[Editor’s Note: Today we have a very special uni review of the Grey Cup, which took place this past Sunday. Reader/contributor Wade Heidt was in attendance, so here’s his rundown. Thanks, Wade! Enjoy! — PH]
by Wade Heidt
Hello there! Yes, the 111th Grey Cup was on Sunday. Why are we waiting to review the game today? I could not avoid the Grey Cup madness and get home in enough time to get the review done for Monday.
I was among the 52,349 attendees at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver to see the Western champ Winnipeg Blue Bombers take on the Eastern champion Toronto Argonauts. This was a good-looking game with sufficient contrast. The Argos wore the Cambridge blue socks that match the helmets to provide good balance. Of course, it was not perfect. The game would have looked a lot better if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers would have worn their usual primary home uniform of blue over gold. I have to look at it as glass half full. I remember the navy blue uniforms the Bombers wore 10 years ago and suddenly Sunday’s unis don’t seem that bad. Here are some photos from the Grey Cup:
Most everyone kept their sock game as reasonably professional as we can ask for. However, it was driving me crazy watching Blue Bombers defensive back Tyrell Ford out there. He seemed to be the only one not wearing proper hose and was trying out the biker shorts look.
Remember, wherever the Grey Cup goes, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are on guard.
The Grey Cup is an event that unites people in all parts of the country. We put aside our geographical differences and team rivalries (for the most part) to celebrate our game. The Grey Cup crowd is aesthetically entertaining. The fans are wearing a rainbow of colour from all the teams. Fans go for that extra effort for their outfits at the big game. Here are some photos of the fans in their gear. Besides those fans, I saw one guy in a full Argonaut getup. He would have fit in on the Argo ship back in 1300 BC in the quest to find the Golden Fleece. Saw another set of Riders fans wearing white tuxedo jackets with the long tail, green ties, and green football pants.
Of course, we cannot show the female fan who ran on the field with about 5 minutes left in the game. She was wearing no gear at all! We gotta keep it PG. TMZ had it covered.
There was royalty at the game. Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was there. He was there mostly to promote the upcoming Invictus Games, which will take place in Vancouver and Whistler in winter 2025.
It wouldn’t be a Grey Cup without a horse in a hotel lobby!
Congrats to the underdog Toronto Argonauts on the 19th Grey Cup victory! The Winnipeg Blue Bombers appear to be entering the early 1990s Buffalo Bills territory. The Bombers have lost 3 straight Grey Cup games.
Thanks, Wade! Readers? Did you watch the game? What did you think of the uni matchup?
I like Toronto’s unis a lot, especially the shade of blue for the helmets
Interesting…. as a football fan growing up in the late 70s-early 80s, I discovered the Argos and the rest of the CFL at that time. Growing up in the Detroit area, you just have to remember how God-awful the Lions were before Billy Sims, after Barry Sanders, and the interregnum between them. To me, the Oxford Blue – helmets with the thin stripes, jerseys with the wide stripes – was the classic Argonaut uniform. It was almost sacrilege to see them drop the ‘footboat’ logo from the helmets. When I heard it was coming back, I was happy – but in Columbia Blue? Hard no.
Thought it was a decent looking matchup, and I personally prefer that Argos look.
The Argos’ pants striping confuses/irks me. Other than that, can’t complain!
Yeah, just the single blue stripe on the Argos pants would look amazing.
The Argos had exactly that with their old uniforms before the 2023 redesign. Yes, it would look better and an easy fix for them.
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it’s a rowing oar as as a nod to historical origins of team. also on shoulders 6 aside for total of 12 as in 12 men on field.
number font is same as used by canadian navy during WW2 speaks to team’s nautical theme.
I really wanted to tune in but I don’t subscribe to the Eyeball Sports network that carried the game on my cable provider (yes, I’m that guy who still has cable).
No matter – great write up, Wade!
The Argos won the uniform matchup as well as the Cup…excellent execution of a white over white combo. The Blueberr…err, Blue Bombers opting to go mono was sad to see – they have a great colo(u)r scheme but the reduced use of gold was a disappointment.
Winnipeg looks like washington
Both teams looked great, buuuuutttttt I wish Winnipeg won. I’m only 156 miles away from Winnipeg, so they are my CFL team. Lol
Question (not of the week):
Do residents celebrate Grey Cup wins by their home CFL team in a manner similar to fan behavio(u)r found in the US(ie: is there a big crowd peacefully assembled at Toronto’s equivalent to Philly’s Cottman/Frankford intersection), and do cities host parades, floats, etc?
The celebration today in Toronto was at Maple Leaf Square outside Scotiabank Arena.
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No greased-up ypoles?
No dog masks?
; )
Congrats Argos!
My office building overlooks the space, I took a few pictures. There were a few hundred people, sad, I think in some article listed it as 2,000, I think that was a stretch.
There was supposedly a rally in downtown Toronto today, but I didn’t hear about it at all until your comment spurred me to Google it.
I don’t think Toronto is a great representation of the typical CFL fan base. The league is much more popular in markets like Regina (Saskatchewan) and Winnipeg.
Downtown Regina would be complete chaos and party central. CFL is biggest game in town in Regina and hugely important there.
I didn’t figure I’d see a Cottman and Frankford reference in a post about the Grey Cup, but here we are!
Go Birds!
I enjoy the CFL and really like what New Era has done in terms of uni design. I love the Toronto uniforms and can’t help but think of how much better the Tennessee Titans would look adopting their scheme while using red as an accent color. Kudos to the Argos on the win. They overcame a ton of adversity on their way to the championship.
Titans should do baby blue helmet on there next re brand
Yeah I came here to say Argos showing The Titans how it’s done. Maybe not the pants stripe but the rest. A dash more red – maybe the stockings – viola..
I loves me some CFL and watch the Grey Cup annually. The Blue Bombers look much better with the gold pants, but at least the blue ones have stripes for some contrasting colors. The Argos? Ugh. I much prefer the navy helmets and those pant stripes are redonk. I’ve never been a fan of the “boat” helmet logo, particularly when it had a brown football included. Always preferred the “shield-A” logo, particularly the one with the Argonaut holding it. Overall, I like them better when navy is the dominant color vs the light blue. That said, I’ve always loved the navy/light blue combo.
A fun fact. The Argonauts have worn 5 different helmets in their last 5 Grey Cup wins.
2004 – Jason the Argonaut logo on helmet.
2012 – Shield logo.
2017 – Shield logo larger. Switch to dark Oxford blue mask. Cambridge blue helmet stripe added.
2022 – Modern Boat logo on Oxford helmet.
2024 – Boat logo now with the Cambridge helmet.
I noticed both teams are on the same sideline instead of opposite sides of each other?
Is this a CFL thing?
It is definitely a BC Place thing. Other CFL stadiums do it. Not all do I believe. At least not all in the past. I haven’t thought a lot about that. Might have to do a deep dive into it.
Great work, Wade! Really enjoyed how the other teams’ fans took their colours to Vancouver.
Like Chris above, I was denied live viewing of the Grey Cup, so I utilized the link provided to me on CFL.ca on Monday and enjoyed the game’s highlight packages, especially the Argos’ defencive touchdowns. As many a football coach has long said, offence sells tickets but defence wins championships. And the Argos looked dashing in winning Grey Cup number 19 as well.
I love that Cambridge Blue colour the Argos use.
But as someone who lives in Cambridge, it amuses me, that Cambridge Blue is actually more of a green colour – RGB of (133, 176, 154) and nothing like the Argos colour.
They would have started out exactly the same colour, so I’d be interested to know the history of at what point the colours diverged from each other so much.