The Boulder way to get green

By Michael Hughes  December 5, 2009

1. Choose gear made from recycled materials; found at www.coconafabric.com A few of the brands that utilize recycled materials are (a local Boulder company)  www.golite.com , www.marmot.com and www.newbalance.com There are several shoe companies touting biodegradable midsoles.  Brooks is one of them they are at www.brooksrunning.com .
2. Barter or trade.  Books, DVD’s, Paperbacks, there are several bookstores that carry previously utilized books, cd’s, dvd’s, etc.  Find them at www.paperbackswap.com or www.swapadvd.com to trade with other people for free.  Better yet borrow it from your local library branch.
3. You will always find great deals on workout equipment, machines, bikes at www.craigslist.org
4. Start utilizing a reusable water bottle, fill it with filtered water or better yet your favorite cleanse.  Don’t contribute to the 38 billion plastic water containers that end up in the landfill. McGuckins, Vitamin Cottage and Costco have these.
5. Set the proper temperature in your home with a programmable and affordable digital thermostat.  It can automaticaly adjust temperatures throughout the day and night.  Only about $36 at McGuckins Hardware.
6. Breathe Easy.  Get a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air filter) vacuum.  It filters out many allergens that normal vacuum cleaners spew back into the air.
7. Bike, walk,ride the bus, or carpool to work. If walking or riding your bike you can map your workout at www.mapmyride.com If carpool is the choice you can go to www.zimride.com to find people to carpool with and to select your preferences such as a non-smoker who has similar tastes in music.
8. Use less hot water.  Turn your water heater down to about 120 degrees.  Wash your clothes on cold cycle when possible.  Put detergent in before the clothes, you will find you use less.  Wash full loads of laundry only.  If you let the water run in your sink or shower to heat up catch it for watering your plants.  If you are thinking of installing a solar water heater I have a couple great people to refer you to-call me.
9. Change your light bulbs out to Compact Flourescent Light Bulbs.  Look for the brighter ones (Higher Lumens-Not Watts) with a Color Rendering Index over 80 (sometimes called “warmer lights)  This will save you about $30 over the life of the bulb.
10. Stop the Junk Mail. To avoid having your name added to print catalogs simply write in these words.  “Please don’t trade, rent or sell my name or contact information.” This will prevent having your name shared with companies and marketers who buy these lists. Do not fill out cards for additional information, drawings, or warranty cards. This will help avert junk mail.  You can learn more at www.ecocycle.org/junkmail.

Do you or anyone you know need real estate help? If the answer is yes. Call or write today.
e-Mail michael.hughes@sothebysrealty.com Direct 303-359-6627 Visit us at our Website: www.bolderrealestate.com

Rejected Nintendo Wii games:

They should have a CFL Wii game. And there is finally Wii Curling, right on!

–
Hat tip to Momentary Integrity

==

Not surprisingly, my post yesterday about the Rider’s “13th Man” produced a lot of traffic. Most people were looking for who the 13th man was. Since it was a team penalty, there really is no 13th man. If it was Armstead in the endzone, it’s entirely possible that had he not been there to run the ball out, that the kicked ball would have stopped in the endzone, and a Montreal player could have landed on it first for 6 points. So if people are looking for blame, consider that the Riders gave up many chances to bury Montreal, and simply missed their final chance with 0 seconds on the clock. You can’t win them all.

And Beware the 13th Man! Wooooooooo!

Been slaving for the corporate suits lately, feeling the burn of FIFA day in and day out. Fuck how many countries play this shit just use this game to teach everyone english.

Anyways, I’ve got a small group of cronies at work I banter with about gambling. I took a hiatus to try and sit back in hockey bets…there is a long season so there was no reason to rush to much for the first month like I did. Well I’m back and I’ve made a few good.. and bad plays, and certainly a lot of getting burned in the last 20 second losses lately.

First off in an unrelated note, Saskatchewan Roughriders are the worst football team. Ahahahahaha way to make the CFL look bush league by blowing the 16 point lead and then blowing the last play of the game on a penalty…for the Grey Cup.

