Replay of a 50 year old grudge match - CFL style!

There have been many rivalries that have spilled over into the public forum over the decades. It is said (by people who are completely wrong) that World War 2 started over the loss of a soccer ball that was never returned to it's rightful owners. Small towns throughout North America have stories of local gangs (or 'teams' as their PR department prefers to call them) meeting up long after the game is over to settle grudges that should have been kept on the field or ice. Boxers once were quite famous for attempting to beat each other up before they even were supposed to fight each other in the ring.

But you would be hard pressed to find a stranger, longer-lasting rivalry between these 2 CFL legends, Joe Kapp (the skinny one) and Angelo Mosca, 2 Canadian warriors from the old days before electricity and TSN was invented.

They went at it toe to geriatric toe at a CFL alumni luncheon a couple of years ago; a public relations coup for the Grey Cup party being held that week. At a time when most old people are just waiting to die, these two are still fighting because...damn it, they're CFL'r's. That's the way they roll....

Apparently this may have had something to do with Hamilton's 21-10 win over B.C. in the 1963 Grey Cup, when Mosca delivered a controversial hit that knocked Lions star running back Willie Fleming out of the game. This was the last time in CFL history that 'Hamilton' and 'Grey Cup' and 'win' was used.

Personally, I loved their comments here after the fight was broken up;

"Somebody hit me on the side of the head with a cane — a club — so I had to respond," Kapp said. "I don't think there's any person anywhere that wouldn't respond the way I did."

I love how he says 'somebody'. There was only 1 person on that stage with a cane and Kapp apparently has already forgotten who it was.  Plus, you know who wouldn't respond that way, Mr. Kapp?  Someone 73 years old!  

Then, there's the other side of the story, the guy who got one-punched:

Mosca said things got heated after he had a "dead-ass flower" shoved in his face.

"I don't care if you're the King or the Queen, you're not going to shove something in my face and get away with it," Mosca said from his Hamilton home.

Man, I feel sorry for his grandkids trying to give him presents. Seems a bit silly to try to lead with a cane unless you are Daredevil, it's a dead giveaway that you probably aren't the most stable of people while standing.    

Hockey's over. Bring on the CFL (Primer edition)

One word 3 syllables (2 if you are from Newfoundland); sea-eff-ull.

The Canadian Football League. Canada's summer sport. The hidden jewel of the North, a place where grown men are allowed to wear tight pants and try to hurt each other for probably less than what you make annually.  It's a league where you only get 3 downs to make 10 yards, there's a crazy amount of ways to get points, there's an extra man on the field, you play for North America's oldest trophy, the Grey Cup, and lastly - you have bigger balls. That's the CFL in one paragraph.

It's that other sport that falls far back of Canada's radar while the Stanley Cup Playoffs are on, falling somewhere behind the Toronto Blue Jays and just ahead of competitive hot dog eating (which were both featured on tonight's sports highlights). Apparently we are already into Week 3 of the CFL so we have some catching up to do.

Most know it as 'the other football league' where if you can't make it in the NFL or at the least on their practice rosters it's where you hope to keep the dream alive enough to not move to Europe where legend has it another NFL existed (or still exists).


Maybe you are one of the growing number that have turned away from the NHL and are looking for cheaper, more local/patriotic entertainment. Maybe you are an unemployed American football player who came to Canada to try out a little of the local marijuana and not get shot for being black. Or maybe you are just killing time waiting for the bus and a poster caught your eye. Maybe you are just waiting for the NHL comes back or at the very least opens up Training Camp, which is probably next week.

Here is a quick test or study primer for the 8 teams that make up the CFL (and the alphabet):