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Joe MacCarthy

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  1. Haha
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from BuzzAndSting in Gold Cup 2019   
    Despite this fellows penchant for the ridiculous, it should be noted that, in an interview, Liam Millar basically said on watching the USA, "they're no better than we are".  We shall see, hopefully both Millar and Philly Cream Cheese will be vindicated.
  2. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    Just to provide a little clarity, BC has the last "old school" owner in the league.  While he pays the bills on time, David Braley is not known for progressive thinking.  He basically allowed the Argos to wither on the vine while sitting out the sale of the Argos to MLSE.  In the past, his charity and largesse has saved teams in the league many a time but his fastidiousness in ownership has deeply tarnished his once highly respected reputation.
    Fortunately he did hire former Esk Rick LaLecheur as President and he has been implementing some marketing strategies to stem the slide.
    As for the Als, football is still popular in Quebec and if Johnny "Canadian" Football can make inroads this year I think you'll see the fans come back there, Toronto is unfortunately another story.  I've seen too many miracle comebacks in the CFL, and Toronto has been one of the places, but as of now things look grim.  But people should learn to never count out the little league that could.
    From the article...
    The Lions just arrested a seven-year annual decline at the B.C. Place Stadium turnstiles. Back in 2011, they averaged 29,725 fans per game. The next season, after winning the Grey Cup, they cracked the 30,000 mark, and hovered around 28,000 the next two seasons before falling off a cliff to 21,000. This year’s average gate was a mere 117 fans more than 2017, but at least it was an increase.
    Montreal (17,332) and Toronto (14,211) were the only cities worse than Vancouver, in terms of paid attendance, and the Als actually plan on constricting their seating nearly 15 per cent to make the game-day atmosphere more intimate.
    The rest of the league has remained stable — highlighted by Hamilton and Ottawa both selling more than 94 per cent capacity of their stadiums — and an average of around 24,000 fans across the league.
    And then there’s the fortress of Saskatchewan — which averaged 32,057 fans per game this season — with new Mosaic Stadium at 96 per cent capacity.
    ...
    For us, we’re continuing to draw in a younger fan base, we’ve put in a lot of emphasis in marketing back to kids these past couple of years, and seen some tremendous success and growth.”
    The league said Friday that TV ratings this season were up five per cent, with an average of 730,000 tuning in for CFL games. More importantly, they were up 15 per cent in the 18-49 demographic.
    This comes on the heels of a study done last year by brand analytics firm IMI International, which said there was a five per cent leap in the number of millennials — the 18-34 year old age bracket — identifying as fans of the CFL, the largest jump of any North American pro league.
    And with three more years remaining on the TSN/RDS broadcast deal with the CFL — which doles out around $4M per team each season, covering the lions’ share of a $5.2M salary cap — there’s still sunshine peaking through those grey-haired clouds.
  3. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in New Canadian stadiums   
    Schooners plan enters ‘critical’ stretch
    Dave Naylor tsn.ca February 4 2019
    The group hoping to establish a 10th CFL franchise in Atlantic Canada expects to know whether or not its vision will become a reality by late spring.
     
    “These next three or four months are critical,” said Anthony LeBlanc, one of Maritime Football Ltd.’s three principles. “We will have a go or no-go by the mid-point of this year, which is about two years since we first started meeting about this project.”
     
    Although there has been little in the way of news from the CFL’s eastern exploration of late, things continue to evolve behind the scenes.
     
    The group is working closely with the municipality to refine a deal that is expected to go before regional council for debate and a vote in the late spring.
     
    “We have finalized what the approach is going to be and are working with administration to put together a package that can be reviewed,” said LeBlanc.
     
    That approach is expected to position the stadium as a year-round community asset (it will be domed in winter), with strong involvement from Sport Nova Scotia to expand the focus beyond 10 CFL dates per year.
     
    One significant refinement since the group presented its vision to council late last fall concerns the stadium project, which has been scaled back from a facility expected to cost in the $180 million range to one targeted at $130 million.
     
