Plaza of Honour Inductees Missing a ‘Doubles’
Published: Friday, Jul 21st 2023, 12:07am
By Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)
Earlier today, the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced their 2023 inductees for the Plaza of Honour. First, I will say that the team nailed it with the induction of the late Wendy Kelly. She clearly bled green and white, so for her to be the first female inducted into the Plaza is very fitting. She deserves to go into the Plaza, a very strong choice and hopefully it won’t take so long for some of the other wonderful women who have played pivotal roles with the Riders to be inducted as well.
Now, I knew this year the 2013 Grey Cup team would be inducted. The previous 3 Grey Cup teams are in already and with the team already saying they were going to honour the ’13 team at Legends Night later this season, it was a given they’d be put in. But it really just feels like a cop out that could have been saved for another time. This year, one man from that team should be going in, not the whole team.
Of course I’m referring to the QB of that team, Darian Durant. Technically, he gets in this way, but it’s not right. He should be honoured on his own. It makes me sad that the team couldn’t find a way to smooth things over with Darian over the years following his departure from the team in 2017. Yes, things were so bad between the organisation and Durant that he wouldn’t even answer phone calls from anyone with a 306 number. Hopefully, with him just being in Saskatchewan for the Ag in Motion event, things have gotten better and steps were made to mend fences and DD WANTS to come back to Sask once in a while. I really hope that Durant comes back for this event, because it just won’t be the same without him. He did hint that he would like to be back in Regina for it, so hopefully that does happen.
The 2013 team does not win without Durant. Fact. They don’t get to the West Final (or Grey Cup) to see Kory Sheets go wild and set rushing records. I’ve never seen a player take over a game of that importance and carry his team like I did with Durant in the West Semi-Final against the Lions. He willed that team to the comeback win and propelled them to the ‘ship. And no one in the last 30 years has taken as much crap from Rider fans than Durant did. The fact he stuck around and rewarded Rider Nation with their greatest moment is truly incredible… and it’s a shame he isn’t getting into the Plaza on his own.
Sure, we’ll have Neal Hughes, Chris Getzlaf, Dan Clark & Mike McCullough (and more) in attendance (and it will be lovely), but it’s not enough. So, PLEASE, Saskatchewan Roughriders, PLEASE find a way to enshrine Durant. #4 deserves his own day, his own celebration. Maybe that day will come in the near future, but it should have been done for this year.
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