2017 CFL Season

[craner]

^That's a rare occurrence though - a low enough risk that I wouldn't let it dictate my league's schedule.

[elly63]

Why it might not make sense for the CFL to dump ESPN for a return to NFL Network
A return to NFLN wouldn't necessarily be all positive for the CFL.
Andrew Bucholtz awfulannouncing.com 11/28/2017

New CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie made international headlines Friday for comments to Tim Baines of The Ottawa Sun that the league could sign a deal with NFL Network following its “soon-to-expire” deal with ESPN (which is curious in its own right, as when that deal was signed in 2014, it was expected to run through 2018), and that it might move its season several weeks earlier to make that deal happen. Moving the season is one thing, and it has pros and cons (pros include that it would definitely help a U.S. TV deal regardless of who the deal’s with, and that there would likely be better weather and better attendance for late-season games and the playoffs, cons include that an earlier season would go head-to-head with the NHL playoffs and would require a shifting of the CFL offseason calendar and possibly the draft, and that the playoffs and the Grey Cup would then overlap with the MLB postseason and World Series), but proclaiming that the league could head back to NFL Network instead of ESPN for its U.S. TV deal is perhaps an even more notable comment, and not necessarily a good one.

It’s not clear when this would happen; the initial deal was said to be for five years, and Ambrosie’s comments about changing the schedule in 2019 would fit with that, but the “soon-to-expire” language suggests this may be a discussion about 2018. But the CFL has seen games aired on NFL Network before, in 2010 and 2011, but only one game was aired a week that first year. Two a week were aired in the early part of the 2011 season, but the coverage was more limited once the NFL season began. In 2012, the CFL sent games to streaming service ESPN3 and also signed a 14-game deal with NBCSN, and the ESPN/NBCSN split continued in 2013. In 2014, ESPN struck an exclusive five-year deal with the CFL to show all its games across linear and digital (ESPN3) platforms, and that’s had plenty of benefits for the league; CFL fans in the U.S. have been able to access every game through at least ESPN3 (which is available through a variety of streaming apps, but does require a cable subscription), with plenty of games shown on ESPN’s linear platforms as well. And there are benefits to the consistency there; back in the days of the ESPN/NBCSN split, fans had to regularly consult broadcasting schedules to figure out which streaming service to access games on, as the NBCSN games weren’t on ESPN3. Going back to NFL Network entirely or a NFLN/ESPN split could make that more difficult; NFL Network does have its own streaming options, but they tend not to be as solid as the BAMTech-powered ESPN3.

The big problem with a NFL Network partnership is NFLN’s limited space. They have one channel to air content on, and while that will be fine for CFL games in the summer when there’s next to nothing happening on the NFL front, it’s hard to see them ditching NFL analysis for CFL games during the season. By contrast, ESPN has four primary channels that have been used for CFL games, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews and ESPNU, and they throw CFL games on some of those lower ones in particular even during the fall. (Especially on Sundays, when they don’t have college football and don’t want to put their own programming up against the NFL.) And ESPN has zero limitations in terms of what they can put on ESPN3, especially when it comes to outside-produced content like the CFL (CFL feeds come from Canada’s TSN, which is 20 per cent owned by ESPN, so ESPN isn’t directly paying production costs.) And they might be even more interested in CFL rights now that they’re planning to launch an OTT subscription service with some of the content not on traditional ESPN networks.

The NFL doesn’t appear to have any sort of equivalent option to at least stream every CFL game, unless that gets rolled into a product like GamePass (which people are already complaining about in non-U.S. markets). It’s possible there could be a NFLN/ESPN3 split, but that provides less incentive for both networks to really promote the product if they have to share it, and it brings up the aforementioned confusion about where particular games are. And NFLN certainly doesn’t have more reach than ESPN or ESPN2; as per Nielsen’s August cable coverage estimates, ESPN and ESPN2 were both in over 87,000 homes, with ESPNU in 66,000, NFLN in 69,000 and ESPNews not rated. So NFLN is slightly better than ESPNU and better than ESPNews, but a drop in exposure from ESPN and ESPN2. Oh, and even if the season was moved up several weeks, it seems pretty unlikely that the CFL playoffs and the Grey Cup are going to get any sort of play on NFLN in October. But they get consistent slots on ESPN’s lesser channels and do okay there.

