AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Today in Winnipeg, they're playing the championship of the Canadian Football League - the Montreal Alouettes against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 112th edition of the Grey Cup. And while the event has similarities to the Super Bowl, there are a lot of differences, as Steve Futterman reports.
STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: From all across Canada this week, Canadian Football League fans have been gathering here in Winnipeg to take part in a more-than-century-old tradition.
HENRY VANDENBERG: I'm Henry Vandenberg (ph), and this is going to be my 30th Grey Cup.
FUTTERMAN: Historically, the Grey Cup makes the Super Bowl look like a newcomer, as broadcast here on CBC.
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UNIDENTIFIED BROADCASTER: From Newfoundland to British Columbia, good afternoon and good morning.
FUTTERMAN: The first Super Bowl was in 1967. The Grey Cup goes back to 1909.
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UNIDENTIFIED BROADCASTER: All set to bring you the 1961 Grey Cup game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
FUTTERMAN: Although it is a championship game, the Grey Cup is nothing like the Super Bowl. It is far smaller and more accessible. There isn't the massive corporate influence or the A-list celebrity parties. And tickets - Saturday evening, you could buy excellent seats for less than $300.
ADAM GOSSE: I'm a football guy. Every league is important to me. I'm Canadian football first.
FUTTERMAN: Adam Gosse is the public address announcer for the Toronto Argonauts.
GOSSE: Well, our brand of football evolved from what we know as rugby - rugby football. That in and of itself makes our game different than any game on the planet.
FUTTERMAN: The CFL is faster-paced and has a more wide-open style of play. And there are key rule differences. Most prominently, in the CFL, there are three downs to advance the ball, not four like in the NFL. They also have the rouge - a chance to score one point on a missed field goal or the kickoff. Then there are the quirky rules, including the dribble kick.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: He looks to do the dribble kick.
FUTTERMAN: It allows a team to run the ball, kick it, then recover it.
GOSSE: The dribble kick essentially means that an offensive player can kick the ball and recover it. That in itself means a new set of downs.
FUTTERMAN: This year, some fans are bothered by the talk from President Trump saying Canada should become the 51st state. Simply not being part of a U.S. league is important, says Joy Howden (ph).
JOY HOWDEN: It's not the NFL. It's not America. Yeah.
FUTTERMAN: Is that one of the good things about it?
HOWDEN: Oh, that's what we love about it. Yeah, absolutely. It's a different feel when you come to the games in Canada than when you go to the U.S. The camaraderie. It's just everything. It embodies who we are as Canadians.
FUTTERMAN: Some aspects this week have a country-fair flavor. There are pancake breakfasts. Cheerleader squads perform. To be sure, for the nearly 200 American players in the CFL, this was not their first choice. They had dreams of the NFL. Former CFL star Frank Robinson, who played college ball at Tulane, admits being totally ignorant.
FRANK ROBINSON: Never heard of CFL. Not at all. Maybe briefly a little bit in college, but not until I signed to come up to Canada in '81, where I really started investigating it.
FUTTERMAN: In the 1970s and '80s, the CFL was also a way for Black quarterbacks to escape racial stereotyping in the NFL.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Now, 'cause Warren Moon has been the outstanding individual on the playing field this afternoon.
FUTTERMAN: Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon played his first six seasons in the CFL. As a Black quarterback, he felt he would not be given a fair chance to succeed in the NFL, as heard here on a CFL retrospective.
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WARREN MOON: I owe so much to this league, to this country. Who knows where Warren Moon would be if it wasn't for this league, for this country?
FUTTERMAN: That is no longer an issue in the National Football League. The Canadian TV audience today will be smaller than the Canadian TV audience for the next Super Bowl, but this is theirs, and that means a lot.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Winnipeg.
(SOUNDBITE OF LEROY & THE DRIVERS' "THE SAD CHICKEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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