The Edmonton Eskimos dealt the six-foot-three, 268-pound defensive lineman from St. Raymond, Que. to the Calgary Stampeders on Monday during the Canadian Football League draft, in exchange for Calgary’s fourth-round pick. Edmonton used it to take offensive lineman Taylor Servais from the University of Ottawa.

News of the trade had Legare overwhelmed with questions.

“Do I move right now? Do I move during the season? What’s going to happen?” he said. “I’ve got my girlfriend (in Edmonton), she’s working here. I just needed to turn that switch off and sit and relax.”

So he went to a movie. What’d he see?

Pain and Gain, starring Mark Wahlberg and a former Calgary Stampeder named Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He recommends it.

“When I woke up (Tuesday) I’m feeling good about what’s going on for me,” he said. “And now it’s just a new day, it’s a new part of my career and I’m pretty pumped about it.”

Legare was hampered by injuries last year, starting the season battling mononucleosis through training camp and missing the first four games of the season. He played four games and then hurt his knee against Calgary on Sept. 7, ending his season. On top of that, he had off-season shoulder surgery. The bumps, bruises and scalpel wounds of the past year clouded over a promising 2011 season that saw  him make 17 tackles and five quarterback sacks.

He came to Edmonton in 2010 in a trade with the Toronto Argonauts.

“When I was in Toronto and they traded for me here that was the beginning of my career. I didn’t have a lot of playing time in Toronto and I came here and they gave me a chance,” Legare said. “2011 was a pretty good year for me.I finally had the chance to show what I could do.

“If you take 2012 out of the equation it’s pretty good,” he said, laughing. “I leave and there’s no bad feeling about anything. It’s football, you’re going to be traded, that’s the nature of the game. There’s no hard feelings. This is a good organization and I’m going into a good one. I’m playing football at the end of the day, so it’s hard to be mad about anything.”

He’s looking forward to reuniting with Calgary defensive coordinator Rick Campbell, who was Edmonton’s special teams coordinator in 2011 when Legare was enjoying his best season as a pro. Once the sting of the trade wore off and he spoke with the coaches in Calgary, Legare said he began to see the positives in the move. In Edmonton, he’d be fighting for scraps at the team’s most loaded position. In Calgary, he sees opportunity.

“I feel good about it because I talked with Calgary and they want me there, they need a Canadian D-tackle,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be good to go there and show them what I can do.”

He just has to heal up first.

“Uhhh, everything is 100 per cent,” he said of his health, before drawing an imaginary line down his right side, “if you take the shoulder out.

“I’d say I’m at 40, 45 per cent recovery. Things are going well, but the fact is that surgery needs a long-term rehab and I have to be patient and I hope that Calgary will be patient with me. They’ll give me the time to come back healthy and let me show what I can do.”

Eskimos release three; with new running back on his way?

The Eskimos released three players on Wednesday morning, parting ways with Canadian fullback Peter Thiel, import linebacker Kye Stewart and Canadian kick returner Steven Turner.

Stewart appeared in five games last year and had five special teams tackles. In the Eastern semifinal against Toronto he had two defensive tackles and two on special teams. Thiel joined the team on May 24, 2012, played in three games and had one special teams tackle, filling in for an injured Matthieu Bertrand. Turner was on the Eskimos’ practice roster briefly, signing on Oct. 15. The team’s season ended on Nov. 11.

The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that University of Utah running back John White has signed with the Eskimos, as confirmed by White’s representative, Derrick Fox.

From the SLT:

The 5-foot-8 White was the only running back in Utah history to gain 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.

He set school records for career rushing yards per game (106.7) and career 100-yard games (14).

White also finished his career ranked sixth in career rushing yards (2,560), fourth all-time in career rushes (534) and tied for fourth in career rushing touchdowns (23).

White was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 in 2012 and second team selection in 2011.

Gaydosh, a University of Calgary Dinos lineman who played high school football for both Peace River and Edmonton’s Ross Sheppard high schools, was the third-ranked prospect for the draft by the CFL’s scouting bureau heading into the draft, but a strong performance at the league’s draft combine last month boosted his stock.