Of course, it’s not all about the viewers. ESPN is believed to not be paying all that much for the CFL rights, and NFLN might offer more. Other U.S. companies could conceivably get involved too, perhaps even digitally-focused ones like Facebook, Amazon and Stadium that seem to be paying to stream just about anything. And the CFL has shown growing synergy with the NFL on several fronts, from cross-border officiating training and replay discussions to joint minor football initiatives in Canada, and there could be value for both leagues in aligning further. And at the very least, it seems positive for the CFL that there are different U.S. broadcasters who might be interested in carrying its games. And that’s likely even more the case if the CFL season is moved earlier in the year, and thus overlaps with the NFL and college football less. But the league should realize that its current U.S. broadcast situation is pretty good, all things considered. And it shouldn’t jump to abandon ESPN for NFLN unless the benefits outweigh the costs.

[UrbanClimate]

A nice sports round-up in Friday's National Post, by Tom Mayenknecht.

http://nationalpost.com/sports/footb...4-4ae3c1cb0e26

"Bulls & Bears: Canucks may be rolling, but Grey Cup runneth over"

Bulls of the Week

It’s been a bullish week sports-wise for the country’s largest media market, with the Toronto Argonauts winning the Grey Cup last Sunday. They stunned the heavily-favoured Calgary Stampeders 27-24 in the snow at Ottawa’s TD Place — the best corporately-named football stadium in North America.

Kudos, by the way, to the host Ottawa Redblacks, last year’s champions, who further cemented their bullish reputation as one of the three best-run franchises in the CFL by doing Lord Grey proud.

The Argos’ unexpected windfall came four days before Toronto FC won the Eastern Conference trophy and earned a ticket to its second consecutive Major League Soccer Cup Final.

To round out the week, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won nine-of-12 to earn a 17-9-1 record — the third-best in the NHL — going into a Hockey Night in Canada showdown Saturday afternoon against the host Vancouver Canucks.

Meanwhile, the retooling Canucks have to be happy with a 3-2-1 road trip to go with seven wins in their last 12 games and a surprisingly respectable 12-10-4 record. They’re also celebrating the veteran Daniel Sedin — who joined his brother Henrik in crossing the career 1,000-point mark Thursday, becoming the first brother act in NHL history to do so — and the rookie Brock Boeser, who at 25 points is now tied in NHL scoring with Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

Yet the Bull of the Week is clearly the Canadian institution that is the Grey Cup.

Entertainment-wise, it was an instant classic. Business-wise, it drove a combined average national audience of 4.3 million Canadians to TSN (4.1 million) and RDS (222,000) and peaked at six million viewers in the dying seconds of a remarkable finish. Those were the best TV numbers for the Grey Cup since 2013.

The result was also a big shot in the arm for the Argos, striving under new ownership to rebuild a season ticket base decimated through promotional neglect since their last win in 2012. If last Sunday’s result helps the Boatmen turn around their sagging attendance of the past few seasons, it’s a win for the entire CFL.

Bears of the Week

Football, NFL-style, did not have as good news as the CFL did from the department of television ratings.

After an American Thanksgiving that was a turkey according to the Nielsen TV numbers — down 19 per cent for the holiday triple-header, with slides of 10 per cent on FOX, 19 per cent on NBC and a whopping 25 per cent on CBS — it wasn’t much better the rest of the way for Week 12.

The FOX and CBS Sunday afternoon games fell nine per cent and eight per cent, respectively, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football unravelled to the tune of a 33 per cent drop from 2016.

Only NBC Sunday Night Football showed an increase this week — an incremental three per cent — and even that needed an exciting finish between two marquee brands (the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers) to get there. The bearish TV ratings are getting as much attention as Carson Wentz and the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles, and that’s uncomfortable territory for the NFL

That game — to be hosted once again at BMO Field on Saturday, Dec. 9 — is a rematch of last year’s championship won in penalty kicks by Seattle Sounders FC.

[elly63]

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/935588144476385280

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by elly63

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/935588144476385280

This is what I find amazing so many americans have so much respect and love the CFL, I work with 2 people from Atlanta and Charlotte at my office and all of their american friends on twitter were blowing up their twitter feeds watching the grey cup and asking when can we host the grey cup? Yet Toronto thinks its so uncool to like the cfl yet even many americans think it is a great football league.

