We take you now into the heart of a Rider. A heart that will never quite beat the same again.
Clements-to-Gabriel is no longer their worst-ever nightmare.
Now it's the too-many-men penalty, forever etched in the melon of every Rider fan cursed to live through Grey Cup 2009.
Like stories of the Great Depression, this will be passed from father to son, mother to daughter, grandparent to child.
It is to Rider Nation what the Bill Buckner play is to a Boston Red Sox fan.
And if you lived it, standing on the Saskatchewan sideline during the 97th Grey Cup, as Brendan Taman did, well, you died it, too.
Taman, the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber GM who joined the Riders front office this season, was looking for his first Grey Cup ring in 23 years of working in the CFL.
Through most of Sunday's contest against Montreal, it appeared his drought would finally come to a merciful end.
"We were winning," Taman, sitting in the Calgary airport, was saying yesterday. "And I thought, wow, this might be good. If I can get this one win, I can look back and think, damn, I got a ring."
But 27-11 became 27-19.
"I still thought it was pretty good," Taman said. "And then we were up by two, and I still thought we were pretty good. Not that I was confident."
Maybe he remembered 2001, when his 14-4 Bombers were huge Cup favourites but lost to 8-10 Calgary.
Then again, '07 would be fresher in his mind. That's the year the Bombers, with starting quarterback Kevin Glenn on the sidelines with a broken arm, lost a close one to the Riders.
Something always goes wrong, it seems.
And as the Alouettes drove the field one last time, Sunday, Taman began to feel his third chance slipping away.
Then came the missed field goal by Als kicker Damon Duval -- with no time on the clock.
Taman wasn't fooled.
"I saw the flags right away," he said. "And I saw where they were thrown. I knew he'd missed it, but I didn't really care, because I knew what was coming. I thought, 'You've gotta be kidding me.' "
When the too-many-men call was made and Duval lined up for his second chance, Taman had seen enough. He started walking to the locker-room.
"Then I stopped, watched the kick, and I saw the ball go up... I didn't even see it go through. I just walked in.
"It's hard to explain. It's like shock. It's more like, 'What just happened?' than anything. Had he made the first one it might be easier to stomach. That's just football. But when he misses it and then that schmozzle happened, it's like, holy mackerel."
The scene in the locker-room minutes later might be the thing that sticks with Taman the most.
"That was the most range of emotions you'd ever see in a life," he said.
"Some guys were vomiting in the bathroom. Some guys were yelling and screaming. A lot of guys were crying. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen."
Nobody feels sicker than special teams coach Kavis Reed.
"He's beating himself up," Taman said. "You can replay so many things, and it's just going to beat you up even more."
Now 0-for-3 in title games, including one of the most bizarre finishes, ever, Taman says he's starting to think it's just not meant to be.
"I said that about 300 times. This one is like, we won it. We had won it. And we lost it. With no time on the clock. I don't recall ever being involved in a game you led the whole game and you lose with nothing left on the clock. Let alone a bonus play."
Let alone a Grey Cup.
"That'll sting you for the rest of your life," Taman said. "If I ever do get a ring, god-dang it's gonna be sweet. And I'm saying 'if,' because I really do have my doubts after what just happened."
Contact Paul at paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca or 632-2788.
