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Not long after Redblacks’ receiver Ernest Jackson performed his magic with a bobbled catch in OT to give Ottawa the lead, I was still trying to add a few more quotes to my Senators’ game story while keeping one earplug out so I could hear exactly what was taking place hundreds of miles away in Toronto.

As I was about to hit send on the final version of my game story the Redblacks won the title when they were able to halt the Stampeders on their possession in OT. There wasn’t a whole lot of cheers on the bus, but Brown, Wilson and I remarked to each other how great it was the Grey Cup was returning to Ottawa.

It took 40 years and the CFL leaving the city twice but finally somebody was able to get it right and build a team Ottawa can be proud to call its own.

There are moments you always think you’re going to recall and I’m pretty sure sitting a stone’s throw from Broadway listening to a radio feed from Ottawa when the Redblacks made history is one of those that’s going to be right up there for me as I engineer my way through this great journey called life.

It seems like only yesterday sitting in our basement in Orleans, with my late parents Jack and Gertie, we took in the 1976 Grey Cup which produced “The Catch” with a pass from Tom Clements to Tony Gabriel with 23 seconds left to give the Rough Riders an upset over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

And it was at that moment my affection for football grew.

That night my friends in the neighborhood and I headed outside to play catch on the street. One was Clements. Somebody else was Gabriel. We all won the Grey Cup under a light snowfall and never in my lifetime would I have guessed that it would be this long before the trophy returned with a championship team.