CALGARY - Football fans will certainly get their fill of Grey Cup television coverage this weekend.

TSN announced Thursday that it plans to broadcast 25 hours of football programming this weekend, highlighted by its live coverage of the championship game between the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday at McMahon Stadium (6:30 p.m. ET kickoff).

TSN will use 32 cameras during its Grey Cup telecast, including a helicopter camera, and will offer a live look into the CFL command centre for replay reviews.

There's a good reason why TSN is pouring so much into its Grey Cup coverage. Some 3.65 million viewers took in last year's CFL title game on the cable sports channel as well as RDS, its French-speaking affiliate.

Other interesting TSN Grey Cup tidbits include:

-It estimates 250 watermelon helmets will be shown during its two-day Grey Cup coverage.

-It will employ 150 technical and production staff on its Grey Cup broadcast.

-Blue Rodeo will perform three songs during the halftime show.

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DURANT WINS AWARD: Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant has captured the inaugural CFL Play of the Year Showdown on TSN.ca.

Durant's incredible sack-evading scramble and pass to Chris Getzlaf to complete a two-point conversion against the Montreal Alouettes captured almost two-thirds of the nearly 37,000 online votes cast on TSN's website.

Winnipeg cornerback Jovon Johnson's thrilling punt return for a TD against the Als was second in balloting.

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GREY CUP SUPERSTITION: Superstition has always been a part of sport but the Montreal Alouettes threw caution to the wind Thursday when it comes to this year's Grey Cup.

The cardinal rule of not touching the Cup was violated several times by laughing Alouette players who posed for pictures with the championship trophy.

"We used to have all sorts of superstitions - don't touch it, don't do this and don't do that and we've done everything and sometimes it has worked and sometimes it hasn't," chuckled offensive guard Scott Flory. "The superstitious stuff is all in your head."

Slotback Ben Cahoon said he has never been superstitious but there are plenty of players who are.

"I sort of shake my head at guys who are superstitious. It's a sign of fear as far as I'm concerned," said Cahoon. "But I think the consensus is it hasn't worked for us in the past so we were going to throw it all out the window."

Montreal has been less than successful in Grey Cup games. The Als are appearing in their seventh CFL title game since 2000 but have only won once.

Jamel Richardson was the first Alouette to approach the coveted trophy and was laughing at his teammates' reactions.

"I went up there and some of my teammates said don't touch it, don't touch it. That's dumb but to each his own," he said.

"We're either going to win it or we're not. Right now I'm just enjoying myself."