Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo is an emotional guy.
The Rider signal-caller was so overjoyed for the 2021 season-opening ‘Bring ‘Em Out’ entrance that some of those emotions came out just moments before he took the field for Saskatchewan’s Week 1 victory over the B.C. Lions.
“I started tearing up in the tunnel when I was running out to the game and could hear the crowd.” admits the sophomore starting QB.
“It was one of those emotional roller coasters where you’re tearing up because you’re so excited but then you’ve got to go play and guys are trying to take your head off. Just trying to manage the emotions, but a good first week win.”
Fajardo shared that a text message from his wife before the game calmed him down as one of his biggest challenges pre-game has been to settle down.
His emotions were on display once again after the game, following his final knee to sound the gun on the Roughriders 33-29 win. It was clear to see with Fajardo pumping his fist and egging on the Mosaic Stadium capacity crowd of 33 thousand-plus in attendance and hundreds of thousands watching from home on TSN.
“I think it was the emotions of the crowd. The nail-biter of a CFL game. Really just finding a way to win at home early on in the season builds character for the team,” Fajardo explained.
“It was just really emotional because thinking back 18 months, thinking of this first game and to be able to win in front of a sold-out Mosaic was pretty special to me and definitely now that I think about it, it was a top five game in my mind, for sure, in my career.”
The start of the Canadian Football League season was a tear-jerker for a lot of us just to see three-down football back again after missing it for more than a year-and-a-half.
The fact that Fajardo got just as emotional about the return to CFL football as the fans did can do him no harm and will almost certainly add to his popularity on the prairies.