[elly63]

The wacky fans of this Canadian football team love watermelon hats and all things green
Jim Byers/Special Contributor dallasnews.com December 2 2017

The third quarter of the football game has just finished and the crowd at Mosaic Field in Regina, Saskatchewan, rises in unison to sing.

"And it's ho-hey, hi-hey, farmers bar your doors, when you see the Jolly Roger on Regina's mighty shores."

Grown men in deep green Saskatchewan Roughrider jerseys and long, brilliant green wigs dance and sway as the tune bounces along. Men and women with carved watermelons on their heads belt out the lyrics. I can't see them in the stands, but I'm pretty sure the father and son in matching green Hawaiian shirts that I interviewed prior to the game are raising a cup of the prized local pilsner beer to the local pirates.

For folks who don't have a degree in Canadian geography, let me point out the Regina is just about due north of the North Dakota/Montana border and roughly a 1,000 mile drive to the Pacific Ocean. But this is a Saskatchewan Roughriders game, and the team's legions of half-crazed fans play by their own rules and sing their own songs. They want to be pirates, so pirates they shall be.

Things are different in Saskatchewan

In Toronto, the local Canadian Football League team, the Argonauts, is lucky to draw 12,000 fans. Election night parties are more boisterous than an Argos game. But things are different in Saskatchewan, where the CFL is the only major sports league in town (they do have minor league hockey and recently got a team in the National Lacrosse League).

So on a visit to Regina this summer I took in a game at the new Mosaic Field, a sparkling, $200 million ($300 million - elly) Canadian playground that glimmers and gleams as much as any NFL stadium I've seen.

It didn't take long to find out that prairie football fans are entirely wacky, impossibly silly, ridiculously dressed folks who decorate their entire bodies -- and often their homes -- in Rider green and that they are incredibly and indisputably dedicated to their team. It's fantastic.

Pirate pride

I made it to the first preseason game of the year, which also was the debut of the new stadium. I think the fans, accustomed to their former dump of a home across the street (Taylor Field) were more than a little overwhelmed by the space-ship shine of their new digs. But their pride was out in full force.

Steven Cormons is a retired businessman who dresses up like a green Johnny Depp, with a fluorescent green beard and green tri-corner hat and green, navy-style jacket, with his green and white-striped pants tucked into dark black boots. Cormons, who calls himself Captain Harvey Rider, is retired and drives down from North Battleford for each game -- a 250-mile trip.

"I love the Pirates of Regina song and I thought they needed a pirate in the stands," Cormons told me prior to the game. "I was wearing a cowboy hat that day and thought, 'Why not a pirate costume?' I got my wife to make one for me, and now my goal is to get everyone in my section of the stadium to wear an eyepatch."

I commented on his natty attire and Rider smiled.

"You think the costume is something, you should see our living room," he said. "The walls are green like the grass. We even painted yard lines on the wall."

A favorite fruit

Watermelon hats have been a signature of Rider fans for years. Melons are purchased a few days prior to the game and the pink fruit is carved out (and presumably eaten), leaving a green and white rind that plunks down perfectly on the head of a prairie football fan.

The story goes that when Saskatchewan journeyed to Calgary a few years ago to play for the CFL Championship, known as the Grey Cup, one of the local grocery stores had to buy thousands of extra watermelons to keep Riders' fans in their favorite fruit.

"Ideally you buy the watermelon the day before and let it dry out a little," melon-hatted fan Luke McWilliams told me as he wandered the stadium at halftime. "It's kinda gross if it's wet."

I tell a group of fans I'm interviewing that I'm doing a story for a newspaper in Dallas.

"I don't think people in the U.S. have any idea how crazy we are here about football and about the Riders," said season-ticket holder Lance Hackewich, who's at the game with his son, Nelson. They're dressed in matching green Hawaiian shirts, along with snazzy white fedoras with green trim. "But players who have come up here from the States get it. Doug Flutie gets it. Jeff Garcia gets it."

I ask Nelson why Rider nation is such a devoted bunch.

"We don't have anything else," he replies in a matter-of-fact voice.
Saskatchewan Roughriders fans are acknowledged as the most enthusiastic fans in the Canadian Football League, often travelling hundreds of miles to get to their games.

