More about the Grey Cup!!
Found this article on the Globe & Mail web-site.
Apparently, the Lions "broke" the Cup in celebration. However, this is not the first time that the Cup is being broken (see below).
-------------------------------Posted AT 10:52 PM EST ON 19/11/06
The Grey Cup's bizarre history
When the Grey Cup was broken Sunday night during the B.C. Lions celebration in Winnipeg, it was just another chapter in the colourful history of the 94-year-old trophy. The following story is from 1998 when the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 26-24 to win the Grey Cup.
From the archives:
It has been lost, forgotten, stolen and even held for ransom.
Such is the rich and colourful history of the Grey Cup.
The Grey Cup wasn't supposed to honour a football champion. It was originally to be awarded annually to Canada's top senior hockey team, but Sir Montague Allan beat Earl Grey to the punch, issuing the Allan Cup. Grey later donated the trophy to recognize the Canadian rugby football winner.
Wally Buono and the Calgary Stampeders nearly added another wacky chapter to the Grey Cup's colourful history last year. Hours after capturing the CFL championship trophy with a wild 26-24 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Stampeders almost left Winnipeg without the hallowed Cup, which is valued at $53,000.
The Stampeders returned to their hotel for a reception after the game. They then headed to the airport for their chartered flight home only to realize the trophy had been left at the hotel.
As panic set in, salvation arrived in the form of the trophy, which someone had placed on a bus headed to the airport.
"There were so many people getting their picture taken with it [at the reception] so I left early to get the buses organized assuming someone else would take care of it," Buono, who had signed for the Cup on the club's behalf, said at the time. "All of a sudden we don't know where it's at.
"Fortunately, when the third bus came, someone was smart enough to have put it on. It was a big relief."
The Cup is insured, but whoever signs for it is responsible for its safe-keeping. If it is lost or irreparably damaged, the signee is on the hook for its replacement value.
But the Stampeders' faux pas last year wasn't the first time the Cup had been forgotten.
In 1964, the B.C. Lions sent someone back to their hotel to retrieve the Cup after arriving at the airport empty-handed. And in 1984, hours after a team celebration, former Bombers general manager Paul Robson sheepishly returned to an empty Winnipeg Arena to find the trophy sitting on a table at centre ice.
Former Toronto kicker Mike Vanderjagt lost the Cup in November 1997. Vanderjagt took it to a bar in his native Oakville, Ont., where it was stolen.
Early the next morning, a college student who reportedly joked she'd give $100 to have the Cup in her apartment found it in her kitchen. Police were called and the trophy was returned to a relieved Vanderjagt.
It was also stolen in 1969 from Ottawa's Lansdowne Park and held for ransom. When the CFL balked, Toronto police found the Cup in a hotel locker.
Other incidents include:
--The University of Toronto won the first Grey Cup championship in 1909, but didn't receive the trophy until the following March. And when they got it, they held on to it for two years, figuring they didn't have to return it until another team beat them for it. That happened in 1914 when the Toronto Argonauts captured the title. Since then, the winning team has made the trophy available to next season's champion.
--In 1947, it was almost destroyed by fire while on display at the Toronto Argonaut Rowing Club. The office was gutted, but a slightly tarnished Cup survived.
--In 1987, the trophy was broken when a celebrating Edmonton Eskimo sat on it. In 1991, tape held the neck of the Grey Cup intact when it returned home with the Toronto Argonauts. And in 1993, it was again broken when Edmonton's Blake Dermott head-butted it.
posted by X at 12:28 a.m.
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