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Best Labour Day Classic Memories

Y2C

By Y2C
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Y2C Explorer

Y2C

Posted
Posted

It's been a while for me since actually attending the game. You can tell that because my last LDC the Bombers actually won.  :ph34r: 

 

Keep in mind this thread doesn't necessarily have to be about live experiences at the game, just fond memories in general of this Canadian football staple.

 

As I said, my last time in the stands was in the midst of the 12 game win streak in 2001.  This just so happened to be the last time in the archaic days of non-televised games that the Bombers-Riders Labour Day Classic was not broadcast.

 

Just as well, it wasn't exactly an exciting game.  Up and comer Kevin Glenn was getting his shot to start at quarterback for the Riders. I still vividly remember watching Dave Donaldson high stepping out of the pile on the game clinching defensive stop at the end of the game. I also recall listening to the Riders radio guys hype it up like Glenn was the next Flutie after looking somewhat competent in the game on the drive home. :)

 

As we were driving there though, I read the Free Press with Dave Ritchie stating that Winnipeg should get the LDC game every other year.  I mean, it shouldn't change, the weekend in Regina is too good of an experience and every true Blue Bomber fan must experience it at least once. But still, Ritchie is the man.

 

Other memories include being at the one when Westwood kicked a last second field goal to win the game. I was pretty young but do remember watching the play and thinking "holy crap, we won!"

 

Another one was staying at the Regina Inn and back hen the Bombers stayed there as well. My grandfather, my uncle and me shared an elevator with Reggie Slack, to specify, at the time current Bomber Reggie Slack.  My uncle commented something along of the lines of "don't let it be a blowout.." Reggie says they'll try and keep it close or something like that. After we part ways my uncle's just like "I meant don't let it be a blowout for them..."  A lot of time though we'd stay at the Plains Inn. It wasn't fancy, but it got the job done. :lol:

 

As for not being in the stands, the opening drive in 2003 was magic.

 

-Short kickoff Harold Nash returned for great field position

-11 yard pass to Milton Stegall

-Huge catch and run to Mike Sellers down the sideline

-Nice rushing play by Charlie Roberts. He got crushed and didn't even care

-Play action, Khari strolls into the endzone untouched

 

:D

 

Your turn.  Share your POSITIVE LDC experiences. More than enough negative around here lately.

HardCoreBlue Grand Master

HardCoreBlue

Posted
Posted

It's been a while for me since actually attending the game. You can tell that because my last LDC the Bombers actually won.  :ph34r: 

 

Keep in mind this thread doesn't necessarily have to be about live experiences at the game, just fond memories in general of this Canadian football staple.

 

As I said, my last time in the stands was in the midst of the 12 game win streak in 2001.  This just so happened to be the last time in the archaic days of non-televised games that the Bombers-Riders Labour Day Classic was not broadcast.

 

Just as well, it wasn't exactly an exciting game.  Up and comer Kevin Glenn was getting his shot to start at quarterback for the Riders. I still vividly remember watching Dave Donaldson high stepping out of the pile on the game clinching defensive stop at the end of the game. I also recall listening to the Riders radio guys hype it up like Glenn was the next Flutie after looking somewhat competent in the game on the drive home. :)

 

As we were driving there though, I read the Free Press with Dave Ritchie stating that Winnipeg should get the LDC game every other year.  I mean, it shouldn't change, the weekend in Regina is too good of an experience and every true Blue Bomber fan must experience it at least once. But still, Ritchie is the man.

 

Other memories include being at the one when Westwood kicked a last second field goal to win the game. I was pretty young but do remember watching the play and thinking "holy crap, we won!"

 

Another one was staying at the Regina Inn and back hen the Bombers stayed there as well. My grandfather, my uncle and me shared an elevator with Reggie Slack, to specify, at the time current Bomber Reggie Slack.  My uncle commented something along of the lines of "don't let it be a blowout.." Reggie says they'll try and keep it close or something like that. After we part ways my uncle's just like "I meant don't let it be a blowout for them..."  A lot of time though we'd stay at the Plains Inn. It wasn't fancy, but it got the job done. :lol:

 

As for not being in the stands, the opening drive in 2003 was magic.

 

-Short kickoff Harold Nash returned for great field position

-11 yard pass to Milton Stegall

-Huge catch and run to Mike Sellers down the sideline

-Nice rushing play by Charlie Roberts. He got crushed and didn't even care

-Play action, Khari strolls into the endzone untouched

 

:D

 

Your turn.  Share your POSITIVE LDC experiences. More than enough negative around here lately.

