105th GREY CUP GAME THREAD! / November 26th / Calgary vs. Toronto

[Argo]

Hate to see Brian Jones sit..good cover guy on Specials.....expect Montreal to go hard after him in the off season.

Good observation.

[Neely2005]

3DN making a big deal about nothing again. It was not a closed practice.

@scratchingpost: @RedBlacksCFL @3DownNation @Bayargonaut00 @CrankyClair This wasn’t shot during the filming window. And the issue is… https://t.co/1UEULUuXqT

https://twitter.com/scratchingpost/s...91153842450432

[Argo]

Nice commentary by Sanchez and the shirt...

https://www.cfl.ca/2017/11/25/105gc-keys-to-the-game/

[jerrym]

Hate to see Brian Jones sit..good cover guy on Specials.....expect Montreal to go hard after him in the off season.

If Montreal does sign him, I fully expect someone else will because of his ST skills and potential to develop into at least a decent National receiver.

[jerrym]

If anyone is still looking for Grey Cup tickets, their at lots available at below face value.

And now, some fans want to dump their tickets. A quick look on Kijiji shows many tickets are being sold at below face value.
“It looks like there are 500-1,000 tickets out there for sale right now,” said Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group president of sports Jeff Hunt Friday. “This happens every year when the hometown team isn’t playing in the game. So a lot of tickets surface and sometimes you’re getting 50 cents on the dollar if you’re trying to sell.

http://ottawasun.com/sports/football...to-take-a-loss

[gilthethrill]

If Montreal does sign him, I fully expect someone else will because of his ST skills and potential to develop into at least a decent National receiver.

I mentioned Montreal only because Jones being from out East, he would be closer to home....also other than Sam Gigeur (who I doubt won't be an Alouette next year,) that team needs some good young Canadian...I mean National talent.

[rdavies]

TSN is ready to score a touchdown with Grey Cup coverage
The sports network will employ 40 cameras Sunday including a condo cam with a spectacular view of the stadium and the city
Bruce Garrioch The National Post November 24, 2017

It just feels like football and family go hand-in-hand.

The Canadian Football League estimates one-third of the 36 million people in this country will head to their television sets Sunday night and turn it to TSN so they can take in all—or part—of the Grey Cup being played between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders at TD Place Stadium at 6 p.m.

While the Argos and Stampeders have spent the week in Ottawa preparing, the crew at TSN has been working hard behind the scenes to make sure everything is place so they can score a touchdown with their coverage of one of the biggest events on Canadian sports calendar.

Yes, the stands at the stadium will be packed with 36,000 people, but there will be a far larger audience in living rooms across the country — that can’t be there —and the broadcaster is determined to make those people feel like they’re a part of it all.

“The Grey Cup is that one thing in this country where basically everybody is a fan of the league for that day,” Paul Graham, TSN’s VP and executive producer of live events, said in an interview Friday before heading to the stadium to continue preparations for the weekend.

“Sure, you’re going to cheer for one team or another, and even people that haven’t followed the league all year long or people don’t have a team to cheer for, are going to usually pick one and they’re being to engaged. It’s certainly a special day and we don’t take that responsibility lightly. We want to make sure we want to deliver the best product possible.

“Mostly, we want to make sure we don’t screw it up, and we want to make sure we tell the right stories through the day. You never want to sign off at the end of the day and go, ‘Ah, we forgot to talk about that or we didn’t do this’. We want to make sure we cover it all so the people at home get the full ticket.”

TSN has been the CFL’s exclusive broadcaster since 2009 and televise every gam.. This isn’t just another 60 minutes and they’ve upped the ante to make sure people know that. If this were a normal RedBlacks regular season game, there would be 14 cameras in use but Sunday that number will be 40.

The network added “Super Slo-Mo” to its broadcasts this year and they’ll have two of those in place this weekend. The ‘Cable Cam’ that has been part of all the playoff games will be utilized in Grey Cup while they’ve also added more isolation cameras so they can keep a strong focus on benches.

“Sometimes you get lost in gadgets and technologies and it doesn’t help you tell the story,” Graham said. “We’re trying to get more angles that give us better close ups to give us the emotion from the game.

