Jozy Altidore was suspended in a controversial decision for the first leg against Columbus. So the scenario was fitting where Altidore overcame an injury in the 49th minute to score the lone goal in the 60th minute, sending Toronto FC to the 2017 MLS Cup with a 1-0 win.
Toronto FC will host either Seattle or Houston on December 9, but that will likely be Seattle. The MLS Cup defending champion Sounders scored a pair of first-half goals in the opening leg in Houston to post the 2-0 victory. Even if the Dynamo can shut down the Sounders in Seattle Thursday night, the 2 away goals advantage looms large.
In the first leg at Columbus, Toronto did not put a shot on target. Toronto had six shots in the first half and one in the second, all off the mark.
Toronto FC won the Supporters Shield, dominating the MLS schedule. The Reds have had to focus on defence, only scoring 3 goals in 4 playoff games.
The lone goal in this series started with a goal kick from Toronto FC goalie Alex Bono. A few fortunate bounces later, the ball came to Sebastian Giovinco, who was also suspended in the first leg. Giovinco back passed the ball to Altidore, who gave a nice leading pass to Victor Vazquez. Vazquez set up Altidore with a beautiful pass and Altidore kicked the ball into the far left section of the Columbus goal.
"I couldn't leave the game. I felt like I had more to give," Altidore told Fox Sports 1. "There was a chance coming, and luckily enough the chance came when I was still on." Altidore said to TSN, "This is a testament to the organization."
Altidore did come out in the 68th minute after giving the Reds all the scoring the team would need.
CBC had listened to the idea of showing Canadian films this past summer. The network went a step further with The Filmmakers, a 30-minute program that aired just before each film devoted to that film and its impact in the world of Canadian film.
During breaks in the 2017 Windsor International Film Festival, I took time on the Canadian side of the border to watch a few episodes.
Each episode of The Filmmakers had 3 segments:
panel discussion
interview with the director on the film
either more about that film or a more recent project
The segments are also enhanced by:
a people-on-the-street section where people answer a question relating to the theme of the film
Film 101, where the background roles such as art director and best boy are explained in detail
Johanna Schneller was the host. Amanda Parris, host of Exhibitionists on CBC Television, handled the Film 101 segments.
Each panel had 3 other people besides Schneller. They were picked with the film in mind. Some of the panelists even worked on the film featured in the episode. Guest panelists included Connor Jessup, David Suzuki, Stephanie Morgenstern, Bob Martin, Eli Glasner, Samantha Wan, Emmanuel Jal, Elisapie Isaac, Cameron Bailey, Sook-Yin Lee, Peter Knegt, Edward Burtynsky, Nyla Innuksuk, Anita Lee, Cazhhmere, and Academy Award-winner Sylvain Bellemare.
Schneller asked good questions to the directors to try and get intimate details to help the viewer appreciate the impact of the film. Her personality questions to the directors to draw out some personal detail fell flat.
The panel discussions were very helpful. The themes sometimes drifted beyond the film: the panel for Double Happiness delved into opportunities for women and specifically Asian women.
"Working in Canada, I have this discussion all the time with young people, if you're going to do it, then you better do it on your own terms. If you want to just make money, then you should go to the States because you're not going to do that here. What you do have here to compensate for that is control and the possibility to work with like-minded people and create a vision together that is distinctive. … "I feel it's a responsibility here for Canadians and if you're working in Canada, you better do something, you better take the reins and make something unique."
The talk with the directors would shift at times to current projects from Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan to Mina Shum's Meditation Park.
We don't see too much of the actual film during The Filmmakers; to be fair, the whole film follows the telecast.
Most directors did the episode with Denis Villeneuve being an exception. Schneller interviewed Sylvain Bellemare, who worked the sound for Villeneuve on Incendies and won the Oscar for Best Sound on Villeneuve's film Arrival.
In a potential Season 2 next summer, the temptation would be to give 2 segments to the panel and only a single segment for the director. The director can often be too close to the project. Don McKellar and Sarah Polley could have used the entire show. Kim Nguyen only needed a single segment. That decision may depend on the director.
