If it wasn't for immediate family coming over to watch the Grey Cup at our house later today, I doubt I'd watch the game. We all know that barring an unforseen catastrophe that the Riders will win their 4th Grey Cup later today.

I don't know what it's like in Winnipeg but if it's anything like here in Calgary there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of interest or anything to get excited about regarding the game except by Rider Nation who live here. I don't like feeling this way as I've seen every Grey Cup game on tv or in person since 1965. I've always viewed the Grey Cup game proudly as a true Canadian spectacle that is uniquely ours & always enjoyed it but certainly I don't feel that way this year. I just want the game to be finished, over & done with so we can get on with naming people to run the Bombers asap.

I hate this embargo on CFL news imposed by the league although I understand why it is being done. So, I guess I'll just try to enjoy the game with my wife, son & daughter in law this afternoon all the while awaiting news from the Bombers about stewardship of the team. Please just get the game over with so we can move on as a fanbase on Monday. Whoever wins, wins. I don't care anymore. Even if it is the gawd damned Riders.

I just want to see the end to this nightmarish season we've all endured as Bomber fans & with the final gun at Grey Cup's end we can finally do just  that. The 2013 season will then be officially over. Right now, I have a total disconnect with the Grey Cup game for the first time that I can remember. Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

Kinda hoping for a game killing PI call on Anderson but heart's not set on it. Any 'ol victory will do.

 

A huge PI call on Anderson would be cool, but I find his trademark 20-yard double-objectional-conduct meltdowns more entertaining to watch.

 

Cant have a team of all choir boys but the fact Riders went out of their way and signed this **** bag headcase has got to be worth something in the Karma dept. Ditto selfish, girlfriend beating Sheets.

Never have I seen so many people looking forward to a Monday.

I love watching CFL football, haven't missed any games since 2007, why start now.

well as the day has gone on I've come to the realization that Burris winning the game MVP and Fantuz the top canadian awards to go along with actually winning the game (obviously) and having Kent Austin as the ticats head coach would be a giant **** you to all of Saskatchewan so here's hoping!

well as the day has gone on I've come to the realization that Burris winning the game MVP and Fantuz the top canadian awards to go along with actually winning the game (obviously) and having Kent Austin as the ticats head coach would be a giant **** you to all of Saskatchewan so here's hoping!

That's my dream for today as well.

turns out that the Sheepdogs are a studio band.

Just sick of the media picking the Riders as a sure thing...go Cats!

Stegall with a melon on his head....getting that much closer to having his spot removed from the WFC HOF...

turns out that the Sheepdogs are a studio band.

They're playing all their hit! Seriously do they have anything other than the 2 songs that hit the radio?

well as the day has gone on I've come to the realization that Burris winning the game MVP and Fantuz the top canadian awards to go along with actually winning the game (obviously) and having Kent Austin as the ticats head coach would be a giant **** you to all of Saskatchewan so here's hoping!

Now you got it! ABTR.

George Cortez is a hell of a good OC

turns out that the Sheepdogs are a studio band.

Bluto, you 're a Grey Cup regular aren't you?

 

Did you  go to the Grey Cup in Regina this year?

I think Bluto stayed home this year. Can't say I blame him.

George Cortez is a hell of a good OC

^ this

 

When you look at Sheets tearing it up on the ground, look at the X's and O's with their O-Line... it's pretty special how they move to create space for him

I love this crazy league of ours and this is the final game for six months.  Plus it's my birthday and a bunch of people are taking me out to the Canadian bar here to watch the game.  Plus I'm entitled to an entertaining Grey Cup after a year of shitty Bomber football.

 

There's a Canadian bar in Seattle?  Where-abouts?

I think Bluto stayed home this year. Can't say I blame him.

 

yeah he didn't want to sleep in some hill-billy's basement and wake up with a size 12 poop-chute and a ball gag in his mouth.

