Riders eye 'big win' for Mosaic Stadium home opener
The Roughriders host the Bombers on Saturday
Three weeks after their trial run, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will do it again—for real this time—in the first regular season game at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday.
If anyone should get choked up and misty eyed over the opening of a new stadium you would think it would be Rob Bagg.
The Roughriders' veteran receiver played long enough on Taylor Field at old Mosaic to suffer its inadequacies, from leaks in the locker room ceiling to amenities and luxuries of which there weren't any.
He watched new Mosaic being built from the ground up to what it is today: A state-of-the-art-facility which would be in the conversation right now of top stadiums in North America.
"We've got a beautiful new facility here, just looking around every day at practice it still takes my breath away," said Bagg on Friday, following the Riders final walk-through in advance of Saturday's game.
But in the same breath, Bagg stresses the real importance of the home opener.
"It's time for us players to get the job done and give these fans what they really want which is a big win."
Perhaps Bagg's excitement is tempered somewhat after seeing best friends Getzlaf, Dressler and Durant tossed aside like the leaky ceiling tiles at the old stadium.
Maybe because they are not here to enjoy it with him, he's not going to get that enthusiastic about playing the first regular season game in the shiny new digs.
The fact they were free to go despite their past contributions possibly drove home for Bagg the realization that football is not a game, but a business, and all that really matters is the next game and two points.
"It's a great moment in Riderville's history but at the end of the day I do believe people care more about winning than they do having a nice shiny building, so that's what we're focused on."
Yes, a victory Saturday night would be the best way to cap off a glorious moment in Riders' history.
But years from now, no one will recall the Riders win-loss record in 2017, except Bagg of course, but they will remember the first game at new Mosaic.
Chris Jones said earlier this week, it wouldn't matter if they played the Bombers in the street, but the Riders' boss did fess up on Friday, a new stadium is the reason he's here.
"To be around such a nice building, it's why we came here," said Jones in his pre-game news conference.
"We left Edmonton eight days after we won a Grey Cup for the reason we've got a building and people care about football enough to put their money behind it and build it."
"Football is important here and we're glad we're here," Jones aid.
But he won't be here for long unless a nice stadium and victories go hand in hand. Saturday's game against the Bombers would be a good time to start.
"It's going to be a huge crowd, there's not going to be an empty seat in the house, but if we're playing in Toronto and there's two thousand people in the stands we still got to play the football game," said Jones.
Saturday's game will be the 253rd of Kevin Glenn's CFL career.
Some would argue it should have been Durant's opportunity, but Glenn will go down in history as being the quarterback of the Riders the night they opened the new stadium.
And the honour will not go unappreciated by the third time Rider.
"The guys appreciate (the) locker room, they appreciate the stadium, they appreciate the fans," said Glenn.
"You can tell by what they're doing when they are in here, the type of commitment they are putting towards going out and trying to put a good product on the field."
Riders Roster Moves
Bagg's status for Saturday's game was unclear all week as the receiver recovered from a foot injury.
He is listed as Nic Demski's backup for the game against the Bombers.
Middle linebacker Henoc Muamba has been placed on the six-game injury list.
He was pulled from practice this week with a knee injury.
He will be replaced by Samuel Eguavoen who has waited a long time to get back on the field.
"Shoot I thought I was cursed man," said Eguavoen on Friday.
Eguavoen from Texas Tech started the first six games for the Riders in 2016, however a knee injury wrecked the rest of his season.
The anticipation of training camp 2017 was crushed on day one in Saskatoon where he suffered an ankle injury.
Training camp for Eguavoen was over and he was thinking his football career was too, feeling maybe his profession of choice just wasn't meant to be.
"The trainers and everybody were right there behind me giving me everything I needed to do to get back as fast as I could and coach Jones kept believing in me and now it's time to go out there and ball out in front of thousands of fans."
Kick off Saturday is 7p.m. CST