We’re not sure why Canada calls our football championship the Grey Cup; what happened to the Bronze Cup? Or Beige Cup? (For the country that goes with everything).
But Slowhopes grew up in Canada, and came of age dreaming of a Blue Bomber Grey Cup triumph, only to have his heart smashed into smithereens year after freaking year in the 1970′s by the Edmonton Eskimos, whose name Slowhopes can barely type without wanting to punch someone.
Tonight the Calgary Stampeders won the Grey Cup, 22-14 over the Montreal Alouettes, at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. It was a very Slowhopes kind of night–almost a sellout (“One of the largest Grey Cup crowds in its 96 year history,” said the radio play-by-play guy. “A near-capacity crowd!”)
Meanwhile, the Stampeders put the boots to the Alouettes in the second half, after nearly being blown out in the first half.
Slowhopes dipped his toe in the sportswriting pool a week back, writing a feature about the Stampeder QB Henry Burris, so we had the opportunity to hang out at McMahon Stadium one day prior to the Stampeders’s Western Final match v. Vancouver, which they won.
There’s two things about CFL players you notice when you’re down at field level: 1.They’re gigantic (relative to civilians; relative to NFL’s, they’re runts); and 2.They’re pretty much down to earth guys. CFL players earn about what a corporate media sports reporter earns, creating the absolutely unique (give or take the NCAA) situation where the guys interviewing the players all earn about the same amount of cash as the brunt of the fans attending the game.
It makes for a nice atmosphere.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/story/2008/11/23/grey-cup-game.html
It was an entertaining game. Sandro DeAngelis was incredible, especially on the 50-yard field goal late in the game. The Stamps definitely deserved the win. Calgary simply played better.