    That means a simpler design, less along the lines of the CFL’s Cadillac stadiums in Regina or Winnipeg and more along the lines of the original construction of BMO Field in Toronto.
     
    The change was in response to a suggestion from Halifax mayor Mike Savage who promoted the idea of a facility that could be expanded or enhanced years down the road.
     
    As for the stadium’s proposed Shannon Park location in Dartmouth, LeBlanc said negotiations are ongoing.
     
    “We are in continued discussions with Canada Lands over Shannon Park but there has been no formalized agreement yet,” said LeBlanc.
     
    The first CFL game played in Atlantic Canada since 2013 is scheduled for Aug. 25 when the Toronto Argonauts “host” the Montreal Alouettes. The location of that game is yet to be determined, but it won’t be in Halifax due to the lack of a suitable facility.
     
    Saint John or Moncton (N.B.) and Antigonish (N.S.) all remain possibilities with a decision expected by mid-February.
     
    In January, it was reported that Eric Tillman was leaving his post as general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and was expected to be hired as the Atlantic Schooners’ top football executive.
     
    LeBlanc said the group has decided to delay any football hiring until after the resolution of the stadium project.
  4. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in New Canadian stadiums   
    New proposal would replace McMahon Stadium with indoor field house, arena
    Eva Ferguson The Calgary Herald January 29, 2019

    An ambitious plan to replace McMahon Stadium with a new field house and adjoining practice facility was put before city councillors behind closed doors Monday, with former mayoral candidate Bill Smith behind the push.
    The McMahon District Development — Calgary Rising is proposing the project as a collaboration between PBA Land and Development, the University of Calgary and the City, with the hopes of collecting up to $67 million in property taxes annually.
    “There’s a great opportunity here to combine two pieces of land and create a development in conjunction with the city and the university . . . with a goal to have this pay for itself through tax revenue,” said Smith, a Calgary lawyer and former president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party who ran against Mayor Naheed Nenshi in the 2017 municipal election.
    “We have several strategies in place to get support and funding from the private sector, but we want to be sure we have support first,” Smith said.
    The proposal aims to “change the face of northwest Calgary” on a 100-acre property bordered by Crowchild Trail, 24th Avenue, 16th Avenue and University Drive N.W.
    The new indoor stadium would be situated on the northeast corner of the site, close to where the Foothills baseball stadium is now, with a connected practice field/facility to the north. The new facility would also provide indoor competitive track and field facilities and a new home for both the Calgary Stampeders and U of C Dinos football clubs.
    The proposal also envisions two new hockey arenas, including one with 6,500 seats at the centre of the site, competitive aquatic facilities in the northwest corner closer to the university’s entrance and several retail and residential buildings on the site’s north and south edges.

    Patricia Phillips, CEO with PBA Land, said the project’s retail and entertainment district is inspired by PBA’s Calgary Rising luxury hotel development called The Dorian, which officially announced construction this summer touting a $100-million boost to the local economy.
    “This project will allow us to access 100 acres of land, and do something worthwhile,” Phillips said. “So, it’s no longer a cost burden to the public, it’s revenue generating.”
    Phillips explained the project’s proximity to the Foothills Medical Centre, the Children’s Hospital, SAIT and the University of Calgary also provides an opportunity for further collaboration among those institutions.
    “A project of this nature and magnitude has the ability to attract private sector investment and decrease the amount of capital required by the public sector,” she said.
    Coun. George Chahal said he is open to a proposal for a new field house, something he says the city has needed for years, but he wants to be careful about how it’s funded.
    “The field house is an extremely important project for all Calgarians. It’s the one project that provides benefits to all Calgarians and enhances opportunities for sport,” Chahal said after a closed-door session where council examined a number of major infrastructure proposals.
    “But we have to see what is the vision, and how does it become a catalyst of a future development in that community.
    “All the projects have different funding challenges and constraints. We’re in tough economic times right now. We have to make tough decisions and we have to be fiscally prudent,” he said.
    The McMahon District proposal touts a new vision that “could also welcome new activities and teams to Calgary as the face of sport continues to change with our demographics.”
    According to the pitch, “the lands are currently under-utilized and can be turned into a solid revenue producer for the City and the University through appropriate development. Preliminary estimates show tax revenue from the lands once developed will pay for recreational facilities within 15-20 years.
    “This investment for acutely needed recreational facilities has a clear payback horizon,” the plan says.
  5. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from LAK in CPL TV Contract   
    CTV has about a 20 percent larger reach than TSN.  And with people cutting the cord (cord cutters) or young people who have never had cable on their own (cord nevers) that number is increasing.
    OTA (Over the air) reception is increasing but I'm curious, how many people here use an antenna to get OTA signals?  I know if I was in the GTA I'd be doing it and not paying for cable.  I haven't had cable most of my life anyway
  6. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    Schooners, Admirals, Storm: Suggestions roll in for Halifax CFL team
    Francis Campbell Chronicle Herald November 8 2018

