Defence seconary role in Canadian football,article(merged)

CFL Talk
1

That was this writer says in the NP, no idea what game he's looking at but the guys obviously doesn't have a clue about football in the first place. And of course he makes no mention that the CFL is all about winning our national championship Grey Cup regardless of the rules. I don't care if someone doesn't like Canada's version of football but when they don't get the whole picture of what it means to win the Grey Cup, well, I have little respect for the person as a football fan. Let me see, get an NFL team because there is too much offence, whatever dude, you da man. NFL is a dream in Toronto, yup, they were just flocking to watch the NFL in Toronto the last 2 years, all 8 games were sold-out at the beginning when they went on sale. If it's the dream, then all the tickets should have been gonzo on day 1 when they went on sale, instead of the them just selling around 8000 of the packages. Spin master extraordinaire, but whatever.

Toronto Needs It's Own NFL Team

[i]It's hard being a football fan in Toronto. Hard, that is, when the only games in town are the CFL's Toronto Argonauts (who went 3-15 this season) and the NFL's Buffalo Bills (who are currently 5-8).

Now, I've gone to Argos games and tried to acquire a mild interest in the team. I respect some of its past players, including Mike "Pinball" Clemons, Doug Flutie and Condredge Holloway. Heck, I even had a poster of the 1983 Grey Cup, in which Toronto beat the B.C. Lions 18-17.

But it hasn't worked. Try as I might, I'm always bored to tears with the Argos. The problem is that the Argos play in the CFL, an inferior product devoid of excitement, strategy, talent and great play.

In the CFL's three-down football, there are only four simplistic plays: pass-run-kick, run-pass-kick, run-run-kick and pass-pass-kick. High-powered offense is the key to success for a team like the Argos; defence plays a secondary role. While it's fun for fans to watch the scoreboard light up, a high score does not necessarily mean the game is high quality. If anything, it means exactly the opposite.

The CFL also has a curious system in place for scoring points. For instance, the league allows teams to score a single point (or rouge) in two ways: a team in its own goal area has possession of a dead ball, or when the ball crosses or touches the deadline or a sideline-in goal. Heaven knows how many CFL games have been decided by this stroke of brilliance.

Call me unpatriotic, but if that's the type of football game Canadians want, count me out.

So what about the Bills, some of you might be asking. A team whose best days are long behind them and are as dull as dishwater. And besides, they only come to town to play NFL games once a year. That's a great consolation prize, folks.

I have a much better idea for people who crave a true football team in a real professional league -- a full-time NFL franchise based in Toronto.

There have been attempts to bring the NFL to Toronto in the past. For example, a consortium explored this possibility in 1989. Its hope was that the CFL would fold, and Torontonians would flock to see an NFL game.

But to date, the CFL continues to flicker away and the NFL is still a dream.

There's a glimmer of hope, however. In 1998, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the league's "focus right now is on Los Angeles and Houston and Toronto." The Houston Texans are now in their eighth season, and are gradually improving. And while Los Angeles has been without an NFL team for 15 years and counting, Toronto's once-a-season experiment with the Bills could make them a more desirable choice. As the Bills' talented wide receiver, Terrell Owens, recently said, "I think once the team is established in Toronto, I'm sure the fans would gravitate to the team and support it."

He's right. The NFL's rugged style would attract football enthusiasts, including die-hard CFL fans. It's a four-down game, complete with tons of strategic coaching, powerful offensive and defensive maneouvres, and plenty of excitement. As well, there are no rouges to be found, thank goodness.

From a financial point of view, the NFL is a very profitable business.

The NFL's 32 teams are valued at more than US$32-billion. The NFL had an annual revenue of US$7.6-billion last season due to TV deals with CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN. Since two-thirds of that profit is subject to revenue-sharing, each NFL team earned US$94-million.

Although the initial cost of getting an NFL franchise would be staggering -- probably around US$1.3-billion -- there's money to be made. The new team would be able to sell many season tickets and box seats. Advertising revenue would be enormous. And when teams such as the Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys come to town, Canadians will be fighting for seats in the nosebleed sections.

Meanwhile, Canada's tourist industry would thrive. NFL fans from American cities like Buffalo and Detroit would stay at Toronto's hotels, visit shops and go to restaurants and bars. The influx of money would be huge and the job market to keep up with the demand would likely skyrocket. Plus, if U.S. tourists like what they see, they could be tempted to visit other Canadian cities and spread their international currency to other local markets.

