By: Justin Boone
After arriving in Toronto for last year’s Grey Cup on the Tuesday, I learned a valuable lesson that I’ve applied to my 2008 experience. Championship week is a war of attrition and last year by the time the game arrived on Sunday I was out of timeouts and regretting not doing those extra sprints after practice.
So this year, I skipped those first two nights (I didn’t miss much, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself) and checked into my hotel, the Marriott Chateau Champlain, on Thursday afternoon. During the season when we stayed here, the park across the street was your typical downtown slice of nature, complete with a few trees, a fountain and a small army of pigeons. This week it’s a city within city, as the site of the Grey Cup Festival. The view from my hotel room looks down on it, and it’s really something to behold, especially at night when it’s lit up like the secondaries will be on Sunday when Anthony Calvillo, Henry Burris and their receiving corps go to work. I love defence, but this is going to be a tough outing for both of them.
The view of the Festival is only enhanced by Montreal’s beautiful downtown serving as its background. Short of moving the game to a neutral location outside of the country… say the Bahamas… you’re not going to get a better city to host the event. Being in Montreal makes me wonder how anyone could want to leave (That’s not a subtle shot at the separatist movement, but rather a compliment to an amazing Canadian city).
Montreal encompasses the best things about our country, which is something the CFL also prides itself on. Not to mention it’s impossible to have a bad time in Montreal, I’m convinced. Just ask all those CFL fans from across the league, who have invaded La Belle Province (the actual province itself, not the late night destination for poutine). While I’m on that note, last night after walking back from dinner, I noticed the Box J boys making their presence felt in Quebec, sharing a drink and a few laughs with some other diehard CFL fans at Peel Pub.
That’s one of the best parts about Grey Cup, no matter which two teams make the final game, fans converge on the host city and make it a Mecca for all things CFL. There are babies in strollers making their debut at Grey Cup and some older fans who look like they may have been around since the days of the Dominion Championship.
I was walking behind three Roughriders fans today, decked out in their green gear, blowing their horns and looking the part of proud fans. I’m not sure anyone told them that Saskatchewan didn’t make it to the Grey Cup this year.
I’m sure there will be plenty more Rider fans on the loose tonight when the East Meets West Bash kicks off, bringing the Ticats and Roughriders together for the best party of the week.
