ROBSERVATIONS: From Sacramento to Saskatchewan and everywhere in between … a real Barnes-burner … Nailbiters R Us … what’s cooking with Yoshi?

The Sacramento Mountain Lions are long extinct, in a sporting context, but two of their former quarterbacks are highly conspicuous.

Trevor Harris and McLeod Bethel-Thompson will showcase their talents on Saturday in Montreal, where the Alouettes are poised to meet the Saskatchewan Roughriders (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).

The CFL teams’ current starting quarterbacks have a unique history that dates back to 2011, when they were with Sacramento’s entry in the short-lived United Football League.

“I never in a million years would have thought that a decade and a half later, we’d still be playing — let alone against one another in Canada,” Harris marvelled before the Roughriders departed for Montreal.

Harris and Bethel-Thompson actually crossed paths before they became UFL teammates.

“I remember the first time I ever saw McLeod,” Harris recalled, rewinding to the spring of 2011. “It was actually in arena football. He played for the San Jose SaberCats and I played for the Arizona Rattlers.

“We were both backup quarterbacks to arena legends. Their quarterback’s name was Mark Grieb and our quarterback’s name was Nick Davila.

“I remember going out there before the game. I liked watching the other quarterbacks warm up sometimes when I was younger, just to get an idea of, ‘How do I look compared to these guys? Do I belong as a professional?’

“I remember watching McLeod throw the ball — and I couldn’t watch him throw it for very long, because I was getting upset. This guy could throw a football through a car wash and not get it wet.

“He throws the prettiest ball of anybody I’ve seen. It’s just incredible. I remember watching him throw and I was like, ‘OK, I’m not good enough to be a pro. That’s a backup quarterback in arena football. There’s no way I’m good enough to play.’ ”

Fourteen years later, Harris is 11^th on the CFL’s All-Time completions list — 84 shy of Doug Flutie, a six-time recipient of the league’s Most Outstanding Player Award.

Harris and Bethel-Thompson both broke into Canadian professional football with the Toronto Argonauts. Harris made his CFL debut in 2012. Bethel-Thompson trekked northward five years later.

Getting here was the tough part.

Once again, we take you back to Sacramento, California.

Bethel-Thompson and Ryan Colburn saw game action behind centre for the Mountain Lions in 2011. Harris was, in his own assessment, “the third-team guy.”

The UFL’s regular-season schedule initially called for eight games per team. However, the total was pared to six when the league encountered financial issues. The final two weeks of regular-season play were abruptly cancelled.

Harris recalled that the unstable situation resulted in several Mountain Lions players quitting the team, which was coached by former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals field boss Dennis Green.

“Denny said, ‘If you’re going to play in this (next) game, show up to the team meeting,’ ” Harris said. “There were maybe five of us at the meeting — McLeod, myself, and three other guys.

“Denny Green had even said, ‘If you guys ever want me to vouch for you to go back to the NFL, I’d show up to this meeting.’ Almost all the guys were like, ‘Naah, I’m not playing this game for free. This is pro football.’

“I was like, ‘Man, I don’t care. I just want to play pro ball.’ Denny Green was great.”

The same description applies to the Mountain Lions’ featured running back.

“One of my teammates was John David Washington,” Harris said. “I had no idea he was Denzel’s son.

“We were at Bible studies together and just chopping it up. He became one of my good buddies on the team.

“We were just chatting back and forth and one day he said, ‘My pops is coming to the game.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s awesome, man.’ I didn’t react.

“He was like, ‘Do you know who my pops is?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He said, ‘That actually makes me like you more. Some people are just nice to me because of who my dad is.’

“I asked him, ‘Who’s your dad?’ He said, ‘Denzel Washington.’ I said, ‘Stop!’ ”

One fine day, Harris noticed the Hollywood screen legend standing on the sideline at one of the games. An introduction quickly ensued.

“The day I got to meet him, it was pretty cool,” Harris said. “I just shook his hand and told him it was great to meet him.

“He’s also a man of faith, so it was fun to meet him. I’ve listened to him talk quite a few times and he’s very profound in his speeches and the things that he says.”

With that brush with greatness as a life experience, Harris soon returned to his alma mater — Edinboro University in Pennsylvania — following the truncated UFL season.

Harris had been on “hiatus” from his position as a graduate assistant with the Edinboro Fighting Scots football team. Its starting quarterback was Harris’s younger brother, Cody.

