"The CFL, for all its charms and traditions, is not a big league. It’s a venerable, exciting small-market league with a talent level inferior to American college football."
-- Toronto Eye Weekly Editorial
-- Toronto Eye Weekly Editorial
In many ways, it's hardly worth pointing it out. But, it's just so hard to ignore utter stupidity.
The above gem comes from this week's Toronto Eye Weekly, a TorStar-owned arts weekly. It perfectly sums up the complete ignorance of the self-hating, if-it-comes-from-south-of-us-it-must-be-better attitude that is the bane of those that support and love domestic sport in this country.
If a CFL team were to play a typical NCAA team it would lay 60 bloody points on it--more if the game was played with Canadian rules. It would literally be a boys versus men situation.
I will agree with the editorial on one front. It isn't up to politicians to keep the NFL out of Toronto. I suspect there are more important things they can be doing, even on the sports front.
Ultimately, the CFL would do just fine if the NFL came to T.O. The Argos would move to a small stadium and the die-hard 20,000 that support them today would still do so then. It's not like anyone would be able to afford to go to to the NFL game anyway.
Oh, and the NFL is NEVER coming to Toronto permanently.
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When the CFL tried its luck in expanding to the USA, some obscure American journalist came up with this comparison of Canadian and American pro ball----- CFL football is a superior game played by inferior players, while NFL football is an inferior game played by superior players.
No doubt any veteran Canadian football reporter could, in the course of an afternoon, generate a list as long as your arm of all the all-Americans, guys who starred in major NCAA conferences and Heisman Trophy finalists who couldn't make it in the CFL.
Winnipeggers are still laughing about Wayne Madkins.
Inferior game or not...The NFL is the most followed sport on the North American continent, every CFL football fan follows the NFL. I follow the Argos and the Vikings, just like I follow Liverpool but also Toronto FC. The fact is the NFL is a game played by the best football players in the world, just like the premiership showcases the best soccer players in the world...
I don't always automatically go in for the inferior game argument... 3-down football on a 65-yard field, with unlimited motion is a more aesthetically pleasing game.
One concern for the CFL is a lack of innovation in coaching, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The CFL was the league that let Mouse Davis try out the run-and-shoot in the pros; teams were using six-receiver spread sets long before you ever saw an empty backfield in the NFL or college ball.
Nowadays, you want wide-open offensive football, you're best off to watch a NCAA or NFL game.
Agreed, CFL is generally higher-quality than American college football, which I can't be arsed to care about. On the NFL front, the American pros may have the better athletes, and it's certainly high-quality and frequently worth watching, but that doesn't make the CFL low-quality. For a game to watch, I'll take the CFL over the NFL any day.
Sorry Sager, Toronto is a big league town and we like big league things.
The CFL is NOT the big leagues because it does not have the best players in the world. They are NFL rejects.
They are "nice" or "cute" to have, much like the Marlies, but no one here takes them seriously. Let small town Canada enjoy their game, but here in Toronto we want the Bills to come here and stay where we compete with the best in the world.
How does TFC, which is not the big leagues, fit into the scheme then?
Also, when you think about guys through the years such as Warren Moon or J.C. Watts, who were not given the chance to play quarterback in the NFL (you know why), we shouldn't give so much credence to the notion of "NFL rejects."
To say nothing of Gizmo Williams or Pinball Clemons.
Jim,
Without meaning to offend, can I ask you a question? How old are you?
I suspect you are in your 20s (maybe I'm wrong, but that's my guess based on your post). The reason I ask is because I find that the biggest resistance to the CFL in S. Ont. comes from guys that grew up watching the NFL on TV and were shut-out of the CFL by the league's idiotic decision to black-out local broadcasts (guys that grew up between about 1975-1995). It's fine to prefer the NFL, but I've never understood why Canadian NFL-only fans feel the need to be so damn condescending and dismissive of the Canadian game.
But, my post isn't making the argument that the CFL game is as good as the NFL. It's arguing that Eye's thesis that a NCAA team is more talented than a CFL team is, frankly, laughable.
You often hear this kind of garbage in reference to a weak NFL team, as in, "the USC Trojans might be able to beat the Detroit Lions this year". Anyone who follows the game knows what a joke these kinds of lines are. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats would have absolutely freaking destroyed LSU last year -- it wouldn't even have been close. People just don't get how tight the funnel gets between college and the pros. There are 119 Div I schools, plus hundreds of very good Div II and Div III schools. There are only 32 NFL teams. Do the freaking math.
Part of this, though, is the CFL's own fault. They are trying to recover from decades of substandard marketing and bumbling owners that have left the impression, especially with younger fans, that they were a bush league operation. You will never win over everyone, of course, as there will always be a core of fans in Canada who think it is fun and fashionable to dump on the CFL. It will take a number of years of a very well run league, though, to erase some of the stench of the Gliebermans, Sherwood Schwarz, U.S. expansion, etc.
I attend U of Michigan games regularly. So, I do see my share of big time NCAA D1 programs. The worst CFL team would absolutely torch the best NCAA team. It is kind of funny (and sad) to read such ignorance. Oh...and here's another one. Canadian university hockey is much better than the juniors. Yet, the average Joe thinks the CIS is a joke league. Guess again.
I watch the CFL casually, mostly since my family is from the East Coast. I was living in N.B. when I started watching football and the closest team was Ottawa since Montreal wasn't around then.
Hard to become a big fan when in the CFL "Canada" means West of Montreal. lol.
Sorry -- just getting back now.
I am 32 and went to school with the guy who runs the blog. He knows me well. I think the CFL is minor leagues and prefer to watch the big leagues.
It is the same for the Marlies.
I think it is only a matter of time before Toronto has an NFL team.
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