Troy Westwood's response about sask fans being banjo playing in-bred folk and then retracting saying some of them probably don't play the banjo. The rest, as we know, is history.

iso_55 Newbie

iso_55

Posted
Posted

What year was it that Bob Cameron punted the football in a close game & the Riders took the ball at their one yard line. It was a clutch punt & I think it won the game for us I believe. 

Goalie Grand Master

Goalie

Posted
Posted

Honestly, I have no good memories of the LDC... 

 

None at all.... Just can't think of any off the top of my head, have never been to regina to watch a game, probably will when the new stadium opens but... as for watching at home on tv or with friends somewhere else or even at the lake... oh the lake... yes, the best memory i have of watching the LDC is turning the tv off and going swimming or fishing right after. lol 

iso_55 Newbie

iso_55

Posted
Posted

Well, I could go back.... 41 years to 1974. The Bombers with qb Don Jonas had a clutch drive to score vs the Riders to go ahead very late in the 4th quarter. The next Rider possession the late Bomber safety Al Brenner (who was a real ball hawk) intercepted a Ron Lancaster pass to preserve the win. That was my first LDC game in Regina. I was 19.

Just as an aside, Al Brenner disappeared suddenly in 1983 with no explanation. He left behind his wife & young family at the time. Two decades later he was found in the US living alone on social assistance having no explanation why he did what he did. He reconciled with his family although I don't think it went very well. He later died alone. I think concussion issues were to blame for his behaviour & actions. Very sad story though.

 

Found this:

 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55-yard-line/remembering-al-brenner-cfl-hero-strange-disappearance-did-023039950.html

Bomberfan85 Rookie

Bomberfan85

Posted
Posted

I have a fun one. My first time going to Regina for the game was in 2004. While watching warm-ups before the game, a buddy I was with decided to get Kenton Keith's attention. "Hey Keith! Kenton Keith!!", he yelled. Keith looked over and was greeted with the follow-up "I SLEPT WITH YOUR MOTHER!!". Normally, I figure pro athletes hear this kinda thing all the time and just ignore it. However, this time Kenton Keith stared my friend down long enough that I was envisioning the headlines in the paper the next day. Whether or not that encounter had anything to do with it, Kenton Keith actually had a very poor game, as did Henry Burris. Kevin Glenn and the Bombers prevailed that day, 17-4. It wasn't the greatest football game but I'd love to see a repeat. This year will be my 10th Labour Day trip to Regina (I missed a couple years in between). It's easy to forget that I actually saw the Bombers win there once upon a time. This year, they may be the underdogs against a 0-9 team but, as always.... GO BLUE!!

Tracker Grand Master

Tracker

Posted
Posted

If I see Mesam before the game I'll yell the same at him, "Hey Messam, I ****** your mom last night!"

Guaranteed Bomber win.

Messam might say, "Thanks, takes the pressure off me!" or you might add, "Does that take the pressure off you?"

Jpan85 Grand Master

Jpan85

Posted
Posted

Don't now what year but getting told to kill my self after one of the games. Also Milts circus catch I think that's the one he broke Pitts receiving TD records on.

iso_55 Newbie

iso_55

Posted
Posted

A couple of more memories to share. In 1978, myself & three of my friends were coming back from Regina the evening of the LD game just east of Moosomin, SK. It was around 10:30 pm. The TCH was virtually deserted so I was putting the pedal to the metal wanting to get home & got pulled over by the RCMP. Going 130 kph when the speed limit was 100 kph. I got a huge ticket & a stern lecture from the officer for going so fast. I was really pissed & upset afterward.

One of the guys in the backseat started laughing & carrying on about how much money I had to pay (ha, ha, ha) & how dumb I was (ha, ha,ha) driving so fast. His older brother & my other friend got real upset & both told him to shut up or we'd pull off the highway somewhere onto a dark road somewhere & they'd kick the **** out of him. The two brothers didn't get along & my friend wasn't happy his younger sibling tagged along so I'm pretty sure those 2 meant it. As I remember we were going to buy the tickets at the game & he begged us to let him come. It was actually me who convinced my friend to let his younger brother come along  so I wasn't happy he was making fun of me & I told him that. He never said more than a few words all the way back to Winnipeg.knowing the three of us were mad at him. Everytime he said something his older brother would tell him to STFU so it was pretty funny.

That same weekend we went to a bar in Regina. Met some really great Rider fans who actually bought each of us a drink. Ended up spending the night with those guys, telling lies & talking football. Those days are over for sure as the 2 fanbases now hate each other.

