Video: Ticats set up Riders’ clash with “Gophernado” video, but does that bode poorly?

The internet's been overtaken by talk about SyFy's campy Sharknado movie for the last few weeks, and now that's spread to the CFL. In advance of their clash with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Guelph Saturday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have posted a video parodying Sharknado, with Hamilton being hit by a tornado that includes some unusual creatures:

Yes, those are gophers, which is a nice reference to famed Roughriders' mascot Gainer the Gopher. This is pretty funny, too, and it falls in a long line of humourous stuff from the Tiger-Cats; it's not even the first time they've taunted the Roughriders, as the classic on that front remains the Fantuz Flakes anti-dandruff shampoo ad. (Oddly enough, that one was mocking Andy Fantuz, who now plays for the Tiger-Cats.) It's a creative effort, and the team should be applauded for some unconventional thinking on the marketing front.

However, it's questionable if this is really the message the Tiger-Cats want to be sending in advance of a game against Saskatchewan. Sure, the heroes eventually triumphed against the titular villains of Sharknado (and the climactic scene's even been made into a football meme, featuring such personages as Les Miles and Johnny Manziel), but the movie features plenty of destruction by the sharks before they're eventually stopped. Similarly, the gophers in this video seem to be wreaking lots of havoc of their own, and that would seem a logical outcome in a rematch of a game that Saskatchewan won 37-0 last week. We'll see if Saturday's clash goes any better for the Ticats, but if not, the Gophernado video may prove sadly prophetic.