So well-loved

That's not quite true. Regina will never be mistaken for Paris or Denver or Dallas. The more northerly Saskatchewan city of Saskatoon has a prettier setting and a stronger reputation for the arts. But Regina, which is the province's capital, has a lovely lake and a nice farmers market, as well as one of the most striking provincial buildings in Canada. Better still, the people are down-home, hard-working middle-of-the-country folks who don't take themselves the least bit seriously, and they're ultra-passionate about their football team.

"A lot of former players stay here in Regina and sell cars or work at restaurants," says super-fan Nathan Clearihue. "They stay because they're so well-loved."

That list includes Don Narcisse, who was born in Port Arthur, Texas, and played college football at Texas Southern University. He wasn't a star coming out of school but latched on with the Riders, becoming the Canadian Football League's all-time leading receiver at the time of his retirement in 1999.

"The fans around here embraced me like you can't believe," said Narcisse. "These might be the best and most loyal fans in sports. They're loud in Seattle and Green Bay, but this is a pretty amazing place."

Fans are everywhere

They certainly love to wave the green-and-white flag. The store at Mosaic Field is filled with hundreds of Riders' items, everything from flip-flops to earrings to baby lotion. There are even green Rider Champagne flutes.

Lance and Nelson Hackewich have taken a bedroom at their suburban Regina home and turned it into a shrine for all things Riders, including autographed Grey Cup footballs (alas, the Riders have only won Lord Grey's trophy four times in the CFL's 100-plus years: 1966, 1989, 2007 and 2013), Roughrider cribbage sets and watermelon candies.

One of their prized possessions is a Riders cigarette lighter from the 1950s.

"They certainly don't give those away anymore," Lance said. "George Reed [a former Riders' star] tells stories of how he would run off the field at half-time instead of walk because that way he could have two cigarettes before the start of the third quarter instead of just one."

Lance takes me to their living room and shows me photos of family members holding the green Saskatchewan flag in front of the Eiffel Tower and at the lip of the Grand Canyon.

"I was in China once at the Great Wall and had my flag and someone yelled, 'Go, Riders.' Saskatchewan fans are everywhere."

Other Canadian football traditions

Ottawa: During the first time-out of the third quarter of every home game in Ottawa, fans of the Red Blacks shout "Shoe Beer, Shoe Beer, Shoe Beer." A long-time season ticker-holder then gets out a shoe that's been fashioned into a drinking receptacle, fills it with beer and gives it a chug as his fellow fans shout encouragement.

Winnipeg: Here's a fun tradition: fans at Blue Bombers games have been known to collect all the plastic beer cups they can (are you sensing a theme here?) and stack them one into the other until they form a meters-long, writhing collection of cups affectionately known as a "beer snake." One wildlife group in Canada declared it an official species of reptile.

Calgary: This being the city that hosts the annual Calgary Stampede, you know horses have to enter the equation. Sure enough, after every touchdown, a female rider named Chelsea Drake (she took over for her mom just recently) races down the sidelines on a horse called "Quick Six," six being the number of points you score on a touchdown in American and Canadian football. Alas, the horse doesn't drink a beer after his run.

[25grapes]

Noel Thorpe hired by the Redblacks. I love this hire, Noel is the only coach who deserved to keep his job in Montreal.

[ScreamingViking]

Good hire by Ottawa, though I'm curious how Nelson's role will change, given Campbell's statement that he'll "continue to be a valuable member of our defensive coaching staff moving forward"... will he coach a positional unit but become assistant head coach? Or is this a straight demotion that all have agreed to?

In other news, the Ticats have announced June Jones will be staying on as head coach (not much of a surprise there, though I wondered what other offers he'd have to choose from in the CFL, NCAA or even NFL)

[elly63]

CFL deadline for Johnny Manziel process extended into January
3Down Staff 3downnation December 4, 2017

Johnny Football is still going through the CFL’s process in hopes of playing in the league next season.

“He still has a few more hurdles to jump here in December,” vice president of football operations Kent Austin told a Hamilton radio station. “When the process is complete and the report is given to the commissioner, then I’m sure the commissioner will reach back out to us and let us know where things stand.

“The deadline has been extended into January and we’ll just wait and see what the outcome is.”

Manziel was charged with assault of former girlfriend Colleen Crowley. He reached a dismissal agreement that required him to complete an anger management class, attend a domestic violence impact panel and participate in a substance-abuse program. His two-year-old case for assault has been dismissed.

