Loving the great indoors at a new outdoor stadium.
There I was in Mosaic Stadium’s plush press box, all alone — and not just because of my cologne/weed-killer.
Ryan Pollock, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ director of media relations and football communications, kindly informed me during the team’s June 10 CFL pre-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that the press box would remain open for two hours after the final gun.
Two hours elapsed. Nobody kicked me out, even though the Riders had three kickers in camp. There wasn’t a hint of a security person, so I stuck around.
The column was written. An online story was written. Another column was written.
All emails were answered.
Ditto for Facebook messages.
Text messages, too.
I invented every possible reason to hang around the new stadium until the only remaining option was to write poetry.
At that point, I simply shamed myself out of the $278-million pigskin palace.
I then began counting down the days/ hours/minutes/seconds until the Roughriders’ first regular-season game in their new home.
That long-awaited, once-unimaginable event is to be held Saturday, when Winnipeg will once again pay a visit.
This time, there will be more bells, more whistles, more everything. And the result will count.
How often is there a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle?
The youngest fans will likely be around for Mosaic Stadium 3.0, but 12 out of 10 experts have declared that this scribbler will not be around 50 years from now.
(But if I do make it to 103 and have to put out the birthday candles with a fire extinguisher, feel free to point out the error. I will give you an extra piece of cake. Deal?)
For the longest time, I thought that Taylor Field would always be part of the picture, somehow. It was all I knew. I liked it that way.
Then came 2007, when Kent Austin, Eric Tillman and Kerry Joseph ignited something in the Rider Nation.
The team has always had a fervent fan base, but the enthusiasm reached new heights 10 years ago as the Roughriders surged toward the third Grey Cup championship in franchise history.
Roughriders tickets were suddenly scarce. Sellouts became a given. Stadium-related discussion intensified.
By 2013, when the Roughriders celebrated a landmark home-field Grey Cup victory, the new stadium was under construction on Evraz Place.
Even so, it never seemed entirely real.
Were my eyes deceiving me?
Was that, in fact, a new stadium? Apparently so.
Visiting the new edifice has quickly become a matter of routine. I have frequented the facility for media availabilities, Roughriders practices and ticket purchases.
And that’s another thing. The new ticket office is expansive and welcoming. The other day, I planted myself in a comfy chair and answered emails (notice a trend here?) after purchasing some game tickets for my wife Chryssoula, who has requested anonymity.
I am old enough to remember when the Roughriders sold tickets in a small outlet near The Bay, on Rose Street.
It used to seem like a big deal when ticket prices began to flirt with $10. Now the facility fee is $12.
Yeah, I’m getting old.
I doubt that the same will ever apply to the latest version of Mosaic Stadium.
It still has that new-stadium smell — despite my regular appearances on the premises.
"(The stadium) is first-class — from the tile in the showers to the paint on the walls ... everything,” Roughriders quarterback Kevin Glenn said after a recent practice. “The chairs and the desks and the meeting rooms are first-class. So when you walk in here, you feel blessed to be in a situation like this and to play in a stadium like this. It’s awesome.”
So is the renewed Confederation Park, which is to open for Saturday’s game.
Another sign of age: I can recall the days, so long ago, when Confederation Park was a popular gathering spot on weekends.
There was a bandstand, where my father (Alan Vanstone) would often perform with a musical group of some description. I used to sit on the stage while Dad’s big band was playing. Or, I would run around the park and annoy people.
Nearly a half-century later, I am still annoying people — it’s an art — but so much has changed.
Taylor Field is to be (to use the euphemism of the day) decommissioned.
The football-watching environs have improved to the point where the paying public can now marvel at the wonder that is a stateof-the-art cup-holder.
Personally, I will enjoy the elevators — please note the plural — and luxuries such as padded swivel chairs, air conditioning and, best of all, stadium personnel who overlook my post-game tenancy in the press box.
I hope the secret never gets out.