Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

With Saskatchewan’s population recently surpassing one million, Marcus Crandell knows how many people could be watching the progress of the Roughriders’ new starting quarterback and the CFL team’s new head coach, Ken Miller.

“Probably a million and one,” Crandell said Friday, one day before he leads the Roughriders into their 2008 season opener against the visiting Edmonton Eskimos.

“They’re going to be watching this team. They’ll be out there supporting this team, not just seeing how I’m going to do. They’re here to see the Riders.”

Crandell became the Roughriders’ starter after Kerry Joseph, last year’s outstanding player in the CFL, was dealt in an offseason trade to the Toronto Argonauts. Miller became Saskatchewan’s head coach after Kent Austin, the CFL’s coach-of-the-year, left the Grey Cup-winning team to coach at the University of Mississippi.

“I haven’t been able to sleep this week,” said Miller. “There is excitement. I’ve been asked about butterflies. Certainly I have those. Sometimes I have a tendency to be a little more stern or grumpy or short, those kinds of things, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those traits come out soon.

“I think there will be a couple million (watching us) when you consider the fans across the country. I think there are a lot of people interested in the Riders and how they’re going to fare.”

Indeed, there’s typically huge interest in the Roughriders, primarily inside the province but also scattered throughout the country and points further. It could get mind-boggling to the main characters, if they stopped to ponder the situation.

Read More….