This year I took over a set of seasons tickets to the Edmonton Eskimos from a friend of a friend. Initially I was a little reluctant to commit to them, as the games are almost always on weekends, and we generally like to spend our summer weekends somewhere out on the road. This year it worked out as we were stuck in the city for most of the summer, with the kitchen renovation ongoing. I have three seats, down in the 11th row, near the 20th yard line. They are fantastic seats and I made it out to all but two of the games this season. I have renewed the seats for next season, though I expect I will have to miss a few games, as we hope to do more weekend travelling next year.
The Eskimos have recovered from a dismal season two years ago when they only won four regular season games. This year they finished first in the west division, with the best record in the league, a record of 14 wins and 4 losses. The Western Final Championship game was last weekend on Sunday November 22nd. The weather was ideal, clear and sunny with daytime highs up around +7C. My middle daughter Anna bundled up and game along with me but the other girls didn't want to go. Our Eskimos actually had a record identical to their opponents, the Calgary Stampeders. But the Esks got home field advantage due to the fact that they had defeated Calgary two of three times during the regular season. It was really comfortable to be in the stands of Commonwealth Stadium and Anna and I really enjoyed the game. It was a lot warmer than the West Semi Final that we attended last year. Our Eskimos jumped out to an early lead, and despite a bit of a push by Calgary in the third quarter, the Eskimos won the game 45-31. The game was a lot more lop-sided than the score suggests and it was nice to see our team dominate our provincial rivals to the south.
Now the league championship game, the 103rd Grey Cup, is coming up tomorrow in Winnipeg. We look forward to our Eskimos winning one more, to continue their current 9 game winning streak, and take the championship from the east conference winners the Ottawa Redblacks. Obviously we are not going to the game, but look forward to watching it on TV. The temperature is forecast to be very mild with temperatures up just above freezing. Almost unheard of for the end of November in Winnipeg... or anywhere on the prairies for that matter...! Global warming is a good thing for us football fans here in the Canadian west..!
No comments:
Post a Comment