    The major hurdle in landing a CFL team in Halifax hasn’t changed in nearly 40 years.

    “The most important question and the biggest elephant in the room is a place to play,” Anthony LeBlanc, one of three principal partners in Maritime Football Ltd., told a group of government officials and media at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at Saint Mary’s University to launch season-ticket and name-the-team drives.

    The Atlantic Schooners, the Admirals, the Storm — a few of the names bandied about by LeBlanc at the news conference — need a field to call home.

    “For this to become a reality, we have to have a stadium,” LeBlanc said. “We have started those conversations with Halifax Regional Municipality, with the province. We have been working an enormous amount of time on finding the right location. It took us longer than we expected but we couldn’t be happier with where we are right now.”

    Where they are right now is Shannon Park. The group had previously announced it was negotiating with Canada Lands Company, the Crown corporation tasked with remediating and dispersing surplus military property, to secure an eight-hectare piece of land in Dartmouth’s Shannon Park on which to build a $190-million 24,000-seat stadium.

    The ownership group plans to contribute a significant amount of private capital toward the purchase of the Shannon Park property and has approached HRM with a tax increment financing proposition in which the new stadium would provide a catalyst for other development in the park, with much of the property tax for the stadium and other developments being deferred to finance the stadium.

    Municipal staff will do a number-crunching study and return to council with a recommendation in about six months.

    Bruce Bowser, another principle Maritime Football Ltd. partner, said Shannon Park was his preferred site from Day 1.

    “I grew up in the Shannon Park community, my father was in the military,” Bowser said of the site that had been used for military housing for a half-century before the federal Defence Department declared it surplus in 2003.

    Bowser, president of AMJ Campbell Van Lines who now lives in Toronto, said the harbourside location could follow the the Lansdowne Park model, a 16-hectare urban park, sports, exhibition and entertainment facility in Ottawa that also provides a stadium for the CFL’s Redblacks to play.

    “They’ve taken the whole notion of having a stadium outside of the city and put in a prime piece of land, which I think Shannon Park is. It’s on the waterfront. I use this notion of live, work and play. I can see a future where you have a football stadium anchoring a beautiful piece of land, with parkland around there, residential, condominiums and townhouses being built by the waterfront, restaurants making it a fun place to be.”

    Support gets monetary

    A team, even one shy of a stadium, requires a name and season-ticket holders.

    “We are here today to announce that we are kicking off a season-ticket drive as well as an opportunity to name Atlantic Canada’s future CFL team,” LeBlanc said.

    Fans can make a $50 deposit as of Wednesday to Ticketmaster.ca, ensuring them a place on the priority list for seat selection on a first-come, first-served basis. There’s a limit of 10 season tickets per account. A season-ticket membership also secures a ticket discount of 20 per cent to 40 per cent over the single-game ticket price.

    LeBlanc said ticket prices will be announced in advance of the club’s inaugural season but he has hinted that tickets will range from $25 to $30 for a single ticket in the upper deck to several hundred dollars for club seating. The goal is to sell at least half the stadium seats as season tickets.

    “If you make a season-ticket deposit, you’ll also be able to participate in selecting the name for Canada’s next CFL team,” LeBlanc said.

