A Little Engine that Could
by 3DF Staff
For as long as any CFL fan can remember, a typical CFL season followed a familiar schedule. You waited for the Stanley Cup Playoffs to conclude, then CFL training camps opened. From there, you either attended games in person or listened on the radio if the game was blacked out in your area. For some fans, you only had CBC and could never watch the other games shown on TSN. Remember the rotating preview channels? That is how I watched TSN.
Labour Day Classic weekend unofficially marked the end of summer, where the battles of Ontario and Alberta were on full display, showcasing some of the greatest rivalries in football. Then, the following weekend, everyone did it all again at the opposing team’s stadium as the playoff races intensified.
Then came November, when the weather quickly turned colder, but the excitement surrounding the CFL grew. And did the games ever deliver. How many classic CFL playoff games have there been? Too many to name but Danny McManus to Darren Flutie vs older brother Doug at snowy McMahon Stadium is my favorite.
Then came the big day: the Grey Cup.
But hours before kickoff, CFL fans would tune in to watch an afternoon long television program titled ‘Grey Cup Countdown’. Like everything CBC did, it was sports programming ahead of its time. The broadcast featured live coverage of Grey Cup festivities, season highlights, coach and player interviews, special guest appearances, and who could forget Don Wittman’s classic segment, ‘Wittman Memories’.
And then, somewhere closer to kickoff, it happened.
The commissioner would appear and immediately be peppered with questions about whether the CFL’s existence was truly in jeopardy. A day that resembled Christmas morning for so many fans suddenly took a serious turn. Yet somehow, this became part of the tradition.
Watching those segments made you wonder, “Is this really the last Grey Cup?”
Of course, after the game, the teams and fans celebrated their championship. A Grey Cup parade followed, and then everyone went their separate ways without talking much about the CFL again until sometime in April, when your favourite NHL team was eliminated from the playoffs.
And it repeated itself over and over again for decades. The CFL is still here.
Every CFL season seemed to be mired in controversy. Many pundits called the CFL “the little engine that could.” You could kick it when it was down, ignore it, pray for its destruction, or even publicly root for its failure, yet the CFL just kept going, going, and going.
Never has an organization taken shots to the body as often as the CFL and not only survived, but now appears to be rolling with momentum.
So what was it that kept the CFL alive during all those decades when it supposedly came so close to shutting its doors, unlike other Canadian staples we have seen disappear such as The Bay, Eaton’s, Zellers, RadioShack, Canada 3000, and Sam the Record Man?
There is only one answer: the fans.
CFL fans are different. They love their football, they love their teams, and they love everything the league represents.
In a world of constant change, the CFL has provided many Canadians with a sense of psychological comfort, community belonging, personal identity, and self esteem. The purest form of structured normalcy and belonging is the very definition of fandom.
Simply put, Canadians love the CFL.
And before every Grey Cup, I watch the Grey Cup Countdown show to hear the sound of the engine that keeps going, going, and going.