You can access more information about The Filmmakershere, including segments that are not restricted just to Canada. For those in Canada, you can watch Season 1 episodes here.
The Calgary Stampeders have to be a bit frustrated. Have the best record in the league. Go into the Grey Cup against an opponent that isn't above .500. And lose the Grey Cup.
The 2017 version dominated the Grey Cup but a couple of big plays from the Toronto Argonauts meant the Stampeders went home empty-handed.
The Toronto Argonauts survived the snow at TD Place in Ottawa and a dominant Calgary team to pull off the 27-24 upset over the Stampeders.
Long Distance Voyageur keeps the Boatmen theme and sums up the impact of major plays in the Argonauts Grey Cup win. In the first half, the 100-yard TD pass from Ricky Ray to DeVier Posey set up a Grey Cup record. Posey ended up winning the Most Valuable Player for the 2017 Grey Cup with 7 receptions for 175 yards. Cassius Vaughn pulled off a 110-yard fumble recovery TD as the Stampeders were driving for a touchdown that could have sealed the deal for Calgary.
Even with the Argos comeback, Calgary had a very good shot at either a tying field goal or a game-winning touchdown until Matt Black came down with an interception in the end zone.
Given how close the game was and the contrast in regular season records, there will be a debate over whether Calgary would have won without the snow. Despite Canada's reputation for snow, this was the only CFL game this season with snow.
Shania Twain entered the stage via dog sled, a genius move if they knew snow was coming. The entrance tickled Twitter in both countries.
Twain also did halftime for the 2002 Grey Cup in Edmonton. This year's new album from Twain is her first since that same year of 2002.
The last time the Grey Cup was in Ottawa, the halftime entertainment was The Tragically Hip.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Julie Payette were also in attendance at the 105th Grey Cup.
Stadium capacity in the east is rather limited, so a 36,154 sellout attendance figure is rather impressive. That mark is almost 3,000 more than the BMO Field crowd of 2016 and 480 fewer than Winnipeg drew in 2015.
The 106th Grey Cup will be on November 25, 2018 from Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
The Toronto Argonauts only picked up 4 games in the standings from 5-13 in 2016 to 9-9 in 2017. The Argos clinched first place and a .500 record by beating the BC Lions on the last CFL game of the season. The 4-point win over Saskatchewan was the worst performance of any East team against a crossover team in the division final.
However, the Argos played well when the team needed that playoff effort. This was definitely a much improved squad over the team Calgary saw twice in August.
We knew that Henry Burris was likely to call it a career after the 2016 Grey Cup. Ricky Ray is now the only starting QB to win 4 Grey Cups. At age 38, it would be easy for Ray to walk away. But this time might not be so obvious.
Calgary has gone 28-6-2 in the last 2 seasons and no Grey Cup for their efforts. The combined record of their Grey Cup opponents: 17-18-1.
Calgary already had revenge over losing last year's Grey Cup in overtime to Ottawa. Toronto went from being the worst team in the CFL in 2016 with new leadership from coach Marc Trestman and general manager Jim Popp.
CFL parity promoters note that 7 of the 9 franchises have won a Grey Cup in the last decade. Winnipeg and Hamilton have had the longest droughts with their last Grey Cup win coming in the 20th century.
In 2016, Ottawa snapped a 40-year streak that extended through the end of the Rough Riders and past the Renegades. The 2018 Grey Cup could extend the parity ideal with a Winnipeg-Hamilton battle.
The NHL Network spotlights Alex Ovechkin and his Capitals at the Air Canada Centre on Hockey Night in Canada with the CBC feed. The U.S. channel carries the Rogers Sportsnet game after the Hometown Hockey game as the Edmonton Oilers are in Boston. That game airs opposite the beginning of the 2017 Grey Cup.
Besides the Maple Leafs hosting Washington, CBC finishes Saturday night with the Calgary Flames visiting their Rocky Mountain cousins in Denver in the nightcap.
