Truth be told it wasn't that cold out in Edmonton, Alberta on Sunday, at least not so cold that the 98th Grey Cup couldn't be played, with the Montreal Alouettes (that's French for larks) ultimately holding on 21-18 for their second-straigh championship victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders (that's English for a slightly better name for a football team).
The game was relatively exciting, with one significant moment (to non-CFL fans) taking place in the first quarter, when Roughrider Leron Mitchell broke his leg on a play.
It was an especially notable game because in the previous Grey Cup, the Alouettes came back from a 27-11 fourth-quarter deficit to win 28-27 on a last-ditch field-goal attempt, after the same Roughriders got called for too many men on the field. The initial field goal was missed by Montreal kicker Damon Duval, but the penalty gave him a second shot at redemption and he did not miss, making for one of the most exciting - and tragic - ends to a championship game, no matter the sport.
This year, with the roles reversed, Montreal was able to hld on despite, at one point leading 21-11 in the fourth. Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant threw an interception in the game's dying moments to linebacker Billy Parker, which sealed the game. Durant, who's the older brother of Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Justin Durant, was trying to avoid a sack and throw the ball out of bounds, but just didn't get enough on it, leading to yet another heartbreaking defeat for Riders fan, who luckily had been able to celebrate a championship victory in 2007.
And, no, despite how it may look to the casual fan, there are not just two teams in the entire league... there are eight, which admittedly still doesn't provide much in the way of competition, but what are you going to do when your country's entire population of 35 million people is concentrated in just a handful of significantly large urban centers in order to keep warm during the eight-month winters up there. Way to perpetuate a negative stereotype of Canadians, CFL. And, yes, mounties did present the Grey Cup to the winning team.
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