CFL Excellence July 2019

I made it back last night from my latest CFL-themed trip, accompanied by the truly excellent Sanford Zale. It was our first extended trip since the epic drive to Oklahoma (which was, inexplicably, almost eight years ago).  This weekend was a drive up to Canada to catch the Winnipeg Blue Bombers playing the Ottawa REDBLACKS at TD Bank Stadium in Ottawa on Friday then the BC Lions playing the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Stadium in Toronto on Saturday. Obviously, that's a lot of driving on a pretty quick turnaround, but it was a wonderful time. Even if Sandy and I had just driven around and talked for two days it would have been a great trip. However, in addition I saw several dear friends, added two new stadiums to CFL completist list, ate a ton of good food, and saw two bizarre plays that furthered my understandings of the CFL rule book but made me question to existence of a rational universe. In one of them, at the REDBLACKS game, which actually essentially decided the game, I saw a punter, for all intents and purposes, recover his own punt. It's a unique CFL thing: a player behind the ball on a kick can recover the ball if they dive on it first. The Winnipeg punter punted the ball which landed at the two yard line and then bounced toward the sideline, leaving the returner to follow it, clearly hoping that it would trickle back into the end zone. After a couple bounces the Ottawa returner looked up, saw a Winnipeg player rushing towards him, and then suddenly (and to us at the time, inexplicably) dive towards the ball and try and knock it out of bounds, and in the end simply knock it off the Winnipeg player. The Winnipeg offense then came onto the field, and a couple plays later scored the deciding touchdown. Some research, some on the net and some provided by nearby fans, led to an understanding (sort of) about that rule regarding the punter being able to recover their own kick. What the returner had noticed was that the Winnipeg player running towards him was the punter, which is why he dove towards the ball. So, it was a heads-up play to realize it was the punter and dive to knock the ball out of bounds, he just had the bad luck to have it tick off the punter. This also sets up the potential for an on-side punt and on-side field goal attempt, so apparently I still have bizarre CFL plays left to witness. On Saturday night the Argonauts game actually ended on a rouge, which is something my friend Andy Burkhardt and I have debated for years. The Argos had rallied and scored a touchdown and two point conversion to tie the game with 40 seconds left, but then spoiled it by kicking the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kick, giving the Lions the ball at the 45 yard line. Moving quickly the Lions got the ball down into field goal position as the time was expiring. The kicker missed the kick, but the Argo returner caught the ball and stepped on the back line of the end zone, which qualifies as a rouge. So, yes, Andy, a game can end on a rouge. One of our basic CFL guidelines is that no matter what happens in a game it's a good time if we see a rouge. If the missed field goal had simply landed out of bounds it would not have been a rouge and we would have gone into overtime. Or, if the returner had caught it and got the ball out of the end zone, either by running it or kicking it, then it would not be a rouge. However, he caught it and inadvertently stepped on the end line, and thus it was a rouge. It's made more complicated by the fact that at BMO Stadium the end zones are only 18 yards deep as compared the 20 (meaning that, in this instance, the returner would have had another six feet to maneuver in a regulation stadium). Now, why a relatively new stadium has an under-sized end zone is somewhat inexplicable, and it's one of the many reasons why I love the CFL. Over all, without a doubt, this was a Weekend of Excellence.

We were hoping to visit our dear friends Alice and Karen in Ottawa, and we managed to luck out in choosing the one night a year when our friends Kathy and Phil were visiting, so it quickly became a Vermont party. Here are Kathy and Alice.

Karen, Sanford and Phil. Karen plays in the orchestra and Kathy and Phil were up visiting for the annual Bugs Bunny concert.

Walking to TD Bank Stadium in Ottawa (aided by Sanford's unerring sense of direction). This may be my favorite CFL stadium so far. It was beautiful, easy to get to, great food, enthusiastic fans.

Sanford and I pre-gaming at one of the many restaurants and bars close to the stadium.

And, of course, a shot of me with my requisite CFL purchase.

TD Bank Stadium is a nice place to see a game. I'll definitely be back. Ottawa is four hours from here, but considering how easy it is to drive there, and how easy it is to get around Ottawa, and the better stadium and food, I may end up going to as many REDBLACKS games as Alouettes games in the future (and I haven't even calculated in the Kathleen Edwards Quitters Coffee phenomenon yet). I think an Alouettes/REDBLACKS long weekend doubleheader also makes a lot of sense.

Sanford enjoying the REDBLACKS game. This was his second CFL stadium, so he's tied with my friend Kevin.

The trip to Toronto allowed me to see my ex-students Emily Rice and Ethan Moore. Emily and I are friends on Facebook and she saw my post on the weekend travels and she contacted me and arranged a meeting. She and Ethan live in Toronto (and what a great place for a young couple to live). We met at a little brewery close to the stadium. As I said on FB, see how happy my students can be when they're no longer my students.

It was so wonderful to catch up with them.

BMO Stadium, where the Argonauts play. It is a very beautiful stadium with good food and is close to Liberty Village, which is chock full of cool places to eat. It's right down off of Lake Shore, so it's definitely a wonderful location. Of course, it's also Toronto so the traffic is a routine nightmare. Next time I'll plan the trip better and I'll definitely take the Transit downtown, which will simplify things. It was disappointing that the stadium was only around a third full, especially since Toronto is by far Canada's largest city. It may be because the Argos aren't very good this year or that it was a busy weekend in the city or that it was so ungodly hot.

The banners representing the 17 Grey Cups that the Argonauts have won.

Again, the requisite CFL swag.

Lining up for the ill-fated (at least for the Argonauts) field goal attempt. I knew that it might end in a rouge, and I thought I should take this picture for Andy, but it was still stranger than I expected.