What is it that makes Canadian football so distinct — Grey Cup Week aside?
asserted
Week → make → ?
Is it playing three-down football instead of the four we get every Sunday on television?
asserted
we → play → television
Is it playing on an excessively wide field instead of the postage stamp they play on in the United States?
asserted
they → play → States
Is it having 12 CFL players on the field — more receivers, more defensive backs — instead of 11 in the NFL?
asserted
it → have → NFL
Is it lining up one yard apart between offence and defence and spelling those words differently?
Is it using unlimited motion on offence — sometimes almost resembling offside on every passing play — that can lead to a more wide-open game?
asserted
that → line → game
Is it having one foot in bounds at the sidelines instead of two for making a legal catch?
asserted
it → have → catch
Is it having a three-minute warning instead of a two-minute warning — with the clock stopping after every play in the final three minutes of every game feeling like it’s about 10 minutes of playing time?
And none of that will be changing going forward.
asserted
none → have → that
Yes, there will still be rouges or single points — they just won’t be coming after missed field goals.
asserted
they → come → goals
Of all the controversial and subjective rule changes commissioner Stuart Johnston instituted for this and next season, this was the least necessary.
asserted
this → institute → season
You could have shrunk the end zones.
uncertain
You → shrink → zones
He did that.
asserted
He → do → that
You could have moved the goal posts back from the front of the end zone to the back.
uncertain
You → move → back
He did that.
asserted
He → do → that
What he didn’t need to do was change the 110-yard field to 100.
asserted
need → need → 100
That has always been part of the brand, one of the things we could call our own.
uncertain
we → call → things
With a shorter field, Johnston believes, there will be fewer field goals and more touchdowns.
asserted
Johnston → believe → field
Not sure that will happen, but anything that shrinks the number of field goals attempted ion today’s world should make the game better.
asserted
game → happen → world
Some rather emotional longtime CFL lovers have freaked out over the Johnston rule changes.
asserted
lovers → freak → changes
Some have claimed they will not watch the CFL anymore and will not buy tickets.
asserted
they → claim → tickets
They claim — and this one makes no sense to me — that Johnston is trying to Americanize the CFL.
uncertain
Johnston → claim → CFL
When you ask any of them that question — how are his rules changes Americanizing Canadian football? — you don’t get an answer that holds up in any way.
asserted
that → ask → way
If you were to try to explain Canadian football to an American who had never seen the game before, where would you start?
asserted
you → try → game
You might start with the width of the field or the 12 players instead of 11.
uncertain
You → start → field
You might start with three downs instead of four.
uncertain
You → start → downs
You might start with all the motion and trying to make sense of that.
uncertain
You → start → that
You might start with the yard difference between the offensive and defensive lines and how that favours the offence.
uncertain
that → start → offence
Both games, with their own rules, with their own ways, their own issues, should be able to stand on their own as sports.
asserted
games → stand → sports
The leagues can never be properly compared.
asserted
leagues → compare → ?
It’s a giant that can’t stop growing in spite of the fires it has to put out.
asserted
it → ’ → fires
It dwarfs every other sport, so why not dwarf the CFL as well?
asserted
It → dwarf → CFL
Then came the 80s and everything changed.
asserted
everything → come → ?
The CFL doesn’t often grow a lot, financially or any other way, and yet it survives, always.
asserted
it → grow → lot
It’s like the weeds in your garden: You can put down the right chemicals and do all your diligence on your yard and still they will be back next year.
As always.
asserted
they → ’ → yard
The CFL lives and almost thrives at a time when the world is moving faster than we want it to move.
asserted
it → live → time
The CFL has never moved fast — even with the rule changes coming this season and next.
asserted
changes → move → ?
What makes this year’s Grey Cup special?
asserted
Cup → make → ?
If you haven’t been to Grey Cup in your life, consider your life incomplete.
asserted
life → consider → life
Each event has its own kind of charm, but nothing compares to Grey Cup.
asserted
nothing → have → Cup
On Sunday, we get the two best players in the CFL, Davis Alexander and Tyson Philpot, on the same team with the Montreal Alouettes.
asserted
we → get → Alouettes
We get just about the best running back in Canadian football, Justin Rankin, on the field for Edmonton.
asserted
We → get → Edmonton
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