More on Gaydosh: The six-foot-three, 314-pounder was the hub of the Calgary defence, with whom he captured the CIS rookie of the year in 2009 and all-Canadian status in 2011; attended the CIS East-West Bowl in London, Ont., in 2011; named defensive MVP in the Hardy Cup in 2010; capped his first collegiate season in the Vanier Cup, registering an 18-yard interception return in the Dinos’ 33-31 loss to Queen’s.

Andy Mulumba: He was ranked No. 5 heading into the draft; has signed with the Green Bay Packers of the NFL

Mike Edem:

Corey Watman: The six-foot-2, 294-pound Watman spent four seasons on the offensive line at Eastern Michigan. Last season, the Queensville, Ont., native started all 12 games on the offensive line splitting time between guard and centre. The Regina Leader-Post’s Murray McCormick has more on Watman and the other four prospects the Roughriders selected in this year’s draft.

—

The Lions season opener this year will be against one of these guys at quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders, Drew Tate (left) or Kevin Glenn.

Talk about a grudge rematch. The team which ended the Lions’ 2012 season at the West Division final will be the opponent in the 2013 regular season opener when they face the Calgary Stampeders on the road June 28.

Two weeks later than last year, the CFL released its schedule Tuesday that for the Lions will also include a July 4 home opener against the Toronto Argonauts at B.C. Place Stadium.

B.C. has only two back-to-back sets, and following some strong attendance numbers last season in a similar scenario, a pair of afternoon home contests again this year.

Scheduling delays were caused by the scarcity of dates at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays are the primary tenant, and issues connected with the move this year by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to play a majority of their home games in Guelph, Ont., while Ivor Wynne Stadium is being rebuilt.

Hamilton will play Montreal Sept. 21 in Moncton, N.B. as part of the relocation and will not play the Argos on Labour Day weekend. The Lions’ full schedule is as follows:

2013 LIONS SCHEDULE

PRESEASON

June 14: at Calgary, 21 vs. Edmonton

REGULAR SEASON

June: 28 at Calgary.

July: 4 vs. Toronto 7 p.m.; 13 at Edmonton, 20 vs. Edmonton, 7 p.m.; 30 at Toronto

August: 5 vs. Winnipeg, 4 p.m. 17 vs. Calgary, 6 p.m.; 22 at Montreal; 30 vs. Hamilton, 7 p.m.

September: 7 at Hamilton; 15 vs. Montreal, 1:30 p.m.; 22 at Saskatchewan; 27 at Winnipeg;

October: 4 vs. Saskatchewan, 7 p.m.; 11 at Calgary; 19 at Saskatchewan; 25 vs. Edmonton, 7 p.m.

November: 1 vs. Calgary, 7 p.m.

Grey Cup: 24, at Regina

You win a Grey Cup in your first year, expect to be favoured as the CFL’s 2012 coach of the year. Such is the scenario facing Toronto’s Scott Milanovich (Argonauts)

He was a rookie coach who moulded a division finalist out of a new program last year, but even Mike Benevides was quick to concede there was someone else in the same position who had better results doing the same thing.

You didn’t get the sense from talking to the coach of the Lions that he held out a great deal of hope to be named the CFL’s coach of the year, not when rookie Scott Milanovich of the Toronto Argonauts ended up last season with the Grey Cup in his hands.

Matter of fact, Benevides made a case for each of the two other finalists, which also includes Calgary’s John Hufnagel.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if either of those guys won. John had a roster which had injuries, and won the West Division final. With Scott, he was living the same experience as I was but came into a different organization,” Benevides said this week before heading to Regina, site of this year’s awards presentation and annual CFL meetings.

“He found the quarterback [GM] Jim [Barker] gave him and changed direction midway through the season. If you come into an organization fresh, the expectations are different when you’re changing the culture. For him, it was about getting hot at the right time. The big thing for me was how he changed to make Ricky Ray work for him.”

Toronto went 12-9 last season. B.C. was 13-6 and Calgary was 14-7 overall, so if you want to make an argument away from the Argos coach there’s some numbers to support the case.

A bigger debate is whether the league’s top coach should be adjudicated in a manner different from players up for the CFL Awards. Voting on player awards takes places during the season. The top coaching ballot wasn’t handed out until last month.