Chaosmonkey Rookie

Chaosmonkey

Posted
Posted

2007. 

 

 

After we got beat, the boys and I decide to hit up some night life. We found ourselves at O'Hanlon's where the patio was overflowing. We got a seat at a picnic table with some other random bomber fans and proceeded to consume liquid bread. 

 

 

One of the guys in our group had brought a regulation size CFL ball along. This brought out a lot of chirping from the drunks walking by, things like "Hey you've got enough bomber fans at the table for a team, you should play versus the rider fans!".

 

After 20-30 minutes of this, and us agreeing to play provided the rider fans actually field a team, we finally had enough people to play a game. 

 

Despite the fact we were right beside a park, the collective bunch of drunk football fans decide that playing in the middle of the street right in front of the bar is the best idea. We played for what felt like hours. People leaving, new players subbing in, but always rider fans vs. bomber fans.

 

Despite the fact it would have been really easy for someone to do something stupid like tag a guy too hard and push him to the pavement, nothing dumb happened, no fights, no nothing. We all were just having **** loads of fun.

 

 

Then the cops showed up.

 

First it was just one patrol car at the end of the street, hanging back and waiting. Then two. Then Three. Must have been 4 or 5 cop cars at the end of the street before they rolled up on us.

 

All the cops get out and talk among themselves, probably figuring out what to actually do with us all. Eventually one head cop comes over to talk to us. 

 

"What's going on here" he asked. 

 

"Just a little street football, you know like street hockey. We play until  a car comes, we yell CAR and pause the game until the road is clear again"

 

"Hrm." The head cop was unsure about our explanation. 

 

The peanut gallery chirps in "Hey, the cops have enough guys for a team, you should play against the cops!"

 

Head cop was not impressed by this, although the look on the face of his right hand man was one of recapturing high school glory versus a bunch of drunks. 

 

Head cop looks at my buddy who was holding onto the football (Names won't be named to protect identities). My buddy didn't even bblink as the cop was staring him down. The cop asked to see the football, and in a bblink of an eye my buddy flipped it over to him. The second the ball left his hand, the look on his face read "I'm never going to see that ball again".

 

The cop gripped the ball, and you could see the gears turning in his head. Man did that guy want to play football with a bunch of drunks. However, this was 2007 and Camera phones, Facebook posts and Youtube videos were the new hotness. The cop clearly was weighing the risk of becoming the star of a viral video that would land him in hot water, versus how much fun it would be to chuck the pigskin around.

 

Eventually, after what feels like an eternity, and I don't even think the cop bblinked once, he looks back at my buddy and says in a smooth John Wayne kind of way, "Go long". buddy takes off running down the street, and the cop just rifles the ball as hard as he can, overthrowing him by about 40 yards.

 

"If I hear any reports of a pedestrian being hit by a car on this street, I'm telling my guys to not respond to the call. Have a good night and be safe boys" the cop said, and he and all the rest of the cops got back into their cruisers and left. 

 

We played street football until the bar staff came out begging us to stop, as they couldn't get the patrons of the bar to leave and they were trying to close down for the night. 

 

It was good times.

 

bblink.

bearpants Veteran

bearpants

Posted
Posted

One Rider fan tried to throw the ball onto the roof of the bar but didn't have the arm strength. Hilarious.

 

I'm surprised to hear you were there.... Chaosmonkey was pretty was pretty diligent in his protecting of identities...

HardCoreBlue Grand Master

HardCoreBlue

Posted
Posted

Don't now what year but getting told to kill my self after one of the games. Also Milts circus catch I think that's the one he broke Pitts receiving TD records on.

Reading this opened another memory. TSN reported that night on Milt now being the all-time CFL TD king. The commentator then looks to his colleague and asks if her story can match his. She says, with no sarcastic look that I could see, she almost can and tells us the Blue-jays have now won four straight . . . 

Dr. Blue Apprentice

Dr. Blue

Posted
Posted

We had shirts made up that said:

 

Roughriders Suck (with an arrow pointing down)

 

 

I took 18 beer cans to the head by half time... Luckily I was wearing a hard hat! 

 

 

Then after the game we were on the field and some Rider chick was trying to grab the flag I had over my shoulder (tied to a hockey stick), I turned around and I guess the stick smacked her in the mouth. Luckily she was a rider fan, so no chiclets were damaged! 

Harbaugh Newbie

Harbaugh

Posted
Posted

Chatting with MOS and Dressler's dad in a hot tub/sauna last year at the hotel Regina was a high point. Right after creating 24 Hunter Pence esque signs aimed at Dressler,

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