 

I love this crazy league of ours and this is the final game for six months.  Plus it's my birthday and a bunch of people are taking me out to the Canadian bar here to watch the game.  Plus I'm entitled to an entertaining Grey Cup after a year of shitty Bomber football.

 

There's a Canadian bar in Seattle?  Where-abouts?

 

 

The Angry Beaver, in Greenwood: http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-angry-beaver-seattle

 

They have peameal bacon sandwiches!

I go to the Grey Cup every year....I don't even know the total.  I took my daughter this year, she's 22 and this was her 11th Grey Cup.  I sometimes take her, sometimes my sons, often my father, and sometimes my wife wants to go.   I'm a Grey Cup vet, and I have a true love for our game.  I've been to the Grey Cup in every CFL city except Hamilton.  (I Include Ottawa, as I was at the 2004 Grey Cup there, which was super)  I've been to multiple Grey Cups in most cities.  I offer the following opinions on this year's event:

 

 

The Good:

• The fans immediately around us were good fans (even though they were all green)  We held decent football conversations with them.  They were good natured and we enjoyed meeting them.
•  
• The weather was better than anticipated.  Fortunately, we were protected from the wind in our seats, so it was quite warm.  The wind had some impact on the game, but for outdoors on the prairies, it was okay.
•  
• We got a good parking spot and were able to get to the stadium efficiently and also to exit quickly.  We walked about 1.5 km, which is fine.
•  
• The half time show was decent.  Much better performer than last year's. (I'm not a fan of the Beibs)

 

The Bad:

• Some very rude/obnoxious Rider fans as we were leaving after the game.  I understand that they are the minority, but obnoxious winners are much worse than sore losers. 
•  
• Game production was substandard to virtually every other Grey Cup I've been too.  It just seemed to be run by amateurs.  This was also evident in the botched player introductions. It looked second rate.
•  
• It also really felt like a local only event.  Many of the sponsors were local, and gave local prizes.  Even the good things, like large donations to charity that were announced, were all local....so a business guy in a Rider jersey presenting a cheque to a local charity rep in a Rider jersey.    Nothing was national.  To me, at the Grey Cup, it should be a guy in a suit presenting a cheque to a national organization.  It should recognize the whole league.
•  
• Price/value.  300.00 to sit in a semi-temporary endzone seat and be restricted to limited temporary food services and porta-potties.  Really?  For that price, you should at least be able to access the main facilities.
•  
• The game wasn't competitive, but that just happens sometimes.

 

The Ugly

• The lack of hotel rooms.  I decided to drive to Regina for the game, and drive back afterwards, so as to keep my attendance record in tact.  I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in staying in a trailer/RV park, and I'm not comfortable billeting with strangers.  I normally go to Grey Cup on Thursday and attend events for a few days, and return on Monday.  In Regina, this isn't possible as the rooms were sold out prior to the game being officially announced.  It's not just the lack of hotel rooms that is the concern, but the effect on everything else.  Grey Cup is usually a national celebration, where you see many fans from all of the teams in pubs, restaurants and shops around town.  This Grey Cup wasn't that way, it was a Rider home game, with very little out of town representation.
•  
• The entrances to the stadium.  We arrived at the stadium at 3:45 for a 5:00 start.  We were directed to the North entrance and lined up for 15 minutes to the north east side of the north entrance.  When we finally got near the entry point an official came and said to all of us in line that we had to "go to the line coming in from the south west.  (directing us down a packed back alley).  By the time we got to the end of that line it took another 1 hour and 15 minutes to gain access to the ticket check point that we had previously been to.   With all of the temporary seating that they put in, they didn't account for enough ticket takers/access points.  We passed by 4-5 locked gates that easily could have been made to be entry points, so it was really just poorly thought out.  We finally got to our seats at 5:15, an hour and a half after arriving at the stadium.  1st Grey Cup I've every been too that I didn't have at least 1 beer, as I couldn't bring myself to stand in 2 more lines to get one  (you have to line up at one to by a token, and a second to get the beer)    Brutal start, and it really did sour our impression of the event.

