Storage & Organization up to 60% OFF!
Plus, a FREE Gift! | Details Here.
Plus, a FREE Gift! | Details Here.
Cheers
Be the first to cheer this project!
Give a Cheer
Be the first to cheer this project!
Give a Cheer
In the U.S. you have Watergate. In Saskatchewan, Canada, we have “Gophergate”. ;) A mock scandal erupted last fall when our provincial football team made it to the Canadian Football League's semi-finals and the opposing team BANNED our mascot, Gainer the Gopher, from attending the game. Had lots of fun with the goofy photo captions on this one. The quotes from the premier (shown in the small right-hand photo) are all real – he happened to be in town during all this for an announcement, and I had my tape recorder and microphone there, so I asked him for his thoughts on “Gophergate”. Credit for the gopher watching TV photo goes to filmmaker friends of mine, although I doctored it to look like something printed on newsprint. Full journalling:When the Calgary Stampeders announced that Gainer the Gopher, mascot for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, would be banned from attending the Nov. 4, 2006 Grey Cup western semi-final game of the Canadian Football League, the cries of outrage – and mockery – that greeted the news were soon reverberating across the country. Fans booed, media outlets clambered all over themselves to get “exclusive” reactions from players and Riders execs, and soon the tail was wagging the dog all the way to the Legislatures of both provinces. The Saskatchewan Party claimed that the fact that Calgary was afraid of the Riders’ mascot’s influence was proof that far too many Saskatchewanians have migrated to Alberta. Alberta premier Ralph Klein issued an official press release legitimizing the need for “pest control”, especially of rodents who might damage fields. The Stampeders tried desperately to do some damage control of their own, offering to let Gainer sit in the stands, which the Riders refused. Fans announced a campaign to fill the stands with Gainer puppets. And two days before the game, with Premier Lorne Calvert up in La Ronge for a natural gas announcement, he gave me his thoughts on “Gophergate”: “Number one, banning Gainer from McMahon Stadium is not just dumb, it’s the definition of dumb. What this has done of course is just to re-energize the Saskatchewan fans.Number two, why is it that the Calgary Stampeders are so frightened of a big gopher that doesn’t wear pants? Number three, rodents have a way of multiplying VERY quickly. If they think that Gainer will not be at McMahon Stadium, there may be a host of little Gainers all over the place.And number four, the Calgary Stampeders have a tradition where when they score a touchdown, on the rare occasion they ever do, they have a horse that runs around the field.And when we score a touchdown, as we often do, Gainer makes the track around the field.You know what? We never have to pick up after Gainer.That’s my view about that.
No products have been added to this project.
Thanks for spreading positivity!
