Gather 'Round, Kids. It's Story Time!

This being Grey Cup Sunday, I'm reminded of a story...

'Twas back in my second year of university here in Waterloo... it was December of 1999. It was exam time, and as is the custom at exam time, I felt the need to study. So, two of my housemates from 211 Erb Street (Matt Carter and Jen Jeffrey) and I made the trek to campus in search of an empty classroom where we could study without distraction or play games of hangman on the chalkboard. Anyhoo, after a couple hours of studying, Jen decides she had to go back to the house, leaving Matt and I there. We stayed a bit before we decided we needed a beer before studying any longer.

Next to the University of Waterloo campus is a plaza with a couple bars and restaurants, so we decided to hit up McGuiness Front Row for our refreshment. Alas, it was quite busy, so as a backup, we went across the parking lot to East Side Marios, which was relatively not busy. So, we walk in... But first you have to understand the layout of this East Side's... The bar is immediately on your right as you walk in the door, and the restaurant area is to your left. To get from the bar to the restaurant (if you had been waiting for a table) you walk right past the front door... which brings us back to the story.

So, we walk in, planning to just sit at the bar for a bit an enjoy an overpriced beverage before going back to hitting the books. But what happened as soon as we walk in the door? Four fairly large guys were walking past the door from the bar area to get seated in the restaurant section.... carrying none other than... The Grey Cup! Stupified, we had no other choice to sit at the bar and talk about how cool that is. It seems as though some of the Hamilton Tiger Cats (who won the Grey Cup that year) had roots in Waterloo (either they were from here or went to school here, I don't know) and were back in town celebrating with their trophy. Well, soon the discussion turned to whether or not we should go over there and see if they'd let us drink our beers from the Grey Cup. Matt was all for it and wanted to go right away... However, I was a bit hesitant. I mean, what do you say to some guys who you don't know and know nothing about (because I wasn't the biggest CFL buff)? So we argued about it for a couple minutes until the bartender said, "Just go over there". So we drank our beer until a bit was left at the bottom, and headed over.

We walk up to these four guys in their booth, interrupted their conversation and said, "Hey guys... uh... Can we drink out of the Grey Cup?" To which they replied, "Sure!" So, we dumped the rest of our beers in the cup and chugged the last of them down. I'm not sure what else we said to them... but it might have been along the lines of, "So... You guys are Tiger-Cats?" and "What're you doing here?" Anyway, the cup was much lighter than I expected... The thing is obviously hollow. But that doesn't matter... It was so cool! The things got a bunch of dents and everything.

Anyway, we head back to where our books were and sat there for about two minutes pretending to read, and finally said to each other, "I can't study anymore. We gotta tell people this story." So, we packed up and trekked back to 211 Erb Street and wowed our friends with our amazing story. And now I'm wowing you... that is if you're still reading. I understand... it was a lengthy post.