2017 CFL Season

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I hope we never ever see a 2 game cumulative score/best of 3 series.

Funny you use those words. I can recall the Eastern Final being two game total point series and the Western Final was a best of three. I am not exactly sure when that ended, but it lasted until Russ Jackson retired in 1969. I still recall Leo Cahill saying that the only way the Argos could lose was if Russ Jackson could walk on water and cross the Rideau Canal. That was after soundly defeating the Rough Riders in the first game of the Eastern Final. The Argos ended up losing and the Rough Riders went on to win the Grey Cup. There is part of CFL lore.

[esquire]

On the face of it, returning to a 2 game total point series to determine division champs has a certain allure. It allows the Grey Cup itself to remain a one game finale, and it limits the chances of a flukey upset win by a lower-ranked team.

But that said, it presents problems such as:
-why a league championship could be won with one game while a division requires two
-extending the division final to two games increased the odds of injury at a time of the year when many players are banged up to begin with
-with ticket prices being high and all games on TV, selling tickets to not one but two division final games could be quite a challenge

I don't think it would work, but the idea holds some appeal... at least, in theory.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I still recall Leo Cahill saying that the only way the Argos could lose was if Russ Jackson could walk on water and cross the Rideau Canal.

Well, when you're bigger than the Commissioner and the Prime Minister you can do those things

• Video Link

[lrt's friend]

The two game total point series were home and home, so nobody was asked to pay for both games. Great way to build rivalries.

On the Stamps failure to win, this is not an usual problem in other sports where dominant teams often crash and burn in the playoffs. This certainly happens in the NHL playoffs despite best of seven series. In most sports, the playoffs are different beasts. It requires more intensity that may not be required in the regular season. This suggests that the makeup of a team may need some adjustment. Think about the Washington Capitals that have failed to win it all despite having an elite team for years.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by elly63

Well, when you're bigger than the Commissioner and the Prime Minister you can do those things

• Video Link

That was hilarious.

[Deepstar]

And ironically, the one year they send a crappy team to the Grey Cup (2004) they win it. Maybe they need to piss away the regular season, and put all their efforts into being the underdogs and winning it all.

Originally Posted by esquire

^ The funny thing about it is that this is nothing new for the Stamps... they've had several seasons like this over the past 20 years where they've racked up 12+ win seasons but ended up falling short.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by esquire

On the face of it, returning to a 2 game total point series to determine division champs has a certain allure. It allows the Grey Cup itself to remain a one game finale, and it limits the chances of a flukey upset win by a lower-ranked team.

But that said, it presents problems such as:
-why a league championship could be won with one game while a division requires two
-extending the division final to two games increased the odds of injury at a time of the year when many players are banged up to begin with
-with ticket prices being high and all games on TV, selling tickets to not one but two division final games could be quite a challenge

I don't think it would work, but the idea holds some appeal... at least, in theory.

I know you are not endorsing this but.....
I think this is difficult to do in a sport where you need a week off in between to rest. So does the neutral site game go away and the each team hosts a game? Makes it more difficult to "hype" and sell the event like Grey Cup does.
I know MLS does a home and home for the division semis and finals and then a 1 game final in the stadium with the best record of the finalists, but it does not have the allure of the whole Grey Cup week

Also in North American sport, isn't that why we have playoffs, so that the underdog has a chance to win, or a team can catch fire in the playoffs?
I think we would ALL be disappointed if it was like European soccer and whoever had the best regular season record won the title

[Deepstar]

Not to be pedantic, but trying to use that example to show the NFL isn't any different in terms of upsets is a lame argument. Upsets happen in all sports, just not as easily as in the CFL. It's much tougher, almost impossible actually for a team with a mediocre record to take the Super Bowl, or the Stanley Cup, World Series or and NBA title. The CFL is a much easier place to do that. Right or wrong it's the truth.
A lot of Calgary fans are going to sound like sour grapes for obvious reason. It's frustrating to watch your team have back to back dominant seasons only to lose the final game to a team who seemingly only shows up at the end. Almost always teams like Ottawa last year or Toronto this year wouldn't have made the playoffs in another league. That's where the frustration comes from.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Sad to say but this is almost like being in high school again: my team lost or sucks so I tune out the CFL and become an NFL-only fan.

BTW Carolina with a sub-500 record made the playoffs (they actually won their sucky division) a year or so ago and then knocked off 11-5 Arizona in the playoffs.

A sub-500 team could definitely win the Super Bowl.

The 9-7 Giants won it a few years ago.

[Deepstar]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I don't think a bad fumble and a questionable decision to pass into double coverage on the final play should force significant changes. They are still far and away the most dominant team in the league. I don't see how any changes could make them better. A few plays go a different way and they're Grey Cup champions three times in a row. I honestly would just keep trying with this group. How can they possibly be improved? Even the best teams can lose a single game on any given week. The Stampeders have just chosen the wrong games to do it the best few years.

Agreed. I recall the Montreal Alouettes losing 6 straight Grey Cup appearances and every time they lost people would call to get rid of Calvillo, change this, change that. They did get the back to back Grey Cups in the end.
These last couple of losses are very frustrating, but I don't believe it's a reflection of the overall team, but like you said, more of a case bad breaks at the worst time. If they simple don't fumble that ball, they likely win it, and it's a completely different conversation today.

