Mitchell Blair
Many members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders were able to celebrate their first Grey Cup championship on November 25 after beating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 in the championship game and while those celebrations went on, it gave many including receiver Rob Bagg a chance to say thanks and to reap the rewards of a hard-fought journey.
Bagg’s career with the football team has been riddled with injury and earlier this year it seemed like an endless battle to come back from injury had been lost. During the August 17 game against Montreal, Bagg went down on an innocent play holding his knee—a knee that had been surgically reconstructed and had cost him much of the 2012 season and all of the 2011 season. Bagg went off the field that afternoon visibly frustrated with the tears rolling down his face. He, like many others in the Mosaic Stadium crowd that afternoon, thought his season and perhaps his career was done. However, days later a video surfaced of him running the stairs at the stadium and a short time after that, he was told the injury was not as bad as everyone thought. He only missed a couple of games and was a key receiver for Darian Durant down the stretch. Bagg admits his faith was tested.
“I’ve never been one to give up, but when that play happened I walked off the field not knowing what was happening and if my body had let me down.” Bagg said. “I didn’t want it to end that way and when I was told it just a sprain, I don’t know if I’ve ever been so happy. I was so happy I wanted to get back out there for the next game, but the coaches knew and held me back. That was tough.
His tenacity and unwilling desire to let injuries get the best of him is something that really turned the head of teammate Weston Dressler.
“I don’t know what keeps him going at times after everything he has been through, but I do know there is no one who has worked harder in this sport that I have seen than Rob. “Dressler said. He has put in the time and he has put in the effort to get himself back on the field so many times. To see him out there doing his thing and helping us win is very nice to see. It shows you never to give up on your dream because things like this can happen and make everything right.”
As Bagg looks back on what he has gone through, he says it is very rewarding to say he finally got to reach the top of the mountain.
“I truly believe if you work hard and you believe in yourself and you get a little bit of luck, you can succeed. I definitely got lucky, too.” Bagg admits. “The coaching staff and the organization believed in me to keep me around, so that’s lucky. A lot of teams might not have done that, but they did and I’m very appreciative of them. It makes me want to be a Rider for life.
Whether or not Bagg is a Rider for life is something that could change in a few weeks time. It is not known what will happen to the sixth year CFL’er out of Queens. There have been some whispers he could end up with the expansion Ottawa REDBLACKS when they pick from the other team’s rosters in an expansion draft December 16.
Bagg has realized his football future could see him moving East, but its something he doesn’t want to think about it.
“It is in the back of my mind, but I just want to enjoy this first.” Bagg said. “At the end of the day it is a business and players do move on, but I want to be a Rider for life and I want to keep playing for this team and thanking them for the belief they had in me. As far as I am concerned, I am a Rider and I will always be until I put another team’s jersey on. At the end of the day, I hope I am here, but its something I can’t control.”
