Im still waiting for the Cats to get someone that they can nurture from home. When will they realize that if they just continue to let the leauge be run by a small group of Americans using the CFL as an outpost to avoid being high school teachers in the US, then we'll never be able to truly appreciate the CFL for what is should be, a place for Canadians to go at against one another, just like the Japanese do with their sports leauges or Australia and many European countries do with theirs. Come on man!
I think our Canadian content rule is fine how it is. It's pretty much 50-50. I don't want to mess with that. I WANT to see American QB's and other players. Yes I want a place for Canadians to play... but I also want the best available talent.
I'm not sure if too many people outside Australia can play Aussie rules football at a pro level. I doubt they have any rules keeping outsiders out.
Its been a long time,one would think that there were some qualified CIs, qb,s who could do well in the CFL, Russ Jackson retired over 30 years ago.
No, what Im saying is that, not only should Canadians be trying to get our own guys at QB, but more radically, we should be focusing on making our leauge completely for ourselves. Canada would be better off in any aspect you want to look at it.
Consider this, by letting Americans play you can argue that the leauge benefits with increased talent, but I say that if you truly want Canadians to get better then you had better offer big bucks to the real professionals who are the best, the idea is that if you play with the absolute best youll become the best, if each team spent the money to attract one amazing NFL player for each team, we could learn from that better than simply signing up guys who really arent at the level of playing pro football in the states, think of it this way, one Brady is equal to 20 guys that are in the league now.
I want to see the best players, not some player that has to play because he is Canadian. When is the last time a good Canadian QB came out of the CIAU?
It's time to get rid of the Canadian content and let the best players compete for a position. Its an insult to Canadians that they guarantee spots for Canadian players - its saying "you are not good enough to compete against Americans therefore we are going to guarantee that 15 positions are for Canadians only"
Come on let us Canadians compete against the best.
The status quo is fine. If you open it up completely to US players, it makes it too easy for GMs/coaches to just get Americans when there are equally capable Canadians around but who just need to be groomed a bit more.
One thing I'd do though is to change the rules to encourage CFL teams to develop a Canadian QB. For example, don't have the Canadian QB count as a roster spot unless he plays. There have been Canadian university QBs in the past who may have been good enough to play pro if they'd been given a chance to develop with a CFL team but we'll never know.
An Argo fan
bestofthebest wrote:
No, what Im saying is that, not only should Canadians be trying to get our own guys at QB, but more radically, we should be [b]focusing on making our leauge completely for ourselves.[/b] Canada would be better off in any aspect you want to look at it.Well, this is, of course, a huge issue which, in my opinion, no one, and I mean no one, every owner of every team, league commish, BoG etc. all the way down the line to each and every fan, has an answer to. Which way to go with the import thing, more, less, stay the same? Pros and cons with each and no easy answers either way you look at it. Which means, in the end, it will essentially stay as it is with a minor tweaking here and there to try and keep everyone somewhat happy.
re mikem- I want to see the best players, not some player that has to play because he is Canadian. When is the last time a good Canadian QB came out of the CIAU?
It's time to get rid of the Canadian content and let the best players compete for a position. Its an insult to Canadians that they guarantee spots for Canadian players - its saying "you are not good enough to compete against Americans therefore we are going to guarantee that 15 positions are for Canadians only"
Come on let us Canadians compete against the best.
If the cfl did what you say, the cfl would fold in one season, ITS the underrated canaians who keep the CFL at a high level of competition, the fact that CIS trained QB,s are not given equal oportunities,as such recent ncaa projects,like michael bishop, jon butjeur, marcuss brady, etc etc, is obviouse favortism, to put it mildly. - Hamilton,s HC, is on record as saying that CI,s QB,s have to much FAN pressure to be played, so they are ignored-FACT- imo
Your reference to Euro and Japanese leagues is incorrect..eg: soccer,many players from Europe play in Japan,and In Europe,in both soccer and basketball, teams have players from other countries.. some of our best soccer and basketball players play in Europe..
in my opinion,your point,doesn't have a point!!
One of the perceptual problems here may stem from the fact that the CFL is a professional league and as such, perhaps should open up all roster postions to the best available talent regardless of citizenship. In the CHL, for example, there is a rule that no more than 1 or 2 at the most can be hockey players from outside North America (correct me anyone here on the specifics) but no one sees this as a problem since the CHL is essentially amateur and any developmental image it has is ok in the eyes of many since it is amateur. But once you call yourself a professional league, well, this whole developmental thing and opportuanity thing is not valid - or so many would argue with a league that says it is 'professional.'
Many leagues have quotas on foreign-born players. Japanese major league baseball limits it to 2 foreign-born players for example. The CHL is essentially a pro league for semi-amatuer players and they limit it to 2 foreign-born players. (Don Cherry would limit it to zero.) I believe many Euro soccer leagues have limits as well.
It isn't just the CFL.
An Argo fan
Paging Topcat1! Paging Topcat1! Emergency! Emergency!
Please pick up the white courtesy phone!
While on the topic of Canadian QB's, was Russ Jackson the last Canadian to start as a QB in a CFL game ?
Waiting for an answer. Thanks
Barneyfife wrote:
Many leagues have quotas on foreign-born players. Japanese major league baseball limits it to 2 foreign-born players for example. The CHL is essentially a pro league for semi-amatuer players and they limit it to 2 foreign-born players. (Don Cherry would limit it to zero.) I believe many Euro soccer leagues have limits as well.It isn’t just the CFL.
An Argo fan
Fair enough Barney but the difference here may be that these leagues are not in North America and the mentality of Canadians may be different than citizens of these other abroad countries. Here we are so close to the States, the most powerful country in the world some would say, that it is difficult to not think like them much of the time, difficult to be different. You see this in many Canadians, heck, even most of the programs on TV are American and most of us like them and watch them, part of our culture really.
What I think will be interesting, although it is different yet again because the major leagues of soccer are not in this continent, will be how the new MLS team works out in Toronto. It is having some success in the States as a very, very good minor type league, along the lines of the CFL but without the history and tradition of the CFL and with the CFL not really “minor” in the sense of it’s impact in numbers it gets on Canadian TV and such. But again, the CFL is different because we have this huge, the most successful if you will, major league called the NFL right on our doorstep and I think it makes it tough here on the CFL to be anything less than as professional as it can be since so many people constantly compare everything in the CFL to the NFL. I personally try not to but we all know many Canadians who do and this stems from our geographical closeness to the States and all the media and TV we get from them.
No, it was probably Larry Jusdanis.
Gerry Datillio was a starter for Montreal in the early 80s also.
I don’t know if Greg Vavra ever started a game.
Yes, it was Larry Jusdanis. You can click here for one of many articles that mention this. No Canadian quarterback has started a CFL games since Jusdanis was the starting quarterback for the Ticats in that 1995 game.
The last Canadian QB to have a regular starting gig AND excel was Gerry Dattilio of the Alouettes. He was the runner-up to Dieter Brock for the Most Outstanding Player Schenley Award in 1980.
http://slam.canoe.ca/CFLGreyCup97/nov13_awards_cp.htmlOski Wee Wee,
Yes in Japan, there are foreign born players but the point is to help the Japanese improve in international competitions, WBC (champions I might add), World Cup, etc. Canada has no real reason to have so many Americans playing. Lets face reality for a moment, where would every single CFL player from the States be if they werent playing football in Canada? High school teacher? Factory worker? Tradesmen? Truck Driver? Drug dealer? We should be focusing on creating a game that Canadians can celebrate as simply our own, and stop trying to compare with our American neighbors.