 |
2002 Grey Cup Trip21 - 25 November 2002Edmonton, Alberta |
 |
|
|
2002 Grey Cup Trip21 - 25 November 2002Edmonton, Alberta |
|
See also:
On my flight from MSP to Edmonton, I sat next to the wife of an
offensive lineman for the Alouettes. (The game pitted the
Edmonton
Eskimos against the Montreal Alouettes.) Also, at the airport, I
briefly chatted with the brother of another player from Montreal.
Everyone seemed really friendly. Before speaking to these people
I was somewhat neutral about whom I would be cheering for, but
afterwards,
I decided to cheer for Montreal.
As I mentioned before, T.J. was delayed for several hours on a tour of the continent. Also, the airport in Edmonton is a considerable distance from downtown, which was where our hotel reservations were located. Since the rental car was in T.J.'s name, I needed a ride to downtown. Fortunately, I had noticed a guy in a Baltimore Stallions (winners of the 1995 Grey Cup) cap who was on my flight. I chatted with him for a while, and he graciously offered me a ride downtown and to my hotel (the Comfort Inn and Suites).
As we were at the rental car place, I got a call from a reporter from The Globe and Mail newspaper. It's a long story, but this reporter knew that T.J. was coming to Edmonton for the Grey Cup, and wanted to interview him as an example of a fan from the "States" who was interested in Canadian Football enough to travel to the Grey Cup. He had given her my number, so I answered a few questions as well. A few of our comments were actually printed!
While at the hotel waiting for T.J., I watched a bit of TV. The big news was that the Canadian government was issuing some sort of official announcement stating that George W. Bush is not a moron. Also, on another news report, when mentioning things going on in various provinces, they kept referring to "Newfoundland and Labrador". Or course, everyone knows that Labrador is a part of the province of Newfoundland. (Well, didn't you?) But, the way they kept saying "Newfoundland and Labrador", I was wondering of the official name of the province had changed or something. Has it? (Click here for the answer!)
Anyway, T.J. finally arrived at the hotel, and we were both hungry and wanted to grab a bite to eat. We walked to the nearby Boston Pizza establishment. (Here's another bit of research that I need to do. I've been to Boston, and don't remember seeing a Boston Pizza. I don't remember seeing a Boston Pizza any place else besides Edmonton. How big of a chain is it, and are they only in Edmonton?) We split a "Pierogy Pizazz" pizza, which was a pizza with the toppings that Edmontonians usually associate with what should go on (and/or in) a pierogy.
After that, it was off to the Saskatchewan Hospitality Suite, or, as Dan calls it, "The Place Where People From Saskatchewan Are Nice To You". That was a happening place, as it always is. We soon saw Spanky (who T.J. says looks like Ted Nugent) and his friends, who we had met in Winnipeg in 1998, and who T.J. met in Calgary in 2000.
I have a Memphis Mad Dogs jersey, but I didn't bring it, since I would have to say no if I was asked if I was from Memphis. So, I was wearing my Birmingham Barracudas jersey, and my voice was so strained explaining it to people (that I had formerly lived in Alabama, but now lived in Ohio, etc.) that the next night I decided to wear something a little subtler: an Ottawa Rough Riders jersey.
Later that night, we also went to "The Igloo". It was kind of
like the Saskatchewan Suite, but it had a C$5 cover charge and cruddier
"washrooms".
On Friday, we went to the Eskimos ticket office to pick up the tickets
that my wife had ordered three days earlier. If we hadn't waited
so long, we probably would have ended up with better seats than low
down
in the corner of the end zone. We also walked right into the
stadium
to see were our seats were. It was a little surprising to be able
to just walk right in, but that's all we did.
After that, we drove a few kilometers east of town, with the intention of going to the Ukrainian Homestead place. That we did. Unfortunately, just like in Winnipeg in 1998, the Ukrainian Homestead was closed. Apparently, Canadian Ukrainian places seem to only be open between Victoria Day and Canadian Thanksgiving.
Next, it was off to nearby Elk Island National Park. The park was mostly empty, of cars, people, and wildlife. From the literature, there are apparently large quantities of buffalo. Indeed, we did see "evidence" of buffalo (what we assumed were droppings) but the only wildlife we saw was what we think was a coyote, or maybe a wolf. Also, of interest was a sign commemorating the visit of Pope John Paul II to the park. We both sat in the same place that the Pope did!
