A question for Canuckistanis - Who does Canada root for in the NFL?

Oh, great point. That also has happened twice - in 1990 (Saskatchewan won) and in 2002 (St. Mary's won).

 

OK, SMU versus Calgary and Queen's against Laval this Saturday in the CIS national semis

Which two teams go to the Vanier?

I'm picking St. Mary's & Queen's

Queen's will win it for the first time since '92.

 

'76 Grey Cup was one of the best ever. Winning TD was by Hall of Famer Tony Gabriel, former classmate of mine and President of the Student's Council at Burlington Central High in '67

 

I always wanted to wear 77 on my sports uniforms because of my brother.

My brother wore 77 because of Tony Gabriel.

Still the greatest Canadian receiver of all-time, and it's not close.

As an aside, JR, did you hear that Sam "The Rifle" Etcheverry died a few months ago?

 

Yeah, I heard about Sam. A legend

The funny thing about Tony is that he was better known in hs as a basketball player. In a game against our main rival Nelson High, he scored 48 points---more than the entire Nelson team.

He was also married to the stunningly beautiful Diane Gaudaur, daughter of the late CFL Commish Jake Gaudaur.

Ran into Tony about ten years ago. Is still one of the nicest, most genuine people you'd ever meet.

 

Laval is a professional football team playin against amateurs. Those guys pretty much draw salaries from the team's "owners." ;-)

 

In Montreal, fan appreciation seems to go the way of what people have gotten on the networks over the years.
We're in the Patriots-Bills-Giants-Jets viewing area because of the border stations, so those teams are pretty big.

Lots of Packers fans here, too.

 

Entirely privately funded programme. In terms of budget, nobody in the country even comes close. Vanier's in Quebec City this year.

 

I was at the 1990 game with a co-worker who was a SMU grad. Great game that Chris Flynn (terrific CIAU QB) almost won singlehandedly for SMU.

 

Stampeders, ever since they showed up as part of NBC's replacement CFL coverage during the NFL players' strike in the early 1980s.

 

There is something about the Stamps, I admit. But I have quite a few relatives - siblings, cousins, nephews - in and around Calgary, so I suppose that's natural.

I've always wanted to visit Montreal, and now I know why.

 

It's funny that the CFL disastrous expansion took place at the same time the NHL was trying to expand into the US.

The CFL finally realised that it didn't need a US audience to give the league legitimacy. That's why one of the newest tag lines (after "Our Balls are Bigger") is, "It's Our Game'.

The NHL never learned its lesson.