Roller-coaster experience scalds Riders at West Edmonton Mall

A roller coaster is an appropriate metaphor for the Saskatchewan Roughriders' season, but on Thursday, an actual roller coaster almost proved disastrous for them. The Regina Leader-Post reports that Saskatchewan players Cary Koch, Shomari Williams, Brent Hawkins and Ikenna Ike were riding the Mindbender roller coaster (which then-Champ Car driver Bjorn Wirdheim is pictured on in 2005 at right) at the West Edmonton Mall Thursday when a child threw hot coffee in their faces:

"I recorded the whole thing and we're screaming - then we get hit with hot coffee,'' Koch said Friday. "We got coffee in our faces. Brent was so mad because he got hot coffee in his mouth. He was infuriated.''

Another civilian in the front of the ride was also hit by the coffee. Hawkins and the man chased after the kid, but weren't able to catch him.

"We ended up getting our money back,'' Koch said. "Brent's hoodie was covered in coffee. It was a good prank and it's pretty funny now.''

It's good that no one was hurt and these guys can laugh about this. There's obviously a humourous mental picture there, considering the size of the Riders involved. Williams is a 232-pound linebacker/defensive lineman and Hawkins and Ike are both defensive linemen listed around 244 pounds. Koch is a more moderately-sized 6'0, 200 pound receiver, but still not the kind of guy most would pick a fight with. For one kid to go after all of them is pretty crazy.

Still, it shouldn't be overlooked that this is quite a troubling incident. Hot drinks can cause serious medical issues, and throwing them at someone else is incredibly stupid and dangerous. Hawkins (pictured, right) got hit in the face, and he could have been severely burned. Moreover, incidents like these might make the CFL think about its security procedures, and might cause its players to reconsider their trips out in public. The vast majority of CFL fans are great in their dealings with players, even those from opposing teams, and that allows the league to have much more interaction between players and fans than you'd find in almost any other professional league. Attacks like this one have the potential to harm that relationship, and that would certainly be unfortunate.

It is quite awesome that several Riders headed to the West Edmonton Mall (the fifth-largest shopping mall in the world!), though. It is a pretty cool place, complete with indoor lake, hockey rink, waterpark and miniature golf amongst other things, and it's definitely one of Edmonton's big tourist destinations. It's funny to see the Riders playing tourist like many of the rest of us in town for the Grey Cup.

Moreover, the roller coaster voyage could absolutely describe Saskatchewan's season, which got off to a stunning start in their Canada Day opener with a 54-51 double-overtime victory over Montreal in a 2009 rematch. It went well for a while at first, found some substantial drops (including season-ending injuries to Luca Congi and Rob Bagg), hit some loopy patches (signing a punter off the beach, getting involved in another controversy when said punter missed a game-winning single attempt, winding up in a firestorm over wearing pink in games), caused us to roll (the revamped Fantuz Flakes), went down a steep drop (their four-game losing streak near the end of the year), and then started to climb again with playoff wins over B.C. and Calgary. We'll have to wait for Sunday if this climb is setting up a climactic exit to the platform to claim the Grey Cup, or if it's preparing them for the biggest drop of all with a loss to Montreal. The Riders will just be hoping the Alouettes don't throw coffee in their faces, though.

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