People seem to be all over the Sesame street trend, kicking it old school with the reminder for Saskatchewan to count to 12:

Alright well I got all of eternity to reference that moment. Let’s move onto a few crushing losses I had after a few foolish parlays.

Had Indy and Arizona, but lost on the last play to Vince Young. So brutal and costed me $45 potential payout.

Move on to the other day, just getting back into the swing of things with NHL a bit more, had NYR/PIT over and then Wash -1.5 over the Hurricanes.

My buddy is all about the puckline so I’m gettin convinced easy, but it was a high scoring team vs a terrible team…..and in the end Matt Cullen scored a garbage goal with 14 seconds left for the Canes to lose by 1…and Costing me another potential $54

I dodged a bullet thinking the Habs would handle the leafs easily, so the no bet there paid off…either way it’s time to bet a bit more and there is plenty on the sched for tomorrow. Lots of games tomorrow so lots of picks…

Detroit and Edmonton – Over 5.5

Vancouver and Philadelphia – Over 5.5

Calgary -125 over Phoenix

Calgary and Phoenix - Over 5

Pittsburgh and Colorado – Over 5.5

NYI and Atlanta – Over 6

Well let’s see how we do after taking a break…

Winnipeg Mark

You could count the amount of Canadian Football League games I’ve ever seen on one hand. This particular one I watched because my friend Andy Bischoff is the running backs coach of the Montreal Alouettes and his boss, Marc Trestman, is from Minnesota and destined to be an NFL head coach in someday. Montreal went 15-3 in the regular season, clinching their division five weeks before the regular season ended. They were heavy favorites in the championship game against the Saskatchwan Roughriders but were behind by 16 points with 11 minutes to go in the game. In one of the most dramatic finishes I’ve seen in years, Montreal pulled out a 28-27 victory on a last second field goal.

Qu’est-ce qu’un jeu! Félicitations Alouettes!  (Translation: What a game! Congratulations Alouettes!)

Calgary got its first taste of cold weather today. This morning it’s minus 12 C outside, and we’re headed for a high of minus 7. Back down to minus 19 tonight. It’s rather refreshing, honestly, but I’m sure that sentiment will wear off pretty soon.

This past weekend was the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup – the league championship – held this year in my home town. The venue was McMahon Stadium which is only a few blocks from my house. While I watched the game with a keen interest and thoroughly enjoyed the action and outcome (Montreal won on a last second field goal), truly the best part for me was watching the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds demonstration team along with two CF-18 fighter jets perform consecutive fly-bys of the stadium. As I tweeted before the game, and as many of you know, I’m an airplane junkie and watching our air force perform twinges something in my heart. My house is only two kilometres away and a straight line down field. This means we’re right down the flight path.

The Snowbirds are a spectacle, and having done a good portion of pilot-in-command training myself (albeit in a Cessna), I can attest to the physical challenge and training required to pull off even the smallest routine in their performance. While I enjoyed seeing all nine of the Snowbirds flying in diamond formation straight over my house at about 800 feet, I was even more touched (okay, floored) when the two fighter jets flew over. Perhaps because they fired their afterburners. It’s safe to say that the jets were louder than I’ve ever heard before, and the hot blue flame exhausting from the rear of the aircraft provides some potential evidence. It shook the walls and windows of my house. I loved it.

Some of you will acknowledge that I’ve recently been casting a wider net  in terms of social networking. I think that the utilization of the internet for maintaining professional networks and for staying in contact with classmates and colleagues (for professional reasons) is sorely under-utilized and full of potential.

LinkedIn is an excellent tool that I’ve been using in this regard. It’s great for staying in contact with colleagues, friends and clients, and allows you to post your background, offer recommendations of someone’s work (or receive them), list accomplishments and join groups of like-minded individuals based, for example, on your academic pedigree or memberships to professional associations. I recently discovered a host of excellent LinkedIn applications that integrate with other parts of your digital life – Twitter and WordPress (the host of this blog) to name but two. There’s a fun travel app called TripIt which (in the free version) tracks your travels, ideally keeping an inventory of trips past (and distances travelled) as well as trips upcoming. LinkedIn also has a handy iPhone app, which I’m currently exploring.

