So I have a confession to make.
Despite being a big sports junkie I missed the entire opening quarter of the Grey Cup.
When I finally did turn it on there was something uniquely Canadian about it.
Now the Grey Cup always seems to be uniquely Canadian, especially when the award is brought into the stadium by a pair of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officers.
But this year just felt extra Canadian.
I think a large part of it had to do with the snow.
It just felt extremely Canadian watching the game being played just minutes from federal parliament while snow fell at a fast rate.
The fact we needed to constantly go on the field during stoppages to shovel the lines off so the referees could see them just furthered that point for me.
When I first turned the television on and saw the snow I thought of course.
My next thought, which may have been misguided was this game is being broadcast on ESPN.
Which means, our championship game, which was being played in a blizzard was being broadcast across America.
While most Americans do not care about the CFL, there are more and more Americans who are becoming fans of the Canadian game.
So those Americans who tuned in saw the snow, which of course just played into the Canadian stereotypes that we have.
Then of course halftime comes around and Shania Twain shows up on a dogsled.
How Canadian.
Again, also falling into our typical Canadian stereotypes.
The only thing that would have made it more Canadian was if she was riding a moose or a polar bear,
Which I might add, is not a very wise idea.
Twain was then met by an RCMP officer who guided her on to the stage and handed her a mic.
Again, that’s a pretty Canadian moment.
Actually as I sit here and write this I am left to wonder if some of this wasn’t done just to make fun of ourselves.
I am of course joking, but with the way things went one could make the argument that we were.
This Grey Cup will go down as one of the most memorable in history, because not only was it a good game but because of the Canadianity of it all.
I can tell you one of the Grey Cups I remember most was the 2002 Grey Cup played in Edmonton.
Why?
Not because it was a good game, because it really wasn’t, Montreal won the game over the host Eskimos 25-16.
But more so because that game was played on a frozen field.
The images of those players running around basically on ice will be engrained in my memory forever.
As I am sure this game will be too.
It was just a truly great Canadian game, played under truly Canadian conditions.
The only thing that could have make it more Canadian was if the game was won on a rouge.
