From turf to area rug: One fan's story of buying too much of Regina's Taylor Field

Nick Holroyd got more than he bargained for when he decided to take home a piece of Roughriders history from the soon-to-be-demolished Taylor Field.

About 14by 16 feet more.

At 19, the lifelong sports fan and member of Rider Nation was at home for the summer when he saw thatMcDougall Auctioneers was auctioning off parts of Old Mosaic.

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Althoughhe had years memories at the stadium, he wanted to own aphysical piece of it before it was gone.

"I saw they had the turf and since I read it[as] 15 inches by 17 inches, I thought, 'Oh, that'd be a good size to, like, frame. You could do so much with it," Holroydrecalled Saturday.

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"When I got the invoice back I saw that it was 15 feet by 17 feet, which is a lot more than I wanted."

He also ended up paying a bit more than expected. While he bid $30,he later discovered there was an extra $120 infees so he wound up paying $150 for the larger-than-expected souvenir from Taylor Field.

'My family has laughed at me'

So, what does a sports fan do with a section ofturf he accidentally bought too much of?

Holroydand his friends spent time playingsports like football, soccer and a bit of golf on his new purchase.

He also unsuccessfully tried to walk his dog on it, but the pooch was more interested in actually going for a proper walk than roaming on the turf.

"My family has laughed at me for, like, three weeks about it," he said.

"Like, every time we see someone new, they have to tell the story about it."

Holroydwill resume classes at Brock University next week and will be returningwith a custom Taylor Field area rug cut from the turf.

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He's also turned some of the field into smallplaques.As for the rest, Holroydsaid he's not sure what to do with it and it will stay at his parents' home until he figures it out.

Despite the steeper-than-expected price he paid, Holroyd has no regrets about his purchase as it'smade for agood story.

He's told that story in a video posted to YouTube, called My Section of Taylor Field (Old Mosaic) Turf.

The video itself is an ode to the old stadium and his relationship to the Riders' first home.

"The thing with Taylor Field is it's way more than a football field to Regina. It's one of the few places where Saskatchewan was ontop," he says at one point in the video.

"In Saskatchewan, we don't have much to cheer for, so we all cheer for the Riders."