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The CFL Outsider/Bonus Episode The Day That Changed Everything · The CFL Outsiders

• 0:36
  Hey kids, welcome back to another episode of the CFL Outsiders.
• 0:42
  I remain, as always, your 100 % impartial, completely unbiased, and joining every other CFL fan in the country is confused right now, co-host, old man, shouting at clouds.
• 0:57
  Joining me as always is GT.
• 1:00
  Hey, good evening everybody.
• 1:02
  Nothing to talk about.
• 1:03
  Move along.
• 1:03
  Move along.
• 1:04
  Nothing to see here.
• 1:05
  gonna be a short show, five minutes.
• 1:07
  And MJ.
• 1:10
  Yeah, how's it going everyone?
• 1:12
  As my dad would tell me, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
• 1:16
  I like it.
• 1:17
  like it.
• 1:17
  between the games going the way they did this weekend and the announcements it was It feels like it's bizarro land.
• 1:27
  In fact, I felt like coming on here and saying let's talk animal husbandry or crochet doily or Doily crocheting or whatever just because as little as I know about them I feel
• 1:38
  like right now I know far less about CFL football in Canadian football
• 1:43
  It's a wild few days.
• 1:45
  But we're going to talk about all of that excitement
• 1:48
  Alright, so here's the important part though and we'll see how much of goes on.
• 1:54
  I'm glad, I think we were all saying that we're kind of glad we're doing this a day later because we've had some time to digest and get our thoughts together.
• 2:02
  But of course, if you're any kind of a CFL fan, which we've to assume you are watching this, you already know the leagues made a bunch of changes.
• 2:12
  They came out yesterday, had TSN,
• 2:15
  Kate Burness is the host introducing Stuart Johnson and he came out and told us that going forward, the goal posts are going to be moved to the back of the end zone to help, I think
• 2:30
  he said sight lines and to keep them out of the way of play.
• 2:34
  The end zones are going to be shortened to 15 yards and I'll make a point about that later in the rationale, but their rationale in that they said you've already got
• 2:44
  Percival Molson where the corners are rolled off and the BMO where it's an 18-yard end zone.
• 2:51
  So this will just standardize them all at 15.
• 2:53
  Okay.
• 2:54
  The field's going to be reduced to a hundred yards length for some reason.
• 2:57
  The width does not change.
• 2:59
  There will be no, rouge on a missed field goal, we'll lose all the field goal return, miss field goal returns As far as on punts, you can get a rouge if the ball lands and stays in
• 3:10
  the end zone.
• 3:11
  So if it's going to roll out.
• 3:13
  player can let it roll out it's no point and it'll be brought out to some point up the field they haven't said where yet that's all gonna have to change as they change the field
• 3:21
  dimensions too they're moving the benches on the stadiums where they're all on one side of the field they're putting a rule in they have to be on opposite sides and that makes sense
• 3:30
  to me because then you're not having to run as they said in the in their press conference players sometimes have to run like a hundred yards down to the far end zone
• 3:39
  they're on the same side.
• 3:40
  At least you're closer and that could speed up the game.
• 3:44
  And the last thing is they're moving from the current system of the 20 second play clock where the play is blown dead, the the refs take the ball, reset it, get it in place, and
• 3:54
  then whistle the 20 second clock in.
• 3:57
  They're moving now to one where as soon as the play is whistled dead, the clock, play clock automatically starts at 35 seconds and they have a 35 second play clock to work
• 4:07
  with.
• 4:07
  So that's sort of the gist of the rules.
• 4:10
  And I think we've all got stuff to talk about and I'm not going to try and dominate all of this, but I will start with one of about three or four points that I've got.
• 4:20
  this should have been my first reaction.
• 4:22
  I've got to give out credit to a uh user on the CFL subreddit, u slash ram underscore me four one one two.
• 4:32
  whoever you are, if you happen to be listening, you pointed this out.
• 4:35
  It should have been the first thing I thought of, but I'm obviously been retired way too long and my brain don't work anymore.
• 4:42
  Okay, this is all great.
• 4:44
  You're making a change.
• 4:47
  What are the metrics that tell you if it's succeeded?
• 4:50
  How do you know if this change is worthwhile?
• 4:53
  I mean, you're saying we're gonna get 60 more touchdowns, but that's not really a metric because you're trying to increase your audience size.
• 5:02
  So what is it going to be?
• 5:04
  Is it going to be you increase your ticket sales by X amount, your team revenue by X amount, your merch, your ratings?
• 5:13
  What is it?
• 5:14
  Because if you don't have metrics to measure this, you're just throwing crap against the wall and hoping something sticks.
• 5:20
  And there's been no talk of that at all.
• 5:23
  So that's what I would like to know from them.
• 5:26
  How do they know if it's succeeding or not?
• 5:28
  And is that going to be all the rule changes are bumped into one big metric and as long as we get all of this, we're okay.
• 5:35
  Or are they going to be able to, do they have a way to look at it with the granularity of saying, okay, the Rouge is helping the game get more exciting, but the time clock is
• 5:46
  hurting it.
• 5:46
  I would like to hear, I'd like to think they have that and I've heard nothing about that.
• 5:51
  All that they seem to say when they're questioned on, you know,
• 5:54
  How will you know if this is working is, well, we're just gonna see an improvement in the game.
• 6:00
  So that's my first thought.
• 6:02
  It seems very poorly planned and I would love to know if they've got this.
• 6:07
  Anything from either of you to move on?
• 6:10
  Well, I don't know how, I don't know on your exact point, I agree.
• 6:14
  they didn't do a lot of explaining other than they said that they did a bunch of research, they did a bunch of analytics and they did a bunch of consultations.
• 6:24
  So who those consultations were with, what those analytics were about and what that research entailed, we don't know.
• 6:32
  We have to assume that uh or we're no we don't have to assume anything We we are led to assume that we just have to go with that with their Conclusions and that those are going
• 6:45
  to be correct in the long run and this will work Because there is no there is no next step beyond this that they did that he that the commissioner was willing to discuss there was
• 6:57
  no timeline as
• 6:58
  to say this is a two-year plan and then we will remeasure.
• 7:02
  They just simply said we will continuously look at everything as it goes and we'll make decisions based on the situation at the time.
• 7:11
  So we'll see what happens in 2027 and mostly in 2028 before we know and probably in 2029 will be a better picture yet and by 2030 they're hoping everybody's forgotten about it and
• 7:23
  it's the way the league is.
• 7:25
  Like on that specific, it's hard to measure, any scientist or anyone who does statistics will tell you, it's hard to measure a variable or a result when you've put in seven
• 7:37
  variables, or six or five or even two.
• 7:41
  It's still hard to measure out.
• 7:43
  then, I was gonna talk about this later, but I'll talk about it now.
• 7:46
  Baseball's done a lot of changes lately.
• 7:49
  But they didn't do them all at once.
• 7:53
  you know what?
• 7:54
  Every change that they made, they did it in single A, then they did it in double A, then they did it in triple A, and then they did it in Major League Baseball.
• 8:07
  Like right now, the ABS Challenge system is coming into Major League Baseball next year.
• 8:12
  It's been road tested for quite a few years in the lower leagues.
• 8:18
  and they did it in spring training this year just to let the players kind of feel it out But this way you're just going to just throw a bunch of changes into a professional league
• 8:31
  and just hope it works out But then someone pointed out to me today, they're like, well, it works in the NFL, so it'll just work up here.
• 8:38
  That is your metric.
• 8:40
  I'm like, ooh, okay.
• 8:41
  Well.
• 8:43
  Okay, thank you for your commentary, sir.
• 8:46
  Yeah, no, that makes no sense at all.
• 8:49
  unfortunately, the league doesn't have a feeder system like baseball does to be able to do that, and certainly one that they can control.
• 8:56
  In fact, they're of course going about it the opposite direction, MJ, where they're now going to make these changes and hope that the feeder leagues, being junior football, youth
• 9:06
  sport, and down to high school and uh little league football, continue to make the changes down the road and then they'll come back.
• 9:15
  I can't blame them for that because they don't have the options.
• 9:18
  They can't go to U sport and say, do this, will you please, and see how it happens.
• 9:22
  They could have made these, they could have made these changes for a game or two in pre-season and saw how they work.
• 9:31
  That absolutely could have been a way.
• 9:32
  However, I think
• 9:35
  the biggest impetus here was secrecy.
• 9:39
  Every single person that I heard that talked about it said they had to sign an NDA to be able to even get any input and any discussion into the matter.
• 9:51
  So, and if nothing else, I was shocked when he came out and started making all these announcements because it was such a big move and there had been no
• 10:02
  absolutely no indication that this was coming from anyone in any of the media with as little attention as the mainstream media does pay to the CFL.
• 10:12
  I thought at least one of the quote, insiders that has, vested interest in breaking this kind of stuff would at least mention that something's coming, something's coming.
• 10:22
  And there was nothing until the announcement on Sunday And even then, as I said to you offline,
• 10:28
  I thought it was going to be something as simple as we're going to one division.
• 10:33
  I thought it was going to be something as simple as, we're going to do something about head injuries I didn't think, they were going to change the whole game out of the blue.
• 10:42
  give them credit for the process of the, press conference.
• 10:47
  I thought that it was,
• 10:48
  I thought it was slick.
• 10:50
  I thought it was well done.
• 10:52
  I thought he walked on stage and knew what he wanted.
• 10:55
  He's a seasoned professional executive that knows how to command a room and knows exactly how to curtail dissent and not allow something to get out of control.