City TV gets its own game with the New York Islanders visiting the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
Rogers Sportsnet 360 showcases the Calgary Flames hosting Gary Bettman's first-born desert team on Thursday.
Most of the Sportsnet regional channels have extra games this week. Connor McDavid is at the home of Jack Eichel as the Oilers come to Buffalo Friday night (SNE, SNO, SNW). The Vancouver game Thursday in Nashville is also on the list (SNE, SNO, SNP).
NHL Network
Saturday Washington @ Toronto, 7p Sunday Edmonton @ Boston, 5p
NBCSN went with Kenny Albert and Pierre McGuire for the Edmonton Oilers game in St. Louis. We knew the top team wasn't going to go with that game. Given NBCSN's very weak bench outside of its Canadian contributions, this was about as good as the U.S. audience could get.
Kenny Albert was fine but Pierre McGuire spent his time yelling at the Oilers like he was their father. We never saw this meanness in his TSN days. McGuire also didn't interview Edmonton Coach Todd McLellan.
The assignment was to beat up on Edmonton during the telecast. The Oilers didn't help the cause but NBCSN clearly went in with an agenda. This was the first Edmonton game where the network sent a crew and the overall coverage was an absolute embarrassment. The Fox Sports Midwest feed would have been more fair. Kathryn Tappen and Kenny Albert did okay. Keith Jones followed the bash Oilers script but did so in a tone that reflected a team that is struggling. Brian Boucher is more concerned about repeating the party line than providing analysis.
The game drew a remarkable 281,000 viewer level. If you throw out Wednesday games and special events, this is the best NBCSN mark so far this season. NBCSN has 2 more Edmonton Oilers games, both in early January. Let's hope for a more professional treatment in those games.
For those who have a NBC Sports [name of city], you can sometimes get extra NHL games, some of which involve Canadian teams. The Calgary game in Washington was one of those games. The drawback is the horrible local Washington crew. At least you can watch it for the Flames goals.
We were led to believe that the Rogers Sportsnet West feed last Wednesday was a national feed with the Edmonton Oilers in Detroit. So Rogers only had 5 simultaneous national games on the day before Thanksgiving, not 6. The U.S. regular season record in the modern times is still 1.
Let's not forget that those CBC promos ran on CBC, City TV, and Rogers Sportsnet.
The new kid in the CBC schedule is The Stats of Life, a reality series on how Canadians are living today based on recent population statistics. The program debuts tonight on CBC in the post Marketplace time slot.
There was 3 promos in the 2nd period. The first 2 promos ran really close together in the first 5 minutes of the period. I pulled out a stopwatch: the time ran 54.95 seconds from the beginning of the first promo to the end of the second promo. This does violate the spirit of how to space out the promos.
The Goods received an extra mention in the NHL Network Sunday matinee.
Early game: Frankie Drake Mysteries; Great Canadian Baking Show (1st); Kim's Convenience; Rick Mercer Report; The Goods (2nd); The Stats of Life (3rd)
The 2017 CFL division semifinals went to the road team. In the division finals in Toronto and Calgary, the home teams prevailed, setting up a rematch of the 100th Grey Cup for the 105th Grey Cup Sunday at TD Place in Ottawa. Ricky Ray, who won the 2012 Grey Cup, and Bo Levi Mitchell, winner of the 2014 Grey Cup, set the pace for their teams.
Calgary wants revenge over losing last year's Grey Cup in overtime. Toronto has risen back from being the worst team in the CFL in 2016 in great part due to new leadership from coach Marc Trestman and general manager Jim Popp.
Ricky Ray is 38 years old. The likelihood of Ray pulling off a Henry Burris and retiring on top will be a focus in Ottawa. If the Argos win, this will be the 4th Grey Cup championship for the Toronto quarterback.
This is the 4th time Toronto and Calgary has met for the Grey Cup. The Stampeders beat Joe Theismann and the Argos 14-11 in 1971. The Argos, inspired by John Candy as a minority owner, handled Calgary 36-21 in 1991. The 100th Grey Cup had the Argos winning on home turf at Rogers Centre 35-22 in 2012.
