The Saskatchewan Roughriders may have a secret weapon. They just don’t know it.

“I’m responsible for the Riders’ two Gray Cup appearances and one championship,” said Bryan Smith, a Roughriders superfan. “You are welcome.”

While most super fans will be glued to the action when the Riders host the BC Lions in Saturday’s playoffs, Smith said he realized later this season that he could help the team in another way – by not watching them play.

“I just noticed every time I looked, they were losing,” he said. “So I stopped a few games to see what would happen and they won pretty much every time.”

Smith suffers from cerebral palsy. He cannot walk and uses a wheelchair to get around. But he believes he doesn’t need to be on the field to influence the Roughriders’ performance.

A connection since birth

Smith believes his presence influenced the Riders throughout his life.

He was born on November 11, 1989. A day later, the Roughriders defeated the Calgary Stampeders in the West semi-final.

The following week, they upset the heavily favored Edmonton Eskimos in the Western Final.

While Dave Ridgway waited in line for a play that would become known as “The Kick,” Smith was napping peacefully in his crib.

The kick was good and the Roughriders won their second Gray Cup championship.

Like Harry Potter, Smith didn’t understand what was happening to him at first. Then he made another connection.

In 1997, he met Riders quarterback Reggie Slack. That season, the Riders managed to sneak into the playoffs with a 9-9 record. Once in the playoffs, Slack used his legs and quarterback play to propel the Riders to a Gray Cup appearance.

“I inspired greatness in Reggie,” Smith said.

Despite Slack’s miraculous play, they fell short in the 1997 Gray Cup.

Two years after Smith “helped” Reggie Slack steer the Riders to a Gray Cup appearance, he and his family became season ticket holders. Like many families in Saskatchewan, the Roughriders have become a family affair for the Smiths.

The Smith family was seated on the upper deck on the west side, but they could not bring a wheelchair into the area.

“We would park my chair under the stairs and my dad would carry me to my seat,” Smith said.

Smith’s Rider fandom reached its peak during the 2013 season, when the Riders won at home.

“It felt like nothing else mattered and we could all be happy,” he said.

In the years that followed, like other superstitious fans, Smith tried different techniques to help his team win, sporting different jerseys, haircuts, and even changing his address in the hopes that it would help the team to win.

Stephen Safinuk, host of the Piffles podcast focused on the Saskatchewan Roughriders, said superstitions are common among sports fans.

He said he has a friend who refuses to wear a certain hat on game days because he feels it is linked to the Riders’ losses. He himself has avoided wearing a jersey with a player’s name on it, as he feels they tend to get injured or be left out of the team after him.

“I have a swimsuit curse,” he says, laughing.

These beliefs bring people closer to their team, he said.

“It’s just another way for fans to feel like they’re part of the games, like they have something to do with the outcome.”

The Power of Keeping the TV Off

Nothing seemed to work for Smith until this season, when he took the risk of not watching the team play. He decided not to watch the September 20 game against Calgary. When the Riders won, ending a seven-week winless streak, it solidified his decision to avoid watching.

Smith checks the score when the Riders play, but he goes about his life otherwise.

It was all sunshine and rainbows until last week, when the Riders lost the final game of the regular season to Calgary, but Smith can ignore that result in his mind since the starters weren’t playing.

The team’s playoff game against the Lions on Saturday marks a big day for the city and all Riders fans, he said. After a few struggling years with the team, Smith feels there is a sense of nervous anticipation about what could happen.

“It’s great to see them in the playoffs and give renewed optimism to people, including myself,” he said.

There is no doubt that several of the team’s loyal fans will do their part to maintain the team’s winning path by following their own superstitions.

For Smith, of course, that will mean doing something other than logging into the game, while still having high hopes of winning.

“Even if I don’t watch, I still encourage.”