Yes, there would be Canadians who refuse to go to NFL games because they view it as an American product. But I believe national pride would settle down once they realized the NFL is a wide-reaching international product, unlike the narrowly-based CFL.

Toronto and the NFL is a match made in heaven. It's time for the city to get an NFL franchise, and finally leave the weak sister CFL -- and the Bills -- behind.

  • Michael Taube is a former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Angry CFL and Buffalo Bills fans can reach him at miketaube@yahoo.com.[/i]

National Post, Dec. 15/09

2

I think he should go back to writing speeches for Stephen Harper. Why would any newspaper waste valuable space printing uneducated dribble such as this? It's one of the reasons I quit reading the National Post many years ago and one of the reasons they are on the verge of no longer being a viable entity.

3

Here is another foolish article about the NFL- I think its just an opinion since this guy was a former speechwriter for Stephen Harper- He should have stayed writing speeches. Check out some of the lines I underlined.:roll:

Toronto needs its own NFL team
Michael Taube, National Post
Published: Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Related Topics
Michael Taube

It's hard being a football fan in Toronto. Hard, that is, when the only games in town are the CFL's Toronto Argonauts (who went 3-15 this season) and the NFL's Buffalo Bills (who are currently 5-8).

Now, I've gone to Argos games and tried to acquire a mild interest in the team. I respect some of its past players, including Mike "Pinball" Clemons, Doug Flutie and Condredge Holloway. Heck, I even had a poster of the 1983 Grey Cup, in which Toronto beat the B.C. Lions 18-17.

But it hasn't worked. Try as I might, I'm always bored to tears with the Argos. The problem is that the Argos play in the CFL, an inferior product devoid of excitement, strategy, talent and great play.

In the CFL's three-down football, there are only four simplistic plays: pass-run-kick, run-pass-kick, run-run-kick and pass-pass-kick. High-powered offense is the key to success for a team like the Argos; defence plays a secondary role. While it's fun for fans to watch the scoreboard light up, a high score does not necessarily mean the game is high quality. If anything, it means exactly the opposite.

The CFL also has a curious system in place for scoring points. For instance, the league allows teams to score a single point (or rouge) in two ways: a team in its own goal area has possession of a dead ball, or when the ball crosses or touches the deadline or a sideline-in goal. Heaven knows how many CFL games have been decided by this stroke of brilliance.

Call me unpatriotic, but if that's the type of football game Canadians want, count me out.

So what about the Bills, some of you might be asking. A team whose best days are long behind them and are as dull as dishwater. And besides, they only come to town to play NFL games once a year. That's a great consolation prize, folks.

I have a much better idea for people who based in Torontocrave a true football team in a real professional league -- a full-time NFL franchise .There have been attempts to bring the NFL to Toronto in the past. For example, a consortium explored this possibility in 1989. Its hope was that the CFL would fold, and Torontonians would flock to see an NFL game.

But to date, the CFL continues to flicker away and the NFL is still a dream.

There's a glimmer of hope, however. In 1998, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the league's "focus right now is on Los Angeles and Houston and Toronto." The Houston Texans are now in their eighth season, and are gradually improving. And while Los Angeles has been without an NFL team for 15 years and counting, Toronto's once-a-season experiment with the Bills could make them a more desirable choice. As the Bills' talented wide receiver, Terrell Owens, recently said, "I think once the team is established in Toronto, I'm sure the fans would gravitate to the team and support it."

He's right. The NFL's rugged style would attract football enthusiasts, including die-hard CFL fans. It's a four-down game, complete with tons of strategic coaching, powerful offensive and defensive maneouvres, and plenty of excitement. As well, there are no rouges to be found, thank goodness.
From a financial point of view, the NFL is a very profitable business.

The NFL's 32 teams are valued at more than US$32-billion. The NFL had an annual revenue of US$7.6-billion last season due to TV deals with CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN. Since two-thirds of that profit is subject to revenue-sharing, each NFL team earned US$94-million.

Although the initial cost of getting an NFL franchise would be staggering -- probably around US$1.3-billion -- there's money to be made. The new team would be able to sell many season tickets and box seats. Advertising revenue would be enormous. And when teams such as the Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys come to town, Canadians will be fighting for seats in the nosebleed sections.