The 105th Grey Cup is the first for this location under the name TD Place. This will be the 7th time Ottawa has hosted the Grey Cup. Under the name Frank Clair Stadium in 2004, the Grey Cup drew a crowd of 51,242. 50,604 came out for the 1988 Grey Cup in Lansdowne Park. The 2017 attendance won't come close to that, even though the game is sold out. Ottawa was also the Grey Cup home in 1967 (31,407); 1940 (1,700); 1939 (11,737); and 1925 (6,900).
The TV coverage gets underway at 6 pm Eastern when ESPN2 will pick up the TSN feed. Canadians will have access to much more pregame including Grey Cup Saturday on TSN.
Crossover teams are at a disadvantage, even when they've had a better record than their opponent such as the past 2 seasons. The Saskatchewan Roughriders needed a 5th quarter, some better offence calls early, a smoother transition to Brandon Bridge, and more momentum and points off turnovers in the first half.
The Riders comeback felt complete when Christian Jones ran back a 79-yards punt return just before the 3-minute warning. With the 2-point conversion, Saskatchewan went up 21-18.
The Argos had 3rd-and-10 from the Roughriders 40. The Ricky Ray was just high enough for James Wilder Jr. to make a remarkable catch down at the Saskatchewan 18. That play made all the difference for Toronto.
The Roughriders were a 3rd down shutdown away from being the first crossover team to reach the Grey Cup.
The 4-point deficit for Saskatchewan in the Toronto 25-21 win was the closest any crossover team has come to getting to the Grey Cup.
"I just felt like at that moment, we could kick the field goal, have our defence stand on their head, and get the ball back. When it doesn’t work, there’s questions to be asked and consequences to it as far as you could lose a ballgame — that was the case."
"Will I look back on it and wonder — maybe — but I won’t ever regret it. It was a faith decision, saying your defence is going to get a stop, your specials will get the ball back and your offence will go down and score. In this one game and one moment, it didn't — we'll all live with it, and it'll go down as a loss."
Trailing by 7 points, Edmonton was driving toward what might have been a tying touchdown. The Esks had gambled on 3rd-and-10 on that drive and succeeded. 3rd-and-4 on the Calgary 13, Edmonton Head Coach Jason Maas called for the field-goal unit.
The field goal made the score 32-28 Calgary, the same score when the final whistle sounded. Calgary burned up a lot of clock and Edmonton fumbled the punt once the Stampeders couldn't go any further.
The move will remain puzzling and part of CFL lore for years to come. Despite Maas' best attempts to answer the question, we may truly never understand quite what happened.
The West division final might have reminded the Esks of their season: Edmonton scored the first 15 points of the game, then Calgary went on a 30-1 run. The Esks outscored the Stamps 12-2 but that wasn't enough.
Edmonton lost 5 potential points on field goal attempts by Sean Whyte that was stolen by the wind, 1 more than the 4 points of the margin of the Calgary win.
The Argonauts finally drew a healthy crowd of 24,929. We saw quite a few Saskatchewan fans in the crowd but the double blue fans were out and loud. The regular season crowds were less than ideal, even with savings deals during the CNE in late summer.
Brandon Bridge did come off the bench and helped the Roughriders win in Toronto last month. Bridge helped turn the Saskatchewan offence around in the 4th quarter. Bridge became the first Canadian QB to throw a TD pass in playoffs since Russ Jackson for Ottawa against Saskatchewan on November 30, 1969.
As a contrast, the last Canadian to throw a TD pass in the NFL playoffs was in 2015 when the Seattle Seahawks pulled off a fake field-goal try and punter Jon Ryan rolled left and completed a 19-yard TD pass to Garry Gilliam in the 2015 NFC Championship. Ryan, a former CFL player, was the first Canadian to throw a postseason TD pass in the NFL since Mark Rypien on January 2, 1993. A long time, yes, but not as long as waiting since 1969.
Shania Twain will be the halftime entertainment for the 105th Grey Cup. Trooper and April Wine will play Saturday night.