[elly63]

The Stamps are just a little bit too cocky with a me attitude. If yesterday didn't finally drum that out of them nothing will and this thing about throwing teammates under the bus is not on. Otherwise they are a good team.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Deepstar

Not to be pedantic, but trying to use that example to show the NFL isn't any different in terms of upsets is a lame argument. Upsets happen in all sports, just not as easily as in the CFL. It's much tougher, almost impossible actually for a team with a mediocre record to take the Super Bowl, or the Stanley Cup, World Series or and NBA title. The CFL is a much easier place to do that. Right or wrong it's the truth.
A lot of Calgary fans are going to sound like sour grapes for obvious reason. It's frustrating to watch your team have back to back dominant seasons only to lose the final game to a team who seemingly only shows up at the end. Almost always teams like Ottawa last year or Toronto this year wouldn't have made the playoffs in another league. That's where the frustration comes from.

Yes, upsets are more frequent in the CFL given that there are fewer teams. I never said anything to the contrary.

But I was responding to a post that was saying that nothing like this could happen in the NFL and insinuating that only the very best teams got "through" there....

[elly63]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

Also in North American sport, isn't that why we have playoffs, so that the underdog has a chance to win, or a team can catch fire in the playoffs? I think we would ALL be disappointed if it was like European soccer and whoever had the best regular season record won the title

Yup, we like it our way and they like it their way, everybody's happy.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

I know you are not endorsing this but.....
I think this is difficult to do in a sport where you need a week off in between to rest. So does the neutral site game go away and the each team hosts a game? Makes it more difficult to "hype" and sell the event like Grey Cup does.
I know MLS does a home and home for the division semis and finals and then a 1 game final in the stadium with the best record of the finalists, but it does not have the allure of the whole Grey Cup week

Also in North American sport, isn't that why we have playoffs, so that the underdog has a chance to win, or a team can catch fire in the playoffs?
I think we would ALL be disappointed if it was like European soccer and whoever had the best regular season record won the title

I don't think it's a logistically feasible idea, but I would go so far as to say that it holds some appeal in theory. I guess it made more sense when the western and eastern conferences were separate organizations where you played a two-game "championship" before a one-game super championship to decide the grand national champion of all. It makes less sense to do a 2-game series to decide a division champion.

Originally Posted by Deepstar

Not to be pedantic, but trying to use that example to show the NFL isn't any different in terms of upsets is a lame argument. Upsets happen in all sports, just not as easily as in the CFL. It's much tougher, almost impossible actually for a team with a mediocre record to take the Super Bowl, or the Stanley Cup, World Series or and NBA title. The CFL is a much easier place to do that. Right or wrong it's the truth.
A lot of Calgary fans are going to sound like sour grapes for obvious reason. It's frustrating to watch your team have back to back dominant seasons only to lose the final game to a team who seemingly only shows up at the end. Almost always teams like Ottawa last year or Toronto this year wouldn't have made the playoffs in another league. That's where the frustration comes from.

If/when Halifax gets added to the CFL, I think there would be an argument to be made for pitting the top 4 teams in each division against each other... that would require teams to win 3 postseason games to claim the Cup as opposed to the current 2 which is the path for regular season division champions. But is playing 18 games only to knock 2 teams out of contention a silly idea? (The CFL used to allow 6 out of 8 teams into the playoffs for quite a number of years which isn't that far off from what I'm talking about...)

[harls]

Even after Bo-Jeans throw in the final seconds, because he's a Texan..

I'm still wondering about the dogsled.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

if Russ Jackson could walk on water and cross the Rideau Canal.

He keeps good company

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

I don't think it's a logistically feasible idea, but I would go so far as to say that it holds some appeal in theory. I guess it made more sense when the western and eastern conferences were separate organizations where you played a two-game "championship" before a one-game super championship to decide the grand national champion of all. It makes less sense to do a 2-game series to decide a division champion.



If/when Halifax gets added to the CFL, I think there would be an argument to be made for pitting the top 4 teams in each division against each other... that would require teams to win 3 postseason games to claim the Cup as opposed to the current 2 which is the path for regular season division champions. But is playing 18 games only to knock 2 teams out of contention a silly idea? (The CFL used to allow 6 out of 8 teams into the playoffs for quite a number of years which isn't that far off from what I'm talking about...)

When the NHL still had 21 teams (before the great expansion that started in the 1990s) they had the same number of teams entering the playoffs as today: 16.

And so basically they played an 80-odd game season to eliminate five teams.

There were always teams with records way below 500 in the playoffs. Sometimes in the range of 26-46-8...

[elly63]

Originally Posted by harls

Even after Bo-Jeans throw in the final seconds, because he's a Texan.. I'm still wondering about the dogsled.

It was lame and she looked like she just got back from her night streetwalking job but I'm in the minority because I'm reading a lot of people bought into it and in the end that's all that matters.

In my personal opinion though, three weak acts for entertainment value, but two of them may have served their purpose with the home audience and again that's all that matters.

[Rollerstud98]

Originally Posted by Acajack

When the NHL still had 21 teams (before the great expansion that started in the 1990s) they had the same number of teams entering the playoffs as today: 16.

And so basically they played an 80-odd game season to eliminate five teams.

There were always teams with records way below 500 in the playoffs. Sometimes in the range of 26-46-8...

Yes but back then they could have had 14 ot losses and those would not count towards the points like they do now. I miss the no loser point days.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Rollerstud98

Yes but back then they could have had 14 ot losses and those would not count towards the points like they do now. I miss the no loser point days.

But without that how else could the NHL sell you on the idea of your team being 30-30-22 and being a ".500 team"?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by elly63

It was lame and she looked like she just got back from her night streetwalking job but I'm in the minority because I'm reading a lot of people bought into it and in the end that's all that matters.

She looked great!!!