Though I’m not entirely versed in the world of Facebook (since joining, my time spent on it has been limited, and my enthusiasm modest), I recognize several consistencies between the two. I appreciate LinkedIn’s offer to keep my information largely private, and the exploration of my details private until an interested party has been accepted into my network. I would suggest that friends, colleagues and clients reading this blog might consider LinkedIn, and of course look me up.

The Alouettes are 2009 Grey Cup Champions. On Weds, Dec 2 the city of Montreal will celebrate and Global Montreal will be there to catch all the action live on television and the web. 

H Gregoire & Rona present live coverage of the Grey Cup Victory Parade in downtown Montreal (Weds Dec 2, 11h30 – 13h30 on Global Montreal – Videotron 008, Bell TV 234)

Rider fans still aren't getting any

A day later and I’m guessing Saskatchewan Roughrider fans still haven’t fallen asleep after last night’s collapse due to their coach’s inability to count. Hell, even Hedo Turkoglu couldn’t have blown a game in such ugly fashion.

They said all year that the 13th man makes all the difference. Some Rider just took it a little too seriously, that’s all. Let’s regroup, and kick butt in 2010!

The Riders dominated in the first half of the game. Then Montreal came back in the second, and played just hard enough to overtake Saskatchewan for the lead on a second chance last play. Congrats to the Als, they won’t get it done in 2010.

In 1979 the then-coach of the NHL Boston Bruins had his team leading the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 with less than two minutes to go in game seven of the semifinals.

But an extra player was on the ice during a line change, Boston took a penalty, Guy Lafleur scored to tie it and Yvon Lambert won the game and series in overtime.

Montreal went on to take the Stanley Cup against the New York Rangers.

Later, Cherry famously said “I died on May 10, 1979, at 11:10 p.m., to be exact.”

Now the Riders, and coach Miller, face the same kind of history.

It hurts, but you can’t win them all. The next victory will be all the more sweet.

1. Raptors - They deferred to their specialty once again with a lethargic second half against the Suns, falling 113-94. Nash dropped 16 dimes, while on the other side Bosh again workmanlike with 30 and 17. This loss isn’t much of a surprise, but as I mentioned before, with defence an impossibility – and as a friend of mine suggested the other day - why not just go out and score 120 every game like these Suns did back in the heady NHL-lockout days of ‘04-’05? If you can’t stop them, just try and outscore them (although when Hedo shoots under 29%, like he has every other game since the Orlando loss, it’s hard).

2. Grey Cup. Here’s the thing – some people still get ripped once in a while for watching the CFL, but the fact is those people doing the ripping are idiots who probably never played football. Also idiots: The clueless losers who say the CFL is superior to the NFL. Look at it this way; football is football, and a good game is a good game.

But while the game was actually entertaining as all hell, here are some criticisms:

a) Field. Maybe paint the field as if some sort of championship game was being played on it. I realize times are tough and the CFL has a long history of doing things cheap and wrong, but does it cost much to replace the Field Turf, or paint over the soccer lines or the Stampeders logo in the end zone? And while I’m on it, drop those on-field ads too. They are cheap, ugly and distracting. I know they bring in the  $$$, but how about embracing technology and doing virtual ads on the field TSN? It would be a cleaner look.

b) Halftime shows. There’s a big reason nobody has really heard of Blue Rodeo since 1989. The reason is Blue Rodeo sucks ass.  When one tunes in to a halftime show, one should be entertained. Instead at one point I saw a couple in Riders gear making out on the field, not unlike what I’d see if I went into a shithole bar in Moose Jaw and saw Blue Rodeo was playing. Again, Ivan Fecan, if you can at least aesthetically make Canadian Idol look like American Idol, get some of your crack CTV staff to produce a decent halftime show.

