I’m a CFL fan, but I’ll tell ya, most of the games I’ve seen this year have been boring tedious affairs to sit through.
If its not blowouts, its low scoring mistaked filled back and forth two and out snorefests. Even worse, when a big play occurs, the refs always call some kind of cheap penalty to negate the play.
And about the refs. Why do they always have to hold a five minute meeting after every penalty? This drags the game down to a snails pace. And why are they calling so many penalties? This ain’t the NHL. Let the players play!
What bugs me the most is when a play is about to start, and the fans are making noise, then the ref comes running in waving his arms to stop the action because of some clock problem or whatever. This happens too many times for my liking.
The CFL is a fast game, but its been slowed down this year by mistakes by the players AND the referees. As a casual fan its becoming unwatchable. Which is probably why CFL TV ratings were horrible this week. Even beaten by the Blue Jays!
If the CFL doesn’t present a cleaner, more watchable product, then its viewership is going to decline. Because frankly, I am tired of seeing easy passes dropped, or QB’s missing targets by 10 yards, and referees standing around huddling for ten minutes over an offside penalty!
Again, I think you're going way overboard berezin, CFL football is better than baseball 9 times out of 10. But your overall premise holds. But watch the NFL, there will be many easy passes dropped there as well, I see it all the time so you're off base on that one.
Remember also that with the Toronto area being so highly populated, it always amazes me that the Blue Jays don't blow CFL games out of the water viewership wise at least double. But that doesn't happen so CFL football is very highly watched as the Toronto area continues to get more populated. The Blue Jays get huge exposure from all media there compared with the Argos and CFL so maybe they should be outdrawing 3 to 1 compared with CFL broadcasts. Not happening though.
" Great Day in the CFL
Posted: 28-Jul-2007 10:30 PM Reply
Wow!
Two great games.
I thought the Sask/Edm game would be closer, but man, did it have EVERYTHING.
(Riders fan, IP, I feel your pain about having to go to your wife's co-worker's wedding....)
The BC/Calgary game sure had its momentum switches. It just wouldn't have been a Lions (version 2007) game without JJ getting his turn behind centre. Turns out, he was the spark they needed. Geroy finally started seeing the ball, which was nice.
My hat is off to the commentors at C B C. Steve and Kahari did an excellent job of calling the plays.
I agree about the blue Jays. They get huge hype because the media is full of baseball fans in Toronto. They live and die with that team.
Considering the huge population in Toronto and area, Blue Jays TV numbers are awful. I read in the Star today on Sportsnet they're averaging only 280,000 viewers per game. Down big time from last year.
And non-blue Jays games do pitiful. In the 80,000 range. So no doubt which sport is more popular in Canada.
Considering too CFL games get blacked out in the home city nine times out of ten also affects ratings. Blackout teh Blue Jays in Toronto and their ratings would be next to nothing.
Still, that said, the CFL has to produce a cleaner game on the field. Its becoming boring watching nothing happening most of the time.
I guess if you're team is playing its exciting, but neutral fans want to be entertained. And i can honestly say I haven't been entertained most nights this year.
I agree though. The worst CFL game is still better than the best baseball game.
Also look at the NHL, I know die hard NHL fans who say the "new rules" NHL is boring compared with the older rules, too many whistles for what should be non-calls. Are there too many penalties in the new NHL and CFL right now? Probably but maybe it's all part of a cyclic thing.
berezin, maybe you're just venting because you're frustrated London doesn't have a team? I can appreciate that, wish London did have a team. I was at a wedding in London on the weekend out at that Riverbend club and wow, can't believe how built up London is getting, people moving from Toronto to London selling their homes in Toronto and living like kings in London. Wish they had a CFL team.
This is just typical mid-season ennui I think. I have watched more games this year than I usually do because they're finally available, and I have seen some excellent football (blowouts aside but even they have great plays in them).
The NFL is so over-hyped that it's way too easy to get snooze-fest games, with dropped passes and lots of three and outs.
There are always going to be crappy games in any league, that's the point, and that's football. It's also what makes the really good 21-20 games so special.
I think a hard salary cap will help bring a measure of parity to the league and it will eventually result in fewer lop-sided games. It just needs to go up.
Also, and I'm not advocating for more betting on CFL games, a lot of Canadians are really into the NFL games because of the betting they are doing on the games which to them causes them to really take hold of the NFL despite whatever the scores are.
berezin....did you not watch the Edmonton Winnipeg game that ended in a tie? That was a very exciting game if you ask me. Despite the fact that I am a die hard Bomber fan, I watch as many CFL games as I can, regardless of who is playing. I have not been bored once.
That game was a beaut for sure dart. I had to miss the Saturday night games as I was at a wedding. I watch all the CFL games and go to every TiCats game, best entertainment around even though some games are blowouts or just plain slower than others, par for the course with any league.
I can understand what Berezin is saying. The lop-sided games and mistake-riddled games are becoming a nuisance. And while every league has these games, it's amplified significantly in the CFL considering we have only 8 teams.
If the Buffalo/Detroit game is boring, you could always change the channel and watch Indianapolis/New England, or Miami/Chicago, or New Orleans/Dallas etc.
You can't do that in the CFL. Your only option is to watch something else, maybe a re-run of Seinfeld or the Simpsons.
Of course, there's not really much the CFL can do to solve this problem. Expansion is a slow process.
But I know I'm definitely getting tired of these games. We've had 7 lop-sided wins in just 5 weeks so far.
There is a process every season where penalties and mistakes are way high at the start of the year, and they trend downward from there as the season progresses. Alot of that is caused by two things: the short camp and preseason compared to the NFL, and the number of rookie imports who are learning the differences with the Canadian game.
This year may even be a little worse than at the start of the year than others due to the salary cap, which has, in my opinion, resulted in an increased number of younger (read cheaper) imports playing. Mayn teams went through a bit of a veteran purge, and a good percentage of those veterans who were released never landed on another roster.
As for the blow-outs? That I can't say. We should know in another week or two if this is a weird blip, or an actual trend.