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Discussion, News, Information and Speculation regarding the BC Lions and the CFL.
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B.C.FAN wrote:CIS football and basketball would be a natural fit for TSN's expanded lineup, and would tie in nicely with their CFL and NBA properties. I still haven't figured out how they're going to fill 24 hours of programming on five national networks.
Lots of canned programming, I suspect. They do it already with only two networks to program. Top Ten all-time NHL enforcers hosted by Dutch, Best of Off the Record, poker, stuff like that. I also wouldn't discount the possibility of simulcasting the same program on more than one of the five feeds.
I hope when curling season rolls around they can run multiple matchups from the same draw in parallel.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
Something WestCoastJoe said stuck in my craw a bit. While you can't argue with someone's preferences, CFL-NFL-college or, like many Americans, high school football, you can nitpick over something they've said. The "1960s ... NFL ... Green Bay, Dallas, then Minnesota with Joe Kapp. In those days, I felt the CFL was second rate to the NFL. Bigger stars. More glitz. Better camera work. Better announcers. I bought the hype to an extent. Plus the NFL had some truly wondrous players. Sayers. Butkus. Staubach. And a bit of glory for the B.C. Lions in 1963 and 1964." comment..
The CFL has always been second rate when compared to the NFL, especially when you include things outside the game itself. A lot of shoestring financing up here. However, in the 50s and early 60s, the CFL outbid the NFL for some of the best American players. The advent of big TV contracts changed this. Minnesota with Joe Kapp? It was Joe Kapp because Kenny Ploen and Berney Faloney (a 1st round NFL pick) were getting a little too old to pick up their families and move. Tobin Rote of the Argonauts had already gone back to the NFL, so he was also out.
When I look back at the Blue Bombers I grew up with, I have no doubt Ploen, Frank Rigney and a guy named Herb Gray would have easily made and starred in the NFL. Also, think Farrell Funston would have played there along with two other guys I'll get to. So, between 4 and 6 of the 1961 Blue Bombers were NFL calibre and more in my mind. In fact, each CFL team had guys who chose the CFL over the NFL, so I feel you did go for the hype. Don't know Tom Brown's background, but would he have been Butkus if he'd gone to the NFL? Might have.
So, the other two guys the Bombers had who should have had NFL careers? Leo Lewis and Ernie Pitts. Especially, Leo Lewis. He wasn't small like Willie Fleming, but like him, he was black. I watched the Green Bay Packers of the early sixties and there were not a lot of black guys on the team. Racism probably existed on both sides of the border, but it was basically institutionalized south of the border. Don't want to put the bad mouth on Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor, but those Green Bay Packers would have killed with Lewis and George Reed. Or did George Reed come later??? Anyway, that whole Warren Moon stuff about the NFL not wanting black QBs applied beyond that position in the 60s NFL.
Should wrap here. The NFL is always overhyped in the same manner that Hollywood movies and Hollywood actors are over-hyped. Maybe in the same manner that many things in America are over-hyped. On the game itself, the CFL and NFL were both played in a similar style in the 60s, as far as I recall. A lot of running plays. It was the CFL that started passing more. I always thought that Peter Liske in Calgary began the major change as to throwing over running. Without passing much, I always felt the NFL was incredibly boring to watch, which made the hype sound stupider to me. The QB's were hurt in Chicago, so they hiked it to Walter Peyton over and over? So, game-wise, CFL all the way until I watched Seattle last year and realized the NFL's come around to playing a much more entertaining brand of ball. Not much of a wrap, I guess, but we got the Winnipeg paper with the flowery-style football writer over the hard as nails football writer who was in the other paper.
I'm a Seattle fan but I DO NOT think they are a good example of how the NFL game has changed in terms of offence or defence.
I love their defence, very physical and disruptive to the offence.
Their offence? BEAST mode, IOW, hand it off to Lynch. Yes, Wilson is fun to watch, IMO. Players like Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady and/or Peyton Manning provide better examples of the NFL is much more of a passing game than it used to be.
Where Seattle is a leader, IMO, is the recruitment of players/coaching. This may change now they have tasted success but the Seahawks seemed to be more like DickVermiel of St. Louis Rams than the Dick Vermiel of the Eagles. Same guy but completely different perspectives based on age/experience.....
Both leagues (CFL and NFL) have done some following in some ways, and leading in others. Like the 'central command' in terms of officiating looks like the NFL taking a look at somthing that has worked up here. The CFL has seemed to follow the NFL lead in areas like automatic reviews after scoring plays etc.....
I love them both but as a Canadian, the CFL will always get my vote....
