Yurichuk and Friesen’s Grey Cup adventure raises stakes for Super Bowl-winning Giants

The New York Giants may have completed one of the most improbable and unprecedented Super Bowl runs ever with a stunning 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots Sunday night, but they still have one opponent to top in trophy celebrations. That would be the CFL's 2011 Grey Cup champion B.C. Lions, and specifically, linebacker James Yurichuk, who teamed up with helicopter pilot Bradley Friesen, cameraman and editor Dan Rizzuto and videographer Jeremy Deichen to take the Grey Cup to the top of some of B.C.'s mountains and film the whole thing. After putting out preliminary footage in December, the team recently released their final video of the experience, and as you can see, it includes a challenge for the NFL's champions to step their celebratory game up:

It's pretty amazing to see what Yurichuk and his group were able to do with Canadian football's highest prize, and it's perfectly appropriate. After all, the Lions' franchise was named after the twin feline-shaped peaks that guard the northern entrance to Vancouver, so a Grey Cup celebration in the B.C. mountains seems to follow logically. There's certainly much more synergy and imagination than the traditional Super Bowl trip to Disney World, so if you asked me to vote on the filmmakers' #mouseormountain hashtag, I'm definitely going "mountain".

Of course, this isn't the only memorable celebration the Lions have had. veteran centre Angus Reid, guard Jon Hameister-Ries and running back Andrew Harris famously ate poutine out of the trophy (as you can see at right), and the team's just finished a tour around the province to let local fans see the trophy. The question is if the Giants will be able to do anything comparable. So far, they're not off to a bad start. It might not be Celine Dion, but this team-choreographed original song and dance on their flight is pretty good.

To really top the Yurichuk and Reid stunts in name appropriateness, though, the Giants are going to have to do something special. Perhaps a concert with They Might Be Giants? Until they pull that off, we'll have to give the edge to the Grey Cup champions.