Twain also did halftime for the 2002 Grey Cup in Edmonton. This year's new album from Twain is her first since that same year of 2002.
"We can confirm the CFL has had discussions with a group interested in securing a Canadian Football League franchise for the city of Halifax. While this group has been professional, enthusiastic and impressive, these conversations are relatively new and a very thorough process of due diligence must be put in place and completed before we can fully assess the viability of the project. We want to publicly thank this group for its passion for the CFL and we thank the members of the media for their interest."
TSN's Dave Naylor first reported that "a group of businessmen with ties to Eastern Canada would like to make the Canadian Football League’s dream of a tenth franchise come true in Halifax."
I've been to Halifax and Moncton. I've been to every current CFL city. The Atlantic Schooners would make a great 10th CFL franchise. More people would discover the Maritimes through football. Let's make this happen.
Toronto FC might feel like the team has an arm or two tied behind their back in the opening leg of the 2017 MLS East final in Columbus.
Jozy Altidore received a red card for an infraction off the field that, according to the Toronto FC people, was based on an incident where New York Red Bulls captain Sacha Kljestan wasn't supposed to be. Toronto FC appealed the decision and lost.
"The burden of proof for us was to unequivocally prove that what we think and what we understand to have happened did happen," said Toronto coach Greg Vanney. "We weren't able to do that conclusively with the video because there's still little gaps in the video."
I'm definitely not the biggest fan of this sport but from a casual fan standpoint, the whole incident is bizarre. An official follows the players up the tunnel in case something happens. Kliestan had knocked down Altidore on the field. Kliestan may or may not have been in the wrong place. The Red Bulls behaviour was absolutely shameful to any organised sport, and there doesn't seem to be any pushback to their actions.
The hope is that Toronto FC can recover from these actions, but the impression is that if the Red Bulls had come to play soccer that afternoon in Toronto, both Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco would be playing in Columbus tonight.
Giovinco, who has half of the 2 Toronto FC goals so far in the 2017 MLS playoffs, got a second yellow card on November 5 and will not play in the game in Columbus.
Tosaint Ricketts and Victor Vazquez, who has the other Reds 2017 playoff goal, will be key people to step up for Toronto FC.
Columbus has played inspired soccer to this point, getting past a hot Atlanta United in the knockout round and a strong NYC FC team in the East semifinal. The team and fans are also rallying behind since the Crew's owner has threatened to move the team to Austin, TX.
The teams haven't played since May 26. The Reds went 1-1 in the Ohio capital with a convincing 5-0 win at BMO Field on May 26. In that large home shutout, the Reds were without Giovinco (injury) and Altidore (suspension).
Toronto FC-Columbus times and networks
Date
Site
Time
U.S. TV
Cdn TV
November 21
@ Columbus
8 pm
ESPN
TSN, TVAS
November 29
@ Toronto
7:20 pm
FS1
TSN, TVAS
The Trillium Cup is an extension of the rivalry between the Reds and the Crew. The teams compete for the Cup based on goals scored in the regular MLS games between the squads. The trillium is the official flower of Ontario and the official wildflower of Ohio.
Columbus dominated the rivalry early on since 2008 while Toronto FC has won the Cup 3 of the last 4 seasons.
This time, the teams are competing for the right to play for a more impressive Cup.
If Toronto FC pulls off the win, the Reds would host either the Houston Dynamo or the Seattle Sounders. The Reds would host the 2017 MLS Cup for having a better record. The winner of the Supporters Shield is the team with the most points in the whole league.
We like when Canada is the dominant country in a film, but we should also appreciate those moments when Canada is the icing on a cupcake and not the cupcake on a non-Canadian film.
Let's look at a pair of recent films currently in the film festival circuit that have a spotlight on Canada.
Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle (Tulipani: Liefde, Eer en een Fiets)
Solo's character Anna returns to Italy to spread the ashes of her mother and discovers her background and learns about her father. The adult version of Anna is not in most of the film as the emphasis is on Italy.
Solo speaks Italian in the film. Mike van Diem, who directed the film, said Solo had learned Italian for the part. She also recently did In Search of Fellini, so she got some mileage with her Italian.
