For about half of the state of Vermont, Montreal is closer than Foxborough, Mass. So during football season, the New England Patriots don't have to be the only option for your football focus.
The Montreal Alouettes play in the Canadian Football League (CFL, or LCF in Quebec). I usually go to two games each season. The Als play most of their home games at quaint Percival Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University. The team sells out every game in this 20,000-seat stadium that sits on a hill above downtown Montreal. For playoff games and some late-season contests, they dust off Olympic Stadium, former home of the Expos.
I made the trip to the Big O for the Eastern Final Sunday against the British Columbia Lions. As luck would have it, both Als' games I saw this year were against BC (there are, after all, only 8 teams in the CFL). Montreal posted the league's best record this season (15-3) and by virtue of Sunday's 56-18 victor over the Lions, they'll be heading back to the Grey Cup - Canada's equivalent of our Super Bowl.
Last year, I attended my first Grey Cup at which the Als lost at Olympic Stadium to the Calgary Stampeders. This coming Sunday, they'll play in Calgary for the title against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (quite possibly the longest team name in sports this side of German soccer team Borussia Moechengladbach).
So Vermonters, our other professional football team (not to slight all the semi-professional teams in the state) could use your support this Sunday as they go for their first CFL championship since 2002.
(Editor's note: Still want more football? Check out these pics from Castleton State's new football team and listen to the report here.)
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