And a few pictures of yesterday's trip up to Montreal to watch the Montreal Alouettes battle the Edmonton Eskimos. Truthfully, I guess I should be more thoughtful in the use of the word battle, since the Alouettes were creamed by another bully from the Western Conference. As my friend Craig opined, "I can't wait to go back, but we'll have to schedule a game where they're playing some Eastern Conference team they can beat." There is some truth in this statement. As all right-thinking individuals know the Western Conference has claimed the last three Grey Cups, and they're looking like the better conference once again. Despite the pretty epic beatdown on the field, there was excellent camaraderie and convivial splendor amongst the Vermont contingent. This was actually my second CFL game of the season (more on that later). In the previous two years I attended one Alouettes game a season, and my goal this year was to push it to two - and I'm already looking at games for the three games package for next season. I've declared myself Vermont's Leading Alouettes Fan, which might be true, although there might be pockets of much better fans up near the border.
The delegates from the Gentlemen of Excellence attending this Event of Excellence were: Kevin Andrews, Craig Pepin, Sanford Zale, Mike Lange, Mike Kelly, and some other old guy.
The day began with breakfast at Sneaker's in Winooski. We were going to start at the more traditional GOE stop of the Pearl Street Diner, but it was a Monday and they were closed (plus, they normally open later than we needed to eat; one of the odd/annoying peculiarities of Vermont diners is that they tend to open later in the morning and aren't open late at night, which sort of defeats the point of a diner). Our goal was to get some smoked meat at Schwartz's Deli on St. Laurent Street, but we weren't certain about the timing as we factored in crossing the border and the inevitable traffic jam in Montreal. As it turned out that part of the trip was painless. We had chosen this 1:00 p.m. game on a Monday because it was Canadian Thanksgiving, but we didn't really know what this would entail in regards to traffic. As it turns out we breezed across the border and into Montreal, and found our reserved parking lot on St. Urbain at the CHUM (I tend to record this seemingly useless information here so that I can look it up and jog my memory for the next trip).
While at Sneaker's I led a CFL trivia competition to see who was going to buy Kevin's beers (because, as I explained in a lengthy Sanford Zalesque email, he had looked up valuable stuff online for the trip). Since it was the first CFL game for four of the six travelers it also worked as preparation. The tough questions were:
1. How many teams are in the CFL? [answer: 9]
2. What is the best seat in the stadium? [answer: on the 55 yard line]
3. Name the winners of the last three Grey Cups? [answer: Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders]
4. How much is a rouge worth, and how is it scored? [answer: simplified version, the failure to return a punt or a missed field goal out of the endzone (which is 20 yards deep) - this is usually done by running the ball out or, rarely, the ball can be kicked out - it is worth 1 point; we felt happy to explain it to a very nice visiting British guy in front of us]
5. What team has won the most Grey Cups? [Answer: Toronto Argonauts]
6. What team has appeared in the most Grey Cups? [Answer: Edmonton Eskimos]
7. What are Scudder's three favorite CFL teams? [Answer: Edmonton Eskimos, Montreal Alouettes, Winnipeg Blue Bombers]
We did end up finding Schwartz's and, although we had just had breakfast three hours earlier, four of us (the most heroic of the group) did follow it up by eating smoked meat sandwiches (which were excellent). We did visiting the tailgating area, which is really pretty crappy. The general consensus is that Western Conference teams are better at tailgating than Eastern Conference teams. We give the Alouettes a bit of a pass since they play their home games on McGrill University campus, so maybe they don't have the freedom or parking space for true tailgating. One of my odder bucket list entries is the desire to see a game in all the CFL stadiums, so I might be able to speak more eloquently about this subject later. I was hoping to eat a turkey leg at the game (it was Thanksgiving, after all), but sadly I waited too long and they were sold out. That said, despite the absence of a turkey leg - and the drubbing the hometown crew received - it was a wonderful day. I have extraordinary friends, and I am quite blessed. Oh, and we saw a rouge - with the score at one time being Alouettes 1 Eskimos 0 - so it was a successful trip.