As if this story wasn't European enough, Solo was born in Latvia and emigrated to Canada as a small child.
This film is set in Paris but Canada is connected to the primary female character. Fiona is invited to come to Paris to help her Aunt Martha. She always wanted to go to Paris.
The film is a French farce so a lot of elements are over the top. Canada is portrayed as a small village in a tundra where it is always snowing and a very strong wind blows whenever the door is open.
Fiona comes to Paris with a huge red backpack with a Canadian flag. She meets a Canadian Mountie who is in a training session in Paris. Fiona keeps trying to speak French to him but he explains that he does know English.
Fiona Gordon wrote, starred, and directed the film. Gordon is Australia-born but grew up in Canada.
There is little reason to think the Canada scenes were shot in Canada. The version of Canada is so exaggerated that there would be no need to be in Canada.
The use of Canada in both films was inspired by actual Canadians being in the creative process. Both films needed a place of somewhere else and Canada proved helpful.
Their Canadian identity isn't a significant factor in either film. Tulipani presents a more realistic view of Canada while Lost in Paris offers a sillier, stereotypical version.
Neither film is Canadian by traditional definitions, though Gordon is a director who is Canadian.
No recent film used Canada as poorly as The Proposal even with Canadian Ryan Reynolds in the movie. I'll take the silliness in Lost in Paris over apathy and laziness in The Proposal.
We are more likely to trust non-American films on the use of Canada over American films simply because Americans don't really know too much about Canada. Michael Moore used Canada well in Canadian Bacon. Scott Pilgrim Saves the World represented its Canada identity in fine fashion. Kevin Smith still confuses us over his use of Canada in his True North trilogy films: Tusk, Yoga Hosers, and the still in production Moose Jaws.
Do you have a favourite non-Canadian film where you like how the film portrays Canada? Let us know in the comments section.
photos credit: Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle; Lost in Paris
Don't freak out but NBCSN is showing a whole Edmonton Oilers game. This isn't April. Okay, it's not a home game but baby steps. Connor McDavid will be on NBCSN for a whole game while cold weather exists. The Oilers are in St. Louis Tuesday night.
CBC carries the Maple Leafs-Canadiens grudge match from the Bell Centre early and St. Louis visiting Vancouver late.
Rogers Sportsnet has Hometown Hockey from St. Thomas, ON as the Ottawa Senators will be in the Big Apple but not in Brooklyn.
Rogers Sportsnet One will carry a couple of Canadian teams in Philadelphia with Calgary on a Saturday matinee and Vancouver on Tuesday.
The Wednesday before the U.S. Thanksgiving features a medley of Canadian teams all in the United States. All early games will be available to the national audience. Rogers Sportsnet splits its audience with the Ottawa Senators at Washington (Sportsnet East); Toronto Maple Leafs in Sunrise (Sportsnet Ontario); Edmonton Oilers in Detroit (Sportsnet West); and the Vancouver Canucks at Pittsburgh (Sportsnet Pacific).
Rogers Sportsnet One assists on Wednesday with the Canadiens in Nashville.
Rogers Sportsnet 360 will have Calgary in the Ohio capital on Wednesday.
It's fun with Canada showing 65 national games at once while the United States freaks out over showing 2 simultaneous games.
The NHL Network picked up the world feed for both games while handling the intermissions. Rogers Sportsnet had its own intermissions on Saturday with the world feed. TSN5 used Gord Miller and Jamie McLennan to call the Friday game off a monitor.
Haynes and York did a pretty good job. We got some Swedish colour about the current and former Swedish NHL players. The games had NHL regulation ice, a bit of a surprise. We could have used some colour about Stockholm or Sweden.
Given Bob Cole's long flights west for NHL hockey, there was a thought that Cole would have had an easier time flying to Stockholm from St. John's. Newfoundland is 4½ hours behind Stockholm as opposed to 8 hours for Denver and 6 hours for Ottawa.
Nothing personal to Haynes and York but Bob Cole and Colorado colour analyst Peter McNab would have been a fun combination.