c) Marc Trestman. His Alouettes won the game thanks to dumb luck, but this guy sucks. First off, he spells “Mark” “Marc”. Secondly he’s a bad coach. During the entire game he looked out of it, asking one of his assistants (who looked a lot like Roy Halladay) for backup on every down. Trestman’s claim to fame? He was once the offensive co-ordinator of the 49ers. Offensive co-ordinator of the 49ers when their offense consisted of Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ricky Watters and Brent Jones. Yes, very complex mastering of a West Coast Offense that was invented two decades earlier and institutionalized to that franchise by Bill Walsh. Dude let’s face it, that guy in Belgium could have sat in the Niners booth and looked good with that squad.

But all that aside, one of the most bananas finishes to any football game ever. In the last 3, a non-call for pass interference, an upstairs review on a catch and a penalty on a missed field goal (Urban Meyer be strokin off over that one) which gave a second chance for the winner. The Grey Cup is usually good because it’s the one big Canadian sports event that has no ice and a few non-white people. And to think I almost turned the channel to Steelers/Ravens or to CH or whatever the hell Canwest’s creditors are calling it because they had Running Man on.

3. Bills. Nice win, I like Ryan Fitzpatrick going for the bomb immediately after the turnover and, consequentially, getting T.O. back involved with the offense. That’s my entire offensive game plan when I play Madden. Word from my peeps was the usual 60-minute-plus wait at the Peace Bridge, glad Ralph Wilson’s boys have a short week and a Thursday night date in T-Dot with the Jets.

Anthony Calvillo & co., living it up

Yeah, I’d call that a choke. The Saskatchewan Roughriders blew a 27-11 fourth quarter lead, falling to the Montreal Alouettes 28-27 in tonight’s Grey Cup on a 33-yard Damon Duval field goal as time expired. I’m guessing this one’s a little hard to take for Regina natives, because from what I understand, the CFL is pretty much their lives.

In the end, the team that was by far the most dominant in the league this year came out on top. Sure, they got some help from an inept Rider squad late, but that’s why they play the full 60 minutes. Avon Cobourne, whose three-yard score midway through the fourth pulled Montreal within eight, picked up MVP honours. I’ll check back in with more on this one tomorrow.

From the Edmonton Sun:

It’s a lesson that the Americans who run teams never seem to learn: the most important word in Canadian Football League is Canadian.

And now we have a commissioner, the man who inspired and drove the successful ‘It’s Our League’ campaign, allegedly contemplating reducing the number of starting Canadians per team, per game, from seven to four.

Maybe commissioner Mark Cohon spent so much time growing up in the U.S. and overseas that he doesn’t understand that ‘It’s Our League’ struck a chord not only with the people who sit in the stands but because of the ones wearing the uniforms on the field and living next door.

This league needs more Canadian starters, not fewer.

Make it four, and unless the guy is a kicker, there would no longer be a reason for a Canadian kid to aspire to play in the CFL.

And there would no longer be a reason for CFL teams to nurture Canadians and create homegrown heroes of the best kind — the ones who not only live next door but live here year-round, including long after their careers are over.

American players are a dime a dozen. Not the great ones, of course. Not quarterbacks the calibre of Ricky Ray, Anthony Calvillo or Henry Burris.

But, to use some Edmonton Eskimos examples, you can have a Tristan Jackson go down and put in Skyler Green in the last regular-season game of the schedule and not skip a beat. You can replace a Mo Mann with a Jason Barnes and get away with it.

But if a Patrick Kabongo goes down …

That’s the biggest reason many of the Americans who have come and gone as general managers and coaches in this league would like to eliminate the import/non-import ratio.

The other reason is that it would be cheaper. First-rate starting Canadians are worth more because of the options they allow in the rest of the lineup.

The greatest team in CFL history, the five-in-a-row Eskimos, had Warren Moon. But they also had the best Canadian content because of the work of scout Frank Morris.

A guy like Kabongo is the perfect example. He’s a double nominee in the CFL Awards this year as top Canadian and offensive lineman.

