The Grey Cup
 

Ok, this isn't the kind of football you are used to, but this weekend, the 27th to be exact, the Saskatchewan Roughriders will face off against the Montreal Alouettes for the Grey Cup, awarded to the best team in the CFL (Canadian Football League) ... I only brought this up because I'm a big Riders' fan, and have supported the Green and White since 1967. The Al's are favoured, but the Riders who lost a heartbreaker last year, are, like Stanley, the little team that could ... The Province of Saskatchewan is about two-and-half times bigger than England with a population of fewer than one million ... the Riders are the pride of the Province, and rabid fans travel hours to attend a game at Taylor Field, often in sub zero temperatures ... so, even thought I will probably be the only AccyWebber watching the game, I had to mention it: "Any teams, any topic -so long as it's football." Go Riders:dancedog:

Re: The Grey Cup
 

Errr..are we talking about a game played with a round ball or with an oval ball? Is this a game involving sticks and ice skates? Is it a ladies games, pretending to be a mans game, as most North American games are?

Re: The Grey Cup
 

The ball is oval ... it's American football with major differences, a more wide open game with only three downs ....

I presume that "ladies games" doesn't refer to hockey, mixed martial arts on ice, played by men who have lost their teeth by blocking pucks with their faces, or by taking punches in the numerous altercations which punctuate the game.:dancedog:

Re: The Grey Cup
 

Obviously ya aint been round Accy Centre on a sat night lately?:D

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Yeah, but the punishment for aggravated assault in hockey is having to serve a two minute minor penalty ... which means you get to sit down for two minutes:D

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Just what I suspected...Rugby League for girls.

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And where in the top ten of sports for wimps and whiners would we find soccer:confused: Mmmm ... and let's give some thought to cricket .... baseball on valium:rolleyes:

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love it ... karma sent

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Thanx a bunch ... but I don't really deserve it. It originated with Robin Williams in a show he put on in London a couple of decades ago.:o Just popped into my head when I was thinking of an appropriate response.

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I used to work 'swing shift' and sometimes would hit the San Francisco 'south of market' bars after 12 p.m. when Robin used to wander around trying out new material on the 'public' .... strange guy , one day he would recognize you and would have a few drinks or share a line off the top of a toilet tank , next day he would cut you dead ... the guy has/had problems, for some reason the guy allways wanted to stop off at the visitation/observation point on the Golden Gate Bridge if you gave him a lift home ......I'm going back to the days before he did the movie 'Good Will Hunting' and went to Hollywood and became a 'star'

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You'd have thought so at 1am this morning:D

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In response to the comment "Cricket .... Baseball on Valium !" Dear me, it appears the Colonials are getting rather uppity ! ;) :D May I suggest you Ladies peruse this little snippet ! Or more precisely the first sentence. :eek:

The History of Baseball

Re: The Grey Cup
 

Well the girls used to play it at our school:D

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The other colonies seem to have taken to cricket - just the ones who came under the thumb of our other colonial cousins, the Yanks, haven';t taken to it.
We have spent over 2000 years perfecting the most beautiful langiuage ever - the Yanks, helped by the Canucks, have spent just over 200 years trying to destroy it.

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And mostly being successful Barrie:rolleyes:

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Yes Jaysay, we played it at Springhill in the playground - it was called "Rounders" - Even the Yanks have a toned down version "Softball"., Played that as well and boy do they get upset with "Bodyline":rolleyes::rolleyes::D

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Well you know what the Yanks are like Barrie;)

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the yanks like n play these relatively new sports, cos the ones wi any history there useless at, plus the fact theve only about 20 mins real history, grates em as well.:dflam:

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Maybe I was wrong ... in Cricket, valium is probably classed as a performance enhancing drug;)

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Sure they get upset with "bodyline" ... and even more upset when the pitcher takes a shot at someone's head ... but they don't bitch and whine to the umpire, or, heaven forbid, write a letter to the Times:rolleyes:; the batter heads to the mound to beat the ever-living shlt out of the pitcher .... the benches clear ... a massive, and usually entertaining, brawl occurs ... and then we go back to the game.

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That isn't cricket Eric:D

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It is cricket when amateurs - even schoolboys, faced up to the likes of Wes Hall. Chester Watson, Charlie Griffiths and that maniac Gilchrist.
You wore pads, gloves and a box, and if you got hit you tried to grin and bear it, trying like hell not to let the bowler see he had hurt you - no thoughts of taking a swing at the bowler.

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Quite true Barrie, I remember facing Chester Watson, West Indian Pro for Church in the early 60s, in the nets, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad scared, he was like grease lightning, but you had to stand there and take it, stiff upper lip and all that:D

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Scew the stiff upper lip ... if a guy tries to bean you, you take a run at him and try to shove the bat up his ass, wide end first.

But, back on topic sort of: just read in the "Guardian" sports section that the Rugby game against South Africa may be cancelled because of the cold:rolleyes:. The temp could be as low as -3:eek::eek::eek:. At last weekend's Western Conference final in Calgary, where the Riders whupped the Stampeders, it hit -20.

I remember being at a game at Taylor Field, against the Edmnton Eskimos appropriately, when the temps were in the high 30s ... on the minus side of course. Worst thing was, the beer froze:D

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Jay, we must just have missed each other as I joined up in '61 and he got injured in a car crash soon after that.
Gilchrist was the one that frightened me - think he went to jail for attacking his wife with a poker - played for Bacup or one of the other Rossendale clubs.
As for attacking the bowler/pitcher - well, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.:D:D:D

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Doesn't look like there will be much heat at Twickenham this weekend ... maybe the girls will have to wear their woolies:D However, looks like the temperature for the Grey Cup game this weekend will be around -10 ... a gorgeous winter day in Edmonton.:hothothot

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I can remember going over to see him play but when we got to the ground we heard he wouldn't be playing as he'd been in a car accident, mind you his replacement wasn't a bad un Barrie, some bloke called Garfield Sobers stood in for him:D Roy Gilchrist play at Bacup, and he was a nutter, and was only a relatively small chap really

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Australian spinner was the 1st one, then Polly Umrigar, can't remember if anyone after him before Chester - boy, did life get hectic after that - bouncers that the wkt keeper couldn't get to. That sort of thing went on to my time in the RAF, but gave it up in the '70s, pitches crap, bowlers too fast, eyes and reactions too slow - one on the forehead hairline and one on the temple, fortunately wearing spectacles:D:D:D

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I remember Polly Umrigar, he smoked a pipe, my Uncle who was on Church CC committee at the time asked my Father to make him a tobacco box, he turned it on a lathe and polished it and Polly came to our home to pick it up, think I was about 9 or 10 at the time

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As Oscar Wilde said ... ok, he didn't, but he would have if he had given it some thought: the only thing more boring than cricket is people talking about cricket.;):D

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Its not boring if you've actually played the game Eric:D

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Played it lots of times ... and enjoyed it .... but as a spectator sport, nah. I love Curling too ... even old farts like me can do it ... but I don't watch it all that often, maybe the final games of the Briar, the Olympics, or the Worlds. (I was a below average bat, worse bowler, but not bad in the field .... but I had fun). When the weather co-operated, there was always at least one game going on in Mercer Park ... or on the street, before everyone decided he needed a bloody car.:mad:

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I started playing in the street then graduated to the Triangle which was top side of what is now Foxhill nature reserve and eventually to Church CC and finishing in the Ribblesdale league with Ossy Immanuel, oh for those days of leather on :D