GREY CUP NOTEBOOK

HAMILTON – Montreal Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo’s pre-game meal is a constant.

“I am so simple. I get Subway,” he said. “Every game day.”

Simple yet quite complicated, in reality.

The Fajardo sub is turkey on Italian herb and cheese bread with lettuce, tomatoes, extra onions, cucumbers, green peppers, olives, salt and pepper and a dash of ranch dressing.

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CUP REFEREE: Saskatoon’s Tim Kroeker, a 17-year veteran CFL official, will be the man in charge for the 110th Grey Cup.

The 11-person crew, which represent the league’s highest-rated officials, has already worked a combined 33 Grey Cups.

Kroeker is officiating at his sixth CFL championship game but his first as referee. He has 271 CFL games under his belt.

Kroeker is a former high school football player who played baseball for the Canadian national team. He is a member of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.

The other officials are umpire Troy Semenchuk, down judge Andrew Wakefield, line judge Rob Hill, side judge Pierre Laporte, back judge Larry Butler and field judge Jason Maggio with Tom Vallesi, Chris Shapka, Kevin Riopel and Brian Chrupalo as backup officials.

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BY THE NUMBERS: While Winnipeg and Montreal have never met in the Grey Cup, they have faced off twice in post-season play. The Blue Bombers won the 2007 East semifinal 24-22 while the Alouettes triumphed 35-24 in the 2000 East final.

Grey Cups have not been short on excitement of late. Five of the last seven have seen the winner come back from trailing in the fourth quarter. Eleven of the last 15 Grey Cups have been decided late.

Scoring first pays dividends. Since 1990, the league says 66 per cent of the teams that scored first have gone on to hoist the trophy.

(Canadian Press/Neil Davidson)