50 people.
Posted by lowetide | October 23, 2007 7:43 AM
Posted on October 23, 2007 07:43
My Dad, having grown up in Hamilton was, of course, a Ti-cats fanatic. Which made my life difficult in Vancouver especially after my lineman hero, Angelo Mosca, clobbered star running back Willie Flemming in what the silly Lions fans (my whole grade five class) saw as a cheap hit.
Weirdly, with the expansion and dilution of the NHL, the CFL seems a more authentically Canadian experience than any other sport. (Save perhaps watching the fights at lacrosse games.)
Posted by Jay Currie | October 23, 2007 11:25 AM
Posted on October 23, 2007 11:25
At least the CFL *allows* "community-owned" teams. The NFL by-laws specifically prohibit it, and Green Bay gets away with it simply because they were community-owned before the rule was put into place.
The NFL wants their towns to be "invested" in the team (especially when it comes time for a vote for the bond issue to build that beautiful new stadium) but without the power to do anything to impede "team parity" when that just happens to coincide with an owner getting rich by moving said team.
Posted by bud | October 23, 2007 12:12 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 12:12
As to your jab against Saskatchewan, it appears your Eskimos are the ones who aren't offering much value for money of late. When will they next make the playoffs?
Posted by Anshu | October 23, 2007 12:41 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 12:41
Eskimos: winners of two of the last four Grey Cup games and 11 of the last 30.
Riders: winners of two Grey Cups in 97 years of existence, and none since 1989.
Better to be a satisfied customer than an eternally frustrated owner.
Posted by Colby Cosh | October 23, 2007 12:46 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 12:46
It's getting a bit harder for the Esks now that they can't outspend everyone, isn't it?
Posted by Garnet | October 23, 2007 1:00 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 13:00
And easier for Saskatchewan now that its football isn't held accountable for its economic policies, yeah, but I don't think that's the fundamental problem because the salary cap should be super easy to skirt. It would be nice to have a real general manager, just for starters.
Posted by Colby Cosh | October 23, 2007 1:04 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 13:04
All of this makes me curious how you managed to escape the family farm and requisite melon-head in order to cheer for the GoRiders! top rival?
Were you shunned?
Posted by sacamano | October 23, 2007 2:58 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 14:58
And easier for Saskatchewan now that its football isn't held accountable for its economic policies, yeah,
"There's a reason that the Saskatchewan Roughriders have never won a Grey Cup with the NDP in office," and all that.
Apparently an American Roughrider made a bit of news by complaining a bit about his waiting time for surgery, eh?
Posted by John Thacker | October 23, 2007 6:09 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 18:09
It is always fascinating to hear about la Ligue canadienne de Football. Three downs, really? And what ever happened to the "rouge"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gainer_the_Gopher
let me get this straight, the Calgary team banned the opposing teams' _mascot_ from the Stadium?
Posted by An American Passing Through | October 23, 2007 10:45 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 22:45
Nobody actually calls it the "rouge," but rest assured it didn't go anywhere.
We were already in northern Alberta by the time I was born, and my own father's always been a pretty indifferent fan, so I was left to cheer for a local team that was reeling off endless championships. Dad entered adolescence in the fifties, when "rugby football" was still on the fringe of the sports world; he's not really much younger than Ron Lancaster and George Reed. Uncle Rob, by contrast, is damn near my own age and grew up with TV; they're the oldest and youngest of seven. I think that's pretty much how I ended up as the green-and-gold sheep.
Posted by Colby Cosh | October 23, 2007 11:01 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 23:01
Eskimos: winners of two of the last four Grey Cup games and 11 of the last 30.
Riders: winners of two Grey Cups in 97 years of existence, and none since 1989.
Better to be a satisfied customer than an eternally frustrated owner.
I don't know too many eternally frustrated owners of the Roughriders......find me one.
I have two words for you and your EskieSchmoes.......Danny Machoochoo.....soon to be riding the choochoo out of town. No respectable football player even wants to play for this guy and it is showing up on the scoreboard....Enjoy watching the playoffs for a second straight year.....
Posted by Timmy | October 25, 2007 11:24 AM
Posted on October 25, 2007 11:24
"Many years ago I'm in the Regina airport waiting for a flight to Edmonton."
Regina has an airport? I'll bet they give round-trip tickets away for peanuts.
Posted by jhuck | October 25, 2007 9:43 PM
Posted on October 25, 2007 21:43
Now come on. I've been there and they deal strictly in cash, graded wheat, or fertilizer.
Posted by Colby Cosh | October 25, 2007 9:46 PM
Posted on October 25, 2007 21:46
Are your relatives allowed to barter horse ankles for Rider tix, or are they forced to use cash/graded wheat/fertilizer. I guess gopher tails are no longer PC.
Posted by jhuck | October 25, 2007 10:18 PM
Posted on October 25, 2007 22:18
This post cries out for an update, no?
Posted by Garnet | October 27, 2007 12:53 AM
Posted on October 27, 2007 00:53
Are you kidding? I'm not watching the games at this point--I can't afford to have the kind of luck the Eskimos are having rub off on me.
Posted by Colby Cosh | October 27, 2007 1:06 PM
Posted on October 27, 2007 13:06
Eskimos: winners of two of the last four Grey Cup games and 11 of the last 30.
Riders: winners of two Grey Cups in 97 years of existence, and none since 1989.
And the Sens have never beaten the Leafs in the playoffs either.
Funny how fans of teams out of the playoffs in back-to-back years conveniently ignore the present...
Posted by Anshu | October 30, 2007 8:36 AM
Posted on October 30, 2007 08:36
So ...
How many more weeks until the Oilers are mathematically eliminated from the NHL post-season?
Posted by Mike Jenkinson | October 30, 2007 1:51 PM
Posted on October 30, 2007 13:51
"How many more weeks until the Oilers are mathematically eliminated from the NHL post-season?"
Hey, are wrestling fans allowed to comment on 'real' sports?!?
Posted by Sean | October 31, 2007 11:24 AM
Posted on October 31, 2007 11:24
Going back to the Roy MacGregor article, I'm surprised those Macklinites have any time to go to Rider games considering the intense, year-round training for the annual bunnock tournament.
Posted by Rob Huck | October 31, 2007 2:42 PM
Posted on October 31, 2007 14:42