Fake diversity, so it seems, in the CFL according to Convivium

At any rate, it’s such a shame in this world when people are not provided a true opportunity for whatever career or position they desire in whatever capacity due the colour of their skin or their background or nationality or religious beliefs etc. and I’m sure this list could go on and on. For those that don’t feel some resentment towards society as a result or do feel it but are able to deal with it humanely and constructively and non-violently, kudos to them.

I think they were silent because their one and only focus was playing the game. The only obstacles in which they were interested were the very nasty fellows glaring at them from across the line.

:wink:

At any rate, it's such a shame in this world when people are not provided a true opportunity for whatever career or position they desire in whatever capacity due the colour of their skin or their background or nationality or religious beliefs etc. and I'm sure this list could go on and on. For those that don't feel some resentment towards society as a result or do feel it but are able to deal with it humanely and constructively and non-violently, kudos to them.
It is a fact. Almost all sports favor the best athlete available. However, in the USA, one group is favored more by a mile, making it harder to try out and actually make a team for other groups. Not diversified, same as in the CFL. What would the options be? No idea!!! Very difficult area!!

First of all, I don’t think you’ve established that none of them ever spoke about it. You may have left out Chuck Ealey from your list deliberately because of the absurdity of making the statement you did within hours of him doing a live TV interview on topics including that one.

Secondly, the fact that you would consider it “whining” if someone did speak about racial segregation or similar issues is a bit insulting and trivializes the magnitude of the challenges they faced.

Similarly, the fact that you see a celebration of diversity, inclusion and the breaking of barriers as “whining” probably says more about you than you want to admit.

Too bad you never got a chance to meet Muhammad Ali back in his prime so you could have told him just what you thought of all his “whining” about those unfairness issues that he championed. I suppose he couldn’t “do” so he had to “talk.”

Nonsense. I left Chuck Ealey off my list because I didn’t go beyond any player who hadn’t started his career by the fifties. Even a cursory look at my list should have made this obvious.

Chuck Ealey in fact didn’t start playing until I was twenty and all grown up. There’s no way therefore that I’d lump him with the legends from my formative years.

Secondly, the fact that you would consider it "whining" if someone did speak about racial segregation or similar issues is a bit insulting and trivializes the magnitude of the challenges they faced.
I'm sure. Truthfully it's not an issue upon which I dwell. This Mexican partnership thing though made me think back on this previous diversity initiative on Ambrosie's part which I didn't think did anything to increase grass roots interest in the CFL either. So what was the point? To be preachy?
Similarly, the fact that you see a celebration of diversity, inclusion and the breaking of barriers as "whining" probably says more about you than you want to admit.
What it says about me is that I don't like being preached at. Quite simply I wasn't exactly born with a silver spoon in my mouth myself. I never had it easy. Things weren't handed to me either.

Moreover I particularly don’t like being preached at about things I had nothing to do with. Worst of all when the preaching is being done by very rich athletes, and it’s today’s very rich athletes who have taken it upon themselves to do the preaching! Plus a cabal from the spoiled Hollywood crowd which irritates me all the more.

So tell me, are you saying it bothers you not at all when the mega rich tell you that you’re the one who had it easy, you’re the one who’s been privileged all his life?

Too bad you never got a chance to meet Muhammad Ali back in his prime so you could have told him just what you thought of all his "whining" about those unfairness issues that he championed.
Yeah, sure. And for good measure I would have made a few remarks about his mother as well. Incidentally who the hell do you think I am, Wladimir Klitschko?

I’m already in an extremely foul mood because Western lost today. And with those words I’ll now bid you “Good night”. I’m going to bed.

:frowning:

Oh please do share that little nugget of info you got there…what “group” may that be?

Oh please do share that little nugget of info you got there..what "group" may that be?
Okay, Mr. Do. All you have to do is read the roster of players in CFL or NFL, or watch one game or more. Diversity is easy to say but very difficult to define, my definition could be different than others. Soccer/football has diversity, as most pro teams have players from all over the world. Baseball now has great diversity. Room for anyone around the world who has the talent. CFL has a regulation/requirement that so many players on each team be basically non-USA citizens in a effort to encourage Canadians, new or old to have an opportunity to learn, progress and make a CFL team. Not really diversity but a good effort just like the new deal/agreement with Mexico. In the NFL 99% of there players come from college teams in the USA. If not in that program your chances of a try out are slim or none. Realize that football is not played everwhere, and its development is slow. So is it a diversified sport. Probably not. Is it big business and great showcase!! Yes for sure. Cheers as most know this.

Maybe a more defining moniker, if you will, would be as this TVO program from last week suggests, the concept of resilience. A bit easier to define than diversity and resilience is a positive trait related to self-concept especially in a world that can try and take away your self-concept, bring you down, if you aren’t “perfect”, ie. ill in some way, not attractive according to society’s image etc.

