Rider Pride / "Get Together"

All four GX94 teams are in action tonight.

Yorkton Terriers (3-0) @ Estevan Bruins (0-4)

Nipawin Hawks (1-3) @ Melville Millionaires (2-0)

Swan Valley Stampeders (0-2-0-1) @ Wayway Wolverines (1-0)

I won't see either game tonight... I'll be in Regina at my first and probably only Rider game of the year as Saskatchewan welcomes the B.C. Lions tonight at 7:30.

If you're a hockey parent from out of town who reads this blog, you may be confused as to why we never broadcast Saturday night games. You probably wouldn't believe it if I told you. You have to be FROM this area (East Central SK/West Central MAN) to understand.

But, I'll tell you anyway. Every Saturday night, from 8:00 to Midnight, we air the "Saturday Night Get Together." It's a 4 hour show of nothing but old time POLKA music. The show is as old as the radio station and people in the area LOVE it. They get to call in requests for songs like "Who Stole the Kolbasa" and "The Oklahoma Polka." I kid you not. Anyway, in the past, before I got here, GX94 tried to broadcast some Saturday games, and let's just say it didn't go over well. Hate mail, threatening phone calls, the whole bit. Come playoff time, however, we broadcast as many games as possible, pretty much every night, home, away, even... Saturdays. And even then, the phone calls come. "Nobody cares about this hockey! We want the Get Together!" It's generally elderly people who call, but it's not just elderly people who listen. I've been told you can walk through campsites in the middle of summer and find 16-25 year olds sitting around a fire and drinking, with the Get Together pounding in the background. Do I wish I could do some games on Saturdays? Yeah. But on the other hand, not too many sports guys can say they get every Saturday night off. I can. Very few Fridays though. I've had a few conversations about these Saturday games with out of town people. Usually go something like this:

"Oh, big Yorkton/Humboldt game tonight, you doing it?"

"No, it's Saturday."

"So?"

"We have the Get Together."

"The what? What the ****'s the Get Together?

"Uh, it's a 4-hour Polka show."

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

They don't understand. Neither did I before I moved here. I still don't to some degree, but radio's all about the listeners... so basically, don't mess with the Get Together.

I'm not ripping the Get Together, or Ukrainians or anything like that. I'm marrying a Ukrainian girl next summer, and I love perogies and cabbage rolls. This is not me complaining, it's me explaining it to parents in Alberta or B.C. or Eastern Manitoba, etc, who have kids playing for our teams and never get to hear games on Saturdays when they almost always play on Saturdays.

And if you're thinking, "Gee, I've never heard of this 'Get Together'"maybe you'd like to listen! www.gx94radio.com . Now every Saturday night you can have that playing while you follow your scores on www.sjhl.ca or www.mjhlhockey.ca !

So that's why tonight's Yorkton @ Estevan game's not on tonight. Thanks for reading! Go Riders!