Oh Canada
Last night, we had the exciting Ohio State-Michigan game, which I was able to watch most of. It's not often that we get #1 vs. #2 playing each other in a regular season college football game, and with the passing of Bo Schembechler the day before, it was an unbelievable atmosphere. ABC carried the Ohio State marching band spelling out the script "Ohio" live.
And yet... not the most important football game of the weekend. No, it's not a big NFL tilt like Colts-Cowboys or Jets-Bears (which I am currently listening to). It's the Grey Cup.
Yes, the Grey Cup.
If you're not familiar with that particular game, it's the championship of the Canadian Football League. This is an EVENT in Canada, much like the Super Bowl here. Diehard NFL fans may know of the CFL but probably haven't seen much more than the occasional obscure highlight on SportsCenter. However, if not for the CFL, you never would have seen the likes of Warren Moon, Marv Levy, or Doug Flutie having the success they had in the NFL. All won a couple of Grey Cups in their time north of the border.
The CFL is just a little bit different from the NFL. I mean it's the same running, passing, blocking, and tackling, but they apparently felt the need to tweak everything else when the Canadians developed their version of the game. The field is 110 yards long instead of 100, 65 yards wide instead of 55, and the end zones 20 yards deep instead of 10. With the bigger field, you can have more players, so they have 12 on each side. The wide receivers are allowed to get a running start up to the line like in Arena Football. This modification is probably due to the fact that you have more passing in the CFL than in American football... because you only have 3 downs to get 10 yards instead of 4. They even call the penalties by different names; for example, it's not "unsportsmanlike conduct", it's "objectionable conduct".
Scoring is also different. You can get a point for kicking the ball into the end zone if it's not returned. In other words, if a punt goes into the end zone in the US, it's a touchback and the receiving team gets it at the 20. In Canada, the same is true but you get a point for it; it's called a "single". The goal posts are on the goal line, like they were in the NFL until the mid-70s. Because of this, all missed field goals are returned like punts; to not do this would give the kicking team a point.
So it's a little bit different, like a lot of things in Canada such as bilingual signs, the metric system, and universal health care. Canadian fans are just as rabid for their teams as NFL fans are, though. However, it doesn't get much notice here in the States. There was a brief attempt to bring the CFL to America in the mid-90s, with teams in football-starved cities like Baltimore and Las Vegas, but it didn't really work. Until a couple years ago, CFL games weren't even televised here. However, some local cable sports networks here in the Northeast decided it would be a good way to hold football fans interest during the summer until the NFL regular season started. The CFL starts in mid-June, so you get half the season before the NFL starts, enough time to develop attachments to players and teams. Ricky Williams came north of the border this year after the NFL banned him for substance abuse, both so he could play and probably due to the fact that marijuana is legal in Canada. However, the CFL just changed its policy so no banned NFL players are allowed anymore. Still, that got the league some attention down here.
So all in all, I've become quite the CFL fan. However, that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm fascinated by all things Canadian in general. I love the fact that there is a whole different nation just 90 minutes to the north of me, with a different history, a different culture, and even different football. So I have a Canadian flag in my room, I enjoy the CFL, I watch "Degrassi" on Friday nights. I visit whenever I can, and I'm quite peeved at the effort to require buying a special ID card to cross the border. I even considered (for about a half-second) going to grad school in Canada. We've all gotta have our quirks, and that's just one of... well... many I have.
So at 6:00 tonight, I'll be in front of the TV watching the British Columbia Lions and Montreal Alouettes tangle for the Grey Cup. It helps that I now know what an Alouette is (it's an owl). As most of you will no doubt read this after the game is over, you've only got until next June to get psyched up for next season...
And yet... not the most important football game of the weekend. No, it's not a big NFL tilt like Colts-Cowboys or Jets-Bears (which I am currently listening to). It's the Grey Cup.
Yes, the Grey Cup.
If you're not familiar with that particular game, it's the championship of the Canadian Football League. This is an EVENT in Canada, much like the Super Bowl here. Diehard NFL fans may know of the CFL but probably haven't seen much more than the occasional obscure highlight on SportsCenter. However, if not for the CFL, you never would have seen the likes of Warren Moon, Marv Levy, or Doug Flutie having the success they had in the NFL. All won a couple of Grey Cups in their time north of the border.
The CFL is just a little bit different from the NFL. I mean it's the same running, passing, blocking, and tackling, but they apparently felt the need to tweak everything else when the Canadians developed their version of the game. The field is 110 yards long instead of 100, 65 yards wide instead of 55, and the end zones 20 yards deep instead of 10. With the bigger field, you can have more players, so they have 12 on each side. The wide receivers are allowed to get a running start up to the line like in Arena Football. This modification is probably due to the fact that you have more passing in the CFL than in American football... because you only have 3 downs to get 10 yards instead of 4. They even call the penalties by different names; for example, it's not "unsportsmanlike conduct", it's "objectionable conduct".
Scoring is also different. You can get a point for kicking the ball into the end zone if it's not returned. In other words, if a punt goes into the end zone in the US, it's a touchback and the receiving team gets it at the 20. In Canada, the same is true but you get a point for it; it's called a "single". The goal posts are on the goal line, like they were in the NFL until the mid-70s. Because of this, all missed field goals are returned like punts; to not do this would give the kicking team a point.
So it's a little bit different, like a lot of things in Canada such as bilingual signs, the metric system, and universal health care. Canadian fans are just as rabid for their teams as NFL fans are, though. However, it doesn't get much notice here in the States. There was a brief attempt to bring the CFL to America in the mid-90s, with teams in football-starved cities like Baltimore and Las Vegas, but it didn't really work. Until a couple years ago, CFL games weren't even televised here. However, some local cable sports networks here in the Northeast decided it would be a good way to hold football fans interest during the summer until the NFL regular season started. The CFL starts in mid-June, so you get half the season before the NFL starts, enough time to develop attachments to players and teams. Ricky Williams came north of the border this year after the NFL banned him for substance abuse, both so he could play and probably due to the fact that marijuana is legal in Canada. However, the CFL just changed its policy so no banned NFL players are allowed anymore. Still, that got the league some attention down here.
So all in all, I've become quite the CFL fan. However, that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm fascinated by all things Canadian in general. I love the fact that there is a whole different nation just 90 minutes to the north of me, with a different history, a different culture, and even different football. So I have a Canadian flag in my room, I enjoy the CFL, I watch "Degrassi" on Friday nights. I visit whenever I can, and I'm quite peeved at the effort to require buying a special ID card to cross the border. I even considered (for about a half-second) going to grad school in Canada. We've all gotta have our quirks, and that's just one of... well... many I have.
So at 6:00 tonight, I'll be in front of the TV watching the British Columbia Lions and Montreal Alouettes tangle for the Grey Cup. It helps that I now know what an Alouette is (it's an owl). As most of you will no doubt read this after the game is over, you've only got until next June to get psyched up for next season...
posted by Dave | 3:25 PM
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