EPIC FAIL: What do the Riders and Joe Clark Have in Common?

Saskatchewan’s heartbreaking defeat last night to the Montreal Alouettes in the “less than last second” brought me to thinking this morning about a strange historical comparison between another Western Canadian and another Montrealer.

After considering the game in the bag after Montreal missed the field goal required to overcome it’s 2-point deficit, the Riders were defeated by a redo closer to the goal-line. Why? Because somebody failed to count and had an extra player on the field. This tiny mishap cost the Riders a game that until then, they had deserved to win. Montreal won fair and square, but the nature of the win must make this a bitter pill to swallow for many on the praries right now.

A few decades ago, another Westerner – Joe Clark – failed to count how many MPs of each party were sitting in the House of Commons during a vote of no confidence in his government. In this case it was too few men on the field, but history was just as cruel. Montrealer Pierre Trudeau ended up winning – fair but perhaps bitterly square – the subsequent election.

Mistakes happen, as do other obnoxiously odorous substances.

Note: I promise all Saskatchewan fans that I will never compare their team with Joe Clark again.