The most important thing to come out of CFL Week... Well for me anyway...

Lord knows I tried to get her in Rider green, but she wasn’t having it. She came down the hallway in a black and blue dress, black leggings, a pink and purple puffy vest, “cowgirl” boots, and carrying her purse.

“Daddy I have to look pretty for our date, and you need to look handsome.”

I peeled off my Rider jersey and dug through my closet for clothes that would be suitable for a date with a headstrong 5-year-old. It was our “Daddy-versary” and the Thursday of CFL Week so we made a compromise, we would go see Warren Moon for me, then we would go to Menchies for her.

We weren’t even at the CFL Week venue when she was already asking if it was time for Menchies, so I resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be a short visit to CFL Week.

We then walked to the Main Stage where Mike Reilly, Anthony Calvillo, and Warren Moon had a large crowd hanging off every word. She asked who they were and I tried to explain who each player was and what they meant to the game. Then she just listened, which can be pretty hard for a 5-year-old sometimes.

After we got out of the way of the autograph seekers, we went display to display, booth to booth, and she completely forgot about the pending DIY frozen yoghurt. She would have done the mini drills they had set up all night if I would have let her. After I finally reminded her of dessert (Hey I like FroYo too) and we started heading out, she spotted the Grey Cup and asked if we could get a closer look.

When we get close to the cup a volunteer asks if she could take our picture, I pull out my phone and we get a picture of us. She grabbed the handle which was a no-no but she’s cute so we got away with it. If I would have grabbed the handle, we probably would have set off alarms everywhere.

The picture with the cup probably would have been the highlight of her night, if we didn’t run into Gainer the Gopher on the way out and got a big high five.

As we ate our frozen yoghurt she looks at me.

“Daddy, can we go to CFL Week on our next daddy-daughter date?”

I explained we couldn't but if it ever came back to Regina we would definitely go again.

"Oh... Can I play football like those girls were then?"

Want to guess who is signed up for flag football this spring?

There have been many things written about the first CFL Week abut the economic benefits, the player accessibility and getting the CFL to the forefront in March.

For myself, I met current players, CFL Legends, CFL reporters I respect, people I interact with about the league on twitter. But for me the first CFL week will always boil down to a little girl in a black and blue dress, high-stepping through tires in her cowgirl boots...  and you can’t put an economic assessment on that.