But they call it the coach of the year award, not coach of the regular season, so you’re probably right to be thinking along the same lines as Benevides. The winner will be announced Thursday morning.

Sunday night at the Rogers Centre, in front of more than 53,000 in person and millions of television viewers, they let another of the CFL’s top tailbacks run wild on them.

What a difference seven days make.

“It’s a tough one,” said Stamps coverage linebacker Keon Raymond, shaking his head in a quiet Stampeder locker room. “We picked a good night to not play our best football. It’s a tough pill to swallow. They came out and played better than we did today.”

It came out of nowhere, too. Last week in the West Division final, Andrew Harris of the Lions managed just 33 rushing yards and B.C.’s attempts to establish a ground game in the first half were continually stymied.

The Argos’ Chad Kackert, meanwhile, found holes early and continued to find them, softening up the Stampeder front seven and allowing quarterback Ricky Ray more time to find receivers downfield.

The Stamps took pride all year in forcing offences to become one-dimensional; they couldn’t do it, however, when it truly counted. Kackert, who spent a week on the Stamps’ roster in 2010 but was cut after suffering a hamstring injury during his first practice, rushed for 133 yards and also made a game-high eight catches for 62 yards to finish with 195 all-purpose yards.

“He was doing what we knew he was going to do,” said Stamps middle linebacker Juwan Simpson. “We just missed a few tackles that we made last week. He’s a good back, he’s a shifty small back so you kind of lose him sometimes. But it was a complete team effort in our loss, across the board. We all could have done some things differently.”

“It wasn’t about what he was doing; it was about what we didn’t do,” added Stamps defensive end Anwar Stewart. “We know that he’s a cutback player, and in our defence everybody has a place where they’re supposed to be. If 12 guys do 11 guys’ jobs, then that one hole will hurt us. But he ran hard. He’s a really good little back and he plays hard.”

He’s a really good little back and he plays hard

A trademark of the Stamps’ defence during the six-game win streak the team carried into the Grey Cup was its ability to come up with big stops at crucial times in the game. But the Argos made some big second-down conversions in the second half thanks to Kackert along with quarterback Ricky Ray, who put together an 18-for-30, 231-yard, two-touchdown, one-interception evening against a team that he has tormented like none other over the years.

“We just weren’t tackling,” said Raymond. “Something we’ve been doing for so long, we just didn’t tackle well tonight and it took us the first half to get started. Once got into the second half, we played better, but we had dug too much of a hole.

“It was definitely tiring, but that’s what we do — we sign up to play defence. If we could get a two-and-out to give our offence a chance — we just didn’t give our offence enough chances to put points on the board.”

“Man, you guys are making it seem like somebody died,’’ said the feel-good-story-gone bad. “I mean, like ‘Wow!’ We lost a game.

“We lost six of them in the regular season. It just so happened this was the Grey Cup. And there’s a ring involved. Something you can look at, and say ‘We won a Grey Cup. We got a ring. And nobody can take that away from us.’

“That’s the tough part.

“But, like I said, it’s not the end of the world.’’

Behind the crestfallen quarterback, hanging in his locker, a photocopied piece of paper with a rallying cry: Seize the Moment.

This was supposed to be the night Kevin Glenn put all the old demons to bed. Destroyed the stereotype. Silenced all the naysayers. Checked himself out of the big-game leper colony.

All the players got beat. All the coaches got schooled.

Defensive schemer Chris Jones, his jaw wired shut all week, exacted his revenge. Scott Milanovich, the head-coaching rook, takes the measure of a master.

But Kevin Glenn will wear most of it. That is the way of the world. The resilience he displayed in cutting the B.C. Lions down to size a week ago will be conveniently forgotten.

“He had a rough start, obviously, then he got into a little bit of a groove,’’ adjudged Stamps coach John Hufnagel. “Then.… I don’t know. There were some throws that were’’ – pause – “uncharacterstic. That’s all I can say.’’

“We weren’t in a rhythm tonight,’’ Glenn said, hanging in for the entirety of the media scrum, a professional to his fingertips. “It seemed when we did, we put field goals on the board instead of touchdowns. When we had chances to put seven points on the board, we didn’t.