Don Cherry suggested on Coach's Corner that if Ottawa can't get a new downtown arena, the team should move to Quebec City. Ron MacLean suggested moving Florida or Arizona. Even with the Senators issues due to the long commute to Kanata, Ottawa is still outdrawing Arizona, Florida, and a number of other NHL teams.
We agree that Ottawa would benefit from a downtown arena, especially without a light-rail system (currently being built). But Kanata is still better than Glendale or Sunrise.
Cherry's logic was that the Senators had a "French coach," a "French general manager," and "a lot of French guys." Well, Ottawa is very bilingual and includes part of Quebec in its metropolitan area.
Gary Bettman essentially said the same thing about Ottawa minus the Quebec City part. With Calgary and Ottawa, we're better off when Bettman ignores Canada.
Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu were rival captains for Canada and the United States in women's hockey in international competition. Ouellette and Chu are teammates on the Canadian Women's Hockey League's Montreal Canadiennes. Most important, they are proud parents of baby Liv.
You can see the smiling couple and the newest member to their family here via Instagram.
This is a beautiful, symbolic vision of what happens when you combine the best of Canada and the United States.
The Rogers Sportsnet pregame didn't promote the pair of late games but the Hall of Fame inductee interviews took precedence.
Chris Cuthbert got a "vacation" in between the CFL playoffs and his day job at TSN4/TSN5 by working for NBCSN in Nashville on Tuesday. Like his TSN compadre Gord Miller this season, Cuthbert was stuck with Brian Boucher.
We got a CBC telecast with a full allotment of promos. This was the first one we've seen for the Canadian version of The Great British Bake Off. We would love to get a great butter tarts recipe.
The promo for The National spoke of "real stories, real journalism, diving deeper into the stories of the day." The CBC has always been about real journalism but in the fake news era, audiences need to be reminded.
The NHL Network also aired a matinee version with extra mentions for Kim's Convenience and Murdoch Mysteries.
Early game: Frankie Drake Mysteries; The National (1st); Kim's Convenience; Great Canadian Baking Show (2nd); Murdoch Mysteries; Rick Mercer Report (3rd)
For the second year in a row, a West team will play in the East final. The Saskatchewan Roughriders will play in the East final at BMO Field in Toronto against the Argonauts.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders swept the Toronto Argonauts this season. The Roughriders posted a home win 38-27 on July 29. Saskatchewan edged out the Argonauts 27-24 at BMO Field on October 7.
Toronto is 2-0 against Saskatchewan in the postseason. The Argonauts won the 1997 Grey Cup 47-23 in Edmonton. Toronto downed the Roughriders 24-14 in the 2002 East semifinal at Rogers Centre.
Calgary won 2-1 over Edmonton but the Esks won the final game at home 29-20 on October 28. The Stampeders won on Labour Day at home 39-18 and 29-20 in Edmonton 5 days later.
The last time the Battle of Alberta happened in the playoffs was the 2015 West final where Edmonton won 45-31 at home. The last time Calgary hosted the Battle of Alberta in the playoffs was the 2014 West final, the Stampeders won 43-18. This will be the 3rd time in 4 years that the West final involves the Alberta teams.
Both final games will run on ESPNews with the TSN feed.
The start to the East semifinal was hectic and record-setting. CFL Communications noted that those were the "Fastest two TDs EVER in a playoff game in all CFL history, 4:07" and "Fastest three TDs EVER in a playoff game" and "First time EVER that the first 3 possessions resulted in a TD."
The Ottawa RedBlacks went for 2 after its responding touchdown, coming on a 56-yard TD reception from Diontae Spencer, to hold a brief 8-7 lead.
Kevin Glenn had plenty of time and lots of open receivers in the 31-20 victory. Marcus Thigpen had a wonderful day on the ground along with former RedBlack Kienan LaFrance. Thigpen's 75-yard TD run after the RedBlacks could only get a FG after a turnover deep in Roughriders territory sealed the deal for the Roughriders.