• 11:07
  Unlike Randy, would have been a complete beep, beep, beep, beep by the time it was done, if it had have been Randy doing that, unfortunately.
• 11:15
  But one has to wonder whether this goes back to why Randy's no longer there because the governor's tried to get him to do this stuff.
• 11:21
  And he said, no, not on his watch.
• 11:24
  Was this part of the reason he didn't have their confidence anymore a year ago?
• 11:28
  the, presentation was slick, full credit for that.
• 11:32
  I was also interested in that when the commissioner took questions at the end, was like,
• 11:38
  two, maybe three total questions.
• 11:41
  The press seemed either overwhelmed and as shocked as we all were,
• 11:46
  There were like three down nation was there and like other sports guys.
• 11:50
  I think that I was wondering if they limited questions and then, cause then they were then they said, well, you're going to do your one-on-one interviews now.
• 11:56
  I think it was just to keep everyone in line and stick to the script.
• 12:00
  So there's no dissension in the press conference because Dunk did try to ask a question very pointedly.
• 12:08
  And then there was one more question after that.
• 12:09
  And then it was done.
• 12:12
  you've kind of brought me around to what would have been my last point, but I'll make it now.
• 12:17
  I agree that it was probably just that the media just was not at all prepared.
• 12:22
  But why did it have to be such a big secret?
• 12:24
  Why?
• 12:25
  Why did this have to be not leaked at all and then put in as a done deal so that fans had no chance to offer any opinions?
• 12:32
  Why were there not focus groups and trial balloons out there?
• 12:36
  I see it as this was what they decided to do.
• 12:40
  They knew that a lot of the CFL fans were going to be very unhappy with it.
• 12:45
  And the whole thing was designed to put dissent down.
• 12:49
  Like you said, it was all very controlled.
• 12:52
  You know, it was...
• 12:53
  this is the message and we're going to do this and this is what's going to happen.
• 12:57
  And even later, I didn't watch the whole thing, but I watched part of the interview that he did on TSN.
• 13:02
  And I mean, the first thing is he said, that traditional Canadian fans will love this.
• 13:06
  So telling us what we're supposed to love.
• 13:08
  And I've seen so much negative reaction on that about, you know, what you said about his professional demeanor.
• 13:14
  I have seen so many comments online about this.
• 13:17
  bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep sitting there smirking at us and telling us how we're supposed to love the game and accept all these changes and not do anything.
• 13:25
  So it's, I don't know how it may be the echo chambers I'm in around the CFL, but I have not heard outside of podcasts or commentators, I have not seen a fan yet post and say,
• 13:41
  yeah, I think these are all good rules.
• 13:43
  I've seen some say, I'm glad they're getting rid of the Rouge and I'm glad I'm doing this.
• 13:47
  But the overwhelming thing is I don't in general, I don't like it.
• 13:52
  And you know, so why are, why are we doing this?
• 13:57
  What am I feeling again?
• 13:58
  I'm speculating, but informed speculation.
• 14:01
  think based on everything I've seen and heard about how Johnson was hired and how this has all gone along.
• 14:07
  And I believe that this comes down to TSN thinks this is going to drive ratings.
• 14:11
  they're negotiating a new television deal and they've gone to the CFL and said, you make these changes or we're not interested.
• 14:18
  And that's why it's now being announced in the middle of the season rather, you why not announce it in January when the CFL needs a big PR boost?
• 14:25
  All of it just smells off to me.
• 14:28
  Honestly, the secrecy is the thing that hurts the most.
• 14:31
  Honestly, I think I was so upset yesterday because that really hurt my feelings.
• 14:36
  I'll just be honest, that really hurt my feelings.
• 14:39
  That you did not consult with the rules committee.
• 14:41
  That you did not consult with the players association.
• 14:44
  Did you not consult with players or coaches?
• 14:48
  Focus group, you didn't consult U sports.
• 14:50
  There are U sports that share stadiums with CFL teams.
• 14:54
  What happens to them?
• 14:55
  Are you giving funding to university teams to help like convert stadiums?
• 15:00
  My God, are you helping high school?
• 15:02
  This just makes it easier for American players to adapt to this game and makes it hard.
• 15:07
  honestly, I think part of it is to make it easier for American players to switch up here.
• 15:12
  But the secrecy and then, then they trot out the entire TSN panel, Chezz and Milk get onto their podcasts and praise how great these changes are.
• 15:23
  This is the best thing to ever happen to the league.
• 15:25
  And then it makes me wonder if the reason Luke Wilson's been on this year disparaging CFL all year long is because they're been gearing up to this.
• 15:35
  You make me put a tinfoil hat on because you've been secret and now it's like.
• 15:39
  Taylor Swift album Easter eggs where we all have to try and find clues and figure out where things oh maybe this is because of this.
• 15:48
  And honestly I'd also like to know whose idea was this was this Board of Governors was this TSN's.
• 15:55
  I would like to know what concessions owners got to do these changes because these are not cheap changes to make with fields.
• 16:02
  I want to know is the
• 16:04
  For example, the Montreal Alouettes owner wants to put games on his TV's television station.
• 16:09
  Is that a concession that he got for this?
• 16:11
  What was the benefits for everyone on this?
• 16:13
  That's what I want.
• 16:14
  I mean follow the money That's my end of my day is like this was secret because you knew it was gonna be a blowback and Clearly you've just um just convinced owners that this is
• 16:25
  the only way that they're going to make this leak survive and the only way they're gonna make money and that's not
• 16:31
  Well, Stuart Johnson said in the thing that he, when he went into the interview, he said he was not prepared to tell them about that he would accept the status quo.
• 16:41
  And they told him they were not prepared to accept the status quo.
• 16:45
  So I think it was a mutual decision as to these, you know, what changes can we make?
• 16:50
  And then they sat down and decided on these changes.
• 16:54
  And I think from my point of view, and this is again, only my point of view, this was not any one person, this was all of the league deciding that the way to get new fans, and the
• 17:10
  way to attract the next generation of fans is to make this game look like the NFL game.
• 17:17
  This is about aesthetics.
• 17:19
  They are very clearly and have said very clearly, we're not affecting the change on the field.
• 17:26
  We're affecting the field.
• 17:27
  I think he called it a drawing or a landscape or a painting, a canvas.
• 17:33
  That was the word.
• 17:35
  So they are changing the canvas.
• 17:38
  Someone else called it, think it was Naylor said, they put a new paint job on the car, but under the hood, it's the same engine.
• 17:45
  And I think that's what they're looking for.
• 17:48
  They're looking to try to say to a 30-year-old or a 25-year-old that, it looks like the NFL.
• 17:56
  Give it a go.
• 17:57
  And that's what I think this is all about.
• 17:59
  This is about aesthetics.
• 18:01
  I don't think this is the end of the changes at all.
• 18:03
  So it's only a matter of time before more changes are coming.
• 18:07
  But I believe that's the initial thought behind this, that if we can make it look like the NFL, that that's what people want to see on their television.
• 18:19
  That's what's successful for people to look at on their television.
• 18:23
  They will be more likely to watch our product on television, and that will drive revenue
• 18:29
  whether that be tsn whether that be rogers rather that be p p k's network in in in Quebec or whether that be global whether that be amazon or itunes whatever the case may be the
• 18:42
  next dealt the television deal is what this is all about and it's as you said follow the money they can complain about
• 18:51
  losing money every year on these teams, these rich guys.
• 18:57
  But do the math and show us how you do.
• 19:00
  They've never once been able to show us that they lose money.
• 19:04
  They just say they do.
• 19:06
  Open the books and show us that you lose money.
• 19:09
  Then I will believe you.
• 19:11
  Until you show me
• 19:13
  credible accounting that I can believe in because you know, we used to have a saying at our old the company I used to work with and the joke was Ask an accountant What does two
• 19:24
  plus two equal and you know what his answer is?
• 19:28
  What do you want it to equal?
• 19:30
  Because that's how they do it and they just want this to lose money because whenever they open the books publicly in Saskatchewan on Winnipeg somehow
• 19:40
  they're making money but every other team is losing like millions and millions and the numbers that they make up if they told me they were losing a million bucks a year or five
• 19:50
  hundred grand a year i'd believe it when they're losing ten million dollars you don't even it doesn't even cost you ten million dollars to run a team how do you lose ten million
• 20:01
  dollars and you shouldn't be in the business to begin with
• 20:03
  the leader, before Pelley, the guy that ran MLSE flat out said there was no valuation increase with the Argos that made sense for them to continue to keep it around.
• 20:16
  And that's where teams make money.
• 20:19
  Even in the biggest of leagues,
• 20:21
  sure they make up ton of money off a ticket sales and beer sales and all that stuff yes they do but you know where they make money where their team goes from a hundred million
• 20:29
  dollars to a billion dollars in ten years that's where they make money every other league has done that except this one and that's what they're hoping this one does and
• 20:39
  the only way they could see to do that was to make this look like the other TV product that sells a lot of television commercial space.
• 20:49
  And that's the NFL.
• 20:50
  That's American football.
• 20:51
  So that's what they've done.
• 20:53
  They've made it look like American football, hoping that more people then tune in.
• 20:59
  I don't think this is going to make a darn bit of difference at the gate.
• 21:02
  I do not believe a 30-year-old is all of a sudden now going to go to an Argo game or any other game because the end zones are smaller and that these are at the back of the field.
• 21:14
  They're going to watch it more on TV.