“It feels bad that we couldn’t put more points on the board, put out a better display of our offence. ‘Cause we know we’re better than that.

“But tonight, it just … didn’t happen.

“You can’t kick field goals all game and expect to win.’’

When these kind of things happen, you go from your highest highest to your lowest lows

His numbers – 14-for-27 for 222 yards and a pick – weren’t odious. Just not near enough to win.

“I mean, it’s frustrating,’’ he conceded. “But when these kind of things happen, you go from your highest highest to your lowest lows.

“I don’t know of any other job where that can happen to you.

“You’ve got try and filter it and think about the positive things we did this year. To try and filter it somehow and try and think of the positive things we did this year.

“Right now, I can’t stop replaying the game in my head.’’

Phill Snel/National PostKevin Glenn's numbers – 14-for-27 for 222 yards and a pick – weren’t odious.

The game ended with Glenn on the sideline and Bo Levi Mitchell at the helm. There were sideline reports of a rift with Maurice Price and a miffed Marquay McDaniel giving his quarterback the cold shoulder.

“We’re all competitors,’’ said Glenn. “(McDaniel) might’ve been upset but we didn’t argue on the sidelines. If that’s what you’re getting at. There was never an incident between me and Marquay.’’

Glenn’s major mistake came with the scoreline 7-3 in the second quarter, Argos defensive back Pacino Hall scooping up a searching pass and returning it 25 yards to The House.

Right now, I can’t stop replaying the game in my head

“They kind of undercut the route on Nik,’’ sighed Glenn. “I tried to put it high and outside so the defender from the outside couldn’t get it. The outside guy fell off his guy, dove around and caught the ball. I didn’t even think he caught it. I thought it hit the ground. It was a helluva catch. Those kind of things happen.

“If I’d left it inside, it would’ve been picked. I have to give the receiver a chance.’’

Where do you start dissecting a carnage this vast, this heinous, this unexpected?

Peter J. Thompson/National Post“We weren’t in a rhythm tonight."

Too little pressure to disturb the scant remains of Ricky Ray’s hair. Way too much mule-kick from Chad Kackert. Way too much Dontrelle Inman. Slipshod tackling, a blight they’d avoided a week ago out in B.C. On third-and-one from the Argo 51, Matt Walter? Nice kid, Matt Walter. And, yeah, it’s worked before. But, really? In a Grey Cup? With the league’s best running back at your beck and call?

On second-and-goal a yard from the Argo end zone, an end around to Romby Bryant? Again, with the best running back in the league at your beck and call?

Talk about killing yourself with cleverness.

Down 15 with time ticking relentlessly and deep inside Toronto territory, only to settle for yet another Rene Parades field goal? Talk about killing yourself with conservatism.

Too many penalties (Keon Raymond latching onto Matt Black, negating Larry Taylor’s 105-yard kick return for a touchdown being the most obviously damaging). Too few big plays.

We’re not in the business of moral victories

And Glenn unable to deliver the fairy-tale finish his many supporters so desperately wanted.

“It’s always a missed opportunity,’’ he said softly, shaking his head. “‘Cause I feel we had a team to win this game. They outplayed us today.

“You always feel it’s a missed opportunity if you don’t win.

“We’re not in the business of moral victories.’’

Kevin Glenn was right. Nobody died.

Just seemed that way is all.

Calgary Herald

The Toronto Argonauts’ daylight robbery of the Edmonton Eskimos last December netted a gold mine in quarterback Ricky Ray, and almost simultaneously they lifted defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones out of Cowtown by hook and by crook — and Sunday, guess whose fingerprints were all over the Argos’ dismantling of the Calgary Stampeders in the 100th Grey Cup?

So much for the Alberta Advantage.

Ray, who’s about the coolest customer in the room most every time he suits up -— and especially, it seems, on the big stage — shrugged off an interception on the first offensive play of the game, threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns, and Jones’s bruising defence stifled running back Jon Cornish and almost all of Kevin Glenn’s other weapons en route to Toronto’s 35-22 derailing of the favoured Stamps.

