For those around Vancouver, we all know that the BC Lions are playing the Montreal Alouettes for the Grey Cup[wiki] this afternoon. Actually, they are playing right now as I’m writing this. -3C in Winnipeg. Looks damn cold, but BC’s holding in there, 16-0 in the 2nd quarter.
Now, let me put this into perspective for my friends and family back in the states. The CFL is just like the NFL, but Canadian football[wiki] is slightly different than American football[wiki]. It goes a little bit beyond how Robin Williams once put it, “We’ve got twelve men, we have a longer field. You have fun, enjoy!”
Mutant form, maybe. The interesting fact is that the history of Canadian football just barely out dates that of the American form of the sport. Yes, bigger field and more men, but there’s other things that start popping up as you watch a game. I’ve barely watched a whole game, catching nearly the entire second half of last week’s game between Saskatchewan and BC for the western championship. I’m not the biggest football fan in the world, but I do pay attention from time to time. My mainstays have to be the Iowa Hawkeyes in the world of college football, the Kansas City Chiefs for the NFL.
Let me list off the things that still trip me up a little bit. Penalty flags are orange, not yellow. The defense lines up a full yard off the line of scrimmage, not a football length off the line. No fair catch, just a mandatory five-yard buffer zone until a player touches the ball on a punt or kick-off. Three downs to move the ball ten yards for a first down, and that’s something that constantly gets me. Second and long is a big deal, and third down is the punt, field goal, or go-for-it down.
Also, -3C is 26F. This would be like playing a game of football in Green Bay. That should put that into a better perspective for folks back in the states. There’s more differences in the game, and if you really want to get more of a side by side comparison, check out this Wikipedia entry for a comparison of Canadian and American football.
For the most part, there is going to be little news about who wins this game in the American media. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t completely aware that the Grey Cup even existed until a handful of years ago. Who it was played by and when was still a bit fuzzy to me. It hasn’t been until the last few years that I’ve come to understand the history and the teams that are involved. And if you didn’t know, and I’m talking to my fellow buddies in the states here, they’ve been playing for this cup thing at least 94 times for the past century, WWI being the only conflict to ever prevent it from being held.
What’s fascinating, at least to me, is the amount of players that have been plucked from the American college football system, more so in the game going on today. Georgia, BYU, Minnesota, and so on. There’s quite a few guys that have been brought north of the border. Don’t think for a minute that it’s lackluster in terms of a career move.
The CFL is professional football and something to respected for sure. I’m not so sure that the dollar amounts are comparable, but this is nothing to sniffle at. Even Ricky Williams[wiki] is thinking of shifting his career away from the NFL and making the CFL his permanent home. That’s a strange story in general, but notable nonetheless.
Back to the Grey Cup, which has moved into halftime right now, Lions leading 19-3, it is such a party. With the Superbowl, fans of other teams in the NFL tend to retreat into their holes until the wisps of next season start to come around the corner. CFL fans, on the other hand, are nuts for this thing. Fans of all teams have flooded into Winnipeg, and it doesn’t matter who you’re a fan of. They’re cheering for BC or Montreal in this game, but they are all decked out in the garbs of their favorite home team.
There’s only eight teams in the CFL right now, so there really isn’t much to pick from. Ottawa was the latest victim to have their team fold before this season, but the league has had ups and downs for years. I got caught up tracking down the history of it the other night and was amazed with what I found.
They actually made an attempt to expand into the U.S. during the early 90’s, but it failed. Why they picked some of the cities that they did will never make much sense to me, but trying to put teams in Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana just seem like a huge mistake in general. They bleed football in those states, and that’s too much of a change to the sport in that area. It’s like what Fox did with hockey when they showed games with the glowing puck on TV; it’s just weird and didn’t sit well with die hard hockey fans, especially in Canada.
Being that the Lions play next door to my beloved Canucks, it’s tough to not get into the excitement of the game going on. Unfortunately, Rebecca has to work one of her Sunday shifts today, and the combination of Grey Cup celebrations and the Santa Claus parade made her trek to work a tad on the delayed end.
Robson Street is apparently a little nuts, and I’m about to head over to some friends on the north shore to catch the Canucks game on pay-per-view tonight. That’s a home game tonight as well against Chicago. If the Lions hold on to win, Vancouver is going to be a little crazy for the next 24 hours.
Update: BC Lions are CFL Champs. 25-14 over Montreal. Party time in Vancouver.