JUST TYPICAL "ANTI CFL AS BIG LEAGUE" ARTICLE FROM

This idiot of a writer has been bashing the CFL and Argos always. In fact, the Toronto Star by far has been the worse and contiues to slag our league and team as non big league.
This, from the Toronto Star which prides itself as "The Canadas Newspaper".
Let's e-mail this tool. Now, here is hig spewing.

Odds on T.O.'s next major title
Jays have inside track over Raptors
Mar. 6, 2006. 06:41 AM
GARTH WOOLSEY

Not that there is an easy answer, but it is a question worth kicking around anyway: Which of the Toronto teams � the Blue Jays, Raptors or Maple Leafs � is the most likely to be first to win a championship?

What's involved here is speculation, voodoo and an earnest effort at assessing not only the current state of the franchises in question, but also their longer-term prospects. And, yes, off the top, it is entirely possible that there will be no championship in the works for T.O. for a long, long time.

The Leafs have been in the wilderness since 1967, the Jays since 1993, the Raptors have never had so much as a sniff. The wait could be interminable.

(As for the Argonauts or Rock or any other team in any other league � congratulations, but you're excused from this forensic examination and reading of the entrails, CSI: Toronto, Pro Sports Division.)

The three operations are at radically different stages of development. The Jays, despite the fact they've had only one winning season in their last five, are laden with positive possibilities, thanks in large part to a free agent spending spree that followed several seasons of deep-down fiscal and competitive cleansing. The patient approach as preached by J.P. Ricciardi and Paul Godfrey has finally reached the stage at which there may be tangible payoffs in the won-lost column.

For what it is worth, the oddsmakers in Nevada have the Blue Jays in the range of 8-to-1 (bet $1 to win $8) to win the American League pennant this season. As they have to come out of the AL East, ahead of either or both of the Red Sox and Yankees, that's a tough job and a realistic number.

As for the baseball gurus, most view the Jays as legitimate, if still outside, contenders. The new players will have to live up to advance billing, Roy Halladay will have to stay healthy, there will have to be better production from the outfield and infield corners and, crucially, the infield defence must withstand the loss of Corey Koskie and especially, Orlando Hudson.

The Jays time may be close, if not now. Their farm system is good, if not great. They may well be in the process of returning to perennial viability in a sport that places value on player development but also allows for wild spending, if Ted Rogers so chooses.

Those same oddsmakers look at the Raptors and come up with a number, any number, so long as it is at least, say, 350-to-1 to win the NBA championship this season. Which is entirely realistic. But the recent signing of a new GM in Bryan Colangelo and the promise of an emergent franchise player in Chris Bosh (with Charlie Villanueva in support) bodes well for the future, longer term. With this franchise "stab-ility" has stood for back-stabbing and the ability to avoid it (or not). Who knows what clear, informed thinking from the top down might accomplish. It is certainly true that given the small NBA rosters and the importance of the draft and salary cap that teams can be turned around relatively quickly.

Which brings us to the Maple Leafs. The oddsmakers, not surprisingly, view them as a fading contender. They've gone from 20-to-1 to win the Stanley Cup to 50-to-1 in a matter of days but most everyone understands their real chances are as remote as, say, Eddie Belfour winning the Vezina.

Realistically, most pre-season forecasts had the Leafs fighting for a playoff position, which is exactly where they stand. But GM John Ferguson Jr.'s off-season signings have been worse than most imagined. Jeff O'Neill is minus-19, Eric Lindros is done for the season, with 11 goals (the same as Mats Sundin); Jason Allison is erratic at best; ditto Alexander Khavanov. Two of team's top three scorers are defencemen, Belfour's save percentage is .891. And, so on.

Whatever long-term hope there is for the Leafs centres around the younger players, but that group hardly inspires wild optimism. When's the last time the Leafs drafted a genuine "franchise" player? At least they have depth at the all-important goaltending position, with Mikael Tellqvist, Justin Pogge and Tuukka Rask.

So ... of the three, odds to be the first to win a title: Jays 5-to-1, Raptors 8-to-1, Leafs 12-to-1. Chance that none will do it in the next 10 years? Say, even money.

Canadas ' newspaper....what a joke....if they can't see past the end of their nose...how can they have any credibility.....not even a mention of the Argos....thats bullcrap ....I think the paper sounds like IT IS 'out in the wilderness'....with blinders on hoping to find an NFL franchise they can recognize... 8)

.........you two are being too sensitive.......this writer isn't dissing the argos by excluding them from this article, nor is he dissing the Rock or any other sports team........he made if very clear he was just going to examine the NHL, MLB and NBA......maybe he is a numbnuts that pays no attention to the CFL, but you certainly can't make that assumption off the contents of this article alone.......

Pappa I agree! Wow that was easy!

Red, you have to know this guy and this definitely is an anti CFL/Argos are not considered major league rant.
Oh yes, Papa you are right on.

.......ok tom, I'll take you word for it as you know him better than I.......

Its certainlly not flattering to exclude the Argos/CFL. If the media showed more enthusiasm it would encourage other people to give the league the chance it deserves. I mean, I watched both the Superbowl and GreyCup, and if I had to choose one league to follow based off those games, then the CFL would win hands down!!

how can you just excuse something like the CFL and the NLL? especially the CFL, one of Canada's many great culture institutions. What a moron.

