Captain Canuck

I'm in Toronto, Ontario eating a little something I like to call game day caserole and am happy to report a bar here has agreed to become a Husker bar (turning all the TVs to the game) for my friends and I on my birthday. Kaboom.

Toronto here - from Nebraska originally (here for work for almost 7 years). I've been able to convert a few Canadians to pretty big Husker fans. I miss a ton of games with the TV coverage, but always tune in to Huskers.com, find the odd game on TV, and make one trip back to the Motherland a year.

CFL Bound: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...435522-sun.html

It's not 100% yet, but it's getting pretty close. It should be a fun summer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...433444-sun.html

A small update: I went to the Raptors vs. Spurs game last night. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Michael "Pinball" Clemons (head coach of Argos and one of Toronto's favorite personalities) was being interviewed by Norma Wick on National Canadian Television (Sportsnet). Beside him was Eric Crouch - who was also interviewed briefly. I was at the game and don't know what the interview was comprised of. However, I did ask someone here at work today and they said it sounded like he was about to sign. Mentioned something about looking forward to coming up. Looks like he may really be giving it a go.

The CFL has a bunch of jacked up rules. It can make for some pretty entertaining game situations actually. Here are some of the more obvious ones: No Fair Catches Number of Players CFL: 12. On offence, the additional player is a receiver. On defence, the extra man is a defensive back. NFL: 11. Downs CFL: 3 to make 10 yards. NFL: 4 to make 10 yards. Field size CFL: The field is 110 yards long and 65 yards wide. The two endzones are each 20 yards deep. NFL: The field is 100 yards long and 53 yards wide. The endzones are 10 yards deep. Scoring CFL: A single point can be awarded for missed field goal attempts and punts that land in the endzone. NFL: No single point is awarded. Timing CFL: The offensive unit has 20 seconds to put the ball in play. NFL: Teams have 45 seconds to put the ball in motion. Timeouts CFL: One per half. NFL: Three per half. Offensive motion CFL: Before the ball is handed from the centre to the quarterback, an unlimited number of receivers and running backs can be in motion in any direction. NFL: Before the ball is handed from the centre to the quarterback, only one player can be moving laterally or backwards. Line of scrimmage CFL: Defensive players must line up at least one yard away from the football. NFL: Defensive players are allowed to line up within one foot - the length of the football - of the offensive players. Kickoffs CFL: The ball is kicked off from the scoring team's 35-yard line after touchdowns and to open both the first and second half of the game. The team that is scored upon has the option of receiving a kickoff or starting from its own 35-yard line after giving up a field goal. NFL: The scoring team kicks off from its own 35-yard line after every touchdown and field goal. Punting CFL: A team receiving the ball must control the football while it's still in the field of play. There is no fair catch allowed, but players on the punting team must give the receiving team five yards of space to catch or retrieve the ball. NFL: Punts may be allowed to roll dead, may be received as a fair catch or caught and returned. A punted ball that rolls into the endzone is brought out to the 20-yard line without penalty. A fair catch occurs when the punt returner signals to the official he wants only to catch the football without being tackled and surrendering his right to run with the ball once caught.

Marcus Allen's younger brother, Damon Allen is the current starting QB for the Toronto Argos. He's 42 years old. Anyway Crouch will be in town next week to work out and see if there is a fit with the CFL team that owns his rights. As a Nebraska fan here in Toronto, it certainly would be interesting to head down to games this summer and see what happens if he's taken snaps as a QB on a pro level. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?id=153026 An interesting side note: Michael Bishop is the current backup to Allen.

Thanks for the welcome. Myself and the three Canadian lads blast off early Thursday morning. Needless to say, the excitement is starting to mount. Last year, the five 1/2 hour trip was made to Pittsburgh from Toronto. The Canadian guys were beside themselves after we slugged through a rain storm, passed washed out bridges and arrived at a hotel parking lot full of Nebraska liscence plates... Fuel was added to the fire when we crossed paths on Sat morning with a lot full of tailgating Nebraska fans. They had never seen anything like it. The seeds for this trip were fully planted when they were told, "if you think this is big, you need to to see Lincoln on game day". The work schedules have been re-arranged, the car has been coordinated, the tickets will come next.....and, by the way...the tailgate session sounds great. We'd love to provide the Canadian content.

4 Canadians (one an Ex-Pat Nebraskan) are making the trek from Toronto to Memorial Stadium to witness Husker pride in person and are in need of tickets for the game Sept 17th. 2 Nebraskans will be joining them upon their arrival. Six tickets or 2 sets of 3 seats together would be an amazing ending to the marathon trip to a football Mecca.