Riders-Bombers rivalry is great but is it time to get rid of the Banjo Bowl name?
Troy Westwood inspired the name after calling Saskatchewan fans 'inbreds'
I can hear the keyboards mashing the words "snowflake" and far worse before I even get to the heart of this lede but it may be time to get rid of the Banjo Bowl name.
The home-and-home games between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the Labour Day weekend and the following weekend are fantastic. That should stay. But marketing the name with an absurd origin may have gone on far too long.
If you don't know the story behind the Banjo Bowl — and a surprising amount of football fans I know don't — it goes like this: Former Winnipeg kicker Troy Westwood said Saskatchewan fans are "a bunch of banjo-picking inbreds".
That's the reason you see promotional tweets like this:
This week is The "Banjo Bowl," but didjaknow how that name first came about?<br><br>We'll if you didn't... <a href="https://t.co/71WQFoS1Ci">pic.twitter.com/71WQFoS1Ci</a>
—@CFLBefore the two teams met in the 2003 West semifinal — which the Riders won 37-21 — Westwood apologized for the comment.
Well, sort of. He said "the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo."
But this isn't about Westwood or shaming him for those more than 10-year-old comments. In fact, Westwood has said many times it was all in fun and that his mother's side of the family is from Regina.
The next season, the game was first branded as the Banjo Bowl. There is even a trophy.
The Banjo Bowl name has been embraced by many Riders fans, including Premier Brad Wall.
Here's a short <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/banjobowl?src=hash">#banjobowl</a> message. <a href="http://t.co/r9oHdnvITW">http://t.co/r9oHdnvITW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/embracethebanjo?src=hash">#embracethebanjo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Riders?src=hash">#Riders</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ridernation?src=hash">#Ridernation</a>
—@PremierBradWallBut can you imagine that happening today and then being branded as a promotion?
Can you imagine if Saskatchewan head coach Chris Jones said it about Winnipeg fans before the game this weekend? The media and social media backlash would be relentlessly negative. There would be calls for fines and demands for an apology.
It's highly unlikely the CFL would use the quote as a promotion in its tweets.
When rivalries go too far
The fan bases of the Bombers and Riders have always chirped each other, but there has also been a long-standing respect for the two smaller-market teams.
I have been to every Labour Day Classic since 2007. Not once have I interacted with a rude, violent, or disrespectful Bombers fan. There are plenty of people like that who support both teams, but I've always seen and participated in shaking hands, hugs, even kisses. It's the magic of the CFL.
However, it appears things are escalating. A few examples happened last week, when Rider receiver Duron Carter claimed a Winnipeg fan spit on him. There were also claims that a Bombers fan tried to rip off the head of the Roughriders' mascot, Gainer the Gopher.
Last year, a Winnipeg mother said Blue Bomber fans lashed out and poured beer on her nine-year-old son for wearing a green sweater to the Banjo Bowl game.
On the often hateful haven that is social media, you can also find plenty of examples of offside comments inspired by the Banjo Bowl name.
Last week, one Bombers fan tweeted a photo of a young Riders fan holding up a sign upside-down. The tweet read: "The product of incest".
Another Winnipeg fan said "There's so much incest in #GameofThrones, the characters should be wearing Saskatchewan Roughriders merch."
While I love a good Game of Thrones reference, this is certainly not the kind of fan engagement the CFL is looking to promote. By calling the game the Banjo Bowl, the league is doing just that.
Don't get me wrong here: Plenty of Saskatchewan fans say the same things about Winnipeg fans. That doesn't make it any better.
In a time where people are more and more divided, unwilling to budge on any argument, and when sports outsiders see fandom as a waste of time and a detrimental distraction, it seems counterproductive to market a comment calling an entire province inbreds.
The game is once again sold out this year, so obviously it's worked in terms of fuelling the rivalry. You'll also find plenty of Saskatchewan fans strumming banjos in the crowd.
But despite all that, I'm not sure handing out a trophy inspired by calling my home province and its residents "banjo-picking inbreds" is something to be celebrated.
That said, I look forward to the Labour Day rematch.
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