5 Things To Know | Steven Richardson

The Stove, Steven Richardson, an intriguing defensive tackle who will strap up the pads for Lions in a few months, can’t wait to show off his playmaking ability. The two-time Grey Cup champion with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers brings a whole ton of physicality that can improve the Lions’ defensive front. He combined a total of 38 tackles, six sacks and one forced fumble in two seasons with the Blue Bombers.

Although he’s literally built like a stove, the origin of his nickname has an unconventional back story from his college days at the University of Minnesota. Outside of football, the Stove enjoys listening to music and is a gaming enthusiast who might consider learning how to code for video games. Here we present Five Things to Know for the big 300lb defensive tackle.

1. Origin Of The ‘Stove’

The origin of Steven’s nickname came from the movie, Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig. There was one scene from the movie where Wiig’s character was causing a scene on the plane and she poked fun of the flight attendant’s name, Steve, several times before being forced back to her original seat. Steven’s college teammates at Minnesota began calling him Stove because of the film. He then carried that nickname to his first season with Winnipeg in 2019. He also had a sweater made with a stove logo on it and the Stove has been heating up since.

Photo Credit: Scott Grant.

2. An Avid Gamer

Since he was a kid, he’s been addicted to video games. Steven recalled the release of Call of Duty: World at War in 2008, where the game introduced a game-changing zombie mode. It was a nostalgic experience for many teenagers at the time. The zombie adventure games advocate has been exploring Dying Light 2, Back 4 Blood, Skyrim, and many other popular titles in the market. Unfortunately, this avid gamer says games today aren’t as well made as to the first few generations.

“I think it [Dying Light 2] came out a few weeks ago, it was released too early because they have so many glitches right now. It’s still pretty fun. I was big in Call of Duty zombies, the rounds you have to battle through. Those are always fun to me. They don’t make Call of Duty like that anymore,” Richardson said.

3. Top Three Music Artists: Frank Ocean, Kayne West & Future

The Stove has no boundaries when it comes to music. He says has a taste in every genre of music there is out there. But if he had to choose his favourite three artists and their album at the moment, they would be Blonde by Frank Ocean, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kayne West and DS2 by Future.

4. Wants To Become A Coder

The diehard gamer said he had always wanted to learn how to code. He couldn’t enroll in the classes during college because they would interfere with football practices. The Stove taught himself to code during the pandemic. Since games these days are filled with bugs and glitches, the avid gamer wants to contribute to the gaming world in the future.

“I possibly want to go back to school to learn more about coding. I’ve always been interested in coding. Especially since I’m a gamer. I wanted to possibly create my own games when I get older. I think once football ends for me, I may pursue that again because it’s a mentally strenuous hobby and doing it while playing football would be tough,” he said.

5. Favourite Go-to Meals

The Stove needs to be fueled. He loves all kinds of food; except spicy. Yelp is his best friend when it comes to restaurant hunting as he studies the menu for new places to dine in. After he leaves everything on the field, he enjoys a well-deserved post-game meal. His favourite dish is carbonara and his favourite post-game meal is a classic Italian pie.

“I always use Yelp to find my next spot and use it to order food. I need pictures. My favourite food is Italian. My pre-game meal is usually something light. I try to find or make a sandwich, wrap with some fruit. As for the post-game meal, it’s a free for all but my go-to is pizza and a victory beer.”