Standing along the McMahon Stadium sidelines on an unseasonably mild Nov. 28th late afternoon nearly a quarter-century ago, before lengthening shadows began their inevitable encroachment, Randy Ambrosie – wearing green-and-gold that day – steadied himself, breathed deeply and took it all in.
“I knew it was going to be my last game,’’ reminisced the CFL commissioner Monday. “The national anthem was being sung and I all I could think about about was my family.
“About my wife – we’d been friends since we were kids so she’d grown up with this crazy game of football – and our two daughters. About my mom who didn’t come to the game, at home, and my dad, who was there with my brothers.
“Then the jets flew overtop of the stadium and I started to cry.
“Not the most manly thing to admit, I suppose, but everything was bubbling to surface for me.
“And then to win the game, to live that moment when the clock runs down … 3-2-1 to zeroes … and realize the fulfilment of a dream, not just for me but for all of us, you can’t put into words.
“Then my family pouring onto the field. And there were tears everywhere.
“But that’s what the Grey Cup is all about, right? Shared experience. Great memories.”
More memories will be made next year, when the Grey Cup returns to Calgary for a fifth visit. So mark Nov. 24 on your calendar.
The 107th edition – officially announced at the Shaw Communications Offices on Wednesday – will have plenty to live up to. The game’s four previous trips to Crowchild Trail N have fashioned so many of those memories Ambrosie spoke of:
From the 1975 no-TD kickers-duel edition between Montreal’s Don Sweet and Edmonton’s Dave Cutler in biting minus-15 celsius temperatures and swirling 25 kph winds, to the 50,035 jammed into McMahon Stadium 18 years in a game later that – thanks to the Sacramento Gold Miners – featured the first rendition of The Star Spangled Banner heard at a Grey Cup Game; from the Guess Who’s launching into million-seller No Time during at halftime show in 2000 to the infamous 13th-man game that allowed the Als’ Damon Duval a second chance to hoist a game-winning field goal with no time left on the clock, sending the province of Saskatchewan into mourning nine years on.
“The entire nation’s eyes are on this game, on this week,’’ said arguably the finest home-brew tailback ever to tote the rock, the retired Jon Cornish. “I mean, the Grey Cup is part of the the fabric of our country.
“It’s a game for everyone. For all of us.
“I remember taking the Cup into Striker’s Sports Bar, in Toronto, the first openly LGBT sports bar in Canada.
“I had the opportunity to carry it in, set it down and celebrate with everybody there. I thought that was truly transcendent moment, both for the CFL and the entire LGBTQ movement.
“Here’s an internationally-recognized sports league recognizing that this Cup belongs to everybody. Fully inclusive.
“For me, that was definitely the coolest time I’ve ever taken the Grey Cup anywhere.”
Why, the idea of a chance to win the big game on soil is almost enough to pull Rob Cote – out of retirement.
Almost.
“Two more years?’’ he teased. “Not sure the ol’ body could handle that, to be honest.
“But man, it sure sounded tempting.
“It’s a unique opportunity, for sure. Every athlete’s dream, right? We had that chance in 2009, had won the year before and everyone was expected that we’d be at McMahon in 2010. We just couldn’t get it done.”
In a world continually shrinking, with more and more available at faster and faster speeds and people – sports aficionados included – spoiled for choice, the Grey Cup continues to act as a constant, as a bonding agent, if you will, for Canadians.
“Unprecedented, even in the States,’’ says the Texas-born Bo Levi Mitchell. “When it comes down to the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, you get a lot of the fans of the two teams and the city where the games are being played, but it’s pretty unique that no matter city, you talk to fans and it’s like: ‘I’m from Calgary – or Edmonton or Regina or Montreal or Hamilton or wherever – and I’ve been to this many Grey Cups.’
“That creates opportunities for, and dialogue between, people right across this country. Pretty inspiring.”
Amen, echoes Cote.
“The Grey Cup brings us all together. My mom and dad have more great memories from attending Grey Cup weeks, getting to know CFL fans from all over and then get the chance to see them again the next year.
“What else draws people from all over an entire country, wearing different jerseys, with different allegiances, to get together, to party together, and to do it in such a good spirit?”
With the Stamps ramping up for the 2018 training camp beginning mid-May, next year might seem a ways off.
First things first, of course, but Nov. 24, 2019, McMahon Stadium, is out there on the horizon.
“19? Familiar number. Good omen,’’ teased Mitchell, toting daughter Ele sporting a Mini-Mitchell nameplate on the back of her Stampeder jersey.
“Honestly, it’s just exciting for the entire city. I know lot of the guys in the locker room would like to be able to cross-off winning a Grey Cup in your home city.
“It’d be a pretty awesome.
“I got to see it happen early in my career with Darian (Durant) winning it in Sask. It’s happened a couple of times.
“So to be able to do that, to be able to bring the city that kind of joy, would be amazing.”