TUESDAY COMMENTARY – THE CFL’S AMERICAN BIAS

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary at 9:50 am and 5:20 pm on Cat Country 98 FM)

OUTSIDE OF THE NHL, THE NUMBER-TWO TOPIC IN CANADIAN SPORTS THIS WEEK REMAINS THE CFL/XFL NEWS.

COMMISSIONER RANDY AMBROSIE DROPPED A BOMB LAST WEEK THAT THE TWO LEAGUES ARE EXPLORING A COLLABORATION BUT PROVIDED LITTLE OTHER DETAILS.

NICE WORK BY AMBROSIE BY THE WAY, OF CREATING A BUZZ.

I’VE WRITTEN AND SAID PLENTY ABOUT IT AND MY THOUGHTS HAVEN’T CHANGED; WE ARE HEADED TO A FULL-ON MERGER OF THE TWO LEAGUES PERHAPS AS EARLY AS 2022.

PURISTS ARE HOWLING FROM VICTORIA TO ST. JOHN ABOUT LOSING THE CANADIAN RULES AND I GET IT. BUT NONE OF THEM MATTER AS MUCH AS THE VAUNTED, HISTORIC CANADIAN RATIO.

EACH CFL TEAM’S ROSTER IS REQUIRED TO BE MADE UP OF ROUGHLY 40% CANADIANS BUT WHEN THE CFL PLAYED WITH EXPANSION U-S TEAMS IN THE 90’S, THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT WOULDN’T ALLOW THE RATIO AS IT VIOLATED ANTI-TRUST (COMPETITION) LAWS.

NOTHING’S CHANGED THERE SO IF THIS BECOMES A 17-TEAM LEAGUE IN BOTH COUNTRIES, I SEE NO WAY AROUND ABOLISHING THE RATIO.

BUT I’M WILLING TO LISTEN TO SOLUTIONS. SOME OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS – INCLUDING CHRIS GETZLAF AND LUC MULLINDER – HAVE SAID THEY NEVER WOULD’VE HAD A PRO CAREER IF NOT FOR THE RATIO AND THE OPPORTUNITY IT AFFORDED.

PSST … (NO ONE EVER TOLD THEM, BUT THEY WERE JUST AS GOOD AS THE AMERICANS).

NO, WHAT CANADIAN PLAYERS BATTLE IS THE BIAS OF THEIR AMERICAN COACHES; THAT U-S TRAINED PLAYERS ARE JUST THAT MUCH BETTER THAN CANADIANS.

CHASE CLAYPOOL, DAKODA SHEPLEY, DAVID ONYEMATA, TEVAUGHN CAMPBELL, JOHN METCHIE, JOSHUA PALMER AND NEVILLE GALLIMORE DISAGREE.

MAYBE WE HAVE A COACHING PROBLEM IN THE CFL, NOT A RATIO PROBLEM.

I SAY THAT TONGUE-IN-CHEEK BUT I’M NOT SURE THERE’S A CANADIAN COACH ON THE ROUGHRIDERS STAFF. SOME OF THE GREAT CANADIAN COACHES I’VE KNOWN AND WORKED WITH OVER THE YEARS INCLUDE WALLY BUONO, CAL MURPHY, JIM DALEY, GREG MARSHALL, BOBBY DYCE, MIKE BENEVIDES, ALEX SMITH, MIKE O’SHEA, MARC MUELLER, AND MANY, MANY MORE.

WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS ELIMINATE THE STIGMA AGAINST CANADIAN PLAYERS BEFORE WE DO ANYTHING ELSE. THEN, WE CAN PROCEED.

THE FACT IS I’M A HOCKEY GUY, NOT NECESSARILY A FOOTBALL GUY, BUT IN A PARALLEL WORLD THE AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE NEVER HAD A QUOTA FOR AMERICAN PLAYERS DESPITE MOST OF THEIR TEAMS BEING IN THE USA.

 

THINK ABOUT IT.

 

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY ON CAT COUNTRY 98.

24-hour Sports Talk Live NOW! Listen here -> RodPedersen.com/ListenLive

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Jon Dough
Jon Dough
3 years ago

What I absolutely love about these commentaries based on where we are as a society is simple: There is no religion higher than truth I have followed the CFL since 1982. There has not been one instance, not one where I’ve ever concerned myself with a Canadian Ratio. In fact hockey pointed me that way. I can vividly recall in one of Don Cherry’s lucid moments he was upset about the Soviet Union players coming over here. A 28 year old rookie Sergie Makarov made the league better, Larionov, Fetisov, etc., etc., etc., and under his thinking we would not… Read more »

E Wilhelm
E Wilhelm
3 years ago

Until someone can show that Americans are actually interested in spring football, the record shows otherwise. The Rock’s connections with NBC Sports may be great but they’ve gone down this road before with Vince McMahon’s XFL. McMahon already ran a sports empire that, according to Forbes, hauls in $1B in annual revenues. There’s little doubt he is extremely business savvy. So why shouldn’t there be considerable skepticism about a merger? I don’t doubt it could happen. But a roaring success? Not the first time this was a “sure thing”.