Saskatchewan threatens national unity?

If you aren't convinced about the folly in Michael Ignatieff's call to formally recognize a Quebec "Nation", check out the mediocy in the nation's sports pages surrounding 'Rider Nation'. The runaway consensus of the Canada's sports media is that on the current road to the Grey Cup, only one team that matters, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and that somehow the aspirations of 'Rider fans must to be accommodated for the current CFL season to be regarded as successful:

"If the Saskatchewan Roughriders can find a way out of the West Division, Winnipeg won't have a problem selling those 8,000 remaining Grey Cup tickets."
-Glen Suitor, TSN

"These playoffs will only be interesting if someone else besides the BC Lions can make an impact."
-Allan Maki, The Globe & Mail

"The league needed this."
-Chris Walby, CBC Sports, after the 'Riders victory over Calgary yesterday

Media talking heads insisting that a 'Nation' be accommodated for the good of everyone else. Where have we heard that before, and where has it led us?

The national media treated the Calgary Stampeders barring of 'Rider mascot "Gainer" the Gopher from the McMahon Stadium sidelines as a major controversy, when in fact, Gainer would have permitted to root from the stands, as opposed to being run over the Stampeders touchdown horse or a TV camera while wandering the unfamiliar sideline. After Saskatchewan's 30-21 victory yesterday, 'Rider coach Danny Barrett referred to Gainer as an integral part of 'Rider Nation'.

Never let the facts get in the way of compelling mythology: where have we heard that before?

This page is sick of 'Rider Nation', 'Leafs Nation', 'Red Sox Nation', 'Italia Nation' (World Cup '06 edition, as opposed to the actual nation of Italy) ... The point is, being a 'nation' doesn't mean you get to dictate terms to the home team (even if an inordinate number of Canada's sports media cut their teeth in Saskatchewan), it doesn't make you superior, it doesn't let you rewrite the rules of the game, and it doesn't mean you're entitled to all the attention, no matter how many of you there are or how loud you're yelling. If Canadians could be as obsessed about ideas as we are about identities, maybe this would be a 'nation' worth living in.