ArgoTom....provide us with an e-mail address we can send our displeasure to. Negative media hype has to be shot down, otherwise the assumption is public opinion stands with him.

:shock:

I don't see why we have to get our shorts in a knot over this article. There is no disrespect aimed at the Argos, Rock, CFL or NLL, nor should any be taken. The point of the article was which of the Jays, Raptors or Leafs would be most likely to win a title first. The point also is that winning a title in any of those 3 leagues is inherently more difficult than what the Argos or Rock face.

I'm not taking anything away from the Argos Cup win in 2004 or from the many titles the Rock have piled up in their short existence. But the fact remains that those titles are not the ones that get noticed by the mainstream (read: US) media of the Sports landscape.

This article was merely focusing on those three leagues. Of course the Argos, and to a lesser degree the Rock, have a strong profile in Toronto and in Canada, but a Stanley Cup or World Series win would carry much more significance.

…Simply by not even recognizing or make mention of the fact that this league …CFL. and the Argos… EVEN EXISTS… .should be enough to perplex you Hourus…This paper and this article …just represents what is wrong with the media in this country…narrow vision…if you choose to colour it over …and make excuses for them…all in the name of …'well maybe the content focus ’ was not about the Argos…and the league… well…thats the way you choose to look at…I look at it differently…when you totally ignore…continually shuffle the CFL TO THE BACK OF THE BUS…and fail to give it any status at all…I would say you are guilty of ignorance and border on insult… when will these media people open their eyes…thats my take on it and my rant…I feel better now… :slight_smile:

I love the Jays and the Marlins, but if any pro league should be treated like a bush league, it should be MLB and the Jays IMO. MLB is really a pro "league". They should just go ahead and meaged both the National and American leagues, their pretty much one league as it is. I'll reconised them as a pro league when they do, not before.

I wouldn't take this as a rejection of the Argos. Look at this objectively, there are only 9 teams in this league, its easier for a team to win the Grey Cup than it is to win in the other major sports.

....how does winning ...or losing easier....make your league any less recognizable than anyone elses...don't agree with that point....I think you have to look at content....to get profile....and that seems to be escaping a lot of media people... :roll:

Let’s look at the title of the article.

Odds on T.O.'s next major title
Jays have inside track over Raptors

Now, let’s look at the first paragraph.

Not that there is an easy answer, but it is a question worth kicking around anyway: Which of the Toronto teams � the Blue Jays, Raptors or Maple Leafs � is the most likely to be first to win a championship.

I’m sorry that you found the article insulting. They did say major championship, like it or not but the reality is that the CFL is not a major sports league. I believe that the author eliminated the CFL on that basis. Facts take precendent over emotion here. Sorry.

......I agree, some of you are still reading too much into this one article and getting your underwear all knotted up over nothing.........big deal, so the guy wants to write about the NHL, MLB, NBA and doesn't mention the CFL.....woo woo, call the canadian cultural police, we're offended......seriously, get a grip on yourselves............KK, as for your take on the MLB, try reading about the history of the AL and the NL before your ridiculous opinions reveal your narrowmindedness again, and again, and again.....

What fun would the article be if you threw the Argos in. The obvious pick would then be the Argos since they've been near the top the last few years. End of article. At least with those three teams who seem lately to constantly lose it's a bit tougher to speculate who will win the big one. Certain posters shoud just stop worrying about the media and stop looking for every little thing that might snub the CFL. The CFL is a great league and many fans on here know it and many fans across Canada (and some in the States) know it as well. The league fanbase has been growing over the years and it is becoming more prominent in the media. Maybe you should just leave it at that and realize that not everyone will like the CFL, for different reasons, or they just haven't come around to it yet.

mind you, the American League (why the heck is a team from TORONTO playing in it I’ll never know) has only 14 or 16 teams (same goes for the National League). No far from the CFL’s nine.

I have, and I don’t like it, and I have a right to say so and the honor to say it on here.

and if you look at the history, you will see that the leagues have been getting closer to a meaged each year (they had separate comissors untill the 1990’s when those posistions were aboulust to favor a untied MLB one), My question is, why don’t they just do it and be done with it already?

Baseball is bush, plain and simple. Too bad it didn’t have a real rival 3nd league to challenge the others.

Dude, there is a MLB championship series called the World Series. This is for all of MLB. There is also cross-over games between the National and American leagues. The national and american leagues are not separate but together comprise MLB. It’s just like the AFC and NFC in the NFL.

The reason the american league has 14 teams and the national league has 16 teams is so the schedule stays even. MLB teams play almost every night and play 3 or 4 game series at a time. This allows every team to be playing at a given night.

fair enough, but I heard that there was talk of the Dimondbacks crossing over to the American league. Don’t know about that today, cuz that was going on during the talking o folding the Twins and Expos (another reason I call MLB bush).

I wouuld just like to see them go by a diffrent name than MLB, like Continenal Baseball Assosiation or something (to keep the old National and American League names intact) and rename the World Series.