• 21:16
  think this is going to bluntly, I think this is going to be a failure for those reasons.
• 21:20
  But that's the reasons I think they're doing this.
• 21:24
  that's to me how it works and follow the money as you said MJ, but follow it in a different path.
• 21:31
  Don't look at it as bums in the seat because it's not about bums in the seats.
• 21:35
  I feel like they've missed the entire point of why the NFL is popular, because it's not popular because it's a super exciting game.
• 21:41
  I think what this NFL has done is built an entire culture around a game.
• 21:48
  And it starts with high school and it starts with college and works its way up.
• 21:53
  So it's not just like, it's a lifestyle that they've generated and that's been built up over the years.
• 22:00
  And the CFL really didn't do a good job.
• 22:03
  following in that and I was just thinking yesterday Jason Kelsey was in the marching band at the Ravens game and it splashed everywhere.
• 22:14
  Everywhere.
• 22:15
  I've watched like 20 videos of Jason Kelsey playing saxophone in the marching band and they have a podcast and the NFL markets really well.
• 22:26
  They've created culture so well and that's where the CFL has not kept pace and
• 22:30
  I think that's the difference.
• 22:32
  It's not changing the goal posts.
• 22:36
  It's about marketing your players effectively.
• 22:39
  Yeah, that's, that's, do you mind?
• 22:42
  Sorry, am I cutting you off?
• 22:45
  Okay to go ahead.
• 22:45
  right.
• 22:46
  That, cause I agree with just about everything you said.
• 22:48
  First of all, about how the teams are losing money.
• 22:51
  Yeah, we, we get their word for it.
• 22:53
  Like you said, GT and you mentioned something I, it's like the quote I heard.
• 22:59
  wish I can't think of the statistician that said this, but quote that I love.
• 23:02
  said, if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.
• 23:07
  And that's
• 23:07
  pretty much it.
• 23:08
  can make the numbers just talk where they want.
• 23:12
  And this is really kind of coming into my third point about how did they plan this and decide what they're doing.
• 23:17
  There seems to be this narrative and it seems to be driven largely by MLSE and a little bit by the folks in Calgary that American football is the be all and end all.
• 23:32
  And that's why nobody's watching the CFL.
• 23:35
  because it's not American football.
• 23:37
  And there's all these potential viewers, these mythical 18 to 30 year olds that are just waiting to come see a CFL game if it looks more like an American game.
• 23:48
  And I'm sorry, that's, that's horse hockey.
• 23:52
  Look at it this way.
• 23:54
  In Vancouver, you got two teams that play hockey.
• 23:57
  You got the Canucks that are the pro team, and you got the Giants that are the junior team and are seen as second rate.
• 24:04
  The Canucks average 30, no, sorry, just under 20,000 fans a game.
• 24:10
  The Giants average around about 3,500 because it's seen as the second class product.
• 24:15
  And all these kids that are flocking to the NFL for all the big money and the glitz and the lifestyle, like you say, MJ and all that, they're not going to bother with NFL Lite
• 24:25
  They've got NFL.
• 24:27
  Why would they bother watching what they think is an inferior product?
• 24:31
  So you're going to, you're not going to get them and you're going to get
• 24:34
  a tail off of long time CFL fans.
• 24:37
  I mean, I think probably most are sitting like I am saying, I really don't like this, but OK, I'll give it a chance.
• 24:43
  And hopefully that it's not as bad as I think.
• 24:47
  But it may not hold my interest.
• 24:48
  And if the next step when this doesn't, because I honestly believe that they're going to see a reduction in revenue from this.
• 24:56
  And when that happens, do they say, okay, you know what, we made a mistake, let's back out and figure this out.
• 25:03
  Cause there are a million other things they have not even tried.
• 25:06
  They have no idea how to use social media and how to talk to a young audience.
• 25:10
  that's where the potential is.
• 25:12
  And the fact people like stuff that are uniquely think about conspiracy theories.
• 25:16
  I know something you don't.
• 25:18
  If I know about this fantastic league that really plays well and it's got a lot of rules and nobody else knows about it, I feel good.
• 25:24
  So you hook them on that, but no, they're not even trying that.
• 25:27
  They're just going to this.
• 25:28
  It's all American.
• 25:29
  It's all American.
• 25:29
  And if they do end up that they've made it simple now that if they decide that they have to go the extra way, they can narrow the field and go four downs nice and easy.
• 25:40
  And I don't know about anybody else, but I have a feeling that if they do that,
• 25:47
  for me, I'll be disappointed and I'll just, lose interest.
• 25:52
  It's like, it'll be like the NFL.
• 25:54
  I'll go back once every two or three years and watch a game and think, is it worth what?
• 25:57
  No, it's still boring as hell.
• 25:59
  Cause I love Canadian football.
• 26:01
  And I love the game and all the stuff that's in there with the game.
• 26:06
  And there's so many people like this.
• 26:07
  And if they just, if they can't be bothered to honor that, if they're just going to basically spit in the face of all those people and go,
• 26:14
  No, we know better from our corporate offices.
• 26:17
  Not a way to engage fans.
• 26:19
  Just like he used the words pace and urgency a lot and it worried me and then when he was flat out asked if he would rule out four downs he wouldn't.
• 26:29
  And so this makes me worried and it's honestly very tone deaf.
• 26:33
  I don't want to talk politics too much but right now Americanizing a game that's Canadian with what's happening is the most
• 26:41
  tone deaf thing I've ever heard.
• 26:44
  And I just don't know what, I just, honestly, honestly, I just, what a, what a presser.
• 26:52
  You, yeah, on, on Blue Sky a bit, but much more on the CFL Reddit, and then each of the teams has their own subreddits that I've started paying more attention to.
• 27:01
  And I know, again, people will say what they want and then will they follow through?
• 27:06
  I don't know.
• 27:07
  But the number of people from all the teams that are saying literally, I've called the rep and told them cancel my season tickets.
• 27:16
  I'm not interested in buying them again until I see where this goes.
• 27:21
  There was one out of Winnipeg that said, I just called my rep and told them I'd pay them the extra $200 to get a Grey Cup ticket without having to commit to another three years of
• 27:30
  season tickets because I don't want to be there for this.
• 27:35
  it's going to be interesting.
• 27:37
  Will they just bull on through with what they're doing, which is what I expect to happen.
• 27:43
  And, and that
• 27:45
  part of it is just, the league is disappointing me so much in the last few years.
• 27:49
  The way they handled the Kelly stuff, the way they've handled some of the racist stuff out of Edmonton the way they've handled domestic abuse It's becoming more and more apparent
• 27:57
  that it's all about the money and the league
• 28:01
  doesn't feel like it's got a soul.
• 28:03
  And that's not what it felt like to me when I became a fan I felt like I could trust a CFL to do the right thing.
• 28:09
  So yeah, it's kind of a sad day for me.
• 28:12
  mean, we'll see where the rule changes go.
• 28:14
  Hopefully we'll be back next year doing this show and the game is still good and everything, but the downward trend isn't good.
• 28:23
  and I will say the other thing just real quick on this that kind of pointed to all that was I heard
• 28:30
  dunk on three down nation had an interview with somebody from uSports about were they consulted and would they like to have been consulted and what will they be doing and
• 28:40
  frankly the only answers they had is we don't we have no idea because but the guy from uSports don't forget he's in a position that uSports needs the CFL a lot more than the CFL
• 28:49
  needs uSports and just the way that he answered it sounded like frankly like somebody talking about President Trump he'd been told
• 28:57
  You do not complain about this.
• 28:59
  You do not say anything negative.
• 29:01
  This is a positive thing.
• 29:03
  You and even the stuff about no consultations.
• 29:05
  Well, I could understand they're in delicate negotiations and they don't necessarily need to talk to us and we appreciate everything.
• 29:12
  It was just so...
• 29:14
  I'm losing the word.
• 29:15
  But, but...
• 29:19
  Please.
• 29:20
  was in the Twilight Zone yesterday because every media outlet was like, this is the greatest thing ever and everyone's like, this is amazing.
• 29:29
  I'm like, maybe it's me that's ridiculous.
• 29:31
  And then, and then came Nathan Rourke And Nathan Rourke I feel bad for him because
• 29:42
  They are the last practice of the day.
• 29:44
  There's not every team practice because the teams are playing Friday practice on the Monday.
• 29:49
  They're out on the West Coast.
• 29:50
  So they are the last.
• 29:51
  So by the time all the reporters got it together, they got to the Lions practice.
• 29:55
  And I feel like he kind of got blindsided.
• 29:59
  And he wasn't prepared.
• 30:00
  And honestly, if I had been interviewed yesterday, I probably would have pretty much said what he said yesterday.
• 30:06
  And I feel bad.
• 30:08
  And but I mean, he was the hero we all needed.
• 30:11
  And I noticed today that the CFL trotted out a bunch of other players.
• 30:15
  uh Davis Alexander um said that maybe Rourke, the Canadians, and showing in him, and they talked to Zach and Zach said it was good and Beau Levi said it was good.
• 30:24
  So now they're kind of circling the wagons around, no, Nathan's on the outside looking in, everyone else is agreeing.
• 30:30
  So there was a lone dissenter.
• 30:32
  He's like the Robin Hood of the league.
• 30:35
  he's in, like, because I was like...
• 30:37
  Maybe it's me, maybe, maybe.
• 30:39
  And then Rourke came in and I was like, okay, you know what?
• 30:44
  Yes, thank you, Nathan.
