For 30 years I've managed to avoid the entire province of Manitoba. In fact I was convinced that if Manitoba were to suddenly fall of the map, if it were some how sucked into James Bay, no one would notice. One day you'd just be driving along, taking a short little jaunt through Northern Ontario and you'd make a quick left and suddenly find your self in Saskatchewan. You'd pause, stop the car for a tick, look around and then ask you're passenger, "Wasn't there something here before?"
They'd answer back, "No. But we did get to Saskatchewan remarkably quickly."
Then you'd both shrug and continue on driving into the giant field of grain that's right in front of you for like the next day.
Well no more people. I finally made it. And boy it was everything I thought it would be...and more!
Thanks to the good people at TSN (Ed and Allen) my buddy Adam and I were invited to Winnipeg to join in the festivities and take in the 94th edition of the Grey Cup. Well it wasn't so much as WE that were invited as it was Adam, but either way I managed to nudge my way in on the deal. So on Saturday we jumped onto Air Canada flight AC 254 and headed Northwest to the province everyone forgot about and it's capital city Winnipeg.The first night was a black tie dinner on the floor of the MTS centre followed by a Tom Cochrane and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert. Now I'm not really a big Tom Cochrane fan, in fact when I hear the first few chords to "Life is a highway", I'm instantly rushed back through time to the magical summer of Grade 9 when both my brother and sister owned that wonderful CD and played in pretty much every waking minute of the day. And when they weren't playing it, it was almost definitely playing on the radio somewhere. Oh, what a time it was. Needless to say I'd rather stick a searing hot fork in my eye than here that song, but since I was hear on the TSN buck, I put the fork out of reach, sat on my hands and grinned through the entire show. Well that plus I slammed a few beers down to calm my nerves.
After dinner we headed out to Winnipeg's new hot spot, (yes, believe it or not Winnipeg does have hot spots) "Alive". The bar was good, the beer was free, but after a few hours Adam and I thought it best to go explore the Winnipeg bar scene. We hit up a few pubs then ended up back at the hotel bar and drank with a few out of towners who were in for the game.
It's amazing really, they say that hockey is our "National Winter Sport", but if you want a true slice of Canadiana you have to go to the Grey Cup. There are so many people who travel from all over the country, Newfoundland to Victoria, every year just to take in the game, it really let's you appreciate just how small our giant country is.
Anyhoo, after a few beers down in the hotel bar we headed up stairs to pass out. But low and behold some thoughtless stranger stole a sign from the restaurant lobby and left it in our elevator. Who were we to refuse such a gift. So we take the sign out of the elevator and start to lean the sign up against the first door we see, giving it what we used to so lovingly call "A Leaner". But no sooner had we started with the leaner, when the police came around the corner.
Well that was pretty much that, they yelled at us a little and told us to get to our rooms....quickly. Which we did. But low and behold when we got there our key didn't work. So I thought it best that I should hold the fort and Adam should go down to the lobby to get a new key. Three subsequent trips later, each time a new key and each time no dice, I finally passed out in the hallway outside our room. I was awoken minutes later with another police officer yelling at Adam to get in the room. Luckily this time the key worked.
Funny thing is, last time Adam and I went to the Grey Cup (in Ottawa) we had to be let into our rooms by a police officer. Meh, these things happen I guess.
The next day, Grey Cup Sunday, Adam and I headed out bright and early to find a brew pub so we could get primed for the game. We walked for about and hour in the near freezing, windy weather only to discover that the brew pub had closed. So we walked about another half hour before we found a place that was open, The Pony Corral. It sorta sounded like a gay bar, but being that this was Winnipeg and not the corner of Church and Wellesley, we decided to take our chances. Three hours and countless drinks later it was almost game time. So off we went back to the hotel to get ready and head out to the stadium.
The game itself wasn't that great. In fact it was one of the worst Grey Cups in recent memory. I think there were two touchdowns in the entire game and Montreal only had one first down in the first half. But much like the Super Bowl, it's not just about the game, but the spectacle. And what a show it was. The good people from Winnipeg and the CFL put on a great show that was enjoyed by not only the sell out crowd but the countless people around the country watching the game on the CBC. I think BC won. Then the Grey Cup broke. Only in Canada could that happen. Imagine what kind of scandal there would be if the Super Bowl Trophy broke? As ugly as that trophy is, I don't think it would ever break on National television.
So full of fun...and beer....but mostly beer, we headed out into the night to enjoy the festivities around Winnipeg. I'm not sure how many bars we went too but somewhere along the way we managed to pick up these replica uprights which we took with us around the city. Most of the cabbies were quite happy to allow us to use there trunks and bungee cords as we carted these stupid, yet awesome goal posts around with us.
This is just an awesome sign we saw. I might not have been able to find Manitoba but Syphilis apparently did. And it's taking it by storm baby!
All and all the weekend was a smashing success. I finally made it to Winnipeg. We got drunk. We saw the 94th Grey Cup. We got drunk. We met some wonderful Canadians from sea to shining sea. We got drunk. We were accosted by some police. We got drunk. We found some goal posts and we got drunk.
The sun might be setting on my youth but I think I can still manage to have a good time.
Oh and by the way, it's Adam's 30th birthday today. Welcome to the club old man.
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