After stopping for lunch at Tim Hortons, we went to Fort Saskatchewan. Later, when we mentioned this to Keith from Edmonton, his response was kind of like, "Why go there? There's nothing there but an industrial park and a prison." Well, we didn't know this at the time, and we assumed that there'd probably be a fort there. We did go to the "Fort Saskatchewan Museum and Historic Site", which is right there in the AAA/CAA tourbook, and we each paid C$2. For our twonie, we got a personal tour guide that showed us around and answered our (sometimes odd) questions (like, "Do female Canadian Supreme Court justices wear the traditional wigs that the male ones do?") for more than an hour. The fort was originally an RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) outpost, whereas Edmonton was originally a (Hudson's Bay Co.?) trading post. There was a 2-room museum commemorating the early history of the RCMP in the area inside the old courthouse. Also on the grounds were several old buildings from the pioneer days of the area, an old church, etc. Many of these buildings were moved to the site of the fort for preservation purposes. While I did take several photos of the grounds, I didn't take any of our hostess at the museum; I wish that I had.
Next, we stopped off at a "Chapters" bookstore where I picked up a few books, and then we went to the "Pyrogy House" (a Ukrainian place) for supper. I got the impression from T.J. that the dinner of pierogies (or "pyrogies"), cabbage rolls, and sausage was new and foreign to him. It didn't seem that exotic to me. It must have been the Polish (which I assume is similar to Ukrainian) influence in the Cleveland, OH area that affected my diet when I was young.
Finally, it was off to the Saskatchewan Suite again. We
finally
met up with T.J.'s friends Owen and Melanie, and several of their
friends,
including Keith and Carol.
My goals for the day were pretty much the following:
So, would I do it again? T.J. and I discussed this after the game. Our general thinking was that, while the Snow Bowl was fun, we might not do it again. In order to go to the 2002 game, we missed the Grey Cup Parade. In the past, I found the parade to be boring, but T.J. enjoyed them. But, the point is still valid. The Snow Bowl was fun, but it still might be more fun to do something else in the future, either the Grey Cup Parade, or something else in the host city.
After the Snow Bowl, we met Owen, Melanie, Keith, and Carol at a restaurant called "Moose Factory" on the south end of town. There, I continued my Alberta trend of ingesting meat and some breads at the expense of any fruits and vegetables. I ordered a steak "sandwich". It was delicious, except for the fact that it only had one piece of bread. I didn't quite understand what was up with that.
After that, it was more of the Grey Cup "nightlife".
On the way back to the hotel, we picked up some food at Harveys for lunch. Finally, a chance for some "right proper" poutine. (There is apparently a lot less poutine in Alberta than in Ontario, or, especially, Quebec.) There's nothing like filling up on fried potatoes, gravy and cheese curd before planning on spending a few hours out in the cold!
Next, it was off to the Grey Cup. Rather than drive, we took the LRT (Subway). Weather-wise, I think that the forecast high for the day was -2C, but it seemed a few degrees warmer than that. Either that, or I was just getting used to the Edmonton conditions, I don't know. But, for the previous Grey Cups that I went to, at half time, I walked back and forth underneath the stands, just to keep warm. (Come to think of my, my new down-lined coat probably also helped this time.) But, this time, I didn't leave my seat until after the game was over. Yesiree, I didn't miss a bit of the half-time show, staring two songs by Shania Twain. Come to think of it, I don't think I had ever heard one of her songs before the half-time of the Grey Cup. They weren't bad. The two songs sounded to me more "pop", than country, which I assume causes her to not be liked by serious country music fans, but also causes her to sell records.
As for the game, I am sure that there are many recaps of it available on the Internet. Montreal won, 25-16, but Edmonton scored a TD (and missed the 2-point convert attempt) to make it 18-16 with 19 seconds to play. (Montreal returned the ensuing onside kick attempt for a touchdown for the final margin.) I would say that it was a good game, but not a great one (unlike the games I saw in '96 and '98). It won't go down as a classic.
There were two major factors that determined the way the game was played. The first was the field conditions. The field appeared to be hard and slippery, especially where the grass was painted. Footing was a problem all night, and it seemed to affect the both offences, resulting in there not being very many first downs. (IIRC, Montreal had about 7 for the game.) The second factor was that Edmonton's punter/kicker (Sean Fleming) was hurt, and supposedly couldn't attempt anything longer than an ~37 yard field goal. That partially explains why Edmonton didn't attempt a field goal when the score was 18-10 Montreal, and the Eskimos faced 3rd and 10 from the Alouettes' ~36 with ~6 minutes to play. (Note to US football fans: Remember, the CFL only allows three downs, and the goal posts are on the goal line.) Instead, they went for it, and threw an incompletion. If they didn't think that they could kick the FG, then why not punt? That way, they would either cut the Alouettes' lead to 7, or pin the Als very deep. Remember, both defences were doing well, and points were hard to come by. Anyway, I suppose it's easy to play "Monday Morning Quarterback" (or coach).
After the game, we took the LRT back downtown. As you would expect, it was a lot more crowded waiting for the train after the game, when everyone was leaving at the same time. Still, once we got going, things were quicker then I expected.
Finally, dinner at the Mongolie
Grill.