• 30:46
  a couple of things there.
• 30:47
  I was surprised because I immediately went to the CFL.ca fan forum.
• 30:53
  that group of individuals has been there generally a long time.
• 30:56
  And I was pretty surprised at how positive it was there from fans.
• 31:01
  And then I saw some of the other press stuff and I was
• 31:05
  I was pretty surprised at how positive it was.
• 31:08
  And even on Blue Sky, I was pretty surprised how positive it was.
• 31:12
  Initially, negativity and outrage as I thought it would be.
• 31:16
  You know, I thought it would just be the outrage flying off the charts.
• 31:20
  Maybe that was over on the old network, but I didn't really see it.
• 31:24
  And so I was surprised that most people seemed to like these ideas and seemed to think that they were okay with it.
• 31:30
  and it was good for the league.
• 31:33
  And then all of a sudden we started getting flooded with all the negative ones and everybody, the rage farming as it's called and off it went.
• 31:41
  And I was like, yeah, you know what?
• 31:43
  If every one of these people had bought a ticket to a CFL game over the last five years, well, maybe we wouldn't be in this position
• 31:52
  I'm trying to balance that yesterday was a really strange day for me.
• 31:56
  Today is very different.
• 31:57
  Today I'm ambivalent.
• 32:00
  I really just, I skipped right past, yesterday was the funeral and I skipped right past all of the stages and went today, I'm already at move on because it's over.
• 32:11
  It's interesting, but yesterday I felt like I'd lost somebody.
• 32:15
  As I put on one of my other posts, it felt like when you find out from a friend that you used to know, not somebody that you're really close to now because that's too close.
• 32:25
  But somebody that you used to know, then you find out that, that, geez, that they passed away.
• 32:30
  And you're kind of like, oh, I'm so bummed out.
• 32:33
  That's just sad.
• 32:34
  You know, I'm really bummed out by all of this.
• 32:37
  And I was walking around in that kind of a, yeah, I'm just kind of bummed out and sad all day.
• 32:44
  But I wasn't raging because I knew that that person had been sick and I knew that there was something was going to happen.
• 32:52
  And then when it did,
• 32:54
  it just kind of caught me off guard that they'd finally passed.
• 32:57
  And that's kind of how I felt yesterday.
• 33:00
  But somehow I woke up this morning and I was all the way past all stages of seven, seven stages of grief or whatever.
• 33:06
  I didn't get angry at all.
• 33:08
  I'm just already in the, yep, stuff happens.
• 33:12
  We're done with this.
• 33:13
  Nothing we can do about it.
• 33:14
  Move on.
• 33:15
  Let's talk about the changes and I will decide whether I like those or not
• 33:19
  I'm not going to get upset by this.
• 33:21
  I will say this.
• 33:22
  I also am not nearly as interested in the rest of the season as I was two days ago.
• 33:29
  And that the worst part of it for me is that all of a sudden, unless this weekend comes out and it's four bangers of games that have got me so excited again,
• 33:41
  that I don't care about all this other nonsense that's going to happen in the next year and a half.
• 33:46
  I'm kind of like out.
• 33:50
  And that to me is the saddest part of it.
• 33:53
  that's what my wife used the word to.
• 33:54
  And I think that's exactly the word to use.
• 33:57
  It's just sad.
• 33:58
  Yeah,
• 33:59
  Myself, I've kind of had the opposite journey.
• 34:01
  I, when I first saw it, I didn't know if they were going full American rules or what.
• 34:05
  So I saw it all and I thought, well, okay, it's still three downs.
• 34:09
  There's no change to the kicking rules.
• 34:13
  We don't have that silly American 10 yard lined up kickoff and we don't have any change in our punting rules.
• 34:19
  We don't have any change in our ratio.
• 34:21
  So yeah, okay.
• 34:22
  I can live with all these things.
• 34:23
  I'm willing to wait and give them a chance.
• 34:25
  And I was posting that way.
• 34:27
  And then people called me on the fact that my postings kind of changed later in the day because my attitude changed from, okay, I can give these a chance to, I started asking
• 34:36
  why, and I get.
• 34:38
  The why is because we want those that great big basket of mythical NFL fans that are going to flood to the CFL with the new rules and that I'm sorry I've seen nothing that that
• 34:50
  gives me any indication that's true.
• 34:52
  So they're taking a game with 150 years of history and tradition that's that is unique to our country that means something and they're tossing that out the window because frankly I
• 35:03
  believe the folks at MLSC and TSN
• 35:06
  Figure we'll do better with an American format.
• 35:09
  America's always better.
• 35:10
  It seems to be an attitude that too many people in that GTA go with and I just, it drives me crazy.
• 35:17
  So I'm getting angry now and I'll settle down and like I said, in the end, I'm not gonna be one of the ones that's going, that if the game turns out to be crap the way they've
• 35:27
  done, I'm not gonna be one of these ones that's gonna be out here screaming and yelling about it anymore.
• 35:31
  I'll just.
• 35:32
  oh I've got other stuff I can do in my life.
• 35:35
  And it's very much like you said, it'll be losing something that I very much enjoyed, but I've got to a point I've lost enough in this life,
• 35:43
  I think it's the limbo.
• 35:44
  The fact that they sprung it on us so quick and then we don't really know how these rules are going to impact anything.
• 35:53
  They haven't given a coherent bit of justification that yes, you know, we've done these focus groups, we've worked with these groups and we've determined that with market
• 36:02
  research that this will bring in more fans.
• 36:05
  Will it do it anywhere other than Toronto?
• 36:08
  I'm working towards the acceptance you have, and I'll be there before too long, but it's just, so unnecessary.
• 36:14
  why destroy something on a whim?
• 36:18
  Which they might be doing.
• 36:19
  I'm not saying they've done it, but they might be doing
• 36:21
  first reaction when I'm shocked like this, do I tend to sarcasm.
• 36:26
  So my first post was the CFL kickers flew too close to the sun.
• 36:31
  And now we all have to suffer.
• 36:32
  And then I got mad and then I was raging about and I think the secrecy then they started coming out that everything was secret and they didn't ask anyone and they just decided to
• 36:43
  do it on their own and then
• 36:45
  then I follow the trail, the money trail to TSN and Rogers and then I just, then I'm just like capitalism ruins everything.
• 36:54
  Why can't we have nice things?
• 36:55
  Where are the eccentric billionaires that just buy a team for fun and they don't care if it loses money and it's just a little tax write off for them?
• 37:03
  Like, why can't we just be fun?
• 37:05
  So I was mad yesterday, today I'm pretty sad and as my husband pointed out, he's like, well, you spend
• 37:13
  a lot of time.
• 37:14
  You watch four games a week and you are on their social media and you are talking about it and you talk to friends about it.
• 37:20
  I've made some friends on blue sky from the states that talk about CFL and so it's a little community that I'm losing and that's hard.
• 37:30
  That's hard.
• 37:31
  And you know, maybe I will just start watching rugby again and just kick it old school and watch rugby.
• 37:41
  and start a rugby podcast.
• 37:42
  don't know, I don't know.
• 37:44
  Like life will go on without the CFL.
• 37:47
  If it folds, I will be okay.
• 37:51
  It's it's sad.
• 37:52
  Yeah, now, time for conspiracies.
• 37:57
  And there's a lot of them floating out there.
• 38:01
  I don't disagree with, you know, some of them are interesting.
• 38:05
  And of course, I have my own.
• 38:08
  and there's no logic to it other than, you know, the twisted conspiracy logic that, you know, once it's in your head, you go, that's right.
• 38:14
  How about that?
• 38:14
  Yeah, that's got to be it.
• 38:16
  I miss that?
• 38:19
  So, my conspiracy is this, I think one of the things that drives valuation I think that's important.
• 38:25
  So, a lot of people are talking about how...
• 38:29
  this footprint that they've now have the hundred thirty yard versus a hundred fifty yard footprint and a hundred yard field which makes it easier for americans particularly to
• 38:40
  view the game and look at and go that looks like ours all that least it's an opening into
• 38:47
  expansion and it fits all MLS also is a soccer field size.
• 38:52
  Now it's not just, it's not just, you know, it's not just a rugby field size as it used to be.
• 38:57
  Now it's a soccer field, so you can fit it into other places.
• 39:00
  If you do a stadium in Halifax, all of a sudden you now have a dual purpose stadium, both the soccer and the CFL that you can run there, et cetera, et cetera.
• 39:11
  someone posted on Blue Sky that, well, at least they didn't go back to US expansion.
• 39:16
  And I said, no, this makes that way easier because now you've got the field.
• 39:20
  Because one of the biggest problems in the CFL expansion into the States in the 90s was the size of the field.
• 39:27
  This now makes it easier to go into the US.
• 39:30
  One of the things that's also interesting is this happens to, this all takes place with the new fields in 2027.
• 39:37
  Guess when the UFL is planning their expansion?
• 39:41
  2027.
• 39:41
  They're looking for new franchises as of 2027.
• 39:45
  That's already been stated.
• 39:47
  The UFL just got a brand new investor in the last little while to kind of keep the hype ball rolling
• 39:53
  he stepped in and he has said that they're looking to expand at least six more teams.
• 40:00
  And he's hoping to be 10 or 12 or 15 more, up to 20 teams or more by 2030.
• 40:07
  And he's also saying, but we're not going into the big stadiums.
• 40:11
  We're now looking at stadiums that are more 20 to 25,000 seat stadiums.