That could’ve been one of the requirements laid out by commissioner Randy Ambrosie in order to have Manziel’s contract registered. Erik Burkhardt, who represents Manziel, and the Ticats have been in contact.

“I know that Kent [Austin] has some good conversations with the agent. It’s more in their hands than our hands. I don’t know whether he will be or whether he won’t but we’ve had quite a few discussions about just that. So we’ll see what happens,” head coach June Jones said in a conference call announcing his contract extension with the club.

The 24-year-old has been on the Ticats neg list since his days at Texas A&M, where he became the first freshman to capture the Heisman Trophy. The Cleveland Browns selected him in the first round, No. 22 overall, in the 2014 NFL draft and he spent two seasons with the club, posting a 2-6 record as a starter before being released March 11, 2016. Jones believes he can plug him into his offensive system “very easily”.

“I worked him out twice and his arm strength is much better than I thought it was. I really think if he makes a commitment to come up here for three or four years he’ll write his own ticket if he wants to go down and play in the NFL,” the 64-year-old said.

“It will be a Warren Moon situation to be quite honest. I just think he has the potential to be a great football player.”

[elly63]

Warren Moon operated cookie store while in Edmonton
3Down Staff December 4, 2017

Warren Moon was a versatile quarterback for the Eskimos and his skills translated to mastery in the bake shop.

While leading Edmonton to five straight Grey Cups Moon ran W. Moon’s Chocolate Chippery.



Moon’s mom, Pat, wanted all of her children to learn how to cook.

For Warren, the food of choice was cookies and by high school, baking chocolate chip cookies became a ritual the night before football games.

After college, he decided that football wasn’t the only profession where he’d turn pro. While playing with the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL, Warren opened the first W. Moon’s Chocolate Chippery. He brought the successful chain with him to Houston before selling the franchise to Mrs. Fields in 1986. NFL Network discovered while producing Warren Moon: A Football Life.

It’s national cookie day so if you want to indulge in Moon’s favourite:

Warren Moon’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour
1 cup Quaker Oats
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp salt
¾ cup of baker’s sugar
¾ cup of dark brown sugar
2 sticks of butter (softened)
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In one small bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda and salt
In a larger bowl, mix the vanilla, butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition (do not overmix).
Gradually beat in flour mixture into the larger bowl. Once mixed, stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by thurmas

This is what I find amazing so many americans have so much respect and love the CFL, I work with 2 people from Atlanta and Charlotte at my office and all of their american friends on twitter were blowing up their twitter feeds watching the grey cup and asking when can we host the grey cup? Yet Toronto thinks its so uncool to like the cfl yet even many americans think it is a great football league.

It's funny how frustrated the Canadian CFL-detractors become on Twitter when American NFL fans say they like the CFL. "Like, dude, you know the CFL is a JOKE right?" "Uh, why? I kinda like it." "Like, literally, no one here EVER watches it" ...

[elly63]

‘Quintessentially Canadian’ Grey Cup sees viewer results
Rachel Brady The Globe and Mail December 5 2017

The Canadian Football League says the 105th Grey Cup was its most social yet, with total engagement on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – including comments, likes and shares – up 17 per cent over last year's game and views of CFL-produced video on those social channels up 58 per cent.

TV audience numbers were higher, too, the league will announce this week, with viewership in the Toronto/Hamilton market up 58 per cent on TSN over last year and the number of viewers in the youth category across the country – ages 2 to 17 – up 48 per cent.

"The under-17 group is a market we've really spent time nurturing with our CFL Football Frenzy video game and our flag-football initiatives, among many other things, so it's so nice to see that translating into results," CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said.

"And the 58-per-cent increase in the Southwestern Ontario market is encouraging. The fans are there, but you have to work really hard in Toronto to get them. We know they like the product, but we've got to double our efforts to go get them to the games. We're pretty much assured with the quality of football the Argos will deliver now, so we have to make everyone in Toronto feel welcome."

The 105th Grey Cup on Nov. 26 was the most watched on TV since 2013, up 10 per cent over last year's game with an average of 4.3 million viewers on TSN and RDS, according to data from audience measurement organization Numeris. Almost 10 million unique viewers watched at least some of the Toronto Argonauts' dramatic 27-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders. More than one in three Canadians watching TV that day tuned in to the game at some point.

