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  • The Rouge in American Football?

    Last week’s post centred around the debate about abolishing the rouge in Canadian football. This week let’s take a different approach to the single point and ask the following: What if the rouge were adopted into the American game? While there is certainly no ongoing debate over such a move, it actually has been discussed…

  • Debating the Rouge…in 1912

    Quintessentially Canadian. Quirky. A reward for failure. Embarrassing. All of these have been used to describe a scoring play unique to Canadian football: the rouge. The rouge (or a single) is a one-point score awarded to the team who kicks the ball into their opponent’s end zone and when the ball is not returned or kicked…

  • Saskatchewan Roughriders is Our Name

    Green is the ColourFootball is the GameWe’re all together and Winning is our aimSo Cheer us on through the sun and rainSaskatchewan Roughriders is our name It’s a familiar tune to many CFL football fans across the country. The chorus ends with the line, “Saskatchewan Roughriders is our name.” So, just when and why did…

  • Remembering the Radically Canadian Marketing Campaign

    In 1996, the Canadian Football League was faced with a dilemma. Having just ended a three-year run of having teams based in the United States, the CFL was retreating north and returning with an all-Canadian lineup. The Baltimore Stallions, the defending Grey Cup champions, relocated to Montreal to become the reborn Alouettes. How could the…

  • The Edmonton Elks 2.0

    This is the third of a series of posts that will explore the stories behind the names of the existing Canadian Football League teams. See the previous post on the Calgary Stampeders. Throughout the long history of Canadian football, there’s been very little controversy surrounding team nicknames. Sure, there was a time in the not…