Ottawa struggled with the Greg Ellingson injury and an offence that forced Trevor Harris, in his first playoff start, to throw for a record 60 pass attempts.
The Roughriders will stay and work out in Ottawa this week before heading to Toronto for the game on Sunday.
The Edmonton squad completed the theme of road victors on Sunday with the 39-32 win. Winnipeg battled well in the first half, but the Blue Bombers were playing with a slow of foot quarterback (Matt Nichols) and defence lapses that left several Esks receivers very wide open. Mike Reilly had plenty of options in the passing game. CJ Gable, one of 2 key acquisitions from Hamilton this season, had 107 yards on the ground.
A lot of focus was placed on a fake punt on a 3rd-and-3 call. Edmonton had to know Winnipeg Coach Mike O'Shea would try something. The call was a good one except that the Esks knew something would happen and the play wasn't executed well.
The fake punt was not the reason why Winnipeg lost. If this game had happened a month ago, the Blue Bombers would have been healthy and victorious. Edmonton now has a 6-game winning streak while the Blue Bombers limped into the playoffs.
The mayors of Winnipeg and Edmonton both called on the Edmonton CFL team to change its nickname. The pressure is also on since the 2018 Grey Cup will be in Edmonton.
The policy here at CanadianCrossing.com is not to refer to the full nickname of the Edmonton CFL team. We do say Esks though the team uses that as an unofficial nickname. The Elks, a previous team name, would keep the double E for Edmonton.
ESPN2 coverage was smooth even covering the TSN feed in between games. The 1997 CFL season preview might have been more of a quirk in the U.S. TV listings.
If you don't get ESPNews, you should still be able to watch on the WatchESPN app.
James Duthie and Henry Burris set up at TD Place on the field. Last season, Duthie hung out with Jock Climie. Since Chris Schultz hasn't returned, Burris was brought into the mix.
The regular East on-air crew (Rod Black, Duane Forde) worked out East. Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor were in Winnipeg.
Never Steady, Never Still gives us a peek into the life of a woman suffering from Parkinson's. Scottish actress Shirley Henderson gives a marvelous performance as Judy. The film from Kathleen Hepburn is a very personal tale based on her mother's struggle with Parkinson's.
Pellerin and Galloway are half of the TIFF Rising Stars for 2017. 2016 TIFF Rising Star Jared Abrahamson serves as a bully for Jamie while they work in the oil fields and also an object of desire for Jamie.
You might recognize Henderson from Wonderland, a British film also starring Canadian actress Molly Parker.
The film features veteran Canadian actor Nicholas Campbell as Judy's husband and Jamie's father. Lorne Cardinal, whom you might recognize from Corner Gas, plays the best friend of Campbell's character.
We joke that Canadian films aren't as intense as American films. Even by Canadian film standards, Never Steady, Never Still is a slow film.
The scenery is really lovely. Most of the shooting was done in British Columbia — mostly in Fort St. John and Fort St. James — as well as some filming in Alberta. The lovely scenery helps with the slow pace of the film.
There is a great disconnect between the two major segments of the film. Hepburn spoke to this point in the Q&A, though most filmgoers won't have access to the director when viewing the film. Since so much is unsaid in this film, you have to roll with what is up there on the screen.
This film has some common elements with Hello, Destroyer. Both films are shot in British Columbia and are expanded efforts of original short films. Both films are really slow in the last hour or so of the film. Abrahamson was the star in Hello, Destroyer and appears in Never Steady, Never Still.
The difference is that Never Steady, Never Still does give you some content in the latter half of the film. Pellerin and Galloway have a scene in particular that is really beautiful in its awkwardness.
The film feels very personal for Hepburn where details are either very subtle or missing. Hepburn said her mother dealt with Parkinson's for 24 years and Hepburn's writing really conveys that struggle.
Never Steady, Never Still is a film that will be adored by audiences who will enjoy the story and the pace of the film. In a microwave world, Never Steady, Never Still is an unplugged slow cooker of a film.
video credit: YouTube/busanfilmfestival photo credit: Never Steady, Never Still; me