Meanwhile, Canada's tourist industry would thrive. NFL fans from American cities like Buffalo and Detroit would stay at Toronto's hotels, visit shops and go to restaurants and bars. The influx of money would be huge and the job market to keep up with the demand would likely skyrocket. Plus, if U.S. tourists like what they see, they could be tempted to visit other Canadian cities and spread their international currency to other local markets.

Yes, there would be Canadians who refuse to go to NFL games because they view it as an American product. But I believe national pride would settle down once they realized the NFL is a wide-reaching international product, unlike the narrowly-based CFL.

Toronto and the NFL is a match made in heaven. It's time for the city to get an NFL franchise, and finally leave the weak sister CFL -- and the Bills -- behind.

  • Michael Taube is a former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Angry CFL and Buffalo Bills fans can reach him at http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/stor ... z0ZlhrLmIa
    The National Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today.
4

Toronto has a hard time supporting a CFL team at 40 bucks a ticket and can't even sell out one NFL game a year. Sometimes I think Journalism and drugs go hand in hand.

5

I live in Toronto and as much as this city has a lot going for it, it also has a desire to be thought of as a ‘world-class city’ on par with big American cities like NYC. Hence the perpetual yearning for an NFL franchise. What’s sad is that the only currently successful Toronto franchise (TFC) is not a part of a big, mainstream hype machine. Furthermore, the Argonauts are the last Toronto franchise to win its league’s championship. By contrast, the Leafs, Raptors, and Jays are stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.

Toronto media has to understand that at the end of the day, the NFL is playing them. Big time. For dollars, nothing more. The NFL has made it quite clear in recent years that it doesn’t give a damn about cities outside of the US except insofar as those cities can pay outrageous prices for meaningless exhibition games or non-marquee matchups between non-contenders. For their last European trip, they gave the world the 49ers vs. the Dolphins. Wow. Talk about excitement. The NFL has no interest in bringing a team to Toronto, because a Toronto team would not be a ratings draw anywhere except in Canada. The Jays are the ratings albatross of MLB and I am sure the NFL doesn’t want to repeat that expansion mistake.

In the end, all the NFL wants is to gouge fans for tickets to Bills games. The next relocation or expansion will go to L.A., guaranteed.

6

You don't have to be smart to go to journalism school apparently. I didn't even bother reading the article though, so I can't be that annoyed with it :smiley:

If it makes anyone feel better, I try to follow the "superior product" of the NFL and can never get into it. I watched the highlights and tried, but couldn't find the "superior talent". I saw a lot of bad teams, dropped balls, interceptions, teams who couldn't even manage to get a touchdown, etc.

7

One day soon Ontarians will regret selling their souls to be "wannabee Americans"

It is political suicide for the NFL to place a team in Canada. There are more CFL/NFL fans in Canada but outside of Toronto than there is NFL fans in Toronto not to mention the hostiles they would create in Western political circles. All The Bills owner is doing is increasing the perceived value of his franchise by pulling a bluff. Good for him but that team will not leave Buffalo :slight_smile:

In the end all Rogers is doing is pissing off a lot of people. ( I pulled 5 cell phones from them this year) when my biz contract was up. That is 800 to 1200 a month in business that went bye bye. One of my main suppliers was considering moving their business from Bell to Rogers. Something in the neighberhood of 50 cellphones and Data devices and GPS devices in 20 or so trucks.... I put them in touch with the Telus rep that took care of my stuff. from what I'm told that is like an 8000.00 /month account. So just by myself I was able to pull around 75 000.00 a year in business from Rogers. That's not a lot but if even a couple thousand Canadians do the same every little bit helps.

I'm still hopping MLSE will embrace the Argos and make them a prestigious franchise.

8

Toronto media has to understand that at the end of the day, the NFL is playing them. Big time. For dollars, nothing more

You got that right discipline. A lot of people know this by now, they know Toronto needs a NFL only type stadium and without that the NFL isn't likely very interested, nor do I think Rogers or anyone at this point as they realize they can't get the dollars for seats that a smallish stadium like the RC would require. And even though it's small, the sightlines are still more baseball oriented leaving fans for football quite far away.

As I mentioned in the other thread about this article, this writer doesn't have a clue, he thinks defence is secondary to offence in the CFL. What kind of a sports writer would even write something as stupid as this? I have no idea. The guy is obviously looking for hits to his article from us "angry" CFL fans or "angry" Bills fans as he says, he basically alludes to his article as a joke at the end making this reference to angry. I guess the National Post is now along the lines of the National Enquirer in some aspects.