• 40:17
  look what we have all the way across our country.
• 40:19
  Isn't that convenient?
• 40:20
  With fan base built in.
• 40:22
  And could you see that happening?
• 40:25
  Why not?
• 40:26
  It goes back to that's what MLSC and Calgary apparently wanted two years or five years ago.
• 40:33
  So that could be certainly back in play.
• 40:36
  And yeah, that's a conspiracy theory out, know, that tinfoil hat stuff.
• 40:42
  But sure, that's
• 40:43
  increases your valuation because now you've got American franchises and all of a sudden all those American wannabes for want of a better word that aren't interested in CFL
• 40:54
  because ah, who cares about playing Saskatchewan?
• 40:57
  But they all care about playing St.
• 40:59
  Louis.
• 41:00
  Why?
• 41:00
  I've never figured that out, but they will and it will make it different.
• 41:05
  all of a sudden that increases your valuation again and
• 41:09
  That to me is what the long-term play is.
• 41:12
  It's all about the increase in the valuation.
• 41:15
  If they can't get that, then that's when we have to worry about the total demise.
• 41:21
  Because that's when we'll have to worry about it.
• 41:24
  I'm going to jump in here because I hear what you're saying, but I completely disagree with if that's their logic, because the reason the CFL has survived for 150 years and none
• 41:35
  of these American leagues have beyond a year or two is it's not NFL Lite And that's what the American leagues are.
• 41:43
  The spring leagues, they keep bringing them out and keep bringing them out and keep bringing them out.
• 41:46
  And they all go away real quick.
• 41:48
  So that's the last thing we should be doing.
• 41:50
  But again, that's my opinion.
• 41:53
  Okay, no, and I don't disagree with you, old man.
• 41:55
  However, what do you think about all of a sudden in America, you could put a quirky Canadian rules or quirky football rules into an American stadium where they can go and
• 42:08
  watch it, and all of a sudden you keep the rules.
• 42:11
  I'm not saying we go to NFL rules.
• 42:14
  I think their league goes to our rules.
• 42:20
  we now have the footprint in America and they have the footprint in Canada.
• 42:23
  It's a merger that way that and everybody's kind of happy because you can sell that in the US still because it looks like America until you get into it and by that time, hopefully
• 42:36
  you got them hooked, which is still what they're hoping.
• 42:38
  Maybe it'll be like the old school baseball with the AL and the NL and they have they're playing the same sport and they're both in the same league but they have a slightly
• 42:49
  different rules they only cumulate at World Series.
• 42:54
  Yeah, no, I can't.
• 42:55
  That was one of the suggestions originally in the in the Xfl meager in 2020.
• 42:59
  And I didn't think that makes sense then.
• 43:01
  And I don't think that'll make sense in the future.
• 43:03
  I get it.
• 43:04
  But I don't think that'll make sense.
• 43:06
  rules are coming in to like start shifting the CFL closer to that though?
• 43:11
  And then maybe there's just one or two rules off just to make it just enough to make it a little bit interesting.
• 43:18
  Oh, look at the quirky little team from Canada is in the finals.
• 43:21
  And now we all have to like do this one little our end zone is five yards deeper now because it's like we're playing up in like Winnipeg.
• 43:31
  Yeah, now I think we're getting off.
• 43:32
  I think we're getting too deep into my conspiracy theory.
• 43:35
  It was a fun one.
• 43:36
  They'll just throw it out out there guys.
• 43:39
  I'm not I'm not good.
• 43:40
  I'm not saying this is happening.
• 43:42
  I was putting the hat on.
• 43:43
  Let me take it off so we could all get away from that.
• 43:45
  Let's talk about the let's talk about the rules themselves and if we think they will actually work because the debate still is is whether this will actually work and whether
• 43:55
  these rules still will will actually make a difference to the game itself.
• 43:59
  So why don't we talk about those rules and whether we think those will work and how they will impact the game.
• 44:06
  Is that okay?
• 44:07
  that.
• 44:07
  Yeah, and let me start with a question specifically for you, MJ, because you're a baseball fan, right?
• 44:16
  Big time.
• 44:17
  I don't, I don't watch baseball.
• 44:19
  It's never attracted me, but tell me this.
• 44:21
  If just sort of the generic games in a baseball game, is a baseball game that ends up with a final score of 14 to 11 more exciting than a baseball game that ends up 6-4?
• 44:33
  Not necessarily.
• 44:34
  Yeah.
• 44:35
  And that's what their whole premise is.
• 44:37
  More offense is going to be more exciting.
• 44:39
  We're going to have more touchdowns all over the place.
• 44:42
  If you want more touchdowns, you don't have to do any of this.
• 44:44
  they wouldn't even have to change a rule.
• 44:47
  They could just enforce one of the existing rules and the scoring would go up by 50, 60%.
• 44:54
  I haven't read the rule books.
• 44:56
  Maybe there's nuances there that they would have to flatten out.
• 44:59
  But that's basically enforce the illegal contact rule.
• 45:02
  No contact with the receiver after five yards.
• 45:05
  No hand fighting, no bumping, no running to the sidelines.
• 45:09
  All you can do as a receiver is mirror him until he touches the ball.
• 45:14
  And you do that and we're going to have 10, 12 touchdowns a game because you can't cover that way.
• 45:20
  Is it going to be exciting?
• 45:21
  Hell no.
• 45:23
  It's going to be boring as hell.
• 45:25
  But that's more
• 45:27
  touchdowns is not necessarily the the best way to drive a league close games drive leagues exciting football where there's interesting things happening you said talked about the
• 45:37
  rules do you think that moving the goalposts back so that you have to get closer for a field goal is actually going to end up getting more touchdowns or will it be more punts
• 45:47
  think it's good.
• 45:48
  I think it's going to end up being more punts.
• 45:50
  It's going to be more punts.
• 45:52
  They're like we're going to make coaches be aggressive and play calling like no, they're not.
• 45:56
  They aren't now.
• 45:58
  can't make them like Dave.
• 46:01
  Dave Dickinson said today that he's Dave Dickinson said to me that he's an employee and he'll work within the rules, He's going to manage how he wants to manage and you can't
• 46:10
  force him to go on a third and five.
• 46:13
  you're going to find coaches that are going to find creative ways to use these rules and they're not necessarily going to be for the betterment of the game.
• 46:20
  They're going to be for winning.
• 46:22
  It's kind like when the NFL, mean the NHL started the lines, right?
• 46:26
  And everyone started playing the New Jersey Devils figured out the trap.
• 46:29
  And then everyone started doing the trap and then it was so boring and they had to change all the lines again.
• 46:36
  Every league's a copycat league.
• 46:39
  So as soon as somebody figures something out, everybody figures it out.
• 46:43
  But you just brought up Dave Dickinson and coaching So how does this impact coaches?
• 46:49
  Because does this all of a sudden mean that some guy that's coached for 20 years in Canadian football is no longer now able to coach because he can't make adjustments to the
• 47:01
  game?
• 47:01
  Or if you're an assistant coach,
• 47:04
  as an offensive or defensive coordinator, I don't know.
• 47:07
  Maybe we're going to see some of those old school guys not in the league anymore.
• 47:12
  And, you know, that'll be interesting to see who survives these changes.
• 47:16
  Because there's going to be changes in the way the games played.
• 47:18
  There's no doubt about it.
• 47:20
  Okay, so sorry.
• 47:21
  We were talking about moving the goalposts back.
• 47:22
  one, we should have started with a softball like benches.
• 47:26
  Okay, sure.
• 47:26
  Let's talk benches then.
• 47:28
  Anybody disagree with the benches?
• 47:31
  No.
• 47:32
  No, no, no, absolutely not.
• 47:34
  However, I have heard some comments today that some stadiums that they're talking about, Toronto is one of them.
• 47:41
  And I think Hamilton's as well, since they redesigned the stadiums, there's no room for a bench on the other side.
• 47:49
  There's simple.
• 47:50
  are built to work with soccer and soccer has benches on the same side and those seams were built to be multi-purpose so the benches are on the same side.
• 48:01
  I don't know.
• 48:03
  there's literally no room across the field for a bench on the other side.
• 48:08
  Now, they're gonna have to redevelop the stadium again and that's gonna be part of when they...
• 48:16
  Yeah, that's what you might see because in Toronto, I'll tell you what, if your bench went for the opposing team in an afternoon game,
• 48:25
  anybody that's been to that stadium or even seen it on TV knows it 140 degrees on that's on the east side of that stadium when the sun is shining.
• 48:34
  It is so hot on that side.
• 48:35
  It's crazy.
• 48:36
  So that's a distinct advantage.
• 48:40
  anyways, that's going to be interesting.
• 48:42
  But but I agree with kids.
• 48:45
  in practicality, let's see how this all pans out at like in Montreal, in Toronto, in Hamilton.
• 48:52
  Yeah.
• 48:54
  Conceptually, that's an easy fix and something that they should have done a few years ago.
• 48:59
  That's an easy one.
• 49:01
  That's conceptually make good sense.
• 49:03
  if I can borrow your tin foil hat for just a minute here, GT, let me put that on.
• 49:08
  So there we go.
• 49:12
  So if there's no room for the benches on the other side in Toronto and Hamilton, just like they've made accommodations in Percival to let them cut off the corners of the end zone
• 49:22
  does this suddenly become...
• 49:24
  Oh well, the fields there are going to have to be 10 yards narrower to get the benches on that side and get us closer to American football again.
• 49:34
  Okay.
