OUT OF THE TUNNEL: CFL 30 FOR 30’S

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

Recently The Rod Pedersen Show has discussed the potential of a CFL 30 for 30 style documentary film series. 

TSN did this very well for the CFL’s 100th with an eight-part series called “Engraved on a Nation”. This series morphed into more than football and now includes topics such as ‘The Bailey Experience” about Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey and the story of the Canada/United States women’s hockey rivalry called “On the Line”.

The time is perfect to try to pull together another set of “CFL Films” series. First to get people in the Canadian film industry back to work, and secondly if there isn’t a season in 2020, this would be a great primer to get Canadians thinking about the game they love.

There are numerous topics that would make for fantastic documentaries and none of them are wrong. They are feelings and we cannot critique people‘s feelings. Here are nine docs we would like to see; some are weird and all but one are set pre-2000.

Episode One: The Rouge

Nothing is more attached to the Canadian game than the single point. This would be the story of the history of the rouge and why it’s still in the game. How it goes all the way back to when football began to separate itself from rugby.

There would also be games that were affected by the rouge. Talk to kickers and punters on what the single point means to them and how some teams have weaponized the rouge.

This would be a little bit of a lighthearted look at the CFL and why it’s so special, and how much the rouge means to the league and more importantly its fans.

Episode Two: Before the Evil Empire

Across the CFL if the question is asked, “Who is the Evil Empire?” everyone but their own fans will say the Edmonton Eskimos. It always feels like the Double-E are either the favourites to win the Grey Cup or are somewhere in contention for the big prize.

Well there was a time when they were the doormats of the CFL. We have to go back to the years of 1962 through to 1972. The Eskimos did make the playoffs four times in those ten years but never made it to the division (then conference) final. This includes back-to-back years where they went 2-14 and 4-12.

All of this sets up to the decade of dominance beginning in 1973 where they were in nine of 10 Grey Cups, winning six.

Episode Three: The Gliebermans

Say the name “Glieberman” to football fans in Ottawa of a certain age and some sort of emotion will be instantly conjured, most of it rage. The story of Bernie and his son Lonie Glieberman is almost too weird to be true. 

From first owning and ruining the team beginning in 1991, to returning back in 2005 to owning the Renegades. That foray ended up being the final nail in the Ottawa football coffin at the time.

Episode Four: Go South Young Man

The U.S. expansion experiment in 1994 and 1995 still reverberates with CFL fans today. Just a few years ago, the CFL released a series of t-shirts with those American franchises on it.

It’s startling to think this was 25 years ago, but time really flies and that era is starting to become a forgotten part of CFL history. Just think, in 1995 the Saskatchewan Roughriders were in the same division as Sacramento and Las Vegas.

There were so many great players and great stories that came out of such a failed experiment. The theme song is already in place, Dennis KC Parks’ failed attempt at the Canadian national anthem during the Las Vegas Posse’s opening game on July 6, 1994.

Episode Five: The Golden Age of the CFL

Between the years of 1976 and 1983 the CFL saw giant new (and ugly) stadiums in Edmonton and Montreal and new record average and total attendance. There were giant salaries and eight teams trying to knock off the best dynasty in CFL history (Warren Moon’s Edmonton Eskimos).

This era of success also set up what would be a long decline in attendance and media coverage that still echoes today. From the most-attended Grey Cup in Montreal in 1977 where the Alouettes knocked off the Eskimos to the end of one of the best era’s of Saskatchewan Roughriders history.

Episode Six: Alouettes 1981

This might have to be a double-header with the previous idea. From the halcyon days of winning a Grey Cup on home turf to going 3-13 in 1981.

This is a story of the infamous Nelson Skalbania and his attempt to go “big-time” with high priced NFL talent. The Vancouver businessman most known for signing Wayne Gretzky as a 17-year-old rookie with the Indianapolis Pacers of the WHA thought he could catch lightning in a bottle for a second time in Montreal. However, that ended in catastrophe. 

Skalbania signed quarterback Vince Ferragamo who was fresh off a Super Bowl appearance with the Los Angeles Rams along with returner Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, running back David Overstreet and receiver James Scott and had zero success.

This all led to the demise of football in Montreal just six years later.

Episode Seven: The Voices

This is perhaps the one that no one wants to see but would be a fantastic episode.

Gather the radio and television voices that are the sound of the CFL. The stories that they could tell because no one is closer to the teams than the local radio voice and no one is closer to CFL fans than the voice we hear on television.

It would be a great hour of storytelling from voices that stitched a nation together across the decades.

Episode Eight: The CFL’s Stallion

Ok, the title stinks but we are open to any alternatives. This would be the story of the CFL’s all-time leading rusher, Mike Pringle. 

Other than the fact that he is the league all-time leading runner, what else do we know about this CFL Hall of Famer? This is a journey from being cut from the 1992 Edmonton Eskimos to the all-time rushing king of the CFL.

Episode Nine: The Most Unlikely Host 

The 1995 Grey Cup at the then-Taylor Field in Regina is the most unlikely places to ever host the game for the CFL’s top prize.

From somehow getting league approval to host the Grey Cup to the rallying of the army of volunteers and staff that helped put on one of the most memorable weeks of football in league history. It also marked the beginning of what can really be done in the league’s smallest market. Giving the Roughriders a solid footing that would lead to being one of the strongest franchises in the CFL.

Well, there are a few ideas on what we think would make great CFL TV. Like we said, this is a league that has a long and storied history that most fans don’t really know, what story would you add?

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF)