By Mike Abou-mechrek, Special to the Leader Post
On Sunday afternoon, the Regina Riot kicked off its third season in the Western Women's Canadian Football League against the Manitoba Fearless.
The Riot is looking to improve on its second-place finish in 2012 and spent the off-season cleaning house. There's a new man in charge (head coach Darren Fisher), a new offensive coordinator (Jack Upshall), a new defensive co-ordinator (Chunky Adams) and, least importantly, a new stadium announcer (me).
When I accepted the role, I never realized how much went into being a head stadium announcer. The toughest part was announcing the play immediately after the play ended. I'd barely know who had the ball let alone who made the tackle and how many yards were gained or lost.
I've played in a lot of big games over my career - two Vanier Cups, two Grey Cups and even a Toronto High School B final - and I can honestly say that in 20 years of playing and more than 25 years of watching Super Bowls on TV, I have never, ever paid more attention to any game than I did to that game on Sunday afternoon.
As a player, as soon as I came off the field, I would head straight to the bench. The O-line would have an area of the bench sectioned off where we would meet to discuss strategy - what was working well, how we could make things better - and, most importantly, where we could rest.
I had no idea what our defence was (or wasn't) doing. I was confident that those players would do their jobs to the best of their abilities and as quickly as possible (there's something about defensive players; they just don't like staying on the field). My job was to recover both physically and mentally and be ready to go back out and help score some points.
In the first quarter Sun-day, I thought I may have bitten off more than I could chew. There were so many names and numbers to keep track of while I was trying to watch a football game on a long-overdue beautiful spring afternoon.
It wasn't until the second quarter that a few of the Riot players started to help me out a bit. I'm sure they could tell I was struggling by how I was pronouncing some of the names.
With the help of No. 24 (Adrienne Zuck) and No. 53 (Emma Hicks), I got into my announcing groove. Assisted by their defensive teammates, two of every three tackles were made by 24 or 53. And I don't know how well they get along off the field but they didn't seem to like each other on the field much because on this one play in the third quarter they refused to share the ball carrier and almost snapped the Fearless rusher in two.
Zuck also helped me out on kick and punt returns too, as I was even able to start counting return yards. I was rarely correct but I found that if you say anything with conviction the crowd will roar ... or riot.
Quarterback Aimee Kowalski stole the show on offence and Claire Dore helped out on the other end of her passes, but Mallory Starkey and Carmen Agar carried the offensive load on the ground. I'm sure everyone in the Riot organization was happy to have Chantel Morrison come in and take some fourth-quarter reps away from the Dynamic Duo.
That brings me to the most important part of being head stadium announcer: Coming up with clever nicknames and creative tones and cadences to say a player's name over the PA system or to announce an occurrence in the game. Something like "Pass complete to No. 26 Courtneeeeeeey Taflemayer for a Regina Riot first dooooooown!!!!"
OK, maybe announcing doesn't translate well into the printed word, but with names like Aimee (Killer) Kowalski, Carmen Aye-Gaaaar and Becky WALLis, I had a lot to work with.
Whatever I come up with, it will have to be quick as the Riot has a quick turnaround: It plays host to the 2012 WWCFL-champion Saskatoon Valkyries on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium. The Riot has had this date circled on its calendar since losing to the Valkyries last season.
The game promises to be a barn-burner ... and hopefully the weather continues to follow suit.
See you at the game.
(I value your feedback at Mike.Abou-Mechrek@InvestersGroup.com)
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