    LeBlanc had previously said the team will be named Atlantic, followed by another name to be determined. Fans will be provided with a short list of four options — Admirals, Convoy, Schooners and Storm — as well as the opportunity to submit their own favourite name.

    LeBlanc and company plan on announcing the team name on Nov. 23 at a Grey Cup party in Edmonton, simulcast back to Halifax. Those who select the winning team name will be entered into a pot and one person’s name will be drawn and awarded two lifetime season tickets.

    League commissioner Randy Ambrosie said a CFL team in Halifax is the unfinished piece of business that has been on the hearts and minds of Canadian football fans for decades, “the opportunity to truly be a coast-to-coast league, to have that 10th franchise, to end up having two five-team divisions.”

    LeBlanc said he will have a more concrete financial proposal to bring to city staff in the next three or four weeks. He said a stadium will take about 18 to 22 months to build, generating an estimated $137-million contribution to the municipality’s gross domestic product during construction, including $103 million in labour income.

    LeBlanc said it is imperative that the stadium be used 12 months of the year and suggested two ideas to make that happen — a full-time ice rink in the centre of the field from Dec. 1 on that could be used for public skating and hockey programs or a dome that could accommodate other indoor sports.

    LeBlanc said the goal is to field a team by 2021, with the possibility of starting a season in Moncton while the Halifax stadium is under construction.
  7. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from jpg75 in NEW Mother of all Canucks Abroad (and domestic)   
    This is the link where the Moaca began to change  from the start it was given by CdnSupporter at BigSoccer, to my wanting to clarify it more.
    The above evolved into this
    Found the list on the other board. Looks like G-L had the idea before I did.
  8. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    Why Halifax could know more about a potential CFL team in coming weeks
    Philip Croucher StarMetro Halifax Oct. 9, 2018
    HALIFAX—Halifax could know by month’s end if the city is running towards the end zone or taking a sack when it comes to a potential CFL stadium and team.
    According to TSN’s Dave Naylor, Halifax regional councillors are expected to get an update on Halifax potentially building an outdoor stadium and becoming the CFL’s 10th team by month’s end.
    In an interview segment from Monday, Naylor told TSN host Rod Smith that council is expected to get an update on the progress towards a stadium and team at its Oct. 28th meeting.
    Given Oct. 28th is a Sunday, Naylor is likely referring to the scheduled Oct. 30th council meeting.
    He said it’s ‘tentatively scheduled’ that at this meeting, councillors will be given an update on negotiations with the ownership group.
    He said if there’s “positive momentum” from that meeting with councillors, things could start happening very quickly.
    “What that means is the group, CFL Atlantic, would be able to work with the city and try and finish this deal off with the province…and basically come back with a site and a total package with all the partners involved,” Naylor said on TSN.
    Naylor went on to say if the “positive momentum” happens, don’t be surprised if in November a season ticket package campaign is started, along with a name that team contest.
    In an email to StarMetro on Tuesday, city spokesman Brendan Elliott confirmed that the CFL topic is tentatively scheduled to be on the Oct. 30th agenda.
    “The report will include a project status update and may include a recommendation on the next steps in the process to bring a final recommendation to Regional Council on a site-specific financial arrangement,” Elliott wrote. “I’m told the report will be public (not in-camera).”
  9. Haha
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from red card in Jonathan David   
    You must be new here
  10. Haha
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from Olympique_de_Marseille in Jonathan David   
    You must be new here
  11. Haha
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in Jonathan David   
    You must be new here
  12. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from Blackjack15 in Ballou Tabla   
    Agree
  13. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in New Canadian stadiums   
    Location down to two sites for Halifax CFL stadium
    Francis Campbell The Chronicle Herald July 9, 2018
    Question of funding remains the bigger issue for ownership group
     The group that wants to bring the Canadian Football League to Halifax has narrowed its search for a stadium location to two sites.