But remember where he was when Danny Maciocia made a project out of him? Reduce the Canadian starters by any more and it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort to develop a Kabongo.

“At the end of the day this is the Canadian Football League and there should be considerable Canadian content,” said Maciocia, the Canadian GM.

“You need to inspire youth to play in this league.”

He also thinks the league should be going in the other direction in Canadian philosophy on another front.

“I think there should be a quota on coaches. We grow up with the game. We coach in minor football and dream of coaching in this league. Yet we get a lot of coaches who come up here hoping to get back on the other side of the border.”

It’s difficult to believe that Cohon is serious about the idea of four Canadian starters.

Maybe this is just collective bargaining strategy.

The heart of the players association has always been the Canadians because they care more about the league. They’re not transient workers.

Maybe the idea is that you give them their seven Canadians “back” to get something else in the collective bargaining agreement.

Let’s hope that’s the case.

A lockout and/or reducing the Canadian content are just about the two dumbest things you could do to this league.

Today is the Grey Cup!

Woohoo! For everyone that doesn’t know what the Grey Cup is, it’s the Canadian version of the Super Bowl, instead of the NFL we have the CFL. There are a few differences.

Now, since this is a photography and video blog (a post will be coming soon talking about the blog), how does the Grey Cup tie in? They have started a photo booth there. And it’s nothing really new for sporting events, to have a micro studio set up and take pictures of the fans, but the “twist” is the way they are sharing the pictures.  You go down to McMahon Stadium (the Calgary football stadium, which is where the game is being held) on Sunday (today, day of the Grey Cup) and you get your photo taken at the CFL.ca Photo Booth.  CFL.ca is working on a fan photo portrait project. In the week following the Grey Cup, we will display the best images of our fans on CFL.ca.

Which is pretty cool, it’s somewhat a photo montage of the fans. It shows the different types of people that attend something like this. There will be thousands of people, and this project shows the different faces of the CFL. In my opinion, this is genius! I’m a HUGE fan of telling stories through photography (which is the figuretive definition of photography), and in this sence a portrait becomes an editorial/photojournalistic story. Great idea, and I hope it goes great!

http://greycup.cfl.ca/article/visit-the-cfl-ca-photo-booth-on-game-day

That’s the link if you want to check it out.

Now just a few new things:

I’m going to start a “Monday Quotes”. Monday’s are insanely busy days, so I don’t normally have time to post, so I’m going post a quote about either photography, video, technology or something that I just really like.

Now for the definition of the day (I’m going to now end all my posts with a definition of a term, not any term though, an insane, uber, crazy, mindboggling term that usually will have come from the film/35mm/16mm days)

Double Truck: When a photo is published over 2 pages. A 2 page spread, they are great ’cause the photographer then get’s payed twice! Also, they are just fun and cool!

So hope that you all watch the Grey Cup, GO ALOUETTES!

And also, check out Joe McNally’s The Moment It Clicks, which I just picked up. It is a must read! Check it out, also check out Fatherly Films on twitter :http://twitter.com/FatherlyFilms
Become a fan on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fatherly-Films/185657081457?ref=ts#/pages/Fatherly-Films/185657081457?v=wall&ref=ts
Website: http://www.fatherlyfilms.com

This Energy Efficient Spiral Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb started to flicker and I thought it was going to die pretty soon. So I took my camera out and decided to shoot a video of its death.

What I didn’t expect was the chemical burning smell that came afterwards. I am glad there wasn’t any fire but the chemical smell was strong enough that I opened the window for half an hour.

I hope better and more affordable LED light will come to the market soon.

Glad to find the Atlantic Schooners group got to the Grey Cup this year after a 1 year absence.  Found out about them a year ago or so.

Quick history lesson.  Atlantic Canada did get a CFL expansion team, once upon a time.  Halifax was awarded a franchise in 1984.  When cell phones were the size of a shoe box.

