Grey Cup to spend Christmas with the Tamans
Brendan Taman is dreaming of a Grey Christmas.
The Saskat chewan Roughriders’ general manager will have a special passenger in his vehicle on the road to Saskatoon where he plans to surprise his family with the Grey Cup today.
Taman will be staying with his parents and siblings over the holidays, and he can’t wait to show them what he brought home for Christmas.
“It’s going to be pretty cool,” said Taman.
Given how busy managing a CFL team can get for Taman, the holidays serve as a welcome time to relax with family.
“I don’t get a chance to spend a lot of time with them because of the high intensity and involvement of time and whatnot in the football business. So to have it with them during Christmas, it’s pretty special.”
Taman doesn’t plan on parading the Grey Cup down the streets of Saskatoon. Instead it’ll spend most of its time at home with the family.
“It’ll probably be on the kitchen table more than anything,” said Taman.
The CFL prefers that the winning team keep the Grey Cup within the province; it has been making the rounds as each member of the team has a chance to spend some quality time with the trophy.
Besides being the guest of honour at a wedding social attended by slotback Chris Getzlaf, Taman said the Cup has been to schools, linebacker Mike McCullough’s preferred meat shop, the Cornwall Centre’s food court and possibly Dairy Queen.
“If you hear a rumour that there’s been a Blizzard eaten out of it, it’s true,” Taman said.
Taman said the most commonly asked question of whoever is spotted with the Grey Cup is, “Is that the real one?” And it most certainly is.
Being the GM of the Riders has its advantages, which Taman admits may have had something to do with him being able to take home the Cup for Christmas.
Although it has been a month since the team won the CFL championship, Taman said the excitement at the Riders’ office hasn’t died down. Still, the reality of the team’s accomplishment is hard to take in when one is staring at their prize resting comfortably in the passenger seat of a vehicle.
“It’s such a hard thing to win in our end of the business, so the real surreal thing is when you’re driving with it and you look over to your right and it’s sitting right there,” he said.
But the Cup is kept on a tight schedule. Taman has to return it by Boxing Day.
So when someone has recently won the Grey Cup, what do you possibly get him for Christmas?
“I’m usually hard to buy for anyway, but in this case I don’t know what you could do,’’ Taman said. “Quite frankly, I wouldn’t want to be in that position.”