Thats’s because they want to make sure they have every angle covered once the ball is kicked off. The coverage begins with a Grey Cup Saturday show hosted by Kate Beirness and Derek Taylor while TSN will go on the air five hours before kick-off Sunday at 1 p.m. with the pre-game show.

The network, which has more than 200 people working on this weekend, will spend a lot of time in the hours leading up to the game telling the stories about the people plus a feature on the classic 1981 Grey Cup between the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Edmonton Eskimos at Olympic Stadium.

Legendary broadcaster Chris Cuthbert will handle the play-by-play duties with Glenn Suitor. One panel will feature James Duthie with Henry Burris while Rod Smith will be in his usual place with Matt Dunigan, Jock Climie and Milt Stegall to provide analysis before, during and after the game.

Since they know many will turn on their TV’s at 6 p.m., the network will reset to make sure they bring the casual fan up to speed.

“When you tune in as a new viewer at 6 p.m., we’re going to give you a quick recap on four star players on each team – what they’ve done, who they are and why you should watch,” Graham said.

Football is something near and dear to Graham’s heart.

He grew up in Edmonton as fan of the Eskimos and told a story about waiting outside the club’s locker room as a child just so he could get a glimpse inside. It meant a lot to him that he was honoured with the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award Thursday night during the CFL Awards show.

Working with producer Jon Hynes and director Andy Bouyoukos, Graham is always thrilled when the presentation of the Cup is made.

“When you see the Grey Cup, and you know, you’re going to be showing people a very special, emotional moment to these players,” Graham said. “When you get to that point, that to me is always the ‘Wow’ moment.”

Get ready for the ‘Condo Cam’

TSN will provide a different look from Sunday’s Grey Cup at TD Place.
Network technicians spent Friday afternoon installing “The Condo Cam” in one of the penthouse suites at the Lansdowne condominiums that they’ll use during the game between the Argonauts and the Stampeders.

Not only will viewers get a something they haven’t seen before from the West end of the stadium, they’ll also get shots of the city they wouldn’t normally see.

“We have camera on the top floor balcony and it’s spectacular shot,” said Paul Graham, TSN’s VP and executive producer of live events Friday. “I’ve been up there a number of times and it’s a great shot.

“You can see over to Gatineau, downtown and an incredibly different angle of the field. There’s a perfect location for us. I met the owners and spent some time with them going through what it’s going to be like for them. They’re fully engaged and that’s going to be a very unique shot and that will give us many different angles.”

[ArgoRavi]

I mentioned Montreal only because Jones being from out East, he would be closer to home....also other than Sam Gigeur (who I doubt won't be an Alouette next year,) that team needs some good young Canadian...I mean National talent.

I think that one's hometown for national free agents is often overrated as a reason for them wanting to sign elsewhere. Tyler Holmes is a prime example of that. If Jones leaves the Argos next year, I suspect that his hometown will be the least of his reasons.

[moeajram]

It's game day...go ARGOS go.

As brought up here over and over again, I believe the rating could be so much more if they also showed the game on CTV, which more people have access to. The CFL has to demand that in their next contract talks.

[Joe Barnes]

It's game day...go ARGOS go.

As brought up here over and over again, I believe the rating could be so much more if they also showed the game on CTV, which more people have access to. The CFL has to demand that in their next contract talks.

Agreed. The Grey Cup is a historically important Canadian cultural and sporting tradition and institution. This one game, at least, should be accessible to all Canadians. It's far more important, and compelling, than Saints and Rams (where do they play now?) or Texans and Ravens (weren't they-the-Browns-who-replaced-the-Colts?!), a couple of CTV's offerings which coincide with the Grey Cup time. Not to disrespect the NFL, but for one weekend, it needs to take a back seat. Who knows? Some of those who wrongly insist NFL is better, but never actually watch the CFL, might realize what they are missing!

And, oh yeah, GO AAAARRRRGGGGOOOOOSSSSSSS!

[Joe Barnes]

To everyone on this forum: It's been a great year. This team has given me more enjoyment than I could have asked for, so far. A win today would be icing on the cake. And there's nothing wrong with a little icing! So, wherever you are watching the game, enjoy today.