I'm not sure if I'd attend a Grey Cup in Regina again, and for me, that is a sad statement.  I am still a great fan of the game and the league.  I'll reconsider after they get a new stadium....but still worry about the hotel situation there.   

 

I'll be booking my hotel for Vancouver 2014 very soon, as that city is just better equipped to host the game.

 

 

I'll be booking my hotel for Vancouver 2014 very soon, as that city is just better equipped to host the game.

 

Yeah I've been to three Cups in Vancouver now and everyone has been better than the last.  They really are getting the hang of how to hold a party there now.  1999 was just plain brutal, with 20,000 seats empty.  2005 was way better even with the Black Eyed Peas as the Half time show (which I missed to go drink beer instead).  2011 was a great party.  It helped that the Bombers were in it of course.  I know this is wishful thinking but it would be great if the Bombers fluked another Grey Cup run and were playing again next year.  And this time they wouldn't have to face BC, unless they were a cross-over.

Been to 2 Grey Cup games. The first one in Vancouver years ago, I was sitting in the bar at my hotel having a drink & chatting up the bartender. Turns out he used to work at my dad's auto body shop in Winnipeg. So, small world.  

 

turns out that the Sheepdogs are a studio band.

Bluto, you 're a Grey Cup regular aren't you?

 

Did you  go to the Grey Cup in Regina this year?

 

 

as iso said, yeah i stayed home this season.

 

as KBF said, yeah it was because i didn't want to be billeted in some stranger's house.

 

i have a group of friends who are annual attendees who couldn't go and went to Vegas to watch it instead. Robynjt went with them. want to bet where you'd have more fun?

 

i decided against Vegas since i had a group of friends going to a resort north of the city for the weekend that i got in on... then they moved the date to next weekend. so i could've done both but elected to wait till the new year to go back to LV.

 

ridiculous that this event which has clearly outgrown Regina can still be awarded to a city that due to its lack of facilities excludes fans from other markets. let me be very clear for all of the kneejerk apologists: this is not a slam against Regina nor the people who live there. it is a statement of fact. the Grey Cup can not be played in markets too small to house the fans seeking to attend it. end of.

 

(every time i saw the aerial shots at the game i raged... house, house, house, field, silo, stadium... throw remote...)

This GC would have been a disaster had the Stamps won. That was a local Grey Cup game & not a national one. The CFL could have looked really stupid, I think. I bet Cohon was very relieved when the Riders won  the WDF as it saved the game.

 let me be very clear for all of the kneejerk apologists: this is not a slam against Regina nor the people who live there. it is a statement of fact. the Grey Cup can not be played in markets too small to house the fans seeking to attend it. end of.

yeah don't worry, this place is not somewhere you'd find Regina apologists. Facts are that it's a city of 200000 people roughly, it is way too small time for an event where you expect 40k plus in the stands. Maybe if the league stops jerking off that fanbase to no ends they'll realize that you can't host it in a small time city like that. 

 

 let me be very clear for all of the kneejerk apologists: this is not a slam against Regina nor the people who live there. it is a statement of fact. the Grey Cup can not be played in markets too small to house the fans seeking to attend it. end of.

yeah don't worry, this place is not somewhere you'd find Regina apologists. Facts are that it's a city of 200000 people roughly, it is way too small time for an event where you expect 40k plus in the stands. Maybe if the league stops jerking off that fanbase to no ends they'll realize that you can't host it in a small time city like that. 

 

 

that may well be true... but i broached this topic very candidly on OB (remember that shithole?lol) and no matter how plain i made it that Regina simply isn't able to support this event to the level it (and the fans) deserve, the troll-baiting apologists took swipes at me for it until i eventually cracked and told them to **** themselves. (somehow i didn't get banned for that... my ban ultimately came for something entirely different)