The delegates from the Gentlemen of Excellence attending this Event of Excellence were: Kevin Andrews, Craig Pepin, Sanford Zale, Mike Lange, Mike Kelly, and some other old guy.
The day began with breakfast at Sneaker's in Winooski. We were going to start at the more traditional GOE stop of the Pearl Street Diner, but it was a Monday and they were closed (plus, they normally open later than we needed to eat; one of the odd/annoying peculiarities of Vermont diners is that they tend to open later in the morning and aren't open late at night, which sort of defeats the point of a diner). Our goal was to get some smoked meat at Schwartz's Deli on St. Laurent Street, but we weren't certain about the timing as we factored in crossing the border and the inevitable traffic jam in Montreal. As it turned out that part of the trip was painless. We had chosen this 1:00 p.m. game on a Monday because it was Canadian Thanksgiving, but we didn't really know what this would entail in regards to traffic. As it turns out we breezed across the border and into Montreal, and found our reserved parking lot on St. Urbain at the CHUM (I tend to record this seemingly useless information here so that I can look it up and jog my memory for the next trip).
While at Sneaker's I led a CFL trivia competition to see who was going to buy Kevin's beers (because, as I explained in a lengthy Sanford Zalesque email, he had looked up valuable stuff online for the trip). Since it was the first CFL game for four of the six travelers it also worked as preparation. The tough questions were:
1. How many teams are in the CFL? [answer: 9]
2. What is the best seat in the stadium? [answer: on the 55 yard line]
3. Name the winners of the last three Grey Cups? [answer: Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders]
4. How much is a rouge worth, and how is it scored? [answer: simplified version, the failure to return a punt or a missed field goal out of the endzone (which is 20 yards deep) - this is usually done by running the ball out or, rarely, the ball can be kicked out - it is worth 1 point; we felt happy to explain it to a very nice visiting British guy in front of us]
5. What team has won the most Grey Cups? [Answer: Toronto Argonauts]
6. What team has appeared in the most Grey Cups? [Answer: Edmonton Eskimos]
7. What are Scudder's three favorite CFL teams? [Answer: Edmonton Eskimos, Montreal Alouettes, Winnipeg Blue Bombers]
We did end up finding Schwartz's and, although we had just had breakfast three hours earlier, four of us (the most heroic of the group) did follow it up by eating smoked meat sandwiches (which were excellent). We did visiting the tailgating area, which is really pretty crappy. The general consensus is that Western Conference teams are better at tailgating than Eastern Conference teams. We give the Alouettes a bit of a pass since they play their home games on McGrill University campus, so maybe they don't have the freedom or parking space for true tailgating. One of my odder bucket list entries is the desire to see a game in all the CFL stadiums, so I might be able to speak more eloquently about this subject later. I was hoping to eat a turkey leg at the game (it was Thanksgiving, after all), but sadly I waited too long and they were sold out. That said, despite the absence of a turkey leg - and the drubbing the hometown crew received - it was a wonderful day. I have extraordinary friends, and I am quite blessed. Oh, and we saw a rouge - with the score at one time being Alouettes 1 Eskimos 0 - so it was a successful trip.
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| Sanford, Mike K and Kevin waiting for the smoked meat to arrive at Schwartz's Deli. |
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| The crew: Craig, some dude, Mr. Big Helmet Budweiser Guy (who was quite nice), Mike L, Mike K, Sanford and Kevin. |
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| The crew at the game, with Lange ruining it for everyone. |
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| An action shot. Lange is pensive while Sanford and Kevin are posing, although not posing. Kelly and Scudder are actually discussing football strategy. |
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| The excellent Mike Kelly enjoying the game, reveling in his victory in the pre-game CFL trivia quiz (with a near perfect score), and generally loving life (even if he took a bath betting on the game). |
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