The Grey Cup

Let me first relate how I was bedazzled, upon moving to Calgary, by the Calgary Stampeders. I just happened to be moving to a city where the CFL team with the best record also called its home. Two weeks ago the ended their season on top and by so doing had home-field advantage in the Western Finals. Just so you know, this is amazing luck to walk into a winning sports team. At the time my sport-fan spirit was crushed by the average play of the 49ers, the sub-par play of the Bulls, another quick playoff exit for the A's, and a Sharks team that had just lost, like 4 of their last 6 games, and did not look nearly as super-human as they did in the first 8 games of the season. So I was excited to see them make it to the playoffs, but was not surprised when they promply lost to were steamrolled by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. 

The Stamps are one of eight CFL teams, the others residing in Vancouver, BC, Edmonton, AB, Regina, Saskatchewan, Hamilton, Ontario, Toronto, ON, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Montreal, Quebec. The most prominent differences with American football are that there are 12 men on a 110-yard field, only three downs to get a first, legal forward movement before the snap by receivers (like the arena league), and the goal posts are positioned on the goal line of 20-yard deep end zones. The game is played a bit differently due to the rules, and I think it's entertaining, plus I like finding players from the states who I knew from their college ball days, like CJ Gable, and BYU's very own Max Hall (who led the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a horrific season. In his defense, his O-Line was even worse than the one that protected him in his two-game starting stint with the Cardinals).
So last week we watched the Roughriders play the Hamilton Tiger Cats (affectionately known as the Ti-Cats) in the 101st Grey Cup. Yep, since 1909 when the University of Toronto Varsity Blues beat the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club 26-6, the Grey Cup has been a staple of early winter in Canada (minus four years during The Great War). Courtney's dad watched the game with me with interest, rooting for Saskatchewan if for no other reason, just to see the West beat the East (it's a thing, a blog post should follow), because as far as I knew the only other game he had watched all year was the Stamps game a week before. Around town, though, people have the Stamps' logo on their car and on flags, just like the Flames (actually, due to the unfortunate season ahead for the Flames, I think I see more Stampeders logos). The city really supports their team, which is fun. For the Grey Cup kids on hockey teams sell tickets with game scores on them as a fundraiser (For a $2 ticket win $500 if your score is the endgame score, and so on). It most certainly is a part of Canadian culture, which I didn't think it would be.
Saskatchewan won this game quite easily behind a superb pass-rush and a record-breaking game by their running back. Maybe next year, Stamps.