A valuable lesson was handed to me Saturday in the Edmonton Eskimos alumni lounge at Commonwealth Stadium. Once again, I learned the simple truth that, to learn about sports, you go where the sportsmen are.

A couple of hundred former Eskimos, along with relatives and friends, were on hand to watch, quite casually, as the current Eskimos prepared for their playoff game next weekend against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by destroying the Toronto Argonauts.

In the comfort of the lounge and outside in many of the seats nearby on a warm fall day, interest was quite high for most of the first quarter but, as soon as the Eskimos constructed their second touchdown and first lead, the range of topics broadened remarkably.

Not surprising, with U.S. election day next up, was the ongoing truth expressed to me years ago by former Premier Peter Lougheed, who entered politics after playing with the Eskimos: “There is so much sport in politics and so much politics in sport, basically they’re the same game.”

To me the clearest current wisdom came in the that U.S. voters’ anger with politicians took shape long before Donald Trump became a presidential candidate.

But sports, other than politics, were far more pleasant to discuss: golf, boxing, world series baseball, the old Trappers, the overdue and no-choice decision by Northlands Park to keep the racetrack open until the designated replacement can be completed, university/college competition, the need to help more young boys and girls, including new Canadians, get involved in physical activities.

One Eskimo director pointed out children of his generation (and mine) got more exercise on the way to and from school than today’s get in all the do-gooder programs that exist.

No big surprise: there were numerous declarations of love and affection for the CFL.

Apart from a few heart-felt approvals of Connor McDavid and fervent hopes that the early Oilers’ form will translate into a playoff position, talk of the NHL was remarkably scarce in any group that included me. One issue came up, but only one: how long will Milan Lucic and Jordan Eberle be blessed to remain as McDavid’s wingers?

Probably the only unanimous agreement followed the suggestion that head coach Todd McLellan will — and should — get the only vote.

The afternoon was an incredible pleasure and left me with new conviction that school groups and service clubs and charitable organizations and government agencies should spend much more on sports, not less.

A chance for today’s social contributors to exchange ideas with the likes of Tom Wilkinson and Eric Upton and Charlie Turner — the list, in fact, is endless — would be a great learning experience. And it would be a lot of fun.

jcshort@shaw.ca