• 49:34
  shall do it.
• 49:35
  see it's like a big basketball where you just sit courtside like there's just gonna be like the line players and then there's just gonna be like people just sitting on top of
• 49:45
  you m
• 49:46
  You're marketing it as intimate.
• 49:50
  Okay.
• 49:50
  So, so the benches, we agree that if they can do that, it may cost them some, but it's a good thing.
• 49:54
  The hundred yard field.
• 49:56
  Is that the next easiest one?
• 49:58
  thought the next I thought the next I thought the next easiest was the Rouge
• 50:05
  Um...
• 50:09
  I will say I've advocated for this rule for years.
• 50:11
  I've said this should be the rule for years, that this makes perfect me, this makes perfect sense.
• 50:16
  Except, I disagree with the way that they did it, because I do think that if a ball touches the ground, the defense should have to play it.
• 50:27
  If it's in the air and goes through the end zone, no point, that's fine by me.
• 50:32
  But
• 50:33
  you can now literally watch a kick hit the ground and bounce through the end zone and have no consequence for it.
• 50:39
  There's no way a coach is going to tell anybody to pick that kick up.
• 50:43
  So I think it should have been, as long as the ball touches the ground, then you have to play it.
• 50:48
  I would have been fine with this.
• 50:49
  I've talked about that for years.
• 50:52
  Yeah, I say too that it's not just it has to be sort of three yards in the end zone.
• 50:57
  has to be three yards in the middle of the end zone.
• 50:59
  Because if you're kicking for the coffin corner and you rolled out the side of the end zone, that's not worth anything anymore either.
• 51:05
  it's the same thing with it.
• 51:08
  I really think that it's going to change the return game.
• 51:11
  And the return game is a big part of our league.
• 51:13
  And I think we're going to see...
• 51:15
  see less of it.
• 51:17
  And I mean, frankly, one of the things too is the field, depending on where they put the kickoff line, we could easily see an NFL style, kick it in the end zone, play's whistle
• 51:30
  dead, we take over on the 30.
• 51:33
  Over and over and over again.
• 51:34
  haven't and they haven't told us that and that's the scariest thing because it even came up in that frequently asked questions where it says they're not going to punt when we said
• 51:43
  it will increase more punts.
• 51:45
  They say, no, it won't increase more punts because the ball is going to come out to the 40 where you were kicking a 40 yard field goal from.
• 51:51
  Well, if it's still coming out to the 40, then absolutely.
• 51:54
  It's just it's redundant.
• 51:56
  Like when you've got a hundred yard field, why should the offense start at the 40 yard line?
• 52:00
  That's just goofy.
• 52:02
  Yeah, you'd think it.
• 52:03
  those rules that they moved two years ago, that's just ridiculous.
• 52:08
  That's where I am going to be.
• 52:10
  Okay.
• 52:10
  This is just silly and I'm not watching this.
• 52:13
  Yeah, so it turns out I live with a rouge hater.
• 52:17
  Imagine the horror that I learned this to you today.
• 52:20
  So he does not care that there's no rouge I'm a little half I don't mind not getting a point for missed field goal I don't I don't mind if they change that the puntings, as
• 52:31
  we've talked about is a little bit trickier.
• 52:34
  See, I like the rouge on the field goal the way it sits right now.
• 52:40
  mean, first of all, think about it.
• 52:41
  If these rules were in effect, Ottawa probably wins that game this weekend.
• 52:45
  Because Winnipeg had a missed field goal return for a touchdown and another long one.
• 52:50
  But I like having the missed field goal returns in there.
• 52:53
  it's all how you frame stuff.
• 52:55
  I keep hearing everybody say, you get a point for failing.
• 52:57
  If you fail to make a field goal, you get a point for failing.
• 53:01
  No, you don't.
• 53:02
  What you do is you're marching down the field and you want to get to the point where you can start scoring points.
• 53:09
  And if you get close enough to try a long field goal that's questionable, but you know you've got that buffer of getting a, probably getting a point at least, you've earned it
• 53:19
  by getting to that distance.
• 53:21
  Then you march in further and you
• 53:22
  or got into field goal range and you should make the field goal.
• 53:25
  and then you want to march down and get in the end zone.
• 53:26
  So it's a matter of how far you're down the field you get and you get rewards for it.
• 53:29
  And one of the rewards is a rouge for getting close enough to at least try that field goal.
• 53:34
  That's how I see it.
• 53:35
  So I like the rouge.
• 53:37
  So, I think a lot of people don't have enough historical knowledge of the game to make those decisions and those opinions properly, because you have to go back to why do we have
• 53:54
  end zones to begin with and what the rouge is.
• 53:57
  It is not a failure.
• 53:59
  It is a reward.
• 54:01
  You also have to go back to, and remember that prior to 1986 and BC place, our end zones were 25 yards deep.
• 54:09
  Not 20, 25.
• 54:11
  Go back and watch an old game, and it's like a whole nother field back there.
• 54:16
  It's insane looking if you go when you look at it now.
• 54:19
  And you have to remember that guys were kicking a football that looked like a rugby ball because the old J5 was basically a rugby ball with pointed ends on it.
• 54:33
  remember when quarterbacks used to come up from America and go, I can't even hold this damn football, let alone throw it.
• 54:41
  And also you got to remember that back then,
• 54:45
  kickers were just not as good as they are now remember that robo kicker kicked out a sixty seven percent was the success rate he would you be in the league it's there's so much
• 54:56
  difference between the game now kicking versus the game then so that's where the rouge was in play and it's not a reward for failure it's a reward for
• 55:08
  strategically making a decision and this and i've always said again that takes the decision-making and takes it out of the hands and i want strategy going back to your
• 55:19
  baseball analogy that you mentioned earlier and j again you're a big baseball person okay so the two leagues you mentioned the two leagues before when there were two leagues
• 55:31
  because now there really is one league with two names
• 55:34
  because they've morphed the rules just like we're doing here so much that the difference between what was the National League and the American League almost doesn't exist anymore.
• 55:44
  when there were the two separate leagues, say 15 years ago, which did you prefer more?
• 55:51
  Did you prefer the American rules where it was just a guy banging home runs and hoping for the best, because that's all the designator hitter was for, or was it?
• 56:02
  you know the pitcher having to go in and bat and then bunt and make a play and decide which strategically how you were going to do that and that's the difference between the
• 56:13
  two leagues and you could fall in love with one league or the other but you understood the differences that's what we're taking out of this game somewhat by doing this stuff is
• 56:23
  those differences that you could fall in love with
• 56:26
  And I don't think this makes that much.
• 56:29
  I think this takes, you know, most of these rules, including the rouge that's taking it away, even in retaining it halfway, is taking out some of those things that make the
• 56:41
  difference and the strategies different and appreciative difference in strategy.
• 56:46
  the game what it is,
• 56:48
  But this is why I like see if I like quirky little weird rules.
• 56:53
  This is why I like CFL football This is why I like CBL basketball.
• 56:57
  They have a target score So after like the last three minutes of the game, they turn the clock off They add nine to the highest score and then the first team to that wins So
• 57:05
  they're not even trying to do NBA because they're like we can't compete with NBA So we're just gonna make this quirky little weird rule for our game ending So every game ends on a
• 57:14
  basket instead of a foul or just the time run out
• 57:17
  Baseball, like there's a good analogy this year because the Jays and the Yankees is a historic rival like last five, 10 years.
• 57:25
  And the New York Yankee commentators were actually really mad about the Blue Jays and how they play because they said it was boring and annoying because the Blue Jays play small
• 57:34
  ball and they bunt and they hit singles and they steal and they do all these things.
• 57:42
  And then the Yankees
• 57:44
  the Yankees hit long bumps.
• 57:47
  So they strike out a lot, but they hit long bumps.
• 57:50
  Blue Jays take forever at the plate because they will have 10 to 12 pitches, because they are choosing pitches and they're playing a game and the Yankee players will just take
• 58:00
  three big swings if they're out, they're out if they hit a homer they hit a run.
• 58:03
  So the Yankee commentators were really mad about how the Blue Jays were playing and then I'm like...
• 58:07
  No, you know what's really annoying watching the Yankees play because it's just a bunch of strikeouts or long bombs and there's no in between.
• 58:15
  So it just depends on what you like.
• 58:17
  If you like long bombs, great, watch the Yankees.
• 58:21
  If you like quirky, weird stuff, great, watch the Blue Jays this year.
• 58:26
  CFL, same thing.
• 58:29
  CFL, there's teams like the bombers that rely on the run a lot.
• 58:36
  There's teams that like to air it out.
• 58:38
  There's teams whose special teams is their top of the three they play.
• 58:44
  There's other teams whose like, we all talk about like,
• 58:47
  historically Hamilton hard-nosed defense.
• 58:49
  I mean there's
• 58:50
  There's lots of ways to play a game without changing a bunch of rules, I mean, circle back, is Rouge.
• 58:58
  It's got quirky little weird rule.
• 59:00
  I like it, my husband hates it, and clearly TSN hates it too, so it's gone.
• 59:06
  Yeah, well, or it's not, it's partially gone,
• 59:09
  I'll go back and say, I'm okay with the one minor irritation.
• 59:14
  I'm okay with the change to the Rouge rule.
• 59:17
  Yeah.
• 59:18
  And I don't like it, but it's not the ones that I'm really that concerned about.
• 59:23
  I think you could have made that change without the others and it wouldn't have had a perceptible difference on the culture of the game.
• 59:32
  Okay.
