Grey Cup 2011

This year was the 99th Grey Cup and it was being held in Vancouver. After an 0-5 start it didn't seem likely that the home team would be attending but an amazing second half of the season resulted in a playoff berth. This was even more exciting for me because my father-in-law Reg had purchased tickets for myself as well as my brother-in-laws Corey and Ronnie. Originally our seats were in the lower bowl but quite close to the top. After some additional bargaining, Barb managed to get us seats in the first three rows. They weren't beside each other but they were close together and incredibly close to the field on the 15 yard line.

Reg and I left our house around 10:00 as we needed to go pick up an umbrella. It had been pouring rain all night and didn't look like it was going to get much better. (We ended up carrying them the whole day as the sun came out and it was clear all day.) We then picked up Corey and headed to Ron's house. The plan was to park the car there and take the Skytrain downtown. It's a much easier exit and we wouldn't have to worry about parking. We got downtown around 11:30 and wandered around the city for a bit before heading into the stadium. Our seats turned out to be just as good as Barb had predicted and had an excellent view. :)

The halftime show was Nickleback. I was quite amazed that they've sold 50+ million albums. I guess they're a natural choice for a halftime show though I would have preferred if they had done some of their older songs. I'm not very familiar with their new stuff and it was so loud it just sounded like noise to me. There were quite a few young kids in our section and I was glad their parents had thought to bring ear muffs for them. The show was still fun to watch though and you could feel the special effects flame from our seats.

There were only a few points in the game where it seemed that Winnipeg had a chance to make a game of it. I think this was a good thing for Reg who is a big Lions fan. The home team won and the crowed went wild.

Oh yes. This was the first time I'd been in the new BC Place since the 550 million dollar renovation. It's a great stadium though I do question whether it would have been cheaper to tear it down and rebuild it. Hopefully it brings in enough events to pay for itself quickly.