Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders exchange April Fool’s pranks

REGINA – It could have been a heart-attack moment for Saskatchewan Roughriders fans — was the team’s beloved mascot, Gainer the Gopher, really in danger of being drafted by the CFL’s new expansion franchise, the Ottawa RedBlacks?

Naw, it was just one of a serious of football-related April Fools’ pranks that played out Tuesday.

The bogus story on the Roughriders website claimed that the attempted selection included a “substantial performance payout in potatoes” for the famous rodent.

Also included in the post were photos from a previous gag that put Gainer in Edmonton.

Not to be outdone, Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish tweeted a photo of a green and white jersey with his name and the number one on the back.

His message offered “a big thank you to the @sskroughriders for trading for me” and added it was now time “to move on to Greener Pastures.”

Also on the sports front, Premier Brad Wall attempted to have a little fun on Twitter at the expense of a pair of prominent Saskatchewan athletes.

Wall, who regularly tweets about Weyburn-born PGA golfer Graham DeLaet, attempted to sell his followers on a conspiracy theory that DeLaet and Regina CFL receiver Chris Getzlaf are, in fact, the same person.

“Sask we’ve been played long enough. Gov of SK has confirmed it’s the same guy,” he insisted, posting a series of photos to show how similar the two men look.

(CJME)