9

Also relevant: The Blue Jays are about to Trade Roy Halliday (best pitcher in baseball). This is the beginning of the end for baseball in Toronto, let alone NFL. Toronto's not even that American since they don't care about Americas pastime.
This is the beginning of the end for baseball in Toronto (see Montreal Expos). Good Riddance.

10

This guy is a tool, an American wanabee with no understanding of sport and frankly which is all too common here in the crazy city of Toronto.

11

I think that a new venue for the Argos will put a lot of these articles and the view that the Boatmen/CFL are dead or dying to rest. Rogers is a lousy place to watch any type of football.
LTF

12

Another thing is that what they don't realize creating articles like this, and they have every right to, I don't have an issue with this, is that what it's drawing attention to more and more is the deficiency of the Rogers Centre as an NFL stadium with discussions like this here. So in a round about way, the NP is doing a disserve to Rogers Corp and not marketing the Bills games in Toronto, actually even pointing out Buffalo is a "weak sister" to Toronto, making more people feel guilty buying a ticket to the Toronto series thinking this will lure the Bills to Buffalo sort of thing and take away little mickey mouse Buffalo's team since Buffalo obviously is a mickey mouse city compared with Toronto, as he basically alludes to.

13

I emailed Mike taube to let him know that in his next article he should mention that he made a mistake about the cfl that is not flickering but that it draws some of the best viewership numbers in the country and from a recent poll it is more popular in this country then the NFL. But I am sure he will not write about that. He mentioned he was a speech writer for Prime Minister, he should of keep doing that instead of writing about sports. I just don't get the "Toronto media" i feel sorry for the Argo owners who have to read this "s**t all of the time.

14

A Toronto team would not be a ratings draw anywhere except Toronto.

Windsor NFL fans will still cheer for the Lions.
Hamilton NFL fans will still cheer for the Bills.
Vancouver NFL fans will still cheer for the Seahawks.
Winnipeg NFL fans will still cheer for the Vikings.

I know the Windsor/Lions etc. stuff is an oversimplification. But IMO, the NFL will attract very few new fans with a team in Toronto, most “new” fans of a Toronto NFL team will simply be Toronto NFL fans switching allegiance to the new local team.

The only thing that will really change is that millions of Canadian NFL fans will have a new least favorite team… the Toronto team.

15

According to this guy, no need to hire a defensive coordinator in the CFL, it's just offence, offence, offence that outshines the defence. I always like the expression that smash mouth football doesn't exist in the CFL. Of course some people are only visual learners and some of the added TV angles from field level of the NFL compared with the CFL could give the impression that we don't have a defensive lineman and linebacker stick it to a running back and knock him dead cold in his tracks. And for slow learners who rely on strictly what they see on the tube, well, I can see how someone might think the CFL doesn't have any smash mouth plays. :wink:

16

perhaps we should have a rule IF Toronto ever got an NFL team... that they must have so many Canadian Players! to go with our Canadian Labour Laws??? :lol: :lol: :thup:

this guys a bum, honestly, who cares what this Conservative ass kisser thinks.

the fact he used to work for Harper is proof enough the guys an idiot.

17

What is sad is that I actually miss the CFL that he is talking about....He obviously has not watched a CFL game in 5 years because the CFL is much more boring lately then he describes...
He should of watched the past season... It was completely devoid of high scoring..... Each team was barely able to average 25 points.....and that's including singles.
The funny thing I find about this article is that he is explaining CFL rules and assumes that everyone knows the NFL rules... Only in Canada.

18

The NP is on the verge of bankruptcy... They are desprate.

19

this is flat out slander to the cfl its players and its fans, there is not one shred of truth , a fictional diarea , one would expect ignorant commentery from simmons and cox. Here is a fact, tha argos defence in the prevouse decade was one of the best defence teams ever in the cfl, perhaps the writer would like to try playing rb for the args, lmao

20

Try as I might, I'm always bored to tears with the Argos. The problem is that the Argos play in the CFL, an inferior product devoid of excitement, strategy, talent and great play.

[url=http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2340684#ixzz0Zm2fCWKg]http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-pape ... z0Zm2fCWKg[/url]