Farewell to Mosaic Stadium on Taylor Field

As I was leaving Mosaic Stadium on Friday afternoon, there was a man on the field not far from where the B.C. Lions were strolling about, getting a feel for the turf.

The man was just staring up into the upper deck admiring the names of the former greats.

I assumed he was with the team as he was dressed in Lions' garb.

It turns out he was actually a Lions' fan from B.C. who made the trip to cheer on his team.

He was looking around the stadium telling me this was his first ever visit to the old place and he had to see it before they tear it down.

"This stadium," he said, "is the CFL."

Funny how it takes a visitor to nail it and put a lump in the throat of a reporter who has been covering the Riders in this stadium for more than three decades.

After more than 600 CFL contests, Mosaic Stadium on Taylor Field will host its final Riders' game Saturday night.

While the successes over the last century have been few and far between, it just made the ones they had pretty special.

No team could ever top what the Riders' had in 2013, winning the Grey Cup on home field in a province where the CFL truly matters.

It would have been fitting to retire the old stadium right there and then. Unfortunately, old Mosaic hosted two more seasons of losing football until new Mosaic, standing just a few hundred metresaway, was ready.

Riders' Centre Dan Clark grew up at old Mosaic, playing his first game on the same field of his heroes when he was 13 years old.

From the Sun Devils in the Regina Minor Football Leaguethrough high school, to junior ball with the Thunder, now with the Riders, Clark has mixed feelings about leaving it.

"I don't know if it's ever time. It's like an old car; you can always go back to it, you're always in love with it, but you look at the new car over there and it's pretty nice." said Clark this week leading up to the final game.

"Its definitely a place where great memories were formed but we're looking to turn the page and start a new chapter."

Darian Durant has had an 11-year love-hate relationship with the stadium, which is wallpapered with a five-storey banner of himself.

He doesn't consider it to be a professional environment where pails are used to catch drips from the ceiling.

He figures the Riders will be taking what made old Mosaic special with them down the street.

"The building wouldn't be anything without the people, the fans that drive from a far and support this team no matter the climate. They're the ones that make this place special. They're the ones that make it tough for other teams to come in here and play. That's what we will miss most about this spot." repeated Durant Friday following their final pre-game walk through.

Former Rider Geroy Simon certainly knows what it's like on the dark side the side of the stadium where the visitors' bench is, the side where players' moms are called very bad names, and if that's the worst of it, they should consider themselves lucky.

Simon, who spent most of his CFL years with the B.C. Lions, has had everything from beer cans to batteries thrown at him at Mosaic on Taylor Field.

But after a starring role with the Riders in the 2013 Grey Cup Game, the future hall of famer's attitude towards the stadium changed.

"For a long time, I never really liked coming to this place. But after playing a season here and really being embraced by the people of Saskatchewan, it's great to come back and to come to the final game. It's going to be really special," said the Lions' ambassador and scout, making sure this was one road trip he didn't miss.

Simon knows more about Mosaic Stadium than most Riders in the lineup Saturday night.

Head Coach and G.M. Chris Jones was efficient removing most sentimental attachments before his first season here and the final one at old Mosaic.

Durant, Clark and Rob Bagg are really the only one's left that are fit to play Saturday.

Bagg is having a tough time figuring out what he can take from his professional home for the last nine years.

Clark is planning on sawing his locker stall from the wall and putting it in his basement, though he figures he probably won't get away with it.

Extra Points:

To make sure they obliterate the record for most players used in a season, the Riders have made a number of changes to the roster for tonight's game.

They may yet hit the 100 mark for players used in one season.

Coprich, Adams, Bates, Boone, Stanford and Millhouse were added to 46-man roster.

Gale, Chambers, McKnight, Craig, Lankford and Greg Jones were dropped.

To take advantage of the energy at the game and a sellout crowd, the Riders will be pretending Saturday's game is a Western Final, because Chris Jones intends on hosting it for real next year.

"If we are fortunate enough to win the west next year, we will have to play one game here and then go on the road (to the Grey Cup) so we're treating these last two games that way."

The Riders' close out the 2016 season next Saturday in Vancouver.