That No. 44 guy wasn’t too bad, either: Argo bowling ball Chad Kackert ripped and rammed his way for 195 yards, rushing and receiving, and his selection as the game’s oustanding player was a tribute to the welts he raised on Calgary tacklers that may not go away until the new year.

But Ray was the story coming in — to the season, and to the Grey Cup — and he was the story going out. A 33-year-old, through-and-through professional, illogically deemed expendable in Edmonton, doing exactly what he was acquired to do: lead the chronically unloved Boatmen to a hometown Grey Cup at the end of the biggest, costliest buildup and celebration in the history of the Canadian Football League.

If the Argos can’t build some momentum in Toronto after the jump-start they’ve received this season — a lot of it revolving around the quarterback that made them complete — and especially this week, they may have to abandon ship.

But GM Jim Barker, who may have saved his job with the Ray trade even as it contributed to Eskimos’ Eric Tillman losing his, doesn’t see these Argos being a one-and-done deal.

“Oh, we’ll compete every year, there’s no doubt in my mind,” he said. “That game against Montreal [the Eastern final] showed we’re ready to take over now.”

Frank Gunn/The Canadian PressToronto Argonauts quarterback Ricky Ray is sacked by Calgary Stampeders defensive back Brandon Smith during second quarter of the 100th Grey Cup on Sunday.

Ray has a year left on his contract, but he’s not the itinerant type. Surrounded here by a strong cast and a stern defence, he should be able to wring a few more years out of that old-school body and unpreposessing style.

He’s no gazelle, but Sunday, he deftly stepped around blitzing Calgary defenders a couple of times in that vital first half — notably dodging inside the rush to hit Jason Barnes for a 62-yard strike, the longest Grey Cup completion of Ray’s career and one of several big plays given up by a Calgary defence that seemed to bear no relation to the one that upset the B.C. Lions a week ago.

For that matter, the Calgary offence, which had opened up such enormous holes in the Lions’ secondary, had no such luck against the Argos until late in the game. Toronto scored its first two touchdowns off Calgary turnovers — a Cornish-Glenn fumble that led to Ray’s first TD throw, a five-yarder to CFL MVP Chad Owens, and a horrible pass by Glenn that was picked off and returned for a 25-yard touchdown by Pacino Horne.

Mark Blinch/ReutersToronto Argonauts quarterback and running back Ricky Ray, left, and Chad Kackert put together a two-headed monster during the 100th Grey Cup. Ricky Ray threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns while Kackert — who was named the game's MVP — had 195 total yards.

The Argonauts took control of the game with a 17-point second quarter for a 24-6 halftime lead and nursed it home from there, taking few risks, continuing to pound Cornish and the Stampeders at every opportunity.

Ray, who threw a late TD pass, another short one, to Andre Durie, had no big mistakes, and simply lent an air of calm to what easily could have been an overwhelming atmosphere, with a hugely pro-Toronto crowd of 53,208 at jam-packed Rogers Centre making enough noise to shake dust from the rafters that has probably been there since the last time the New York Yankees were in town.

It was Ray’s third Grey Cup triumph in four tries — following victories with Edmonton in 2003 and 2005 — and the Argos’ 16th title, their first since 2004. They have gone 5-0 in championship games since losing to Edmonton in 1987.

That being said, there was a fine symmetry on Sunday, as the Toronto Argonauts won the 100th Grey Cup at home with a 35-22 victory over the imploding Calgary Stampeders. The game capped a smashing Grey Cup week, during which Toronto felt more like the rest of Canada than it has in a long time, and its team was a champion for the first time since 2004. Toronto sports have become a black hole of despair, but this is how the script would read, were it written by those fat cats in the big city.

It’s been Toronto’s week, and Toronto’s year. From the moment they traded for quarterback Ricky Ray the conspiracy theories bloomed, as if the Canadian Football League had somehow convinced the Edmonton Eskimos to torch their franchise for the good of the big picture. Speculation swirled around the job security of Toronto’s general manager, Jim Barker, despite the heist. Late in Grey Cup week, speculation swirled around their immediate future. This team has always been a little uncertain, and this version was no exception.

But on Sunday, they were the best team in the country, and not by a little. No conspiracy theory would have arranged a 9-9 record in the regular season, a climb over Edmonton and Montreal in the playoffs, and the demolition of a team that had won 13 of its previous 15 games. But here we are.

