Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

CFL, AAFC, WFL, USFL...etc. In each non-NFL league you can think of, what are the hottest and coldest regular or post-season games? I'm going to guess a USFL post-season match may hold record for hottest in any league's history; or does a Cardinal Sun Devil game in early Sept hold the record instead? Any historic CFL games that top Ice or Freezer Bowl?

Coldest Grey Cup- 1991: http://cfl-scrapbook.no-ip.org/GreyCup-1991.php

74_75_78_79_ wrote:CFL, AAFC, WFL, USFL...etc. In each non-NFL league you can think of, what are the hottest and coldest regular or post-season games? I'm going to guess a USFL post-season match may hold record for hottest in any league's history; or does a Cardinal Sun Devil game in early Sept hold the record instead? Any historic CFL games that top Ice or Freezer Bowl?

According to PFR, here's a list of games where the temp was 95 degrees or above:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... by=pass_td

Games that were 10 degrees or lower:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... by=pass_td

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Any historic CFL games that top Ice or Freezer Bowl?

None that I can find record of, but the 1970 (Game 3) and 1993 Western Final Playoff games had the added feature of snow. The 1993 WF (Edmonton @ Calgary) is listed as the coldest:

-21.3 degrees celsius (-6.38 farenheit)

Damon Allen (a California kid) threw for well over 200 yards and 3 touchdowns in blizzard conditions. Doug Flutie struggled all day and eventually took himself out of the game with frostbitten hands:

"On that bitter afternoon in Calgary, the snow fell and temperatures plummeted. How cold was it? So cold that before the game started, the Eskimos decided they needed more winter clothing. Barb Ambrosie, the wife of Edmonton offensive lineman Randy Ambrosie, made an emergency run to a nearby sporting goods store where she bought balaclavas, gloves, anything she could get her hands on, and brought them back to the dressing room.

Suitably outfitted, Edmonton receiver Jim Sandusky scored on a lengthy touchdown run in the snow. He wobbled, slid, nearly fell, but managed to keep his footing all the way to the end zone.

Stampeders’ head coach Wally Buono uttered one of the more memorable quotes after the disappointing loss. It had to do with a Calgary defensive back who was told not to jump out of position when Edmonton quarterback Damon Allen pump-faked a pass, only to pull the ball back and then throw.

“We told Karl Anthony, ‘Don’t jump the pump,’” Buono said. “And what does that goofy Karl Anthony do? He jumps the pump!”

That wasn’t all. The industrial heaters on the Calgary sidelines froze at halftime and couldn’t be relit. (Edmonton’s worked fine.) Calgary quarterback Doug Flutie’s hands were so numb he couldn’t hold the football and had to come out of the game. Worse still for the Stampeders, winning the final put the Eskimos in the 1993 Grey Cup, which was scheduled for the following Sunday … at McMahon Stadium."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... e21715174/

Game 3 of the 1970 CFL Western FInal (Calgary @ Saskatchewan) has to rank right up there. I'd have to go back and look at the game (it's on youtube), but IIRC it was 1 degree farenheit at kickoff with blowing snow and a 39mph wind.

Hottest CFL games (as listed by CFLdb):

•1994-08-06 Baltimore at Las Vegas (109.04 farenheit)
•42.8°C at 7:00 PM (start of the game)
•In Canada
•2007-07-28 Edmonton at Saskatchewan (96.44 farenheit)
•35.8°C at 3:00 PM (half-time)

https://cfldb.ca/2014/06/statistics-refresh/

As for the USFL, I remember in their opening season the game between the Denver Gold at Chicago Blitz (A nationally televised game by ABC on March 20, 1983), with a wind chill of four degrees. It is considered one of the biggest upsets in USFL history:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf4HqL3a3LE

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1983 ... index.html

The 1984 USFL Western Conference title game was supposed to be played in Los Angeles, but because of the Olympics, got moved to their opponent's home field, Arizona. The original plan was to play a game starting at 12:30 p.m. local time--not a great idea for a game on July 7. They soon came to their senses and played the game at 8:30 p.m.--when it was still 100 degrees.

BD Sullivan wrote:The 1984 USFL Western Conference title game was supposed to be played in Los Angeles, but because of the Olympics, got moved to their opponent's home field, Arizona. The original plan was to play a game starting at 12:30 p.m. local time--not a great idea for a game on July 7. They soon came to their senses and played the game at 8:30 p.m.--when it was still 100 degrees.

Hmmmm .... the 1984 Olympics didn't open until July 28, three weeks after the game. Why did that force the move from LA to Arizona?

rhickok1109 wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:The 1984 USFL Western Conference title game was supposed to be played in Los Angeles, but because of the Olympics, got moved to their opponent's home field, Arizona. The original plan was to play a game starting at 12:30 p.m. local time--not a great idea for a game on July 7. They soon came to their senses and played the game at 8:30 p.m.--when it was still 100 degrees.

Hmmmm .... the 1984 Olympics didn't open until July 28, three weeks after the game. Why did that force the move from LA to Arizona?

They needed to prep the Coliseum. Supposedly, John Hadl (the head coach for L.A.) asked that the game be played the next day (July 8), since they reportedly would have been able to use Anaheim Stadium. However, the league turned him down.

BD Sullivan wrote:

rhickok1109 wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:The 1984 USFL Western Conference title game was supposed to be played in Los Angeles, but because of the Olympics, got moved to their opponent's home field, Arizona. The original plan was to play a game starting at 12:30 p.m. local time--not a great idea for a game on July 7. They soon came to their senses and played the game at 8:30 p.m.--when it was still 100 degrees.

Hmmmm .... the 1984 Olympics didn't open until July 28, three weeks after the game. Why did that force the move from LA to Arizona?

They needed to prep the Coliseum. Supposedly, John Hadl (the head coach for L.A.) asked that the game be played the next day (July 8), since they reportedly would have been able to use Anaheim Stadium. However, the league turned him down.

Thanks for the explanation.