Saskatchewan Roughriders placekicker Brett Lauther has a three-point plan.
In 2024, he wants to be on a Grey Cup-winning team and, along the way, help to fill a void at Mosaic Stadium.
At the north end of the facility, tribute is paid to the Roughriders’ four championship editions — those of 1966, 1989, 2007 and 2013.
To the right of “2013,” there are empty spaces that allow for the addition of future championship years.
“I’m sitting here right now and I’m looking at where there’s two open spots to put up other years of a Grey Cup win,” Lauther says while being interviewed in the stadium’s Alumni Lounge.
“Ten or 11 months from now, we could be up here laughing and having the same conversation, with a ring.”
That has been the goal since 2018, when Lauther made his on-field debut with the Roughriders.
“Since I started here, those (four) numbers are something I always look at,” he says. “Those numbers are what I pick when I’m kicking field goals at that end of the stadium.
“If I’m on the left hash, in close, there’s not really a number up there.”
Just the two empty panels.
“I hope we can put one up there so that I can make the 10-yarders on the left hash, facing this way, a lot easier,” he says.
Roughriders President-CEO Craig Reynolds echoes Lauther’s New Year’s resolution, citing a Grey Cup championship as the goal.
Another Reynolds resolution: “Win all the home games.”
And one more: “I tend to be the one who, if I do have a New Year’s resolution, it’s dead within three days. Last year, my resolution was to read more. I started off OK and then I got so busy. I have teenagers now, so it’s even harder. I’m always driving around. It’s like I’m an Uber driver half the time.”
Peter Godber doesn’t go halfway when it comes to resolutions — which, in his case, are long-standing.
“I made a resolution to eat something green — a vegetable — every single day,” the Roughriders’ centre recalls. “It sounds simple, but I started that one five years ago and I’ve carried it on.”
Impressive!
“I take it very seriously,” Godber continues. “One night, I forgot to eat something green, so it was 11 p.m., and I was thinking, ‘Oh, man. I haven’t done this!’ So I had to wake up at night and put spinach in a blender just to say that I had stuck to my New Year’s resolution.
“So I do take the resolutions very seriously. If I put my mind to them, I’ll get them done.”
Jeremy O’Day hopes to emulate Godber.
“The problem is that my New Year’s resolution tends to be the same one every year — to stop snacking so much,” the Roughriders’ Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager says.
“I think a lot of people have the same resolution. It’s just about being a little healthier as my age is creeping up and the kids are getting a little older.”
O’Day, who played for the Roughriders from 1999 to 2010, turns 50 on Aug. 31. By then, he hopes to have shed a few pounds.
“The problem is that I’m an offensive lineman at heart, so it doesn’t get any easier,” he says. “When you’re an offensive lineman, you get to eat as much as you want.
“There’s an adjustment when you’re done playing, for sure. Maybe I’ll eat a little bit healthier and spend a little more time in the gym with our new strength and conditioning coach.”
That would be Dan Farthing. And what is his New Year’s resolution?
“Same one as always,” Farthing replies. “Drink more water!”
To be revisited on Jan. 1, 2025 …