Peter J. Thompson/National PostAs the Grey Cup was brought down to field level, the Calgary Stampeders mascot exited and Toronto fans new that the Argonauts, who went 9-9 in the regular season, had brought home the 100th Grey Cup.

It was, on the balance, a very Canadian evening. Burton Cummings botched the anthem in both languages, singing what appeared to be the old version before they changed the words, but then, he was doing in the jazz style, so maybe it was just improvisation. The halftime show was Gordon Lightfoot and the kids, with Justin Bieber — who has nearly as many Twitter followers as there are Canadians — saying it was an honour to appear, even after being booed. The crowd turned the dusty old dome into a multicoloured, raucous, sold-out festival, announced at 53,208.

Yes, the turf was slippery, the officials were foggy, and the air was so smoky from the fireworks that you felt like it was the world’s biggest restaurant in 1985. Non-smoking, please.

But the game was a coronation, rather than a struggle. Ray, the franchise quarterback acquired from Edmonton for a bag of magic beans, chucked an interception on the game’s first play from scrimmage. But the Stampeders went two-and-out, and the league’s Outstanding Canadian, Jon Cornish, fumbled an exchange with quarterback Kevin Glenn on Calgary’s next possession, and doubt began to evaporate.

From there, with Ray sidestepping rushes like a dancer in a crowded hall, the Argonauts began to roll. After a drive-extending facemask call, cornerback Quincy Butler found himself facing Chad Owens, the league’s Most Outstanding Player, in the flat, one on one. Butler never had a chance, and Toronto took a 7-0 lead at the 8:03 mark.

Darren Calabrese/National PostRicky Ray has appeared in four Grey Cup games — three with the Edmonton Eskimos and one with the Toronto Argonauts — and has now won three of them after a 35-22 victory over the Calgary Stampeders on Sunday.

Glenn drove Calgary to a field goal, but early in the second quarter, he flopped a short, errant pass to his right that was picked off by Pacino Horne and returned 25 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 Toronto lead. Suddenly the Stampeders, who had not lost a game since Sept. 23, were in trouble. Glenn, in his first Grey Cup after 12-star-crossed years, just couldn’t keep a drive together. Cornish, the league’s leading rusher who would be held to 57 yards on 15 carries, seemed lost in the pall of smoke.

It was 24-6 at halftime, and Calgary had turned over the ball three times, and had five first downs to Toronto’s 14, and the obvious pass interference on their half-ending Hail Mary went uncalled. It was an immolation, on every front.

And Calgary’s necessary miracles never came. A 105-yard kickoff return by Larry Taylor was called back for holding; receivers fell down, balls sailed, nothing worked. The Calgary Stampeders might well wake up Monday morning and wonder how, in the biggest game of what had become a remarkable season, everything fell apart.

Owens, the league’s Most Outstanding Player, caught just two passes, but running back Chad Kackert, the game’s Most Outstanding Player, rolled up a combined 195 yards on 28 touches, and Ray was rock solid. Calgary had to negotiate its horse into the stadium; like its team, it didn’t have room to run.

Peter J. Thompson/National PostChad Owens left his mark for the Toronto Argonauts in a record-setting regular season, and has already had an impact with a touchdown in the first half of the 100th Grey Cup against the Calgary Stampeders.

And while it may be tempting to ascribe conspiracy to all this, the CFL is the nosy small town of sports — conspiracies aren’t hidden long — and it belies the unlikely nature of this win. The Argonauts are a 9-9 team that struggled to mix in a sea of new faces and a first-time head coach, in a season where the practice facility burned down. The last time Calgary got here, Jon Hufnagel’s Stampeders — with current Argonauts defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones running his defence — held Scott Milanovich’s Alouettes offence to 14 points in 2008, in Montreal.

This time, Milanovich and Jones, both young men in an old man’s league, won the day. As the Cup was carried in, Calgary’s horse exited stage left, and the Stampeders committed 30 yards of penalties on one play. Goodnight.

