A wild weekend of CFL football broke the logjam of five 10-7 teams. Montréal and Winnipeg did their best to give the other team the East Division crown. In the end, the Blue Bombers get the week off.
While it would have been tempting before the game for the NFL Network to carry the Alouettes-Lions in Vancouver, the two contests the channel carried were close, tough battles.
All three top teams in the West all won at home, and so B.C., Edmonton, and Calgary will go 1-2-3 in the West.
Now we wait for the NFL Network or some other channel to carry the CFL playoffs. Please. Pretty please with Canadian maple syrup on top.
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When people ask if I like everything Canadian because I like Canada, I respond, "No" and "Nickleback." For those who don't like Celine Dion, and I don't, my dislike for Celine Dion isn't even close to my hatred for Nickleback. I refer to them as "kings of the teeth-clinching rock world."
Turns out that the hatred for Nickleback is international: Canadian and American. Detroit Lions fans are protesting the selection of Nickleback as the halftime entertainment of the annual Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit. The online petition has more than 34,000 signatures.
More: Link to the petition at change.org
Unfortunately, the Grey Cup decided to have Nickleback for its halftime entertainment. Last year, we complained that the ESPN3.com feed didn't show us the halftime show of Bachman and Turner. If we are stuck with ESPN3.com this year, it has our permission to not show the halftime entertainment.
Even though the band is from Alberta, Nickleback is based in Vancouver, home of the Grey Cup. If the Grey Cup wanted to celebrate Vancouver, we would have suggested Sarah McLachlan, who has relocated to Vancouver and sang O Canada when the refurbished B.C. Place Stadium opened, or Michael Buble, who is from nearby Burnaby.
Canada has plenty of great musical guests for the Grey Cup but Nickleback will never be one of them.
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The two games on the NFL Network came to us from Alberta, which were hit with below 0 temperatures (Celsius). Edmonton didn't get snow, but Calgary did have the white stuff the day before its kickoff.
A significant number of NFL teams play in decently warm weather sites. Hamilton is the furthest Southern CFL city, yet won't host a game. The domes in Montréal and Vancouver (and Toronto if it ever can get back into the playoffs) hide the weather elements. A late afternoon game in northern Alberta or Winnipeg can be really cold.
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While Joey Votto will not win another MVP trophy as he did in 2010, Votto did win an award he did not win that year: a Gold Glove.
The Cincinnati Reds first baseman has stiff competition within his league for the honor. This year, Votto beat out two-time winner Albert Pujols of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. This is Votto's first Gold Glove.
Votto becomes the third Canadian-born player to win the honor. Larry Walker won 7 Gold Gloves, 2 of them with the Montréal Expos, for his outfield play. Russell Martin win the 2007 Gold Glove at catcher while with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Though the Canadiens and the Rangers are Original 6 franchises, the CBC kept pointing out that the Saturday night matchup was the 2nd time since 1984 that the two teams met on a Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
One amusing glitch in the telecast came late as the U.S. viewers briefly got Boston at Toronto near the end of the Montréal at New York Rangers. The NHL Network insists on dumping out right after the telecast to go to NHL on the Fly. David Amber, who moonlights for the CBC, and Mike Johnson, whose day job is with TSN, didn't seem prepared for being on right after the game. Then NHL on the Fly showed us the OT of Buffalo-Ottawa. Would have been smoother to show the CBC feed all the way until 10 p.m. Eastern. Then NHL on the Fly can start at the top of the hour.
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The NHL Network streak, if you want to call it that, of carrying the first Hockey Night in Canada game will be snapped next week. The HNIC choices are Ottawa at Toronto and Montréal at Nashville (yes, Winnipeg is at Columbus but the NHL Network won't pick that game).
The NHL Network is going with New Jersey at Washington. We have seen the U.S. cable channel snub the Battle of Ontario in the past, but this year's matchup is really solid. The channel's management made this call before the season started, so the decision isn't based on actual records.
The channel is pointing out in its promo for the Devils-Capitals that some markets will see Montréal at Nashville. Presumably this means New York City and Washington will get Hockey Night in Canada, even if most of the country won't.
This is the time you want a Slingbox, but if you had that option, you'd pick up a CBC affiliate anyway. I will be on Canadian soil on the weekend, but my game will be Ottawa at Toronto and my best shot to see it will be if I stay up for the replay that airs at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time.
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Jobing.com Arena is made fun of for a number of reasons: it's in the middle of nowhere and the crowds with non-Canadian teams are rather pathetic. In watching the outside of the arena during the 2nd half of the HNIC doubleheader, the arena itself is plastered with huge tacky signs and on TV looks pretty ugly.
Watching Winnipeg back in the league is wonderful, but the error that was Winnipeg to Phoenix is only half-fixed. Phoenix needs to leave the desert, never look back. Even if the team goes to Seattle or Kansas City, the fate is still better than going to Glendale.
This game is nationally televised, do we really want the rest of the US to associate Detroit with Nickelback? Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?! Does anyone even like Nickelback? Is this some sort of ploy to get people to leave their seats during halftime to spend money on alcoholic beverages and concessions? This is completely unfair to those of us who purchased tickets to the game.
Posted by: Lewis Blade | November 29, 2011 at 01:58 AM
Canada has a lot of great musicians ... and Nickelback. So does Detroit. The fact that Nickelback played 2 significant football games 2,000 miles (3,200 KM) apart in 4 days seems bizarre. Plenty of good music to go around, just not Nickelback.
Posted by: Chad | November 30, 2011 at 04:36 PM