Football Is Back - In Canada

by Brandon on Jul 2, 2009 1:00 AM CDT in Green Bay Packers News

I'm always surprised to read about the Canadian Football League. I keep thinking the league was something that happened in the 1970s or 1980s and it isn't around anymore, like the USFL or the ABA. Instead, the CFL keeps on ticking. They kicked off the 2009 season with a game on Wednesday night and the Toronto Argos won.

I was surprised to find that there is a CFL section on Yahoo, but not on ESPN, although the Worldwide Leader in Sports still has a section for the defunct Arena Football League.

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Let's be fair.

The AFL isn’t technically defunct. They plan to come back next year.

This may just be splitting hairs, of course. But I hope they do come back, because arena football is kind of awesome.

Before each game, please remember to feed the bats.

by Cool Hand on Jul 2, 2009 5:59 AM CDT reply actions

CFL

Well, if the CFL had gone defunct, it seems rather unlikely that ex-Packer punter Jon Ryan would have played in it before his cup of coffee with the Packers. Not to mention the other current NFLers who have done a stint in the CFL.

If you were to visit Canada or Canadian media space, you’d see that the CFL is doing just fine. It seems obvious, but i guess it bears mention that the economics are different than with the various American *FLs because the CFL is Canadian. As a Canadian operation, the CFL aims for the domestic market and not the American. That means they don’t really compete with the NFL.

by uglyfatpimplynerd on Jul 2, 2009 10:01 AM CDT reply actions

I always found it weird

that somebody could so intently follow a league with only eight teams. It just doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a deal to win a title in an eight team league. I love hockey, but having only six teams for that long just sounds stupid to me.

With that said, let’s go Alouettes.!

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey

by jobe on Jul 2, 2009 12:10 PM CDT reply actions

Consider if you will...

The NFL had only 8-10 teams for a very long time also. Consider that college football conferences have only had 8-12 teams for, well, forever— it sure seems that the balance of the competition is generally more important for the fans than the number of teams.

One could certainly argue that the American professional sports leagues have over-expanded such that the competitive balance has been harmed.

by NYCPac on Jul 3, 2009 9:56 PM CDT up reply actions