Going forward, the Argonauts suddenly seem like a team that could do this again. Montreal is a dynasty in decline; Winnipeg is rubble; Hamilton will spend the next year as a refugee franchise, playing under bridges and in parking lots while a new stadium is built. Toronto could become the new Montreal, for a time.

Maybe the Blue Jays will put natural grass in and evict their tenants; maybe Toronto’s front office will change. Maybe a mess is right around the corner. But on the field, the future seems strangely bright.

Which, when you think about it, will give the rest of the country something to cheer against again. It’s been too long.

A cross-section of Canadians, young and old, from East to West, came to show off their hometown colours, enjoy the live music and commemorate the Canadian Football League’s centennial milestone.

Before Calgary and Toronto took the field to decide who would hoist Lord Grey’s trophy, Argonaut fans could be heard blowing vuvuzelas and declaring their team the superior outfit.

Like many of the 52,000 CFL fans expected to fill Rogers Centre for Sunday night’s game, Doug Este of Sudbury, Ont., bought his Grey Cup ticket a year in advance, and lucked out when his beloved Argos qualified with a win over Montreal in the East Final.

“I don’t know who’s favoured, but I know who’s favoured at our place,” said Mr. Este, sporting Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray’s No. 15 jersey.

Lance Miller, a 27-year-old Argo fanatic from Oshawa, Ont., was wearing nothing above the waist but a cape and double-blue body paint despite the temperature being no more than a few degrees above 0 Celcius.

“My dad brought me to my first game when I was five years old,” said Mr. Miller, face painted and homemade shield in hand. “To me, it’s the best sport in the world. I just love the CFL, I love the Grey Cup … it brings my family together.”

Grey Cup weekend is more a tribute to the three-down game than a face-off between the two finalists and their backers, as rivalries are put aside, replaced by camaraderie among even the most vociferous of fans.

“It really unifies the whole league,” said Mr. Miller, who spent most of his afternoon posing for pictures. “Fans from all over have been coming up to me saying, ‘I love your outfit. I love what you did.’ So it brings the whole league together.”

Ralph Liebel’s Saskatchewan Roughriders failed to qualify for the 2012 final, but there he was, decked out in Rider green, face painted and having a blast.

“We’re here to celebrate the CFL and all of the teams,” said Mr. Liebel, who made the trip from Regina and has attended the Grey Cup on 10 separate occasions. “I want a good game that goes down to the last minute; whoever has the ball last wins.”

There was near-even representation from all eight CFL teams, including a plethora of cowboys and cowgirls rooting for the West-winning Stamps, a cluster of women in orange wigs and custom-made Lions ponchos from British Columbia

and Hamiltonians in Tiger-Cat black and gold.

Despite Toronto’s home-field advantage, Calgarians were confident their side was set to earn its second Grey Cup title in five years. “I think the best team is going to win,” said Charlie Mitchell of Calgary, who was attending his fourth Grey Cup game.

Brothers David and Greg Symons launched their annual Grey Cup tradition in 2005, and have seen every CFL final since – David travelling from Vancouver, and Greg from Toronto. The duo, wearing matching varsity jackets that signify

each Grey Cup game they have witnessed in person, had been partying since Thursday and loving every minute of it.

“The game is important,” said David, who begrudgingly agreed to wear a blue shirt in support of his Torontonian sibling on Sunday, “but the whole Grey Cup weekend experience is really what it is all about.”

John Deschambeault, a lifelong Blue Bombers fan who made the journey to the Grey Cup from Thompson, Man., echoed the Symons brothers’ sentiments.

“It’s not about the two teams that are here, it’s about the whole country being as one,” he said. “I shook hands with a Saskatchewan fan earlier … but just today though.”

National Post

rbarrs@nationalpost.com

The Toronto quarterback has been outstanding his last four starts, a key reason why the Argonauts will face the Calgary Stampeders in the 100th Grey Cup on Sunday night at Rogers Centre.

The 33-year-old Ray has completed 95-of-130 passes (73%) over that span for 1,326 yards. More importantly, he has thrown 11 touchdown strikes against just one interception since suffering a knee injury versus Montreal on Sept. 23 that forced him to miss three straight starts.

