The Hallmark of the CFL

I don't know about you guys but this time of year I'm all about the Hallmark movies.  Sure, I enjoy the classic movies like Scrooge, Christmas Vacation and The Christmas Story (you'll shoot 'yer eye out!) but when you really need to escape the pressures of the season I find there is nothing better than watching a cheesy movie.

We joke that the plots are all the same and they are to an extent.  Girl escapes a bad relationship by fleeing to a small town.  She bumps into the town handyman who is the towns most eligible bachelor naturally.  Through a series of events they begin to fall for each other but then something happens to break them up.  Usually by Christmas Eve they've come to their senses and sorted out the misunderstanding to realize they belong together forever.  Cue the kiss we waited 1.5 hours for.

*sigh*

So what if football was like a Hallmark movie?

Football players come to camp from all over and last year they came from European countries and Mexico too.  Imagine coming from some place in Germany to Regina.  It's not only culture shock but you've left everything behind that you knew to learn a new way of life and train in the CFL.  While players don't arrive in Canada to fall in love many do fall in love with the league and their teams.  Ok so maybe that's a stretch but all players talk about their teams like a brother hood.  Some teams come together better than others and it seems those are the teams which are destined for greatness.

The wins start happening.  The big plays.  The offence wins over our hearts.  We start thinking out team can win it all.  Then inexplicably something happens.  In 2013 to my Riders it was the famous Dewdney incident.  To this year's Grey Cup winners, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers it was the drug testing of Andrew Harris.  The player and the team are left to face the adversity and while some find it a hard situation to recover from others persevere and might even come back stronger than before.

Finally we come to the big day and the only thing I want to see kissed is the Grey Cup as my team hoists it.  Well in 2019, even though we tried to write the storyline of the Saskatchewan Roughriders seeking redemption over the 2009 Grey Cup in Calgary, it wasn't meant to be.  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers who I had said all season long came into Mosaic Stadium and were victorious.  There are lots of reasons why and if the fate of the Offensive Coordinator was hinged on one thing I'd say it was the 4th quarter play when the Riders failed to score in the red zone.  You have a player like William Powell and you don't hand it off to him.  You have a Quarterback like Cody Fajardo who plays with his heart and who played injured because he knew how much it meant to Rider Nation and you pull him out for the 3rd string quarterback who has been warming the bench.  For sure, there were other things in that game that went wrong before that but the Riders failed and the Bombers weren't going to stand back and let us fool around.  

The following week in the Grey Cup the Bombers hoisted the Grey Cup after a 29 year drought.  I've never seen such an impressive display of an offensive line in a game ever.  My green heart was envious.  As a Grinch, I didn't want to be happy for them.  As a football fan who knows how hard it is to get there again and again, I was happy for them.  The Bombers found their Hallmark ending to 2019.

The Roughriders have brought in Jason Maas as the new Offensive Coordinator while the Edmonton Eskimos search for a new Head Coach.  Rick Campbell who many thought would end up in Eskie green has been named Head Coach of the BC Lions.  Mike O'Shea held a press conference that meant nothing.  Paul LaPolice was named Head Coach of the Ottawa Redblacks which has many in Winnipeg wondering what's going to happen to their Quarterbacks who are Free Agents.  Montreal is still searching for a buyer.  We all wonder if Halifax will ever be that 10th team.

The off season is going to be very interesting although the news will be slower and of course we will all take a break to celebrate the meaning of the Christmas season.  Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and interacts with me every day.  I hope you enjoy the hustle and bustle of the season but find some quiet moments to sit down and enjoy a Hallmark movie too.