Seasoned open with Toronto winning 27-10 over Saskatchewan in front of 27,000 at Skydome. Bashir Levingston returned a missed field goal 105 yds for an Argos TD. Nealon Greene, the Riders QB, left the game with a broken leg. He's likely out for the rest of the season.
On that new turf, no less. It probably would've happened on any other surface, anyway. But seriously, 27,000? That's the first bit of good news in Toronto since the new ownership took over the club.
The new field is one that is designed to be laid specifically for the Argos. It's removed and goes back to Astroturf for the Jays.
27,000 is good for the Argo's now days, looks like the new owner may be turning things around. Any word on a TV deal for us poor saps in the lower half of the USA? Go Gold Miners!
Ask and you shall receive: http://www.cfl.ca/CFLSchedules04/international.html If you have DirecTV or live in the New York area (like me), you're all set. Rock!
Ottawa knocks off Winnipeg 37-25 as Renegades QB Kerry Joseph threw for one TD and ran for another. Not bad for a guy who didn't start his football carrer as a QB.
If you live in Upstate NY, or can get the Empire Sports Network, you're good to go for the CFL. The TSN Friday Night game will be broadcast weekly, at least through the summer, and if there are no Sabre hockey games come hockey season, it should run live then as well. I'm guessing if there are other comittments then the CFL will be shown on a delay, though there is nothing official there. Empire will also show playoff games (no word yet on how many), and the Grey Cup. It's on now, BC vs. Hamilton. BC up at the end of the first quarter, 1-0.
Sloppy, poorly-played game. It looked like they could've used a couple more pre-season games. But once they got their sea legs, it was on. And the result was better than 90% of NFL games.
No doubt Danny Mac saved the Lions with4 TD passes in that 38-36 victory. The Esks got creamed 33-9 By the Als in a rematch in Montreal I don't think Jason Mass should be the choice QB. Sportsnet is going to have 5 games on TV this season on a restriced regional basis. The talk of expansion is back in the air. http://www.sportsnet.ca/cfl/shownews.jsp?content=f062004A
Don't any of the sports bars in your neck of the woods have DirecTV? I mean, most of these games are on Friday nights. And if you're anything like me, you spend your Friday nights watching football and you have no life.
Interesting idea. They do need a 10th team to balance everything out, so hopefully this works out. I was actually thinking about something like this watching the game on Friday night, and maybe someone here can help out. When the CFL did their ill-fated American expansion in the 90s, why was Buffalo never considered? Was there a non-compete deal with the NFL or something like that, since it seems that Buffalo might be a good market for the Canadian game.
Larry Smith, then-Commissioner and later President of the Alouettes, had the inspiration of a Super CFL. He envisioned a 24-team league, with 10 clubs in the United States. Originally, the idea was to place teams in smaller Northern US markets that were not on the NFL's radar. Syracuse, Rochester, Grand Rapids, Spokane, and Portland were the kind of cities he had in mind. However, at the time, the CFL was in difficult financial shape and in desperate need of an infusion of cash. Therefore, they admitted anyone who was interested and could pay the $3,000,000 expansion fee. And in the case of Shreveport, even without the expansion fee. Of course, the experiment was essentially a failure in every way and the league was in worse financial shape afterward. CanadianSoccer.com had an article written in Spring 1997 that outlined a possible Canadian Soccer League. In it, the author states that the imminent demise of the CFL was a fact and that the CSL could fill the void in the summer months left by the former. Only with the help of the NFL and TSN was the CFL able to survive and, now, is better off than it has been in 20 years. Perhaps because Smith worked for him, the owner of the Alouettes brooched the notion of a second US experiment last year. This time, with the league on more stable footing, they could try to follow Larry Smith's original blueprint. I could be crazy, but I've noticed that the league is lately getting games on TV in New York. Perhaps to test the waters?
The first time the CFL went outside the border was when the Bombers and Stamps had an exhibition in Portland. Baltimore was the only sucessful side of the US experiment largely for two reasons: 1) Fans still pissed about the Colts and the NFL. 2) Having an all-star team.