[OV Argo]

Hate to see Brian Jones sit..good cover guy on Specials.....expect Montreal to go hard after him in the off season.

Not sure what the thinking there is? - do they expect Jimmy Ralph to play some receiver or is he better on STs than Jones?

And the Als have Mavis Reed in charge - and he would have no clue about Jones nor any respect for Canadian receiver talent; the Als do have last year's draft pick Alex Morrison (went back to UBC for a 5th year last season) - big target receiver - who could come to TC to compete for their one "NI receiver" position.

Not sure which other CFL teams might have interest in Brian Jones - who is more of an older style, big, bruising type slotback (Elgaard, DiPietro, etc.); the Ticats might want some more at NI receiver (is Fantuz going to play again?), but not sure if June Jones likes this style receiver - he might prefer smurf types. The Bummers have little depth or no real proven top NI receiver, so they might be interested ? And Ottawa deploys a starting, heavily targeted and similar big body NI slotback in Sinopoli - so they might be interested in Jones as the back-up there?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Brian Jones is more viewed as a back-up receiver / good special teamer by most CFL team thinkers; and that might be the role he has to get used to in the CFL rather than a chance to be a starting, quality, productive receiver ? Llevi Noel ?

[Bleeds Double Blue]

It is 9:30 AM as I type this and still 5 1/2 hours before kickoff. I've got the hatchback opened and the bar-be-que fired up for the Grey Cup tailgate in my driveway. The neighbours think I'm nuts but what the hell, that's nothing new. I echo Joe Barnes in that this season has exceeded all expectations regardless of the score today. Who saw this coming in the spring when we had no General Manager, no Head Coach and a first round draft pick that would wind up as a backup in Montreal? My only disappointment is that I could not be in Ottawa this week for the festivities or in Toronto to watch the game in the VIP at the Madison. Rest assured though that next season Bleeds Double Blue will be at the home opener to see the raising of the banner, hopefully cheek to jowl with 25,000 other Argo fans.

Enjoy the game and go Argos.

[gilthethrill]

Normally I am a bit of a mess on game day...regular season or play offs....really at ease about tonight. Maybe the CFL has the Argos back??? Lol.

[jerrym]

I suspect that Calgary will mix in runs by Roy Finch with Messam, especially after the success they had last week in diversifying their ground game. In the latter part of the season teams had been able to largely contain when Messam was doing nearly all the running and one reason the Argos won the 2012 Grey Cup was they were able to focus on one Stampeder RB, Jon Cornish. if the Argos can contain the Finch/Messam combination, i think they have an excellent chance despite Calgary's fine chance. And as Bleeds Double Blue (like me) says

Enjoy the game and go Argos.

[ArgoRavi]

Normally I am a bit of a mess on game day...regular season or play offs....really at ease about tonight. Maybe the CFL has the Argos back??? Lol.

I feel very content as kickoff approaches. The only team that the Argos have not beaten this season is Calgary and the Stamps were the best team in the league during the course of the season. I like that the Argos will have to beat the best to be the best and I feel very confident that they will play an excellent game tonight.

[R.J]

I like that the Argos will have to beat the best to be the best and I feel very confident that they will play an excellent game tonight.

[jerrym]

Below is Ricky Ray's pregame interview.

https://www.argonauts.ca/2017/11/25/...-quarterbacks/

[jerrym]

Doug Flutie comments on the game:

We know one guy who will be happy tonight no matter what... . #Repost@dougflutie22 ・・・ Looking forward to cheering on both my former teams in the Grey Cup today! Good Luck Stamps & Argos! #cfl#GreyCup#argosfootball#GoStampsGo#doubleblue#stampeders#torontoargonauts#calgarystampeders

https://www.cfl.ca/2017/11/26/know-one-guy-will-happy-tonight-no-matter/

[Stevoman]

To everyone on this forum: It's been a great year. This team has given me more enjoyment than I could have asked for, so far. A win today would be icing on the cake. And there's nothing wrong with a little icing! So, wherever you are watching the game, enjoy today.

My sentiments exactly! As Marcus Ball says every game "today is the day"! Let's go Argos!