We went to see the Grey Cup at the Grey Cup Train Tour today. Stood in line for an hour and a half to see the Grey Cup travelling museum, then got our pictures taken with the Grey Cup.
I also learned (my husband looked it up) that I wasn’t indeed a Grey Cup baby - I was born hours after the Riders won the Grey Cup in 1966 (over the Riders). Sigh. Turns out I’ve been living a lie. 
Speaking of football, in just a few more days it’ll be road trip time as my wife and I head east to Regina for a super-fast visit.
I’m out there for my super-sweet side gig as internet sports reporter where I’ll be taking in a Roughriders game and writing up a review of Mosaic Stadium while featherlou will be doing a little exploring of the city to see if it’s potentially worthy of us someday moving there.
It’ll be very brief and probably busy, but hopefully fun. 
It isn’t. All the cool kids live in Saskatoon. 
:waves at Southern Piper:
Are there any Canadians who have never set foot in his iconic store on Yonge Street?
Link.
Well, we aren’t sure if Saskatoon fits the bill since it’s a whole lot closer to all the in-laws. 
Sad news. I never set foot in the Toronto store, but I spent lots of money in several other Sam The Record Man franchises.
Canada’s a big place, believe it or not.
I think I bought a classical music CD there 10 years ago. Maybe Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations?
Sam’s was a massive part of my music education. Even when I was down to my last 5 bucks, I’d wander through the Jazz, Rock and Classical departments of the store and read through all the record jackets, memorizing discographies of various artists. (“He played with Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, UK, his own band Bruford, King Crimson again, then a duet album with Patrick Moraz and then he started doing jazz recordings…” “How do you know all this?” “Well, when you’re living in Toronto and paying 75% of your income on housing, you need cheap or free things to do with your time…”)
And when you had the spare cash, the bargain bins!! Oooh, it was amazing!
In the days when there were few if any good record stores in most communities, Sam’s was the centre of the record universe.
Sad news about Sam the Record Man.
I was in his main Yonge Street store many times–as Le Ministre points out, even if you weren’t planning on buying anything, it was good entertainment. I spoke with him once or twice, as I recall; but it wasn’t much more than a “Can I help you find anything?” conversation. He was often in the store, and seemed to like dealing with customers.
In the 1970s and 1980s it was literally like being a kid in a candy store; the guy stocked everything!
Not anymore - I moved out 23 years ago. 
S the RM’s passing is indeed sad. I remember walking up and down Yonge in the late 80s and early 90s and spending hours looking over all the obscure 10 inches and bands i’d never heard of. My intro to Depeche Mode and Screaming Blue Messiahs started there; I can still see those spinning discs in my mind’s eye. Itunes just isn’t the same experience by a long shot.
I am sad for you. How awesome would it be to be born during the game, Roughriders v Rough Riders! Yeah my Canada is Rider Nation. (From Ontario, lived in Montreal, Winnipeg, and currently Vancouver, but I bleed Green. Mainly because Blue Bomber fans are so obnoxious.) Go Riders!
I blame my mom - you couldn’t have pushed a bit harder?
(My dad wanted to name me “Regina” - dodged that bullet!)
I was about 11, not yet into music in a big way yet, but we were in Toronto and Dad specifically brought me to the “biggest and best” (his words) record store in Canada.
If I recall correctly I bought Glass Houses by Billy Joel and Abba’s Greatest Hits Volume 2.
But I moved away 21 years ago, raising Saskatoon’s coolness per capita.
Alright, I’ve figured out the source of my confusion - apparently the Grey Cup used to be played on Saturday! I was born on a Sunday, so I thought it was the day of the Grey Cup, not hours after. I bet you’re all pretty relieved to have that cleared up.
We’re not obnoxious, we’re just tired of being shoved back and forth between the divisions. Nothing made me happier than when the Ti-Cats and Bombers squared off when the team was in the West. My parents have been Ti-cats fans since the bad old Angelo Mosca days. I never understood it at all.
I beg to differ. Hated hated hated game rally things in Winnipeg, and I also saw a post game curb stomping when I worked at HSC. I became a Riders fan soon after moving to the 'Peg. Of course, maybe I would dislike them (the 'Riders) if I actually lived there.
It passed through here yesterday, but sadly, I was unable to go and see it. Darn work!