Here's a site that goes about the "American Experiment" http://oursportscentral.com/cflinamerica/ ESPN2 used to carry CFL games around this time.
I remember because I used to watch them. I enjoyed following the CFL when we had a few teams, I would still follow it if they showed games in the US (outside the Northeast).
Week 1 Toronto 21 Saskatchewan 10 Ottawa 37 Winnpieg 25 Hamilton 38 B.C. 36 Montreal 33 Edmonton 9 Calgary 33 Saskatchewan 10 Week 2 Ottawa 20 Toronto 10 Hamilton 32 Winnpeg 22 B.C. 41 Edmonton 34 Montreal 32 Calgary 14
Week 3 Ottawa beats Edmonton 44-15 as Renegades QB Kerry Joseph throws for 3 TD's and runs in 3 more. Henry Burris throws for 4 TD's and runs for another as Saskatchewan beats B.C. 42-29. Montreal tops Toronton 19-9. Ezra Landry returns a missed FG 110 yds for an Alouette TD. Hamilton beats Calgary 41-34 on 4 TD's from Danny McManus.
Madison Sqaure Garden Network had the Montreal - Ottawa game on at 12 AM last night. the montreal "stadium" looks like a high school field
a lot of canadians go to bills games. i asked a woman from surrey, ontario at a bills game about the cfl. she called it the childrens football league.
I know. "American wannabes" I've heard them called. The only people on this earth that are possibly more pathetic than Europoseurs. Rather than enjoy an institution that is as iconic to the Canadian character as the maple leaf itself, they'd prefer to watch our football league. You'll find that this same cultural sickness has manifested itself in popular "Canadian" television. In a given week, something like eight of the top ten shows on Canadian television are American. It's really sad.
It's actually a college field, (McGill University), but in any event, they've had 48 straight sellouts with capacities ranging from 17,000-20,000 due to ongoing renovations. The TSN guys seemed to like the stadium, gives a nice atmosphere, and I don't know how popular the Alouettes are in Montreal, so maybe it's better to play in a sold-out college field, then a half-filled Olympic Stadium. In any event, here are the week 4 scores. Winnipeg 32 Saskatchewan 15 Montreal 46 Ottawa 22 Edmonton 25 BC 9 Toronto 34 Hamilton 6 Montreal is the lone undefeated at 4-0. Hamilton and Ottawa are both 3-1, and Toronto is 2-2. The West is a virtual tie. Calgary and Winnipeg are 1-2, BC, Edmonton, and Saskatchewan are 1-3.
"Half filled" Olympic Stadium.... nope. When the Baltimore Stallions moved to Montreal when the US experiment died, they played at Olympic Stadium. They did horrible. For a playoff game, the O was in use, so they moved to the small Molson Stadium for the game. The game had a great atmosphere in the center of town, and fans loved it. For the next year, they went to the Molson Stadium fulltime. Immediately they became a hot ticket. No more 'oh, I can buy a ticket at the gate' when they played in the 40,000+ seat Olympic Stadium. Now, you had to buy in advance. Ticket demand and prices went up. And the atmosphere is just so much better. They're still doing renovations. Capacity is over 20,000 now, and it's to the point that fan interest in the Larks is so high, that they've twice moved the Eastern Division Final to the Big O where they would get 40,000-50,000. And this year, they're even moving the final game of the regular season, against Ottawa, to the Big O as well. As for the stadium looking like a high school stadium, most stadiums in the CFL can be classified one of two ways: 20,000-30,000 outdoor stadiums that are basically 'two stands' with artificial turf with soccer lines as well. Or, domed stadiums with capacities too large to be filled for anything less than the Grey Cup (BC, TOR, and MTL). Edmonton is the only exception. They have a 60,000+ outdoor stadium with a grass field. For all Grey Cups at smaller venues, they always bring in about 10,000-20,000 seat portable stands to increase capacity. Sykotyk