Put your two-four on ice, get out the taco chips and call your buds -- it's time for that 96-year-old tradition known as Grey Cup Sunday.
A day to celebrate the crazy, three-down game and maybe witness the birth of a new hero or two.
From the Rifle to the Rocket, Sonny to Moon, Doug to Damon or Bright to Battle, Grey Cup history is rife with the names of those who save their best for the biggest game of the year.
Just how good did you have to be to make this list?
Consider that neither Sam (The Rifle) Etcheverry, Rocket Ismail, Sonny Wade nor Greg Battle, all Canadian football icons, made the final grade.
Today we raise a glass to the top-10 single Grey Cup performances of all time.
10. JAMES JOHNSON, 2007
It's not often you see a defensive player named the MVP of a championship game. But this Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back turned the trick with a hat trick of interceptions, a Grey Cup record, in the Riders 23-19 victory over Winnipeg last year. Johnson returned the first for his team's first touchdown, while his third ended the Bombers' last-gasp drive and sealed the win. Needless to say, nobody remembered he got beat deep for Winnipeg's only touchdown of the game.
9. DAMON ALLEN, 2004
Hands up, everyone who'd written off Allen during that 2004 season, when he played just 12 games and passed for barely 2,400 yards for the Argonauts. Father time was finally catching up to the 41-year-old, by then a grandfather. Well, grandpa limbered up those joints and shook off a second-half leg injury to complete 23 of 34 passes for 299 yards and a touchdown, while running for two more majors, earning MVP honours in a shocking, 27-19 upset over the regular-season powerhouse B.C. Lions.
8. DANNY MACIOCIA, 2005
Who can forget the sight of the Eskimos rookie head coach throwing off his headset and running onto the field, arms up in the air in a case of premature celebration after losing track of the downs for Montreal's offence? When the egg was finally wiped off Maciocia's face, it revealed a smile, after all, as his team clinched an exhilarating, 38-35 overtime victory on the next play. This time Maciocia crumpled to his knees, capping a truly one-of-a-kind performance.
7. JOHNNY BRIGHT, 1956
The Edmonton running game churned out the kind of yardage that looks like a misprint against the poor Montreal Alouettes in '56. The Esks kept the ball on the ground 83 times for 456 yards rushing, Grey Cup records, it says here, that will never be broken, in a 50-27 slaughter. Accepting the award on the behalf of the Green and Gold is Bright, who lugged the pig 28 times for a record 171 yards, another mark that still stands, and a pair of touchdowns.
6. WARREN MOON, 1980
The Edmonton Eskimos were in the midst of a five-championship run, but with a new starting quarterback in Moon. If there was any doubt about Moon's ability in big games, he left it in shreds, along with the Hamilton defence, airing it out for 398 yards, as Eskimos rolled up 31 first downs and 606 total yards. The Edmonton dynasty, it turned out, was in good hands with its latest MVP.
5. RUSS JACKSON, 1969
They all dream of going out this way, but so few do. No. 12, playing his 12th and final CFL season, capped off his career with the top player award from the season and MVP honours in the Grey Cup. Jackson's four touchdown passes in a 29-11 win over Saskatchewan is a Cup record that still stands, nearly 40 years later. And he did it all under a death threat and heavy police presence in the early stages of the FLQ crisis. Not bad for a homegrown passer, eh?
4. DOUG FLUTIE, 1992
The city of Toronto didn't really care, as thousands of empty seats greeted the Calgary Stampeders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. But that didn't stop one of the greatest players in CFL history from producing one of his greatest games. Flutie was pure magic, completing 33 of 49 passes for 480 yards, just 28 short of Etcheverry's Grey Cup record, as the Stamps dominated the Bombers, 24-10. The win was Flutie's first championship and ended Calgary's 21-year drought.
3. RED STOREY, 1938
Nobody knew much about the 20-year-old riding the pine for the Toronto Argonauts in 1938. His team trailing the Blue Bombers, 7-6, Storey entered the game in the fourth quarter, scoring three touchdowns along the ground, churning out 190 total yards and intercepting a pass as the Argos waltzed to a 30-7 victory. A record, hometown crowd of 18,778 at Varsity Stadium had a new hero, and Storey was carried off the field by fans, proud holder of a record (three majors in a Grey Cup game) that's been tied, but never broken.
2. RED O'QUINN, 1954
Another Red was pure gold on Grey Cup day, this time an Alouettes receiver who put up mind-numbing numbers against the underdog Eskimos. O'Quinn's ridiculous total of 293 yards on a dozen catches, including a pair of touchdowns, should have produced a Montreal victory, but a controversial fumble and 90-yard return by the great Jackie Parker propelled the Esks to glory, 26-25. Still, O'Quinn's record may never fall, so he's the only Cup loser to make our Top-10.
1. TONY PROUDFOOT, 1977
Whether helping to save a student's life in the Dawson College shooting of '06, or coming up with the idea that won the '77 Grey Cup, Proudfoot has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. A weekend snowstorm 31 years ago had left the Olympic Stadium turf a sheet of ice for the Alouettes and Eskimos. Just before the game, in the Big-O tunnel, Proudfoot spotted an electrician with a staple gun in his hand -- and a light went on. Half the Als team took up Proudfoot's suggestion to fire staples into their shoes, and the results were dramatic. By half-time, most of his teammates had done the same, and Montreal turned an 11-3 lead into a 41-6 thumping. Proudfoot wasn't named the MVP, but he's ours.
