Labatte family learned to love the Rider Nation
REGINA — When Brendon LaBatte first tried football, he was in the ninth grade, and he wanted to quit. When he was done playing three more years of high school football, he was ready to quit, too. He was a boy from Weyburn, Sask., but neither he nor his family were raised in the faith of Roughriders football. They loved hockey, baseball and stock-car racing. His football-loving grandfather kept him going, and after playing at the University of Regina, LaBatte was drafted by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and his parents were proud. Which was, in a way, a problem.
“I mean, my mom would wear a Blue Bomber coat around town, and she would get all sorts of — not really hurtful (stuff), but there were always jokes and there were always shots being thrown at ’em,” says LaBatte, who will start at left guard for the Roughriders against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 101st Grey Cup on Sunday. “It’s part of it. If you’re in on Rider Nation, that’s great, but if you’re not, you see just how powerful Rider Nation is.” LaBatte’s parents, Laurie and Dale, owned the only Tim Hortons in Weyburn, so, as LaBatte puts it, “they got a lot of people through the doors with something to say.”
When someone calls him the most powerful man in the province, Jim Hopson chuckles and says, “Well, maybe behind the premier,” and you can tell he’s used the line before. He is the president and CEO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a sort of secular Pope, so he’s not wrong.
“You’ve got to remember, we’re the smallest market with a professional sports team in North America, and the history of this province has been boom and bust,” says Hopson, a former Roughriders offensive lineman, who was hired to give the team a more businesslike approach in 2005.
The history of Saskatchewan used to be a history of people leaving, and of the people that stayed. This will only be the third Grey Cup ever held in Regina and the previous two didn’t sell out. This one will. Times have changed.
The Roughriders have become a monster. They are the biggest franchise in the CFL, the most profitable, the beating green heart of the league. Not coincidentally, the province is booming and is not quiet about it. Approximately 100,000 people have moved to Saskatchewan in the last half-dozen years, which is about a 10 per cent increase in population; the potash and oil and natural gas have created boom towns, with all the problems and opportunities that brings.
“I became jealous of Rider Nation, really,” LaBatte says, “I mean, with how crazy and passionate their fans were.” When he signed with the Riders, his parents were a part of the decision. Suddenly they were busy arranging for him to sign things and life at the Tim Hortons was far more congenial, even if it’s hard keeping employees when they can make more money in the oilfields. His parents and grandparents were here to see him accept the trophy as lineman of the year Thursday night. Life is better, all around.
“My dad’s so excited to come up this week and be a part of Rider Nation, and he wants to celebrate with the rest of the province,” LaBatte says. “It’s great when your family gets to share in the joy and be one of the many, instead of one of the outcasts.”