'The job I've always wanted': Riders new play-by-play voice Michael Ball excited for opportunity

A new but familiar voice will be calling Saskatchewan Roughriders football games on the radio this season. Michael Ball has stepped in, taking over for Derek Taylor on 620 CKRM.

Ball will call all Riders games on the radio this year and host the station’s sports talk show, the SportsCage. For the Regina product, it’s a job he’s wanted as long as he can remember.

“It’s the job I’ve always wanted,” Ball told CTV Morning Live Regina's Brit Dort. “Anytime someone introduces me as the play-by-play voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, it doesn’t seem real.”

It’s a position Ball said he has sought after since he was six-years-old.

The past 25 years, Ball was known as “Ballsy” on 104.9 The Wolf, a local rock radio station where he personified an outlandish and sometimes controversial character, as he described himself.

“Now I’m more kind of telling myself that I’m going to call it straight and I’m going to be passionate, but I’ve also got to remember that I am the voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, so I kind of have to be an ambassador,” Ball said.

Ball has had his hands on Riders’ broadcasts for some time now though, doing some sideline reporting and hosting the ever-popular roundtable phone-in show that takes place after the games.

He also spent 16 seasons calling games for the University of Regina Rams football team.

The 2022 CFL season is going to be a memorable one for the Riders, with the team hosting the 2022 Grey Cup in November.

For Ball, it’s tough to pinpoint one thing he is looking forward to the most.

“Everything,” he said, when asked. “Even training camp. I’ve been there before for a weekend, but never a two-week stretch. There’s also a lot of CFL cities I’ve never traveled to, I’ve always wanted to go way down east.”

Ball will get that chance when the Riders face the Toronto Argonauts for Touchdown Atlantic which will take place July 16 in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

While many know Ball as a familiar voice on Regina radio for the past two and a half decades, he was also a respected football player himself in his younger days and has seen the game from both sides.

Ball played for the junior rams from 1990 to 1993 and was part of a Canadian championship team in 1993.

Ball’s first game behind the mic will be a pre-season contest against Winnipeg on May 23. His regular season debut will come when the Riders begin the 2022 campaign on June 11 at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

As for predictions for the upcoming season, Ball said the Riders go into training camp looking “really good”.

“I mean, I’m a little concerned about the backup quarterback position, you generally need a couple of quarterbacks to win. The offensive line last year had some issues I think it’s going to be better. I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great season.”