There have barely been any American posters here over the years, but these last two seasons have seen a lot more.
What do you think the reason is? It certainly can’t all be because of Manziel - he’s not even in the league anymore.
The only real issue I have is that our game has been around longer than theirs, and yet they come here acting like “what’s this new thing, and why is it different from the game I know?”. Which I find a tad belittling. I have no issue with American’s at all. I served with them in Afghanistan, and made lifelong friendships - along with also having American born family. There’s no hate here at all.
So please share your thoughts on the sudden expanded interest in the CFL south of the border.
I think Manziel brought some American eyes to the game. The game itself is good enough to have kept them here (although many who were just here for JM have left).
The world wide way to idenditfy who Cananadian Nationals are by citizenship. Like every other sport in the world.
Alot of guys who played in the Cfl & kids were born in Canada. As well as having a Canadian born parent. Giving players duaul citizenship.
The demise of these US fly by night alternative US leagues that have come & go.
CFL is not a US Football league and has been around as long as NFL for a century w/o any disruption.
Players from down south know the league will be there. & has its own National coverage.
ESPN has been back in showing all CFL games on a variety of media platforms. So people in US can follow players from college & onward.
Among other things.
Including the NCAA now fully invested in recruiting Canadian
Hs players
I was one of those early here I guess. I’ve been watching since the 2008 Grey Cup, and I’ve been here since 2010 and before mainstream television coverage of regular season games in the US.
What a great country and great game that I have begun to like more than American football in general.
ESPN has a whole lot to do with the exposure though I think it is less on the regular channels this year.
See the related thread, for Disney+ will include ESPN+ and I see upside for more eyes from the south via that offering than currently.
I think a lot of Americans were introduced to the CFL during the failed expansion experiment, and liked it so much they continued to follow it after the league retreated.
But probably the biggest factor is that ESPN coverage has made the league accessible to those south of the border. Football-crazed Americans who by July are pulling their hair out (much like we do in May) see that there’s a version of their favourite game on TV, and watch it. Naturally, they fall in love with our brand of gridiron football (let’s face it: who wouldn’t?) and become hooked.
But initially, there’s a lot of head scratching over the rules. Some react to that by suggesting that the rules change (actually, there have been a lot of Canadians doing the same, certain rules in particular). Others react by asking questions (remember that Challenger nge guy?) to gain understanding. Neither of these is that bad, especially when they end up developing a love for our particular brand of football.
I remember a guy who went by the moniker “Kanga Kucha” – a Bomber fan from the U.S. who had all kinds of crazy ideas for how the rules should be changed. Not to make it more like the NFL, but to make it like some wild game he had concocted in his own imagination. He would make hundreds of posts a week, and believed that he was always right because he had posted by far more than anyone else. He was expelled several times, and always reappeared under a different name; but you could always tell it was him because within a couple of days he had a few hundred posts, and he would claim that his arguments were accurate by insisting that “it’s ture.”
As an American who joined the forums a year ago, I can relate my experience, which probably means nothing.
I was always aware of the CFL, but hadn't watched any games until the NFL strike in the 80s, and TV networks decided to show some CFL games. I enjoyed the hell out of it! I remember short pieces on the different rules and a few on the quirks of the game (see Tie Me UP, Tie Me Down).
Around 15-20 years ago, I started following NCAA players that ended up in the League. I very rarely found a game to watch, but I did follow in print. I discovered these forums, but didn't sign up, satisfied to check in once in awhile to see what the fans were saying.
A few years ago, ESPN started broadcasting more games, so I was able to watch them more frequently, but still not enough to actually follow the season. Once ESPN started broadcasting all of them, I REALLY got interested in following the league and subscribed to ESPN+ to be sure I didn't miss any. I finally decided I might actually be able to contribute something to the conversations (yeah, I know, very little something), so I signed up for the forums last year.
One side note: the Johnny Footnote experiment did indeed bring a bunch of Americans' eyes to the game and many are still hanging around; most have left. I still don't have any idea why he has such a large bunch of fanboys/girls following him, but I'm glad the distraction is gone.
…thanks, just thanks…I had, to date, successfully forgotten about this dark period in the CFL.ca forum’s existence…dude got very-banned and still had the highest post count for about four or five years afterwards…
