Even though Brent Butt hasn’t been following his beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders closely recently, he knows the green and white need to extend quarterback Cody Fajardo.
“I’m on board with that notion, that much I know,” Butt told 620 CKRM radio in Regina.
https://tdnprod.wpengine.com/2020/12/14/priority-no-1-for-riders-gm-jeremy-oday-is-extending-franchise-qb-cody-fajardo/
Butt has been busy with Corner Gas Animated, which had the third season premier in October. It’s a revival of his famous live-action sitcom Corner Gas. That’s left the 54-year-old very little time to keep up with the Riders goings on.
“The last couple seasons everything has conspired against me to be able to take in Rider games. I’ve been out of the loop Riders-wise for the last couple seasons, I’m unfamiliar with the team and the players. I was getting ready to re-familiarize myself when all this weirdness struck,” Butt said.
COVID-19 caused the 2020 CFL season to be cancelled, which was disappointing for Butt and Canadians across the country. He grew up in the heart of Rider Nation in Tisdale, Sask. and remembers watching games as a young boy on his family’s old 14-inch RCA TV. Both dad and mom were fans of Saskatchewan’s pro football team.
Butt’s favourite player was legendary running back George Reed who played for the Riders from 1963 to 1975. He was a CFL all-star nine times and earned the league’s Most Outstanding Player award in 1965. The Canadian Football Hall of Famer still holds the career rushing touchdowns record with 134.
“I was fascinated, he just seemed like he was impossible to knock down. I was a big superhero nut and he just seemed to me like he was doing things that a normal person wouldn’t be able to do,” Butt said.
“I was very attracted to that notion of him being that powerful and fast — they just didn’t seem to be able to knock him down. He was the guy that I always pretended to be when we were out in the backyard playing football, me and my buddies. I always pretended to be George Reed.”
