If the season is cancelled the CFL may get some mileage out of replaying some old classics. It is already doing so but often the most memorable games are equally obscure.
Two games leap readily to mind. There was Toronto at Winnipeg in the autumn of 1982. Fantastic game played in the mud. Terry Greer caught many passes from Condredge Holloway but I think the Bombers won 38-35.
Also Calgary at Ottawa in October of 1988. Played in a snowstorm the afternoon saw the Rough Riders break a long losing streak during an abominable 2-16 season. Lancaster and Wittman having a ball in the broadcast booth over the crazy conditions.
I had to look that up because of curiosity. Winnipeg Stadium had AstroTurf installed in 1988 (the second last team to install an artificial surface) I would have thought that would have been much earlier, as I had forgotten.
The iconic weather games are the 1950 Mud Bowl, 1962 Fog Bowl and the 1977 Ice Bowl (staples on the cleats game)
There was another crazy mud game. I think it was in '62… the year we moved to Canada. I was 8 and it was on the tube.
First CFL game any of my family saw. Argos perhaps. At the half you could not see the yard lines or tell who the players were.
The 1970 Western Final from Regina. Saskatchewan vs Calgary. It's a great way to beat the heat in the summer. Just two minutes of just watching that game brings my body temperature right down.
Eff did that look cold!!
(runners-up are the 1975 Grey Cup from Calgary and the 1977 Western Final from Clarke Stadium in Edmonton - B.C. vs Esks. Punting that ball was like drop-kicking a cinder block!)
Damon Allen is quoted to have said that after mud games on the television he and his brothers - including Marcus - used to spray down their field and pretend they were in the game they had just watched.
Two hits to the Canadian football atmosphere: synthetic grass and night games.
I remember 75 Grey Cup: when a stripper raced across the field pre-game Tom Wilkinson asked Junior Ah You if it was his wife! What balls.
I also remember the 77 West Final. It was wicked looking at those Western games on the television during the playoffs: a different style of game. Wilder. One side of the stands yelling DEEEE and the other yelling FENCE!
Sometimes you realize that you're watching a heck of a game while there is still time left to savour it. In around 1982 the Stampeders and the Tiger-Cats traded touchdowns at Calgary and the score ended tied at forty eight or fifty five or something.
.....just to emphasize what an exciting and memorable game it was: it was decided on a twenty yard interception return by Darrell Moir with two minutes remaining. Moir then picked off another pass on Hamilton's final drive.
Now what he doesn’t say in the clip above is that a woman came to the broadcast booth and handed him an envelope before the game. He would see a whole lot more of her in the moments to come. He would never forget the name Nadia Stoochnoff aka Llarice Nadia Whitman (no relation)
Grey Cup streaker in court CALGARY: Llarice Nadia Whitman, 35, of Calgary pleaded not guilty in provincial court Wednesday to a charge of committing an indecent act before 33,000 football fans during opening ceremonies of the Grey Cup game at McMahon Stadium Nov. 23. She will stand trial Dec. 31. She was charged after a half naked woman danced through the ranks of officials, cheerleaders and bandsmen while police stood still during the singing of O Canada.
Yup, Al Charuk (they always pronounced his surname wrong) was a good player and one of those Canadian players that was somewhat underrated and forgotten.
A couple of funny examples of players who actually became types (Jason Clermont and Andre Durie) ie “Get me an Andre Durie type” Clermont has been somewhat forgotten and we’ll see what happens to Durie over time. I think part of the issue is these players played well when given the opportunity but were never really exploited to the fullest extent (Durie moreso than Clermont) I thought Mercer Timmis fell into this, not being used, but performing well when given the chance.
