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REGINA -- Loudest crowd in history?
Gene Makowsky, the Saskatoon native and veteran of 15 seasons with Gang Green, and Eddie Davis, a nine-year Riders star and 15-year CFL veteran, predict as much.
"This game will be," Makowsky said.
"I didn't think it could be any louder here than it was in 2007. But now, there's no reason to think it won't go up.
"There's no other atmosphere like Mosaic Stadium," added the 36-year-old CFL all-star offensive lineman. "Labour Day is a special atmosphere here. But playoffs are that much higher, and this being the first home final since 1976 makes it even more special. Hopefully, we'll give them lots to cheer about."
"It's really going to be crazy," said defensive back Davis.
"Two weeks ago for the first-place game against Calgary, it was pretty close to the way it was here in '07.
"This will be louder," he added of the first playoff home game in 19 years.
"This will be the craziest it's ever been. It'll be ridiculous. And I have the expectation we'll see a lot of streakers."
Just about every team in sports loves to trumpet the idea they've got the greatest fans in the world.
In the CFL, only one team can do that.
It's no contest.
The watermelon-headed horde which follows the Saskatchewan Roughriders lead the league in being not just ticket buyers to Riders games here and on the road but in being a factor.
"You have to say they are a factor in the game," said Calgary Stampeders head coach John Hufnagel.
Everyone knows the legion of Rider Priders who live around the country buy billboards in other cities like the one this year in Edmonton informing Eskimo fans, "We'll save a section for you," before a game which produced the largest crowd of the season in the CFL at 62,517.
There have been times where there have been so many of them and they've been so loud and so proud players have suggested they stole home-field advantage from them.
But you have to experience a game here in Regina to understand its full effect.
"We appreciate our fans and the intelligent noise they make," said Riders head coach Ken Miller going into today's West Division final against Hufnagel's Stampeders.
"They know what's going on," Miller continued. "They make a lot of noise at the appropriate times, and they are silent at the appropriate times.
"They truly are the 13th man, and the players feed off them. We're happy to have them."
The Eskimos annually lead the league in attendance, and the Stampeders -- with the extra end zone seats in place for the Grey Cup this year -- came a close second this season.
But both teams employ sideline announcers extorting the fans to make noise when the visiting team is in the huddle and heads to the line of scrimmage.
They don't do that here.
The fans know. They'd be insulted by a loud-mouth disc jockey screaming on the P.A. system or to see the word 'NOISE!' being flashed across the stadium video board.
"We are blessed with fans who don't need that prompting," Miller said.
"I love these fans. They are very cerebral," added Roughriders defensive lineman Stevie Baggs.
Said Stampeders defender Wes Lysack, "They're pretty smart football people. They won't get very loud when we're out there."
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA