Sunday's Child

Go Lions Go!

Click here to listen to the theme song of the BC Lions football team. (It takes a few seconds to load -- have patience, it works, honest!) The Lions' theme song was written and originally performed by Dal Richards, a Vancouver musician and 'big band' leader. Sisters Sue and Peggy edited it just in time for the CBC's Grey Cup contest.

It was on a Thursday morning (November 16th to be exact), that the brain wave struck. Peggy woke to the sounds of CBC Radio at her normal waking time of 5:30 a.m. She stole a few extra minutes in bed to listen to some entries for the CBC's Grey Cup contest. And that's when the thought crossed her mind: "I could do better than that." So, she tossed back the duvet, hauled her body out of bed, and telephoned her sister. "Hi Sue, what are you up to?" Sue, as it turned out, was getting ready for work and wondered if the two of them could meet for breakfast. Little did the sisters know that the stage was being set for a really fun 48 hours! Here's how the scenario played out ...

*********************************

Sue and I went to a little mom-and-pop shop on 12th Street in New Westminster for breakfast. Between bites of bacon and scrambled eggs we cobbled together a new rendition of Del's song. We travelled back to my place, practiced the ditty a couple of times and then phoned the CBC Talk-back line.

"Hi Rick! It's Peggy Grant calling from New Westminster. I want to cheer on my team from the Winnipeg bleachers this Sunday. With apologies to Dal Richards, my sister Sue and I offer the following in memory of an afternoon in 1964 when we cheered the Lions on to victory with our dad, Gordon -- the quintessential Lions fan!"

You've got to roar you Lions roar!
Just like you did in '64
When we were kids and we were fans,
You made the Ti-Cats also-rans
Rah, Rah!

You need me now in Winnipeg,
To cheer you on, just call me Peg!
I love the L, the I, the O-N-S
Come on and roar you Lions
Roar you Lions
Roar you Lions Roar!
Rah Rah Rah!

By 8:15 a.m. the two of us had left for our respective work places. The following morning, whilst I was sitting in my cubicle at IBM, I received a phone call from daughter Alyson. "Mom, CONGRATULATIONS!" "What?!" I exclaimed. "You won ... you won the Grey Cup contest!"

It turns out that the competition was not only open to CBC radio listeners but also to CBC Canada Now viewers. The phone didn't stop ringing. First it was the radio station preparing to send a bunch of BC Lions promotional material ... and an airline ticket ... and a hotel reservation. Finally, Canada Now called and asked if I'd perform the jingle for their evening newscast. "You've got to be kidding?" Apparently they weren't.

I made a deal with the producer. If my sister Sue could participate in the taping then I would do it. I was pretty sure I wouldn't get a hold of Sue and I'd be off the hook. A longer story made shorter: Sue swung by IBM and we met a very nice camera guy named 'Mark' from CBC. We had fun singing our song and entertaining my colleagues at the same time. Sue and I joined mom for dinner later that night and watched our 30 second clip on Canada Now together.

The goofy part of the whole adventure was that there was only one ticket to the Grey Cup Game and only one airline ticket to Winnipeg. Gloria and Ian (Canada Now anchors) spent considerable time discussing the pros and cons of only awarding one prize when there were definitely two sisters involved in winning the prize.

Our 15-minutes of fame and fortune have come and gone as quickly as they came. All in all, it was a great experience and I like to think that Gordie -- the quintessential BC Lions' fan -- was there with me at the game, celebrating in his daughters' win and cheering on Wallie's boys.

Some of my Grey Cup photos are posted here. Go Lions Go!