The audience peaked at almost six million viewers late in the fourth quarter, as Argos defensive back Matt Black intercepted Bo Levi Mitchell's Hail Mary pass to seal Toronto's championship victory.

Ratings for the divisional finals were up 19 per cent from a year ago, with six million tuning in. Viewership within the Greater Toronto Area that week was up 115 per cent over 2016 – when the Argos finished 5-13 and missed the playoffs.

Viewership for this year's divisional semi-finals were up 7 per cent, with 4.3 million Canadians watching – the best in three years for that round.

After digesting its analytics on digital and social, the CFL said page views on CFL.ca were up 42 per cent during this year's playoffs over last year's, up 19 per cent during Grey Cup week and 12 per cent on Grey Cup Sunday.

"The numbers indicate that Grey Cup is as popular as it ever has been for Canadians, and that fandom for this game is a lot more diverse and complicated in terms of how people are enjoying it," said Christina Litz, the league's senior vice-president of marketing and content.

On the Monday after the Grey Cup, there were more than 715,000 tweets discussing the game or Shania Twain's halftime performance. That day-after number is a new best for the league, Litz said.

"I can only speculate as to the why it was a hot conversation, but we believe people felt this year was truly a classic Grey Cup, with the snow, Shania Twain and the dogsled, and a very exciting game," she said. "It was quintessentially Canadian, and people seemed to really want to share it and discuss it."

[elly63]

‘It’s quite a process’: For footballs at the Grey Cup, there’s more than meets the eye
Rachel Brady The Globe and Mail November 25 2017

From shaving cream to pressure gauges, preparing and then protecting the game balls for Sunday's Grey Cup is a meticulous process.

A whopping 48 game balls will be methodically prepared for Sunday's Canadian Football League championship game at TD Place in Ottawa, then given to league officials 90 minutes before game time; the officials guard them carefully through the game.

The two competitors – the Toronto Argonauts and Calgary Stampeders – will each bring 12 balls to be used by their own squads on offence. The Grey Cup host club – the Ottawa Redblacks this year – prepares 24 kicking balls.

Those kicking balls are brand-new, delivered to Ottawa Thursday from the Wilson factory in Ada, Ohio, printed with a logo for the 105th Grey Cup.

The Redblacks equipment staff lathered each with a shaving cream that includes aloe to soften up the leather and make the ball less rigid. That is left on for about 20 minutes. The kicking balls were then wiped off and brushed with tack, using a horse brush. The wax gives the ball some grip. They are inflated to 13 pounds per square inch and measured using a pressure gauge.

"It's quite a process," said R.J. James, head equipment manager for the Ottawa Redblacks. "We take a lot of pride in it, because you want consistency among all the game balls."

Typically for a regular-season game, the kicking balls carry over from game to game, but brand-new ones are used for the championship game. The CFL wants many to get used in the game so a consistently high-quality ball is always in the game. That also means more will be available for other purposes later – such as being auctioned, made gifts or archived in some sort of museum or Hall of Fame.

The Stampeders and Argonauts each sent a kicker and equipment manager to inspect the kicking balls prepared by the Redblacks. Each team received a couple of extra balls so they could practice with them, but those extras will never get into Sunday's game.

The balls to be used on offence have already been used this week in practices by each team, broken in to the liking of each quarterback. The teams submit the game balls to officials 90 minutes before the game.

"We have a very strict policy," said Darren Hackwood, the CFL's head of officiating. "Once they present them to officials, they can't have them back. Our guys measure them with a gauge to make sure the pressure is to specifications. They are then guarded in the officials' locker room until game time and, during the game, we have a four-person team that watches and manages the game balls on the sidelines."

The weather will be a big factor in how many balls get used. If it snows or rains – as the forecast for Ottawa suggests – more of the balls will cycle in and out of the game, so a dry, clean one is being used as often as possible. But balls won't be switched out too often – keeping the game moving quickly is also a big priority.

The ball used in the kickoff of a Grey Cup game is typically removed from the game and set aside for the Hall of Fame.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Andy6

It's funny how frustrated the Canadian CFL-detractors become on Twitter when American NFL fans say they like the CFL. "Like, dude, you know the CFL is a JOKE right?" "Uh, why? I kinda like it." "Like, literally, no one here EVER watches it" ...

I've witnessed those types of exchanges as well.