    “We’re down to two, a preferred site and a backup site,” said Anthony LeBlanc, one of three principals in Maritime Football Ltd., the corporate entity that hopes to establish a 10th league team in Nova Scotia.
    LeBlanc, who met with CFL team executives in Winnipeg on Friday to present a business plan review, said he and his partnership are negotiating with site owners and hope to finalize a site soon.
    “We’re trying to get the best terms possible.”
    That is what Halifax Regional Municipality seeks also.
    “We think it has to make sense for the municipality but we also want something that’s transit oriented,” Mayor Mike Savage said of a potential stadium after regional council met in camera with the Maritime Football group last month. “I don’t think anybody is interested in building an old style stadium with 20,000 parking spots.”
    The likely stadium sites are Dartmouth Crossing and a property behind the Kent store in Bayers Lake business park.
    The question of funding for the stadium, which would seat about 25,000 people and likely cost in excess of $200 million to build, remains a bigger riddle than a potential site.
    “We certainly think it’s the right way to go,” LeBlanc said of the stadium redevelopment plan at Landsdowne Park in Ottawa that was part of the successful strategy to bring the CFL and the expansion Redblacks to Canada’s capital four years ago.
    “There is the creation of the fan experience of having things that you can do other than just going to the game,” said LeBlanc, former president of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. “These types of facilities, they are not just football. ... It becomes an economic driver and it helps to build kind of those mini-communities.”
    The Lansdowne redevelopment plan was built on providing sports, shopping, living and parkland. The sporting and living elements may be the most successful tenants to date of the $300-million 16-hectare urban park located next to the Rideau Canal in central Ottawa. The stadium complex was rebuilt and retail and residential developments were added, including basketball courts, a water park and skate park. The city kicked in a major chunk of the redevelopment cost, retained ownership of the site and leased the commercial and retail components under a revenue-sharing deal with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.
    “Obviously, the difference between Ottawa and the sites we’re looking at is that we’ve been pretty open that there isn’t a site in, call it downtown Halifax, that is sufficient,” LeBlanc said. “The green neighbourhood in Ottawa is a little bit different than the sites we’re looking at but we feel comfortable that there is a true mixed-use development potential.”
    Savage said after the June meeting that if there is a way that HRM can contribute to a stadium without digging deep into capital, “maybe that’s the way to go.”
    “What they are looking at, I think they have been public about this, is (something) that’s offset against future potential tax revenue in the area that they want to build,” he said.
    Savage said in June that it’s time to take the CFL talk public, suggesting holding a future council meeting that would be open to the public.
    Shaune MacKinley, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the agenda for the next council meeting, on July 17, won’t be readied and released until Friday.
    “He is still committed to that,” MacKinley said of going public with the CFL dialogue.
    LeBlanc said the two proposed sites would be revealed at that public meeting, whenever it is scheduled.
    LeBlanc said he and co-owners Bruce Bowser, a Halifax native who is president of AMJ Campbell Van Lines, and Gary Drummond, a businessman from Regina who was president of hockey operations with the Coyotes during LeBlanc’s tenure there, have their finances in order.
    “From an investment point of view, we’re comfortable where our group is now,” he said. “If there are local, strategic investors who are interested, we’re always interested in adding them to the fold, but that isn’t a requirement.”
    Fan support is a requirement.
    “We’ve talked extensively with the league, HRM and the province about this that we’re probably going to take a play out of the playbook in other league’s recent expansion. If you look at Las Vegas and Seattle in the NHL, one of the conditional precedents was to go out and do a season ticket drive, so everybody knows that the market that everyone thinks is there is really there. I think it’s fair to say that that will absolutely be part of our plan.”
    The Las Vegas model included playing for the NHL title and the Stanley Cup in the Golden Knights’ inaugural season.
    “I have no problem with that,” LeBlanc said.
  14. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in New Canadian stadiums   
    Stadium render was shown during interview (1:45)

    How will the CFL come to Halifax?

