Calgary Stampeders Win Grey Cup

I just finished watching the 96th Grey Cup. The Calgary Stampeders defeated the Montreal Alouettes, 22-14 in front of 66,000 fans in Montreal's Olympic Stadium. It was weird to see Olympic Stadium full of people. In the dying days of the Montreal Expos there wouldn't be more than 6,000 fans at a game.

This was the Stampeders first Grey Cup win since 2001.

Most wouldn't know it but there's a big football tradition in Canada even if we play the game a little differently. Canadians play three downs, not four; the field is 110 yards and there's a three minute warning. Field goals are mostly kicked at angles. Other than that the game is fairly similar to the American game.

Most players in the CFL are American but each team must have an allotment of Canadian players. Indeed, the Grey Cup awards both an MVP award and a MVC award - Most Valuable Canadian. As if a Canadian player couldn't be the most valuable. Stampeders kicker Sandro DeAngelis was the MVC kicking five field goals. I think he should have been the MVP. Calgary QB Henry Burris was named Grey Cup MVP but did not have a touchdown. However, Burris did have 328 yards and rushed for 79 of them. He also guided the Stampeders to a comeback win. The Stamps were down 10-3 early in the game but a strong defense and couple of interceptions thrown by Alouettes QB Anthony Calvillo shifted the momentum to Calgary. This was Calvillo's sixth Grey Cup appearance but only has one championship to show for it.

I don't often get to see Canadian TV except for federal elections on C-SPAN, the occasional NHL game on Versus and the Grey Cup which was also covered on Versus this year. America is where I live but it is always nice to see a little bit of home.

With that I've now flipped it to the Colts-Chargers game.