FANS PUT COMMISH’S FEET TO THE FIRE
Town Hall festivities include State of the League and spirited Q and A session
The Grey Cup is about the game, of course, but also the fans here to have a good time.
At Randy Ambrosie’s Fan Forum Friday, several hundred enthusiastic CFL flag-wavers in their team jerseys sounded proud after their partying with their smart inquiries of the Commish in the Westin’s Spirit of Edmonton party room that was turned into a lively Q&A session.
One fellow in Roughriders gear said he had been to 59 Grey Cups, which means he was at the Fog Bowl in 1962 that was played over two days, and several others said they had been to at least 20 years of fun and frolic.
Whatever the age, they’re all young at heart, and nobody loves the CFL more than people like a large Bomber fan named Gord in a Big Blue trench coat. He was wondering about not enough big sports apparel in CFL stores for somebody who is a “two pieces of chocolate cake when it comes to dessert” guy, which brought a guffaw from the former Edmonton Eskimos’ lineman Ambrosie.
“Sadly, I’m a three piece of cake man. I’m on your team, sir, as far as clothing goes,” he said.
The commish’s State of the Union for fans even brought out Anthony LeBlanc, the frontman for the Maritimes bid for an Atlantic Schooners’ franchise in Halifax in 2020, if and when they get a new stadium.
LeBlanc, former president and CEO of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, who lives in Ottawa, got a standing ovation from the fans of other CFL clubs when introduced. LeBlanc blushingly stood up and waved, probably thinking he never got a standing ‘O’ when he was alternate governor of the Coyotes at the NHL’s Board of Governors’ meeting.
Here’s some of the Q&A between the commissioner and his enthusiastic fan base.
Q (John): “Challenge flags. I know why you changed to just one a game (coaches) because there were too many fishing expeditions and the game was being slowed down. But lots of fans wonder about a second challenge. How about a rule change where if the first challenge is successful, you keep your second challenge. If not, you lose both. Or to do away with fishing expeditions if the coaches are wrong (challenge), you get a 10-yard penalty and you make a coach think about it?”
A“It’s very possible that goes to the rules committee. We made the change to one (challenge) because it frustrates our fans. Once we had a whole year of experience, we wanted to go back to the table and talk to the teams to see if we could tweak it.”
Q (Brad, an Eskimo fan): “The Canadian ratio, it’s absolutely crucial for our league that it isn’t diminished. But with another team added in Ottawa (five years ago) and hopefully the Schooners coming in very soon, and with not as much of a talent pool, has there been any thought to going to six Canadian starters as opposed to seven?”
A“Having Canadians play this great game of ours is absolutely critical. But we have to pull in the best players from around the world. It’s in 30 different countries. I was talking to somebody from Norway who said there was a tackle from Sweden who was six-foot-seven and 335 pounds, a last cut of Atlanta Falcons. I thought why isn’t he playing in our league? We have 200 kids from France who are playing CEGEP (college) football in Quebec. There’s a young man in Laval who’s a beast. How do we welcome them to our game?”
Q (30-year Grey Cup fan from Calgary): “I applaud the extra official watching for head shots, but I couldn’t understand when it became a kicking situation the official stood on the sideline. He’s apparently only watching for head shots on quarterbacks. Let’s protect all of our players.”
The coaches don’t want new things thrown at them. If you’re a Wednesday afternoon commissioner you can’t do that.
A “An eighth man (official) was an interim move. We wanted to find a way to address what had happened in the two Riders games. We’ll look at this off-season and how we use our command centre. The coaches don’t want new things thrown at them. If you’re a Wednesday afternoon commissioner, you can’t do that. If you do, you get fewer holiday greeting cards from them. And I only got two last year so I have to keep those ones.”
Q: “You’ve said you want to keep star players on the same team for longer periods. Has there been discussions to have one or two internationals who’ve played four consecutive years or more, designating them as nationals for roster purposes?”
A“We had a time when based on length of tenure you reverted from an import to a non-import status. We need to talk to the players about this. I believe we need more stability on our rosters. That’s what the fans want.”
Q (Ed in Riders gear): “I wonder about CFL players being in (TV) commercials. The NBA has made huge strides and they do it with NFL and baseball players. Can we see our stars doing this? When a CFL game is on TV and there’s a stoppage, I don’t want to be talking to my son. I want to see Mike Reilly doing something to promote this league.”
A “If I got together with my old O line, there’s pizza to be advertised. We’d be a logical group. It’s a good point for our sponsors.”