It wasn’t that I wanted to watch some CFL action, I just couldn’t bring myself to change the channel. Also, in my whacked out state, I might have maybe thought that I was watching an old NFL game at first. You know, one of those games with weird jerseys. They exist!

But yeah… it was indeed a CFL game.

Then a thought popped in my head. Something to the effect of: this is live football! So what if the field is 110 yards long with 20-yard end zones? There was pigskin to be watched.

Let’s go over some of the other differences between American and Canadian football by checking out the CFL Wikipedia page. The Canadians play an 18-game regular season (guess games are like the Canadian dollar) before a three-round playoff with the top six teams from the regular season. Their championship trophy, the Grey Cup, is reused each year like the Stanley Cup. Just as Lord Stanley possesses the names of every NHL player that’s won the Cup, the Grey Cup also lists the names of players on championship teams. I think those Canadians have figured out the trophy pretty well.

In case you forgot Chris Berman’s annual Grey Cup coverage last season, the Montreal Alouettes (as in “Les Alouettes” to Boomer) won the 2009 Grey Cup with a 28-27 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, one of the teams in today’s game on NFL Network.

So while I recover from this massive headache, here are my top five reasons to watch the Canadian Football League:

1. CFL play-by-play men have Canadian accents

I repeat CFL play-by-play men have Canadian accents. Also CFL referees have Canadian accents.

“Illegol procedurrr, Ehmonton, number 61. Five ye-ard penallty, sty-ill fy-irst down.”

I don’t know if that’s readable or not, but here’s video proof from a goofy CBC reporter on CFL referees.

P.S. I love Canadian accents.

2. Scout for future NFL stars

Warren Moon, Jeff Garcia, and Doug Flutie were once big time stars in the Canadian Football League. Who’s next? You’ll only know if you watch!

Or you can do a simple Google search for CFL stats. The best player (stats-wise) in the league is quarterback Anthony Calvillo of the Canadian rules football champion Alouettes, but unfortunately, he’s too old (37) to be a future NFL star. Still, the barely 6-foot Calvillo led the league last season with a 101.7 passer rating on 4,639 yards, 26 touchdowns and just six interceptions. For his storied career, the Utah State alum has a whopping 64,534 yards passing and 362 touchdown passes. One month away from his 38th birthday, Calvillo has a 101.7 rating with 1,212 yards through four games. Dan Marino eat your heart out.

Guess modern NFL scouting has improved a bit. I’m still betting there’s a diamond in the Canadian Football rough.

3. Love the passing game when you watch football?

Canadian Football is your boy.

Since the Canadian Football League is ten yards longer and 11 2/3 wider and you only have three downs to convert for a first down (i.e. teams are forced to punt on third down), the passing game rules up north. Montreal, for instance, has thrown the ball 157 times this season and run it just 67 times — and they have a 3-1 record! I mean it’s not like they’ve been behind in games and needed to air it out to catch up.

Andy Reid eat your heart out.  (No, I didn’t mean that literally! Get your wing — excuse me, arm — out of your mouth, Andy!)

4. Low-rated CFL broadcasts have infomercial commercials

But Kevin, don’t you hate commercials? You’re right, I do; however, commercials would be much more interesting provided they are more like the one for this goofy product.

Thank you, CFL, for the Perfect Fit Button!

Speaking of commercials, I started to feel pretty queasy after that NFL Network preseason game promo where Mark Sanchez throws that long pass with some strobe-light effect added in for good measure. Look, hangovers and strobe lights don’t mix well together, and that was nearly a lose-your-stomach commercial. That’s a strike against the NFL in my book. No lost-your-stomach commercials on Saturday mornings and early afternoons.

5. Canadian Football soup for the NFL soul.

Alright, maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. I am beginning to lose interest in this game. Maybe that’s why the NFL Network airs its rival league’s games — the CFL doesn’t quite measure up to our boys in the National Football League. But if you find yourself nursing a hangover during July or August — with no NFL or college football to soothe you — you can do worse than CFL football.

I mean, you could find yourself watching Lifetime…