  15. Haha
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from jpg75 in Alessandro Busti - 18 year old keeper with Juventus   
    Get off his back, don't be a looser!
  16. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from matty in CFL Thread   
    If you watched that whole game and stayed with it, while not being much of a fan in the past, you were certainly rewarded.  The CFL and the Grey Cup live up to the motto every time, "No lead is safe"
  17. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from johnyb in New Canadian stadiums   
    Is this the start?
  18. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from johnyb in CFL Thread   
    Group makes ‘very credible’ pitch for Halifax CFL franchise
    Dave Naylor TSN.ca November 16 2017
    A group of businessmen with ties to Eastern Canada would like to make the Canadian Football League’s dream of a tenth franchise come true in Halifax.
    The group made a presentation to the league’s board of governors several weeks ago in Toronto. Meetings have since taken place with various levels of government in Nova Scotia, including an in-camera session with Halifax city council this week that was attended by CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie.
    “We have had discussions with the CFL’s board of governors and ongoing discussions with commissioner Ambrosie,” said Anthony LeBlanc, a partner in the group and former president and CEO of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes (and former vice president of global sales for BlackBerry - Joe Mac).
    “The conversations have all been very productive. Chief among all we have discussed, we have a clear understanding of the CFL’s requirements for an expansion franchise, and this clarity is allowing us to move our project forward in a thoughtful way.”
    Along with LeBlanc, whose family is from New Brunswick and who began his business career in the province, the group includes Bruce Bowser, a Halifax native who is currently president of AMJ Campbell Van Lines, and Gary Drummond, a businessman from Regina who was president of hockey operations for the Coyotes.
    A league spokesman confirmed it had received an expression of interest for a Halifax franchise but said that a process and timetable for awarding a team has yet to be established.
    One CFL source described the group’s presentation as “very credible.”
    The Halifax group is modelling its plan on that of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which received a conditional franchise from the CFL in 2008 and then redeveloped Frank Clair Stadium and the land surrounding it.
    It’s believed the Halifax group would like to have a conditional franchise granted before the start of the 2018 CFL season, with a goal of beginning play as soon as 2020.
    The potential owners want to brand the franchise to identity not just with Halifax but all of Atlantic Canada.
    Halifax mayor Mike Savage has been on record as saying he would like to see his city host a CFL franchise. Sources say discussions with Savage and members of his council have been very positive over the past few months.
    Central to the idea is the construction of a multi-purpose stadium, at one of several locations currently being explored – one of which is the Shannon Park, located next to the A. Murray MacKay Bridge.
    Commissioner Ambrosie is expected to update the league’s board of governors on the state of the Halifax proposal when they meet the day before Grey Cup Sunday.
    Besides expanding the league’s television footprint into Atlantic Canada, a Halifax-based franchise would allow the league to create two five-team divisions and avoid the number of bye weeks required with a nine-team league.
    The CFL awarded a conditional franchise to a Halifax group in 1982 under the name Atlantic Schooners but the financing to build a suitable stadium never materialized.
    Dating back to the mid-1980s, the CFL has staged exhibition games in Halifax. In 2010, 2011 and 2013 it played three regular-season games in Moncton, N.B.
  19. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    Division Semi-Finals net out as most watched in three years
    cfl.ca Staff  November 13, 2017
    TORONTO – Yesterday’s thrilling CFL PLAYOFFS doubleheader scored massive audiences on TSN, as overnight data from Numeris confirms that the CFL’s Eastern and Western Semi-Finals broadcasts were the most-watched in three years, averaging 1 million viewers overall. This year’s semi-finals saw an increase of +7% with total viewers over 2016, and made TSN the most-watched network in Canada on Sunday.
    Overall, 4.3 million Canadians watched some or all of the Eastern and Western Semi-Final games.
    The Western Semi-Final featuring Edmonton @ Winnipeg attracted an average audience of 1.1 million viewers on TSN, as Edmonton fended off a valiant fourth-quarter rally from the Blue Bombers to claim a 39-32 victory. In the Eastern Semi-Final, an average audience of 975,000 watched Saskatchewan secure a 31-20 victory over the defending GREY CUP champion Ottawa REDBLACKS.