I had a discussion with a guy I know the other day, and the Grey Cup came up. Not on purpose on my part but he is a big sports fan and we were talking sports so eventually I asked him if he watched it. His reaction was "eeewww... the Grey Cup". As I've I'd asked him if he watched porn with bestiality or something. And he's a former season ticket holder for a CFL team in his hometown (which is not Ottawa BTW). Or so he told me.

This attitude just blows my mind.

[elly63]

I think if a person is insecure that's the answer they think they are supposed to respond with. They do that because they think that is the response to give to "blend in"

That's when I go into the "give them the business mode" like I know what you're doing and that you're insecure and stupid for doing it. These guys are easy to trip up because they don't come from a place of truth.

You'll probably get a couple of the usual CFL trolls to come on here and respond to this but if truth be told very few people do not like the entertainment value the league has to offer. They just don't think it is the thing to do to be cool. Like the old Jim Hunt analogy of the CFL being like porn, no one wants to admit to it, but the numbers are great.

You hear the usual BS that it isn't the best. Well that's bullshit because then nobody would watch the CHL, the EPL, MLS, Japanese baseball, NCAA, European hockey or basketball leagues, or half the athletes in the Olympics, or any women's sports at all. None of them are technically "the best".

It all comes down to insecurity, if a person prefers the NFL, that's great, then you have no need to come here and crap on what I prefer. I'm not insecure about the CFL, I know exactly what it is and where it stands and if you feel the need to come here and crap on it for no valid reason you will "get the business" full barrel.

Being cool is having the confidence to like what you like. The NFL is one of the more "corporate" businesses going, since when were corporations cool? That part I don't get.

[elly63]

After having said all that, the Argos win seems to have won back a lot of goodwill. You're not seeing the trolls and naysayers like before. Now that the sky hasn't fallen the anti Argos people at BMO have calmed down and the NFL trolls seems to have abated as well.

Also seeing a lot of positive American press about the CFL, maybe as a result of disgust with the politics that is going on in their game and they are tired of it and just want to get back to football. I like posting the American reactions not because of the old Canadian insecurity and I need their validation but for a couple of other reasons. I like to "throw it in the face" of the trolls and show them the people they want to be so part of like what I like, and that makes the trolls hypocritical. But more importantly I want to see the game grow and it looks like the Commish is setting us up for another big step and that is a much larger profile on the ESPN or the NFL Network, that is why he is polling the fans about changing the season.

There just seems to finally be an acceptance of the Argos/CFL and a recognition they are not what they were 40 years ago and they are not to be compared to the behemoth NFL, they just are what they are and that is actually pretty good and something to like and cheer for.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by elly63

Being cool is having the confidence to like what you like. The NFL is one of the more "corporate" businesses going, since when were corporations cool? That part I don't get.

There are lots of things about that that I don't get.

The NFL embodies so many things about the U.S. that most Canadians (allegedly) don't like about that country: brashness, arrogance, isolationism, exceptionalism, USA Number 1, America Fuck Yeah, The USA = the World, etc.

You'd think that it would repel a lot of Canadians, but instead it draws them in like flies. And not just low-brow "wannabe American" Canadians either. Many white collar, upper class Canadians are massively into the NFL as well.

[elly63]

Some people will always feel the need to "keep up with the Joneses"... and usually go into debt doing it

It's funny though, I thought the Canadian inferiority complex had it's final, at long last, gasping breath and died in Vancouver 2010, but some people and places are still ensconced in the 1980s.

[TimB09]

I like the NFL. I love the CFL. I love football. There's no harm in admitting that.

How hard is it for people to admit to that? Liking one league and bashing the other doesn't make you cool. You look like a fool when you say something like "9 teams in a league, what a joke!" Maybe if you knew something about economics you'd realize that 9 teams makes sense. It's not like there's a lot of wasted money to throw around up here likes teams with NFL cities do.

Fantasy football is also a HUGE draw for the NFL. I'd bet big money that if that didn't exist, the NFL wouldn't be as big as it is today. It's a billon dollar industry all by itself. That's crazy!

[Acajack]

The funny thing is that I am not a non-fan of the NFL either. I don't follow it religiously but it's one of the sports leagues I watch on a regular basis.

However, I don't have this belief that just because I watch the occasional NFL game that it means my personal tastes have evolved to some more sophisticated level, or (guffaws!) that I am more worldly.