• 59:33
  So we talked the benches Can we talk the hundred yard field now or do you want to do another one?
• 59:36
  Is there an easier one?
• 59:38
  35 second game clock's a bit easier.
• 59:42
  Is it?
• 59:42
  I think this one's the...
• 59:44
  That's the most contentious one.
• 59:45
  That's the one that I want gone more than anything else.
• 59:49
  Hmm, interesting.
• 59:50
  Okay.
• 59:50
  Because I don't, I don't mind.
• 59:53
  With a caveat, with a caveat.
• 59:56
  I'm completely ambivalent about it.
• 59:58
  I've always been, I've always as whenever I've discussed the differences in a prideful way between the two leagues, I've always pointed out the 20 second clock as something that
• 1:00:08
  speeds up the game.
• 1:00:09
  And so it's always been a good thing to me.
• 1:00:12
  However, over the years, a lot of people have shown me that it's not really a 20 second clock.
• 1:00:19
  because it takes that extra couple, takes however long for the
• 1:00:22
  for the referee before he blows it in.
• 1:00:25
  it really is almost as much time as there is in the US as there is here before the actual play gets, or before the actual ball gets snapped.
• 1:00:33
  So is that 35 seconds?
• 1:00:34
  Do I like the sound of it?
• 1:00:36
  Aesthetically, again, as I talked about earlier, I don't like the sound of it.
• 1:00:40
  It's too close to 40 seconds, which is too close to America.
• 1:00:44
  But does it make a difference technically in the game?
• 1:00:47
  I'm still, I will wait to see.
• 1:00:49
  I've not ever timed a play or spent with a stopwatch and went click, click, click to see is it.
• 1:00:58
  Yeah, no, I'm not doing that.
• 1:01:01
  No, just no.
• 1:01:04
  Okay.
• 1:01:05
  So what about you then?
• 1:01:06
  Because you thought this was an easy one, is it?
• 1:01:09
  Yeah, I'm worried now if there's an automatic 35 second.
• 1:01:13
  I'm worried for the first few years there's gonna be a lot of time count violations all game.
• 1:01:17
  and then I want I worry about the I want to make sure the last two minutes like does that game clock start automatically that is it is it counting down is it keeping the same rules
• 1:01:27
  currently with the 20 second clock
• 1:01:32
  that's been that's been a little bit muddied by the stuff I've heard out there and I haven't seen anything officially on the league from so this this is my problem with the 35
• 1:01:39
  second clock I I understand what everyone's saying that it can take forever to to get the ball whistled in because there is that it's not an automatic clock start on the whistle to
• 1:01:49
  end the play which is what Johnson was saying yesterday this will be an automatic one okay fine but they still have to
• 1:01:57
  allow times for the teams to make substitutions.
• 1:02:01
  So who's going to determine that?
• 1:02:03
  And one of the big reasons they're saying with it is that there are teams like, well, I'm not saying this, but I've heard a lot of people say O'Shea manipulates the substitution
• 1:02:16
  rule to really drain the clock down a lot the way that it is now, because during the outside of those last three minutes, the clock is running during that time.
• 1:02:26
  Okay, I'll give you that.
• 1:02:27
  But fix that without having to go to this whole thing because the problem is that the biggest thing is the excitement in our game is the last three minutes of the game.
• 1:02:38
  And right now, you're rolling, you get yourself a first down
• 1:02:42
  So now you get 20 seconds on first, second and third down, 60 seconds.
• 1:02:46
  You can kneel out the clock.
• 1:02:48
  You put this sucker in there and we're now up at a minute and a half or more that you can kneel out the clock from.
• 1:02:58
  So that's going to push for a lot more running plays in that last minute.
• 1:03:04
  Whereas now you see things where
• 1:03:06
  where teams, if it's anywhere near close, will run the first play to get the clock running and then put the ball up so you get chances for interceptions, you get all that
• 1:03:13
  excitement.
• 1:03:14
  It is really that bit.
• 1:03:16
  So I've heard people say now, well, what they'll actually do is the clock will start automatically the play clock.
• 1:03:24
  But in the last three minutes, the refs will decide when to whistle in the the the game clock.
• 1:03:31
  So that, you know, again, so now, so if I'm a defense
• 1:03:34
  when they're like, maybe we shouldn't do the pitch clock in playoffs because it'll ruin the...
• 1:03:42
  No, they're just like, pitch clock's on.
• 1:03:45
  You get in and figure it out.
• 1:03:47
  And if you don't, it's a ball or a strike.
• 1:03:49
  So maybe CFL just needs to come down hard and be like, game clock's on.
• 1:03:55
  Figure out your substitutions during the game clock.
• 1:03:59
  You can't figure it out in 35 seconds?
• 1:04:00
  It's a time count violation.
• 1:04:02
  Yeah, because I agree, because that's what they're saying, you know, that they manipulate it.
• 1:04:06
  So now if you get that situation where the ref in the last three minutes has to whistle in the game clock, but the play clock's running and the defense decides, oh, we're going to
• 1:04:15
  take 25 seconds to get our subs out there.
• 1:04:19
  The offense has 10 seconds to run a play.
• 1:04:23
  And who knows, they're not saying anything about that.
• 1:04:26
  So to me, if they want to achieve that...
• 1:04:28
  This is what I think they should have gone to.
• 1:04:30
  It's a very easy thing.
• 1:04:33
  I don't like the 35 seconds, it's too long.
• 1:04:37
  The play ends, a count starts of 10 seconds.
• 1:04:40
  In that 10 seconds, you've got your substitutions to do, either team, one way or the other.
• 1:04:46
  And in the last three minutes of a half, the game clock isn't running for that 10 seconds.
• 1:04:51
  Then at the end of that 10 seconds, the 20 second clock starts up automatically.
• 1:04:55
  You gotta get the play off within the 20 seconds.
• 1:04:57
  You end up, you're not running any more time off the clock.
• 1:05:00
  It's consistent all the way through the game.
• 1:05:02
  Johnson was saying, this is so important that it's an automatic clock.
• 1:05:06
  But if you're still letting, letting the refs determine when to whistle in the game clock, it's not automatic.
• 1:05:12
  That's my feeling.
• 1:05:13
  I think this is the one that could go the worst by far.
• 1:05:16
  It could just turn this game into the slow American game that we watch now, including because they're now saying, well, maybe the team should have two timeouts to use at the
• 1:05:24
  end of each half, which again, fine, but don't make it a timeout, make it a clock stoppage.
• 1:05:31
  So we don't have to stop and wait a minute to start again.
• 1:05:33
  We just, you use it so that the clock doesn't start until the play is whistled in.
• 1:05:37
  I know, that's the one I dislike the most.
• 1:05:39
  But I think we've covered it.
• 1:05:41
  We'll let people get their own feelings.
• 1:05:42
  So where do we go left?
• 1:05:44
  Next we've got the 100 yard field, 15 yard end zone, and the goalposts moved.
• 1:05:50
  And they're all kind of tied together, but.
• 1:05:52
  They're all kind of tied together.
• 1:05:53
  These are the 2027 changes, right?
• 1:05:55
  These are the not next year, but the year after.
• 1:05:58
  And they keep saying, including from yesterday forward, that these are all tied together.
• 1:06:03
  They all have to be tied together because if you're doing one, you're doing the other.
• 1:06:07
  And I simply don't understand that.
• 1:06:10
  I hope somebody explains why we have to have all three of these things tied together.
• 1:06:14
  of all of the things that I dislike the most,
• 1:06:19
  is the hundred-yard field versus the 110 of all of these.
• 1:06:26
  there's, again, it's aesthetics.
• 1:06:29
  And I get it.
• 1:06:30
  It's just a picture.
• 1:06:31
  I get it.
• 1:06:32
  But to me, that picture is the game, is our game.
• 1:06:37
  And that's the biggest difference.
• 1:06:39
  If they hadn't done nothing else or done everything else but left that out of there, I would have been fine with it.
• 1:06:45
  And I would have went, okay, there are pretty significant changes, but I can deal with all of those.
• 1:06:50
  There's some logic there.
• 1:06:51
  I don't understand the logic as even as they try to explain it to me,
• 1:06:56
  Why couldn't they just do the 15-yard end zone and move the goalposts?
• 1:07:01
  Like I don't mind you making the end zone a bit shorter.
• 1:07:03
  Fine, whatever, do what you want.
• 1:07:05
  Clearly they used to be 25.
• 1:07:06
  I didn't even notice.
• 1:07:08
  moving the goalposts back...
• 1:07:11
  Whatever, whatever.
• 1:07:13
  I...
• 1:07:14
  This is the one that my family was the most contentious about actually because some people didn't think it was a big deal and other people thought it was a very big deal.
• 1:07:21
  But everyone was mad about the field, but I think this just ties into they want to fit into soccer stadiums.
• 1:07:29
  this is, what I understand about it, why they say it's all tied together.
• 1:07:33
  You, you start with the concept you're moving the goalposts back and I kind of agree with Nathan and actually Nathan was kind of who turned my attitude around yesterday from I'll
• 1:07:43
  just wait and see to I'm annoyed about this because he made some very good points but yeah there's reasons why it's good to have them there for both offense and defense and it's
• 1:07:52
  part of how you strategize the game.
• 1:07:53
  But you move the goalposts back 15 yards.
• 1:07:56
  Well, if you keep a 20 yard end zone, now it's 20 yards away.
• 1:07:59
  So the shortest field goal you can kick is a 28 yard field goal.
