Loucheiz Purifoy of the Edmonton Elks celebrates a pick-six. Loucheiz Purifoy of the Edmonton Elks celebrates a pick-six. (Awful Announcing on Twitter.)
InternationalBy Andrew Bucholtz on

Since 2019, Dustin Nielson has been calling CFL on TSN games. And his calls have also been carried on the league’s international feeds on ESPN+, BT Sport, Visiac, and more, including CBS Sports Network and CFL+ this season. In that time, his “Are you kidding me?” for particularly ridiculous moments has become a bit of a signature call.

Nielsen got another opportunity to deploy that Thursday night in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers-Edmonton Elks game. There, Bombers’ QB Zach Collaros was desperately trying to avoid a sack. But he instead threw an interception that Elks’ DB Loucheiz Purifoy returned for a touchdown.

The remarkable thing there is how similar this is to a previous call from Nielson on former Elks’ starting quarterback Taylor Cornelius’ unsuccessful desperation attempt to throw a pass away that provoked a pick-six, which included “Oh, what is he doing! What is he doing!”

This also came in a game where the Elks were desperately trying to break a 21-game losing streak, longer than anything in the top-four North American pro sports. And the 0-8 Elks were certainly providing some hope there, leading the 6-2 Bombers 22-10 at halftime.

Meanwhile, this is another exhibition of Nielson’s talents. Beyond his CFL on TSN work since 2019, he also was a long-time radio host for Edmonton’s TSN 1260 before that station’s sudden corporate-mandated closure in June (which the Elks actually provided a better sendoff for than the company did). He’s currently working with a number of former TSN 1260 figures on new shows on EdmontonSportsTalk.com. But he’s also working on these CFL on TSN broadcasts, and his signature “Are you kidding me!” call is quite fitting for many of that league’s absurd moments.

[Awful Announcing on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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