The Argos had high expectations of Ray when they acquired him in the blockbuster deal last December with the Edmonton Eskimos. Not only did Toronto acquire a nine-year CFL veteran, but they got a two-time Grey Cup champion with a reputation for being a pinpoint passer.

While the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Ray struggled initially to become acclimated with rookie head coach Scott Milanovich’s offence, he did show a deft passing touch this season. Ray’s 68.6% passing completion was tops among league starters this season and he surpassed the 4,000-yard passing plateau for the seventh time in his CFL career.

But Ray has been at his best since returning from his knee injury Oct. 19. He has looked very comfortable under centre and surpassed the 300-yard passing plateau in three of his last four starts, including a 399-yard performance in Toronto’s 27-20 road win over Montreal in last weekend’s East Division final at Olympic Stadium.

Toronto has fallen behind in both of its playoff games this year but been buoyed by the even-keel, no-panic approach of its quarterback who has twice successfully rallied his team from 10-0 deficits to post-season victories.

Ray’s deft passing touch is a crucial element of a Toronto offence that relies heavily on the aerial game. The Argos were third overall in passing this season (285 yards per game) and last in rushing (89.6 yards per game).

It’s also no accident that with Ray under centre, Toronto’s Chad Owens was the CFL’s top receiver this season with 94 catches for 1,328 yards and six TDs. The Flyin’ Hawaiian — named the CFL’s outstanding player Thursday night — seems to step up into another gear with Ray at the controls, registering eight catches for 52 yards and no TDs in the three games Ray missed with his knee injury.

On Sunday, by comparison, Owens had 11 receptions for a club playoff-record 207 yards against Montreal.

An effective Ray is also a big boost to Toronto’s ground attack because he draws attention away from running back Chad Kackert. And that has made Kackert a dangerous weapon in the playoffs for the Argos.

The speedy running back had 88 yards rushing and a TD on 15 carries in Toronto’s 42-26 East Division semi-final win over Edmonton before adding 139 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries against Montreal. The five-foot-nine, 198-pound Kackert could be the Argos’ X-factor against Calgary.

Calgary counters with a pretty good offensive punch of its own, finishing tied with Montreal for TDs (51 each) and second overall in scoring (29.7 points per game). Quarterback Kevin Glenn is a veteran and guided the Stampeders to nine regular-season wins after starter Drew Tate’s shoulder injury, then led the club past B.C. in the West Division final after Tate was diagnosed with a broken forearm.

Glenn accumulated more passing yards (4,220 to 4,059) and TDs (25 to 20) than Ray, but also had more interceptions (16 to 11). Calgary also boasted the better ground attack, anchored by CFL rushing leader Jon Cornish — the league’s top Canadian this yet. Slotback Nik Lewis added a league-high 100 catches.

But Glenn is a very streaky player capable of great highs and the lowest of lows whereas Ray has been very consistent of late. Glenn is also appearing in his first Grey Cup game while Ray will be in his third and was the MVP of Edmonton’s 38-35 overtime win over Montreal in the ’05 CFL championship.

Toronto not only swept this year’s season series with Calgary 2-0 but has won its last five head-to-head meetings. In both games this year, the Argos defence held Cornish under 100 yards rushing.

In the playoffs, Argos defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones — who held that position last year with Calgary — has been a master of making adjustments on the fly to give Ray and Co. time to get on track. And Toronto’s offence has been able to, scoring a CFL-record 31 points in the second quarter against Edmonton before taking control of the conference final by outscoring Montreal 14-0 in the third to erase a 17-10 deficit.

Calgary is a slight two-point favourite in the game, surprising given the Argos’ record against the Stampeders and their having home-field advantage. But CFL teams are 6-6 overall as the Grey Cup host.

There’s something about this Toronto team that creates the belief it’s one of destiny, that the stars have all aligned this year for the CFL team with the most Grey Cup titles to add to its impressive total at home on the 100th anniversary of the iconic game.

If Toronto falls behind early, it will have the confidence to follow the lead of its quiet, unassuming offensive leader like it has the previous two weeks. And storming out to the lead in a one-game, winner-take-all affair will only serve to buoy the Argos’ confidence, especially with a rabid Rogers Centre gathering exceeding 50,000 spectators.

Prediction — Toronto by three points.