It has seemed to be a different type of year and there are probably a myriad of reasons. IMO, the biggest change this year was the addition of the Ottawa Redblacks. The Redblacks brought about a lot of impact to the CFL. Over the long term, IMO, this is ALMOST definately a GOOD thing but in the short term....?
Just from a Lions perspective how has Ottawa impacted the CFL? Well we lost DeMarco. How would this season have gone with him at the helm instead of Glenn? Its a moot point simply because this is the reality and we lost him in the expansion draft fair and square, but I ponder it nonetheless.
Also from a Lions perspective. Another trip (which I happened to be on!) to the East. Those two games versus the Redblacks would have been played against a team from the Western Divison like the Riders for e.g. Skulsky would LOVE to have the Riders play in BC Place twice a season just from a business perspective.
Our divison tightened up too with the addition of the Bombers. Traditional members of the West, it only made sense to move them back to our divison, I guess. In some ways it might have been neat to see the East with FIVE teams. Let them have the extra team.
Again, I think the addition of Ottawa in the short term had good/bad impacts upon the Lions (and therefore other teams). In the long term I hope the impacts are (they will be, IMO) more positive. But the addition of a team like this means that all teams probably have some players WHO WOULD NOT have been playing anymore but expansion bought them some more playing time AND/OR thrust some youngsters into playing when in the past they would have had some more seasoning.
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I do think things work in cycles too. Defense starts to do exceptionally well, so eventually the Offense figures out a wrinkle thats challenging. And of course, other teams offenses do a better job of copying that wrinkle than other teams defenses do 'IRONING THE WRINKLE OUT'. Soon a wrinkle your offence adds, is being used against your defence. I persoanlly enjoy watching defensive football when its good football. Watching a low scoring game simply because the offences SUCK is not that much fun. Watching a low scoring GAME due to strong defences...fine in my books. Strangely, many of us don't mind the flipside of the equation, WEAK DEFENCES. For some watching the Lions score 45 points and LOSE doesn't seem as frustrating as winning (versus the Redblacks
) 7-5.
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As far as the officiating. I know they do a job I couldn't. Officiating is TOUGHER than many think. I for example frequently agree with flags thrown on the Lions defence that people nearby think ARE TERRIBLE CALLS. My gripe is consistency. Often I feel I will have things figured out, you seem to understand where the theorectical line is being drawn and THEN WHAM,
a call happens that contradicts other calls made EVEN THAT GAME. A purrfect example of this (and I know its fine by the rules) was Coach Benevides throwing a challenge flag and not only not having that challenge overturn the call but a penalty (other Lionbackers claim it wasn't a penalty but I haven't seen the replay) was called for a chopblock
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My thing with it being a possible 'poop' year for the CFL is again, something that PROBABLY will be a good thing in the long term. Ottawa returned and there was little or no problem with their stadium/schedule. That being said, the Ticats certainly had a lot of struggles with their HOME this season. Now that Tim Hortons Field is built and nearly FINISHED, its a bump in the road that won't have to be figured for. In terms of scheduling etc... it probably caused problems that DID end up showing up in the on field product.
So, of course, the Argos have to be brought in at this. Their schedule ABSOLUTELY SUCKED, IMO. Short turnaround between some home games. Poor practice facilities etc.... Once these problems get fixed, hopefully again, it won't affect the on field product.
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Injuries. These happen every season to every team to a degree. But a season where the leading rusher was on the 6 game injured list? Weird, IMO but it happened. Same with how certain teams were majorily impacted by key components of their team being injured.
One Lionback joked that Darian Durant should be the most valuable player (the actual award is 'most outstanding player'). I loved his line simply because Durant has shown how valuable he is to his team by looking at his teams record since being injured. So, IOW, he certainly WAS not my vote for 'outstanding player' (and wouldn't have been had he not gotten injured) but makes sense he is the 'most valuable". The Argos recieving core and of course various aspects of the Lions roster certainly seemed to be hit harder than usual. No doubt of course, there are stats somewhere showing that NO, this was actually a normal year, but it certainly seems injuries have played a role in MOST teams seasons. QB is one position especially challenged.....
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I realize 2014 is not yet done. The playoffs are still to come. I have little doubt that they'll provide their usuall levels of entertainment and enjoyment for me. One thing I do give the CFL credit for is giving us fans opportunity to TUNE UP our game that we pay to be entertained by. So, when the offer comes if you have some suggestions or ideas on rule changes either in terms of how the teams are set up (roster sizes, national/international etc....) or gameplay (PI video reviews, scoring reviews etc...) suggest them. The CFL has made changes before. Some have worked and others were scrapped (like the four sided blocking, IIRC). Next season, I'm going to continue enjoying my favourite professional sports league.....
