This summer I’ve had the awesome opportunity of working with OSEG Media as part of the Ottawa REDBLACKS Social Team for home games in their inaugural season.

I’m part of an awesome team who roam the grounds of TD Place and tweet, take pictures of fans and moments, and help create online conversations about the team. It’s been a fantastic experience so far, and I’m really excited to do some cool things with the rest of the home games.

I’m certainly not new to sports and social media, but I’m relatively new to football – a few years ago, most of my prior knowledge and experience of the CFL involved this segment of the Things Saskatchewanians Say video and having to explain the differences between the CFL and the NFL to various American friends. I’m a pretty quick learner, so I’ve picked up a lot in a short while. (I’ve got “12 players on at a time, field is 110 yards and it’s 3 downs instead of 4” down pat.)

I have no problem watching sports I only vaguely understand (hello, luge!), but did a lot of reading and watching games with friends who know football – friends who know football are, on the whole, very good friends – and now know my rouges from my field goals. (Well, okay. I already knew that.)

from fourthline.tumblr.com

If you’re in Ottawa or nearby (or hey, in another CFL city), definitely make sure you come to a REDBLACKS game. The food’s good, the game’s fantastic, and when good things happen there are chainsaw noise effects*.

*That might just be up my personal alley, but I maintain that it’s fantastic.