Courtesy Leader Post:

Saskatchewan Roughriders home games used to generate less of a buzz than a Big Tiny Little concert.

Eight years ago, for example, the Riders drew fewer than 20,000 spectators to all but one of their regular-season home games. As recently as 2001, there were four sub-20,000 gatherings.

During those seasons, and others, people actually looked insulted if you had the audacity to offer them free Riders tickets. (They would accept Slim Whitman cassettes and Enron shares, but the threatened infliction of football tickets elicited venomous responses.)

Granted, the aforementioned editions of the Roughriders were losing teams. So how do you explain the summer of 1993? With Kent Austin throwing passes to Ray Elgaard, Jeff Fairholm and Don Narcisse — and with Don Matthews coaching — Saskatchewan attracted sparse crowds of 17,566 and 18,212 to its first two regular-season home games.

Fast forward to 2007. Sellouts have become commonplace. When tickets to the Roughriders’ first home playoff game since 1988 went on sale to the general public on Monday, every available seat was devoured within a half-hour.

“If the Roughriders were selling tickets to jump off the SGI Building, people would do that,” a friend, who has requested anonymity, marvelled at a local doughnut emporium on Thursday. “That’s the grip they have on people.”

Following our yak session, we walked to the parking lot. A Roughriders licence plate was conspicuous on the front of my friend’s vehicle. Soon after he drove away, the parking spot was filled by a green-blooded motorist whose Roughriders car flag was on display.

On Friday, I spilled food on the exalted Bob Hughes over lunch. While en route from Taylor Field (or whatever the facility is called this week) to meet Mr. Hughes at Boston Pizza’s south location, I spotted four Roughriders car flags.

Meanwhile, back at the stadium, only a precious few tickets remained for today’s home date with the Toronto Argonauts.

An anticipated sellout would be the Roughriders’ sixth in succession — and their eighth of 2007, including the home preseason game and the aforementioned Nov. 11 collision with Henry Burris and the Calgary Stampeders.

Honestly, have you ever seen anything like this?

“This is something that has been consistent by our fans the whole year,” said Austin, the Riders’ first-year head coach. “It has been an absolute awesome environment for the players and coaches. To come out here and have a packed stadium and have the support that we have is a huge boost for us.”

Fan hysteria isn’t anything new, of course, given the rabid nature of Rider Priders. However, the sustained enthusiasm does provide cause to marvel.

The Roughriders have not strung together sellouts so routinely since 1982, when the team averaged 28,103 spectators per home game. The turnout also exceeded Taylor Field’s seating capacity in 1981, when an average of 27,828 customers watched Joey Walters & Co. make spectacular plays.

Back then, the Roughriders were selling a fresh approach and an exciting team. The public embraced general manager Jim Spavital and head coach Joe Faragalli following the 2-14 seasons of 1979 and 1980 (although it should be emphasized that Spavital and Faragalli benefited from the foresight of Ron Lancaster and the nucleus he established.)

For this antiquated football follower, the 2007 Roughriders are somewhat reminiscent of the 1981 edition. The latter team did not qualify for the playoffs, barely missing out with a 9-7 record, but its performance was a tonic after the chronic losses of the preceding two years.

Entering this season, the Roughriders had also plateaued — albeit at a higher level. Three successive 9-9 seasons cemented the notion that the Roughriders would be mired in mediocrity as long as GM Roy Shivers and head coach Danny Barrett were in power.

Shivers was deposed in August of last year. Shivers’ successor, Eric Tillman, severed ties with Barrett following the 2006 campaign. Tillman proceeded to hire Austin, who is a mortal lock for CFL coach-of-the-year honours as a result of his team’s 12-5 slate.

“You know,” the learned Mr. Hughes said as I burped, “it really is amazing what Austin has done with this team.”

The players are buying into Austin’s philosophy. The fans are buying tickets at an unprecedented pace. And with the playoffs looming, the craziness is only beginning.

Unbelievable …