Years before the failed US expansion which didn’t make sense then and still doesn’t.  If you’re going to expand to the US, go to states near the border.  Baltimore worked out.  But picking places like Sacramento and Memphis was head scratching.

Team didn’t start up because financing couldn’t be found for a new stadium in Halifax.  You’d think between 1984 and today the league would look at the east coast instead of Ottawa, again.

In case you’re wondering if that’s the only CFL team to fold before they began, you forget the Miami Manatees.  Don’t laugh that was a real name.

The Las Vegas Posse had ceased operations and a group from Miami wanted to start it up again.  One of the stranger ideas since the team’s players had already been dispersed in a draft a year earlier.  Then what were they buying exactly? Not sure but the price was less than an expansion team.  Go figure.

The Miami story has one link to this Sunday’s Grey Cup.  Starting QB for the Las Vegas Posse was Anthony Cavillo.  The Posse was his first CFL team.

You can use that trivia at a Grey Cup party if you like.

Back to the Schooners, they have some places on the web to keep track of them this Grey Cup weekend.  And more information in general.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlantic-Schooners-DownEast-Kitchen-Party/166866339252

http://twitter.com/DEKitchenParty

http://www.atlanticschooners.com/

One of the “urban legends” of the team I had heard before.  Story goes the owner in preparing for the expansion team bought the old scoreboard from Foxboro Stadium.  It would’ve been used in the new stadium.  That never was built so the legend is that scoreboard still sits in a warehouse in the Halifax/Dartmouth area.

The other one is that the owner had also bought turf for the new facility.  He didn’t keep that.  Rumour is he dumped the turf into the Atlantic Ocean….. OK then.

Can we believe these stories? They’re not any stranger than before the playoffs the league saying it wanted to reduce the amount of Canadians on each team.  Nice timing on that guys.

“It’s OUR League”, except for the East Coast and the fact we want less Canucks on the teams….. other than that it’s Canada all the way.

They are having a regular season game in Moncton next year which is a good step in the right direction.  If they can take their eyes off the Ottawa obsession.

I lived in Ottawa for 3 years [1998-2001] when there was no CFL team.  I honestly cannot remember anyone complaining about not having a team. The previous ownership was a big reason for that. Went to high school in Pembroke and the Red Riders were covered more for their wacky owners than any on the field success.

Less said about the Renegades the better.  Any franchise that had to be taken over by the Gliebermans deserved to be eliminated. [I won't go into those guys, it would take too long.]

Back to present day.  Usually I watch some of the Grey Cup, but after the long day with the Vanier Cup broadcast and work I’ll have to skip it this year.  Might catch the tail end.

As the red flesh and sweet juice of a watermelon get dumped on a kitchen sink, my frustration the previous day with them Thursday morning.

I finally found a true-blue or should I say, true-green Rider fan who showed me principles in carving a watermelon headgear.

He told me how the iconic fruit became a symbol of the Riderville.

It’s all about some fans who wanted to be creative in showing their support to the Saskatchewan pride.

It was quite a laborious feat, but to those dedicated to the game, it’s nothing but fun stuff.

I learned that you’ve got to prepare the gear days in advance.

It involved not just carving the fruit and designing it.

You’ve got to let it dry, or else your hair is going to be soaking wet and sticky.

I didn’t have the luxury of time. The video had to be done, because it has to run Friday morning, which means that my editor has to have the footage today.

And since our photo department has been bust with everything Grey Cup related, I was trying not to become an added burden. I was attempting to shoot the video myself.

The problem was my melon gear tutor was a “giant.” 

Well, not exactly. But I was about half his size, so framing both him and I on video camera was required some cinematic skills, I currently don’t have.

I put the camera on a tripod, kind of towering both of us.

It didn’t work. All I could see was my thinning hair.

I had to call for help, from the lone photographer left at the desk.

He was glad to oblige.

I actually feel bad that I didn’t alert the photo department well in advance. Reads two hours earlier.

Like I said I tried to spare them the time of having to help me on something that I was trained to do.

