With the Stampeders, I get to experience the Calgary-Edmonton rivalry. When I was at Ohio State, I got to experience the rivalry with Michigan.

That’s the best rivalry in college football ever — thee Ohio State against Michigan, man. I don’t care about USC-UCLA or about any of those. When it’s rivalry weekend, Ohio-State is the first one that’s on TV, the first one that everybody sees.

There’s so much hype for that game in the week leading up to it. Everybody is talking trash back and forth. Everywhere you go, fans are yelling, “Let’s go, you’ve got to win this game.”

If you lose every game during the year and then beat Michigan, we’ve had a winning season.

There’s genuine hatred between the two schools and it shows on the field and it shows with the fans. That’s a real rivalry game. It’s huge, man. More than 100,000 people attend the game every year — where else are you going to get that?

If you to the Big House (Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor) you’re going to get 110,000 fans and if you go the ’Shoe (Ohio Stadium, also known as the Horseshoe) you’re to get 110,000 fans. It doesn’t matter — it’s the biggest game in football.

I was 2-2 in the game during my four years at Ohio State. It was even. The ones we lost, we should have won. They were close. Nailbiters. But it what it is — that’s the way it is with rivalries. It’s two top teams going at it and you’re trying to get that “W.”

Here in Calgary on Labour Day, it’s the Battle of Alberta. You can’t get any better than that, man. Two teams in the same province going at it. Our fans don’t like their fans and even though we respect their players, we know it’s a rival.

We’ve got to go out there and win. It’s a rivalry game, it’s the Labour Day Classic and we know we have to play Edmonton again on Friday. It’s no-holds barred, may the best team win.

Ken-Yon Rambo, #85
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