A quick guide for those new to the Canadian Game of Football. 

We are going to assume that your familiar with The NFL. 

Football fans in the Great White North have already kicked off the season. You can watch CFL Games in Canada on TSN. The Canadian Football League is over 100 years old. CFL teams compete every November for the Grey Cup and this year the 101st Grey Cup Party will be held in Regina, Saskatchewan.

CFL Fans or the 13thman are used to a wide open game, were anything can and often does happen. The Canadian game of Football has some unique features. 

Quickly comparing Canadian and American: An overview for fans with some previous knowledge of either system. The CFL game is Longer, Wider and Faster! 

Field Size 
Canadian 110 yd long, plus two 20 yd end zones. Width is 65 yards. 
American 100 yd long, plus two 10 yd end zones. Width is 53.5 yards. 
Canadian: Three downs to make 10 yards. 12 players on the field during a play. 
American: Four downs to make 10 yards. 11 players on the field during a play. 

In the CFL a team offence has only 20 seconds from the referee's signal to begin a play, while in the NFL a team gets 45 seconds. 
The CFL has a three minute warning, the play clock is run only from the snap of the ball to when the referee declares that play dead. Thus, the closing minutes of a CFL game can seem like an eternity, with miraculous comebacks by trailing teams. Seldom is a team out of a game, things can and often do happen. 

Its eight teams, are divided into two divisions of four teams each. In the East it's the Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The west features the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders and B.C. Lions. This years favorites are the defending Grey Cup Champion Calgary Stampeders and perennial Eastern favorite Montreal Alouettes, the Edmonton Eskimos, BC Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders, Toronto Argonauts all have their pros and cons but any one of them is capable of winning and if either of them get hot at the right time they could win the Grey Cup Game

The league's nineteen-week regular season runs from mid-June to early November. Each team plays eighteen games with one bye week. Following the regular season, six of the eight teams compete in the league's three-week playoffs, which culminate in the late-November Grey Cup championship, Canada's largest annual sports and television event. The CFL was officially founded in 1958, but can trace its origins to the 1860s. It is the highest level of play in Canadian football, the most popular football league in Canada, and the most popular major sports league in Canada after the National Hockey League.

So there you go ... your ready for kickoff