TSN celebrates the CFL past and present in a series of special features leading up to the 98th GREY CUP this weekend. Brian Williams hosts several of the TSN-produced features that will air this Saturday and Sunday that take a closer look at memorable moments in the history of the CFL, the GREY CUP and this year’s venue, Commonwealth Stadium. Other features focus on this year’s editions of the Alouettes and Roughriders, and two players on opposing sides who share an unusual bond.
Journey to the Grey Cup
In two separate features, TSN takes a look back at the Montreal Alouettes’ and Saskatchewan Roughriders’ respective 2010 seasons with a focus on the East and West Finals. In the features, viewers relive the teams’ 2010 seasons through the eyes of the players themselves, as members of both teams chronicle the different paths each team took on their way to the 98th GREY CUP. For the East and West Finals, TSN cameras were granted exclusive access into the teams’ locker rooms before and after the games. Footage includes pre- and post-game speeches, as well as in-game commentary from key players on both teams who wore microphones throughout the games.
1950 Grey Cup: “The Mud Bowl”
A look back at the 1950 Grey Cup game between the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which is better known as the Mud Bowl due to the heavy snow, followed by rain that virtually turned Toronto’s Varsity Stadium field into swamp. In the end, the Argos managed to score 13 points while shutting out the Bombers. Williams speaks with five of the players who took part in the game, the last GREY CUP in which a team was shut out.
Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 810 Tragedy
Brian Williams revisits a tragic plane crash on B.C.’s Mount Slesse that took the lives of all 62 passengers including five CFL players who were returning home after the 1956 CFL All-Star Game in Vancouver. The CFLers who fell victim to this tragedy include Saskatchewan Roughriders Mario DeMarco, Ray Syrnyk, Gordon Sturtridge and Mel Becket and Winnipeg Blue Bomber Calvin Jones. Several tributes were made in honour of the victims, including the DeMarco-Becket Memorial Award, given each year to the West division’s most outstanding offensive lineman. Williams explores the impact of the tragedy through interviews with members of the fallen players’ families, 1956 All-Star Normie Kwong – who was originally scheduled to be on Flight 810 before changing his plans – and two-time DeMarco-Becket Award winner Gene Makowsky as well as the authors of a book about the Mount Slesse plane crash.
Ben Cahoon and Andy Fantuz
Also airing on Sunday, TSN takes a closer looks at two receivers competing against each other in the 98th GREY CUP who share more in common than dominant performances in 2010. In the first of two features, TSN looks at Montreal’s Ben Cahoon, who became the CFL’s all-time leading receiver during the 2010 season. The second feature shines the spotlight on Saskatchewan’s Andy Fantuz, who became the first Canadian in 15 years to lead the CFL in receptions. The unusual bond that these two CFL superstars share is that each had to come back from an injury crisis even before their careers began, Cahoon was wounded while attempting to break up a robbery, while Fantuz suffered severe complications after being hurt in a basketball game.
Commonwealth Stadium
Williams takes a look at the storied past of this year’s GREY CUP venue, Commonwealth Stadium. The iconic Stadium has played host to high profile events like the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the Edmonton Eskimos dynasty of the late 1970s and 1980s, the first women’s world soccer championship and the first ever NHL regular season game held outdoors. Williams sits down with Wayne Gretzky, Warren Moon, NBC’s Dick Enberg and others as they share their memories of Commonwealth Stadium.