    TSN’s exclusive live coverage of the SHAW ROAD TO THE GREY CUP continues Sunday, Nov. 19 on TSN, beginning with the Eastern Final Pre-Game Show at 12 noon ET, followed immediately by the Eastern Final at 1 p.m. ET, and Western Final at 4:30 p.m. ET.
  20. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    Aside from the two guys today:  Buckley and Bridges who legitimately could lead a team, the last great opportunity was Kyle Quinlan.  He had all the tools, Montreal, I think, was even willing to give him a shot but I don't think in his own heart he believed they would.
    There's a lot of myth involved on this subject.  If you watch the World Junior championships the Canadian QBs are as good if not better than their American counterparts.  Where the myth begins is do the American kids suddenly become supermen when they enter the NCAA.  Maybe only the top third of NCAA teams are really good programs but we assume they all are.  NCAA limits the amount of time a coach can spend with players, no such rules in Canada, a coach can be with the players all day long.
    With the "professionalizing" of programs in Canada, you're seeing guys with pro experience getting involved in USports.  Glen Grunwald, for instance, former GM of the Raps and Knicks is the AD at McMaster.  Many former CFL players are coaching in USports, USports athletes are going directly to the NFL now, the once unthinkable has now become a yearly occurrence;  Elie Bouka, David Onyemata, LDT (now one of the highest paid OL in the NFL) and just a few days ago Laval's Antony Auclair made the Tampa Bay Bucs.  This doesn't even mention guys like Linden Gaydosh and David Foucault or even the amazing fact that a few years ago Regina had 5 alum playing in the NFL, that was more than many American schools.
    It's a changing world.  Oops I forgot to mention former Bison Geoff Gray was cut by the Packers but just got picked up by the Jets.
  21. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from ray in CFL Thread   
    Aside from the two guys today:  Buckley and Bridges who legitimately could lead a team, the last great opportunity was Kyle Quinlan.  He had all the tools, Montreal, I think, was even willing to give him a shot but I don't think in his own heart he believed they would.
    There's a lot of myth involved on this subject.  If you watch the World Junior championships the Canadian QBs are as good if not better than their American counterparts.  Where the myth begins is do the American kids suddenly become supermen when they enter the NCAA.  Maybe only the top third of NCAA teams are really good programs but we assume they all are.  NCAA limits the amount of time a coach can spend with players, no such rules in Canada, a coach can be with the players all day long.
    With the "professionalizing" of programs in Canada, you're seeing guys with pro experience getting involved in USports.  Glen Grunwald, for instance, former GM of the Raps and Knicks is the AD at McMaster.  Many former CFL players are coaching in USports, USports athletes are going directly to the NFL now, the once unthinkable has now become a yearly occurrence;  Elie Bouka, David Onyemata, LDT (now one of the highest paid OL in the NFL) and just a few days ago Laval's Antony Auclair made the Tampa Bay Bucs.  This doesn't even mention guys like Linden Gaydosh and David Foucault or even the amazing fact that a few years ago Regina had 5 alum playing in the NFL, that was more than many American schools.
    It's a changing world.  Oops I forgot to mention former Bison Geoff Gray was cut by the Packers but just got picked up by the Jets.
  22. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    A Day In The Life of a Football

    This football's life changed when it became a candidate for Catch of the Year.
    It was then hand delivered to a 12 year old cancer survivor.



    And then retired for the night to its new safe place


  23. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from CrossCheck in CFL Thread   
    A Day In The Life of a Football

    This football's life changed when it became a candidate for Catch of the Year.
    It was then hand delivered to a 12 year old cancer survivor.



    And then retired for the night to its new safe place


  24. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    That's the CFL for ya, double everybody else but it's dying.  TFC gets one fifth of a bad CFL rating for the regular season's biggest game and its growing leaps and bounds, I just don't get it.  They can't win for losing. There's something really perverted about the efforts of some to kill a league in their own country.
    As  rob.notenboom said: sooooo many people actively or passive-aggressively undermining others or cheering on that undermining.  Couldn't have said it better.
  25. Like
    Joe MacCarthy got a reaction from MtlMario in CFL Thread   
    You must have forgot to tell us that was Curtis Rush, a Toronto writer looking for a big byline and payday not a NY Times writer.  Americans like the CFL just fine, like ESPN's Chris Berman one of the biggest sports broadcasters there is.
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