However, there’s only so much one can do, especially if the person is vertically challenged, just like me.

The video shoot was done, I had my melon gear, and I became a pseudo-Rider fan.
On to my regular gig. 

I had to interview the mayor about a motion he is putting forward for the next council meeting.

I dashed off to the city hall and worked on a couple of stories.

Then, I got a message from my boss, asking if I were returning to the newsroom.

“They want to take your picture with your melon gear,” he said.

“And also, can you write me a 60-line first person column on your journey to becoming a melon head.? We’ll use it as a through to your video.”

Hey, who am I to turn that down.

I always find joy writing first person pieces. 

It gives me the avenue to actually say what’s in my head, which I can’t do when writing news.

I hope you’re able to get a copy of the Calgary Sun with my silly photo on page 3 and the first person piece I wrote about what it’s like being a melon head.

Nov. 26, 2009

American Football League

The new AFL will start its inaugural season the first Saturday of March, 2011. The AFL is no cheap knock off of the NFL like the UFL, but rather a new football league that brings together all the Americas with 18 teams in North and South America.  The rules will be a mix of the best rules from the NFL, Arena Football and the CFL.  The two most notable changes will be that games will be played on a field the same as in soccer and instead of 4 quarters, there will be two half’s.

Notable differences in the AFL from The NFL

• AFL football fields will be 120yds length and 80yds wide.
  • This will speed up the game and make it much more exciting
  • Current soccer stadiums can be used for football games
  • Only two point conversions will exist in the AFL no 1 point kicks
  • First Downs will be every 15-yards
  • There will be two half’s with each being 35 Minutes long
    • In-between the two half’s will be a 15-minute break.
    • One player may be moving forward on offense before the snap of the ball
    • In overtime each team will get a shot to score with the ball being placed on the 40yd line of the opposing team.
    • Kickoffs will occur from the 34yd line of the kicking team
    • Two time outs per half per team
    • No tuck rule
    • 12 players with five required to be on the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped
    • Rule applies to both offense and defense
    • Two more referees than the NFL will exist on the field
    • If a player is charged with pass interference in the enzone and the ball is ruled catchable, then the team with possession will be awarded with the touchdown.
      • Other pass interference calls will be spot fouls.
      • Penalties
        • When a player receives a penalty they will be asked to leave the field for 5-minutes and after two penalties they will sit out the remainder of that half.
        • If a player receives two personal fouls they will be ejected from the remainder of the game and the first half of the next game.
      • First official team practice may not begin earlier than 3-months prior to the start of the season.
      • All rookie players must live together in a communal living situation for their first playing year.

Teams

Who will be getting a team and which players will play for these teams?  Most host cities in the U.S will not have an NFL team and in Canada the CFL will be converting the best teams to the AFL and ceasing to operate the CFL.  The NFL has hosted games in Mexico City for years, and now Mexico City will get two teams. The league hopes that the recent success of Rugby in South America will breed players that may crossover to the AFL.

AFL Teams:

North:

1. BC  Lions – Vancouver
2. Saskatchewan Roughriders – Prince Albert
3. Quebec Alouettes – Montreal
4. Alberta Stampeed – Calgary
5. Ontario Tigers – Toronto
6. Utah Avalanche – Salt Lake City

Central

1. California Bears – Los Angeles
2. Nebraska  Buffalos – Omaha- Lincoln
3. Oklahoma Indians –(first major league teamed owned my a Native American tribe)
4. Baja Bandits –  Tijuana
5. Virginia Minors – Richmond
6. Kentucky Red Raiders – Louisville

South

1. Texas Rangers – Austin
2. Mexico  – Mexico City
3. Brazil  – Rio
4. Argentina
5. Puerto Rico – San Juan
6. Costa Rica – San Jose

Regular Season

There will be no sanctioned pre-season games, but officials have said they have interest in NFL vs. AFL matchups. The regular season will be shorter than the NFL and more like college football with 10 regular season games.

Each team will play every team in their division and the top four teams in the division will play in the playoffs.