The Resilience of the NFL

The Agenda welcomes Maryann Turcke, the National Football League's chief operating officer, to discuss the staying power of arguably the most powerful sports brand going, despite recent controversies.
https://tvo.org/video/programs/the-agenda-with-steve-paikin/the-resilience-of-the-nfl

Certainly I’d say the CFL has been quite resilient over the years without a doubt.

Maybe a more defining moniker, if you will, would be as this TVO program from last week suggests, the concept of resilience. A bit easier to define than diversity and resilience is a positive trait related to self-concept especially in a world that can try and take away your self-concept, bring you down, if you aren't "perfect", ie. ill in some way, not attractive according to society's image etc.

The Resilience of the NFL
https://tvo.org/video/programs/the-agenda-with-steve-paikin/the-resilience-of-the-nfl

Certainly I’d say the CFL has been quite resilient over the years without a doubt.


What a great women and video. She is Canadian and very smart, a must view for all.
NFL is changing big time and backing players and their views. Changes are coming.
The Resilience of the NFL is moving forward. However still a boy’s club. Must include players
from other countries for future growths.

Thanks for this video. She says it all. Cheers

Ok i follow you now…
But I wouldn’t class that as “diversity”
It’s just they do not need to go anywhere else for players and if your talented enough you do get to break into the league.
But I really wouldn’t call that a diversity thing and thats why I assumed you were meaning something else so sorry I assumed so

I would say pro sports doesn’t care all that much about diversity, what they care about is financial growth and beating back negative news like concussions or Kapernick or some domestic violence issue type news, etc. and still move forward and keep enough sponsors and fans happy enough. Who cares about squeaky clean image if the fans continue to follow and sponsors.

Very well said for sure. Point well spoken, cheers

You lost me at Hollywood and very rich athletes. I thought we’ve been talking about the CFL. I’m not sure too many people in Hollywood know anything about the CFL, outside of Dwayne Johnson, Lou Ferrigno and Martin Short.

But no, I can’t say any of that stuff bothers me. I’m pretty sure they are not speaking to me personally. I also don’t think a celebration of diversity and inclusion constitutes “preaching.” I see it as positive messages which, if heard often enough, will help in some small way to change the dialogue and raise society’s consciousness around issues they may not have thought about otherwise.

Just a guess here. I’m thinking you’re not similarly annoyed when the CFL or its partners talk about food banks, breast cancer or child amputees. Somehow it’s only the word “diversity” that gets you going.

That’s correct. The diversity initiative bothers me precisely because it’s political in origin. You yourself admitted so right here:

The NFL built itself up to being the biggest money sports league in the world(?) by avoiding any semblance of politics. It tried to appeal to all, both Republicans and Democrats, and didn’t like it at all when Colin Kaepernick used the platform the NFL had spent $billions building up over the last fifty years to rock the boat and annoy/anger/alienate at least half its fan base.

The CFL should be similarly careful of making political statements. I can’t say anymore or the mods will delete my post again.

:frowning:

And denying opportunities to black quarterbacks - was that political? Or was that just giving the fans what they wanted?

What the bloody hell? I actually seem to recall a whole bunch of black QBs in the NFL, but why are you asking me to expound on details regarding a league in which I have NO interest? And in general why are you obsessing about questions of race in some foreign league where a different game is played than our own? This is a Canadian football forum. (We might ask why CFL coaches are so insistent about turning Canadian QBs into WRs and DBs but that’s a different question.)

The bottom line here and the only relevant point is the NFL has done its level best to be non-political. (This I’ve noticed.) That’s a good policy for not just the NFL but any sports league. Don’t annoy/alienate any potential customers.

And I’ve given some thought to the whole Colin Kaepernick business which seems to have given rise to this initiative on the part of the CFL and I’m prepared to wax eloquent in this regard, but I’m not keen on wasting my time if my post is to be deleted.

So all I’m doing right here is strongly suggesting that the CFL should do its best to stay non-political as well. Do you actually disagree?

???

Sorry I forced you to mention the NFL in your previous post. This will all be deleted anyway, but please allow me to summarize some of your recent arguments as I understand them:

  1. Racist policies (excluding black QBs - yes, it did happen in the NFL - are you really going to argue that point?) are not political. Just the natural order.

  2. Anyone who spoke out about racist policies when they were in place would have been “whining” and should just play the game.

  3. Taking a stand (or a knee) on a personal belief (Kaerpernick) is political. (I agree about that one, but it’s hard to reconcile with the first point)

Hey folks - although this is a politics-centric topic, it is about the CFL and thus we thought the discussion was fair game. I think however that while the discussion was mostly constructive and remained respectful all the way through, we’ve entered ‘beating a dead horse’ territory, so we’ve locked the topic. Thank you all for a good discussion.