OTTAWA—If the Canadian Football League has taught us anything, maybe it’s that you should never count out the Toronto Argonauts. They have gone bankrupt. They have bled fans. More than once, people have wondered: Will they vanish? Will they fold? Much more than a century later, here they are. In this Grey Cup, they could have folded. The Calgary Stampeders had not trailed, and they were trying to put the hammer down. There was the end zone, right there, and receiver Kamar Jorden was diving and was hit, and . . . the ball was out. Cassius Vaughn, in his first year in Toronto and second in the league, picked it up and ran 109 yards the other way. The two-point convert was good. 24-24. Four and a half minutes left. A lightning bolt.And then Toronto got the ball back, and Ricky Ray made the throws, nice and easy, clean. It’s always been about keeping Ricky clean. They drove to the 25, and the 32-yard field goal from Lirim Hajrullahu sailed through with 49 seconds left. He didn’t slip. This is the CFL, though. This is Canadian football. Bo Levi Mitchell hit Jorden for a deep ball, a gutsy throw. He had a shot at the end zone. The ball sailed up through the snow, and for a second in the press box a reporter yelled, “He’s open!” The clock was ticking down.And Matt Black, an old Argo, came across and intercepted the ball in the end zone. Eight seconds on the clock, and the snow was still falling. Somehow, the Argos won the 105th Grey Cup, 27-24. “Just so much fight in our team,” said Ray, who won his fourth Grey Cup.This was a very Canadian game, right to the end. It can be a cliche to call things Canadian, but snowblowers and snow plows, Shania Twain and sled dogs, and Calgary versus Toronto in the nation’s capital all qualify. This Grey Cup looked like a Grey Cup, even if snow games are few and far between. It felt like Canadian football.And there was nobody better at Canadian football than Calgary this seaso ...
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