Playoffs and Championship Games

Following US Baseball, the AFL will have divisional playoffs.

• Divisional Playoffs
  • The top four teams will play in a sudden death tournament.
    • 1 vs. 3 and 2 vs. 4
    • The winning two teams will move on to the League Playoffs.
• League Playoffs
  • Each team will play each team once, equaling six more games
  • The top two teams after the six games will go onto the Championship
  • Championship
    • Known as the Americas Cup, the top two teams will meet each for the best of three games
    • The three games will be played in a host city, which may be different than those playing in the championship
    • The championship games will be played in different cities each year.
      • 2011- Los Angeles
      • 2012 – Mexico City
      • 2013 – Toronto
      • 2014 – Rio
      • After the first four years the host city will be that of the previous years champion

Salaries

Unlike other professional sports, salaries in the AFL will not be muti-million dollar contracts. The league wants players who love to play the game and want to make a good living to do so.

• Each player will be paid an equal some of $175,000 dollars a year
• Bonuses may be given based on their performance given at the end of each season.
• Players will  be fined minimum of $1,000 for penalties and other types of infractions.
• A player may receive a signing bonus when they sign a 4+ year contract with one team.
• Each team will have a recruiting bonus cap of $8.5m a year.

Draft and Player Acquisition

There is no official draft, as the AFL will utilize recruiting methods to get the best players they can.  They may utilize their bank of recruiting bonuses to lure key players to their organization.

So where will players come from?

• Not drafted College Players
• CFL players
• Rugby Players
• Former NFL players
• NFL players who want to play more

A team may only have a roster of 36 players. The AFL hopes to one day be strong enough to acquire top players before they enter the NFL.

TV and Broadcasting

DirecTV has signed on to carry each AFL game with the ability to select the game of the week you wish to watch from your remote. A viewer will get only 5 minutes to change their selected game.  In Canada, only Bell Express-Vu has signed on to carry the games. The league hopes to sign major national TV stations in each region to carry other games.

• Games will be broadcasted in HD with French, English and Spanish commentaries.
• No TV timeouts, however sponsors will receive ad placement on the TV screen

97th Grey Cup

The 2009 CFL Grey Cup will feature the Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders . Montreal (15-3) and Saskatchewan (10-7-1) will be meeting for the first time in the Grey Cup as both teams  finished atop there respective divisions this year which earned both teams a first round bye in the playoffs. The Als and Riders then took advantage of home field in their respective Conference Final games.

The East Final was a rout in the Als’ favour, as they continued to show their dominance this year with a 56-18 thumping at the expense of the B.C. Lions. Anthony Calvillo was lights out, as he threw for five touchdowns in the game, which ties his career-high mark.  In front of a sold-out crowd at Olympic Stadium, the win was never at risk for the Als as they took advantage of a Lions team that looked sluggish and didn’t seemed to have a chance of winning.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 27-17 win over the Stampeders wasn’t as easy. The Stampeders, looking to win there 2nd consecutive Grey Cup took an early 10-0 lead but could not match the Riders momentum after they got on the board. Saskatchewan QB Darian Durant threw for 204 yards and three touchdowns as he started to take control of the game. It was the first West Final hosted by Saskatchewan since 1976 and they made sure the home town fans had something to cheer about.

The Als will be making their 7th appearance in the Grey Cup this decade while only having one Grey Cup to show for it, that coming in 2002. The Riders will be making there 2nd appearance in three years at the Grey Cup. The Als head into the Grey Cup as heavy favourties after posting the best record, best offense, and best defence in the league. To add insult to injury, the Als went 2-0 vs the Riders this season.

That being said, with this just being a one game playoff anything can happen. We’ve seen some great Grey Cups over the years and expect another this year. The Als have been too good all year to let this season get away and I expect them to win 27-24. All you bookies can start making your spreads.

If you truly want to feel Canadian on the 29th grab your nachos and beer, sit back  and relax while watching Canada’s Big Dance. If the game doesn’t rock, Blue Rodeo sure will.