Late in the Fighting Scots’ 2011 season, Trevor Harris was contacted by a representative of the Arena Football League’s Orlando Predators. Off he went to Florida the following spring, for more fun and adventure.

“The day of the first game, they cut the entire team and signed a replacement team, because they thought we were going to strike on the field,” Harris said. “We couldn’t even get in the parking garage. It was, ‘Sorry, your parking passes don’t work.’

“So there we were, standing outside the Orlando arena. We’re watching these (replacement players) walking in and carrying their pads. They played the game and we just sat in the stands and watched.

“I drove home that night. I was like, ‘I’m done with pro football.’ ”

The plan at that point, in the spring of 2012, was to hang up the cleats and become a coach.

“Then I got a call from Toronto,” he said. “That was when I felt like God wouldn’t let me sleep. I was like, ‘All right, we’ll run it back one more time and see how this goes.’ ”

Thirteen years later, Harris is one of the CFL’s marquee players.

He has yet to play on the same team as Bethel-Thompson in the CFL ranks, but they nonetheless have had opportunities to reflect upon a brief, but eventful, time as teammates.

“We talk after games for maybe a minute at a time,” Harris concluded, “and in passing we’ll mention, ‘Do you believe it has been that long since Sacramento?’ ”

HAPPY 44^TH!

From the “hopefully this is a good omen” department, let’s take a moment to celebrate the finest of Joe Barnes’ 145 CFL regular-season games.

Barnes threw five touchdown passes to power the Roughriders to a 43-23 victory over the host Alouettes on Aug. 2, 1981 — 44 years ago today.

The flashback is timely, considering that the Green and White (2025 edition) is again in Montreal to oppose the Alouettes on Aug. 2.

Back in August of 1981, Barnes was making his first start against Montreal since being traded by the Alouettes on Aug. 21, 1980. He was acquired for defensive back Al Chorney (whom Saskatchewan selected second overall in the 1979 CFL Draft) and future considerations.

In the 1981 game at Olympic Stadium, Barnes tied Ron Lancaster for the most touchdown passes by a Roughrider in a single game.

Lancaster threw for five scores on Nov. 11, 1963 versus the Calgary Stampeders (playoffs) and July 29, 1966 in Edmonton (regular-season opener).

Tom Burgess tied the record with two five-TD-pass games in 1989.

Kent Austin set the enduring record of six against the B.C. Lions on Sept. 21, 1991 in Vancouver. A month earlier, he had thrown five TD passes against the visiting Lions.

WISDOM FROM WILLOUGHBY

Roughriders season-ticket member and history buff Keith Willoughby routinely contacts this numbers nerd to pass along some nuggets.

His latest e-mail arrived earlier this week. It is reproduced below, thanks to my masterful demonstration of the fine art of cutting-and-pasting.

“Since 1970, the CFL has featured a total of 4,119 regular season games,” wrote Willoughby, whose numbers are as of last Sunday.

“Saskatchewan’s victory over Edmonton was the 835th regular season game since 1970 decided by three points or fewer.
“If Rider Nation ever feels that it has witnessed more than their share of nail-biting games, they are precisely correct.

“Saskatchewan has played a total of 206 ‘three points or fewer’ games since 1970. This is the most of any franchise. Hamilton is next at 199.

“Happily, the three-point victory over Edmonton (on July 25) squared the Roughriders’ record in games settled by three points or fewer at 103-103.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We are pleased to bring you a recent exchange between Head Coach Corey Mace and CKRM’s voice of the Roughriders …

Dave Thomas: “Speaking of community people, Jermarcus Hardrick has been making quite an impression in local kitchens. Many are complimentary of the work that he’s been doing.”

Mace: “From eating?”

Thomas: “No, no … cooking.”

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Craig Smith, Cathy Smith, Brittany Caffet, Albert Awachie, Braydon Noll, Tommy Nield, Scott Clark, Jake Paczko, Amanda Ruller, Dr. Tom Robinson, Len Antonini, Perry Nyhus, Lt. Frank Drebin, Nathaniel Cruz, Rhonda Kerr-White, Wanda Harron, Dave Harron, Peter Godber, Trevor Harris, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Jermarcus Hardrick, Dave Thomas, Keith Willoughby, Joe Barnes and Dr. Simone Becker.