Ah, the Grey Cup once again (Part A)…

It is that time of year, although it is somewhat earlier than usual and definitely earlier than last year’s December moment in Hamilton. Another thing that is different this year – at least different from previous Grey Cup games since 2007, I am alone. While in the olden days I often would fly in just for the game, four of us have been taking in the Canadian classic in the fullness of the festival that surrounds the game for most of the past two decades.

Once again I am discovering that this is a festival and one that really is almost family-oriented. There are, of course, the numerous team-based beer (and related spirits) gardens. But in addition there are events for kids, competitions even for adults, extensive media coverage (especially from TSN – the sports network) and other tangential events. Wandering around/through them by oneself, especially if one is somewhat of an introvert, is quickly uninteresting. And as a result, much of what might at least lead to extraneous conversation is set aside.

There have been two events though that merit a wee chat:
The CFL Awards ceremony can be a worthwhile moment. This year’s version with Kate Bierness was definitely one of those, and for a variety of reasons. The first being that my plane ended up arriving one hour late which meant that instead of arriving at the concert hall during the pre-ceremony social hour, I got there after the event had started. Now instead of taking my seat (which was in the second row of the orchestra) I was given a seat in a private box on the second floor (which certainly gave me a wonderful view of proceedings). The tragedy was though, that had I arrived on time (or even half-an-hour earlier) I would have been seated beside the BC Lions phenom quarterback Nathan Rourke (who won Best Canadian) and in the midst of several other award winners!! Oh well, at least I was able to take in the majority of the presentations, I was given as a consolation for coming late a free scotch, and I felt the winners were all deserving.

The other notable moment was the Commissioner’s conversation with the fans. Saskatchewan had set aside a very large room so there was no one turned away. And once the audio system was fixed, the interaction began. The speech section was relatively benign. The Q+A was notable for a few really good questions and few, if any, really revealing answers. There seems to be a bit of lethargy creeping into the CFL head office. Numerous good events of the past are being dropped (although the playoffs are going to return to Saturdays); in fact there was no recognition of the Grey Cup Club and when I showed my credentials to a couple of HQ folk, they didn’t even know what it was all about. Somehow I sense it is time to bring in a younger Commish, one with good knowledge of Canadian football, hopefully a woman who is energetic, focused and determined to really connect with ALL fans.

I am getting ready to go to the game now. Hopefully it will be exciting. And lest you think I am too critical, Saskatchewan has done a very good job staging this Grey Cup: Bring it to the Heartland! It’s just that I think it would have been more fun for me if I had been part of a group – even a group of two!!

g.w.

p.s.

this would have appeared sooner if I had been able to get into my website — part 2, on the game itself will be appearing shortly…