CFL vs NFL: The Damn Yankees Are Coming!

The Post did an excellent spread on Saturday about the end of the CFL as we know it. In the paper edition (yes, they still make those) there were graphics that broke down almost everything you would want to know about the CFL and the NFL, the most telling being the wide chasm in advertising revenue. (For some reason the graphics can't be found on-line).

One graphic that was missing was the percentage of Canadian players that play in the CFL. All this talk of the CFL being 'our' game and a 'cultural icon' is beyond me. It's hard to see the CFL as anything but a pale comparison to the NFL, a strange copy that didn't get the rules right and is full of rejects from the big leagues. It's not even a farm team, since most CFL players don't go up and play for the NFL and the stats don't matter.

The CFL is everything that is wrong with Canada. It looks like the NFL but it isn't - not as skilled, not as exciting, incredibly insular and overall rather harmless, a muted version of the original. Substitute CFL with Canada and NFL with the US and you've got yourself a good overview of the Canadian/American dichotomy.

There's some kind of twisted logic in supporting the CFL as a Canadian cultural icon, especially since most players aren't Canadian. The sport wasn't invented in Canada but Canadians, nor is it played primarily or very well by Canadians, and yet we are to accept that it is a brick in the wall that keeps out the hordes of American invaders.

Yes. Well. Right.
If Senator Campbell has his way, the Canadian government will pass unneeded and no doubt costly legislation to keep the NFL out. Next step, no doubt, is to start to subsidize the CFL.


Hmmm. Perhaps it's Canadian after all.