U of R Rams quarterback goes viral for sideline interview

REGINA -

An interview featuring University of Regina Rams quarterback Sawyer Buettner, fresh off the field in Saturday’s game with blood dripping from his face, has gone viral.

The game at Mosaic Stadium saw the Rams upset the top-ranked University of Calgary Dinos, beating them 34-21.

The interview, conducted by CanWest TV, runs less than one minute long. While answering questions on the sidelines, Buettner has blood dripping from his nose after coming off the field from the previous play in the second quarter.

“I just remember somebody was trying to push me back and they got their hand up and ripped my helmet off. I think their palm pretty much got in my face,” Buettner said in an interview Tuesday. “I found out we did score and then blood started pouring down my face.”

The backup quarterback said he knew the interview would get some laughs, but didn’t think it would turn into such a big deal.

“I woke up the next day and one of my best friends said ‘bro, you’re on Pardon My Take on the Twitter page,’” he said.

Pardon My Take is a Barstool Sports podcast. Its Twitter account has more than 644,000 followers. The interview has also been shared by other sports media pages across the country.

Buettner, who is from Moose Jaw, said it’s been fun to raise awareness about Saskatchewan’s football scene.

“Anytime I can get Moose Jaw out there is my goal,” he said. “Just the comments online - a lot of people just have no idea where Moose Jaw is, where Regina is, or even Saskatchewan is from the States. It’s kind of been cool to open people’s eyes to Canadian football.”

For the rest of the team, it was no surprise that the video got so much reaction.

“He plays it up and I think he’s running for the mayor of Moose Jaw,” Rams head coach Mark McConkey said with a laugh. “He’s been a great addition to our team, obviously football wise, but humour wise as well. He makes that quarterback room pretty light when times are tough.”

Defensive back Gowrishan Aravinthan, who was named Canada West’s Defensive Player of the Week for his two interceptions during Saturday’s game, said Buettner deserves the reaction.

“I expect exactly that from Sawyer,” Aravinthan said. “He clearly knows how to make the best of things. He could have been in a lot of pain and could have been really upset with what had happened to him, but he took it really well and the next thing you know he’s making the best of it in that interview.”