• 1:08:04
  Cause you're on the one yard line, you snap it back seven yards to the eight.
• 1:08:07
  It's a 28 yard field goal.
• 1:08:09
  So you're taking that 20 yards off.
• 1:08:11
  Now a 50 yard field goal.
• 1:08:13
  The furthest that you can kick a 50 yard field goal from is the 23 Yeah.
• 1:08:18
  Yeah.
• 1:08:19
  So if you're outside the, if you're outside the 30, it's going to be
• 1:08:22
  similar to the NFL, but worse because there's an extra five yards there now.
• 1:08:26
  If you're outside the 30, you're not kicking a field goal.
• 1:08:29
  So they say, well, so because of that, we have to shorten the end zone five yards so that at least you can be on the 35 and have a hope of kicking a field goal.
• 1:08:37
  And then they say, and then we have to shorten the, field to a hundred yards because since you have to get all the way down to the 35, it's that much harder.
• 1:08:45
  And if you don't shorten the field, the offense,
• 1:08:47
  won't be able to do it, which I think is hook'em.
• 1:08:50
  I think the 35 second clock is the most dangerous rule.
• 1:08:54
  The one I hate the most is I'm with you GT, because it's so much of the history of the game.
• 1:08:59
  It was there.
• 1:09:00
  And the thing is, they put this all together, but then they give us other explanations.
• 1:09:04
  Like the one that pisses me off is, I'm sorry, don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.
• 1:09:09
  They say, well, we have to do the end zone 15 yards shorter, because Percival Molson has...
• 1:09:16
  slash corners and because BMO has 18 yard end zones.
• 1:09:19
  Yeah, okay.
• 1:09:20
  If you're shortening the field by a hundred yards in the middle, that doesn't matter.
• 1:09:25
  Both of those stadiums now have lots of room for 20 yard end zones and a 20 yard end zone gives you a much better chance of getting a touchdown than a 15 yard end zone does.
• 1:09:34
  You've got more room to work in.
• 1:09:35
  So if you want to get the points up and going, keep the 20 yard end zone and okay.
• 1:09:40
  that
• 1:09:41
  You can't kick a field goal from less than the 25.
• 1:09:43
  You don't want field goals.
• 1:09:45
  You tell me you want touchdowns.
• 1:09:47
  So why not keep the hundred yards, keep the 20 yard end zones.
• 1:09:51
  I'll take the rounded off corners here and there and just put the goal posts at the end.
• 1:09:57
  But no, like you said, GT do you do that?
• 1:10:00
  And the Americans are going to be going, well, that doesn't look right.
• 1:10:03
  Or the NFL fans in Canada who want to watch the NFL ball will go, well, that's not right.
• 1:10:09
  So they're doing it to appease people that I don't think have any interest in this game, whatever they do to try and draw them in.
• 1:10:20
  going to the 15 yard end zones to me was not a killer It's just, I don't understand the hundred yards.
• 1:10:26
  I still don't care.
• 1:10:27
  If you're, if they're trying to make this, you know, so easy for the offenses that they're going to score, as you said, 50 to 45 every game.
• 1:10:37
  why don't we just play arena ball?
• 1:10:40
  Because that's what it's going to become, right?
• 1:10:42
  it's, yeah, it's like, yeah, you know, what's, what's the point?
• 1:10:51
  mean, you got to make the offensive work.
• 1:10:54
  I wasn't really, I wasn't happy when they moved it, when they moved it from the 35 or the 30 to the 40 when they, after a missed field goal, I thought that was too much for the
• 1:11:04
  offense.
• 1:11:05
  And I thought that was lazy on behalf of the offenses.
• 1:11:08
  So this, they don't make these changes and plus they shrink the field, I don't know.
• 1:11:14
  Cause when the ball comes out to the 40 and now I only have to go 50 yards to score.
• 1:11:19
  It's going to be like, yeah, who cares?
• 1:11:21
  It's so easy.
• 1:11:22
  It better be easy anyways.
• 1:11:24
  with a wide feel.
• 1:11:25
  Yeah, yeah, and I really feel like somewhere, I'm right about it being TSN and MLSE involved or somewhere along the line, someone decided these are the rules we're going to
• 1:11:36
  and now all the reasons we're being given are just justifications.
• 1:11:40
  Okay, how are we gonna sell this?
• 1:11:42
  Now that we've decided we're doing this, how are we gonna sell this?
• 1:11:46
  Yeah, it's all the spin.
• 1:11:48
  It's all spin.
• 1:11:49
  Yeah, and that annoys me.
• 1:11:52
  really don't do that.
• 1:11:53
  Talk to me straight.
• 1:11:55
  Yeah, you're a corporation, but you're also a league that's got fans that it's a different relationship.
• 1:12:02
  Anyway, anything else to cover there?
• 1:12:05
  Because the last little bit that I just wanted to talk about and get your thoughts on was the fact that this was all secret and it leaves...
• 1:12:17
  the rest of Canadian football in a bind.
• 1:12:20
  The riders were on a bye last week and we've got this topic.
• 1:12:22
  So tonight I'm repping our local junior team, the Okanagan Sun.
• 1:12:27
  Junior is great football.
• 1:12:30
  Not CFL caliber, but there is very good football there.
• 1:12:34
  University ball in this country can be very good.
• 1:12:37
  And now you've got even the minor teams.
• 1:12:39
  what I didn't realize, I thought, okay, so how hard can this be?
• 1:12:43
  You have put a different post for your goal posts in and paint some new lines.
• 1:12:47
  It's not that bad.
• 1:12:48
  I didn't realize that.
• 1:12:49
  No, now with the artificial turf, all those numbers and lines are all woven in and you've got to, you've got to replace it all.
• 1:12:57
  That's why the, U sports never went to the shortened hash marks.
• 1:13:02
  So the hash marks pulled in because they would have had to replace full fields to do it.
• 1:13:07
  So where do, where we left the rest of it.
• 1:13:10
  Sorry, what was that?
• 1:13:11
  did.
• 1:13:11
  I was talking to you.
• 1:13:14
  Okay.
• 1:13:16
  Yeah.
• 1:13:17
  And I will say just this, this kind of thought that just occurred to me because I was going to say to her and I didn't Adam Biggles had a few things to say about this, which
• 1:13:24
  are a little bit.
• 1:13:26
  I don't know.
• 1:13:27
  They're contradictory to what I'm hearing from other people.
• 1:13:29
  And I didn't hear him say it.
• 1:13:30
  I heard reports of it.
• 1:13:31
  So I could be wrong, but apparently the one thing that he did say that made perfect sense is he said, if you want to get the game more high-paced, more professional, more exciting.
• 1:13:40
  get rid of your coaches cap.
• 1:13:42
  Because if you want to let coaches, let the teams hire coaches that can coach.
• 1:13:48
  That made sense to me.
• 1:13:49
  But what do you think about how it's going to impact the rest of Canadian football across the country?
• 1:13:54
  Well, if that was it, if Adam Big Hill said that, it wasn't in the initial interview that I saw.
• 1:14:00
  So it must have been in a secondary interview.
• 1:14:02
  I've heard quite a few people say that that's one of the things they need to next.
• 1:14:06
  That's one of the changes they want to see next.
• 1:14:08
  But I did not hear Bighill say that in the interview that I watched.
• 1:14:12
  But anyway, sorry, MJ, I cut you off.
• 1:14:15
  no, we're going to talk to you, I think we covered this quite a bit, just that universities don't have money.
• 1:14:21
  They don't have money and they weren't consulted and they found out when we found out and how awful is that?
• 1:14:27
  There's a lot, like, you know, I was just thinking about this, we, there's been a big disparagement.
• 1:14:33
  There's not enough good O-line men.
• 1:14:35
  We can't find O-line men.
• 1:14:36
  There's actually quite a few Canadians playing O-line in the state because no one can find them.
• 1:14:39
  You're getting all these O-Line guys out of university, U-sports.
• 1:14:42
  They're all coming.
• 1:14:43
  You want to Canadian, they like to hide their Canadians on the line.
• 1:14:46
  So these guys are all coming from U-sports.
• 1:14:48
  You need, you need U-sports.
• 1:14:50
  Like who else?
• 1:14:52
  Like you still have a Canadian ratio that you have to fill.
• 1:14:56
  So they're going to have to come from somewhere.
• 1:14:58
  And honestly, it's pretty rude of the CFL not to be like, we're going to give these teams some...
• 1:15:05
  cash to help them update their fields.
• 1:15:07
  Well then what happens to like the Dinos, the Bison, what McGill's team, um the Rams, the Red Birds they all play on UCFL fields and Percival Stadium is owned by McGill.
• 1:15:26
  I think the U of C owns McMahon and the
• 1:15:30
  The Bisons, that's a joint partnership with the U of and the Bombers, so...
• 1:15:36
  So are like the youth sports gonna be like, okay, well we're playing in Calgary tonight, so we need to play on a shortened field with field goals in the end zone, and then when we
• 1:15:45
  go to UBC, we play with...
• 1:15:48
  It just feels like there was no thought process at all for development.
• 1:15:58
  Yeah, don't think they care.
• 1:15:59
  Bluntly, I don't think they care about the, in this decision making process, I don't think they cared.
• 1:16:06
  This was about them and they're trying to move forward But I don't think they cared about about U sports and junior at all.
• 1:16:15
  They figured they'll just fall in line somehow.
• 1:16:17
  They'll be have to.
• 1:16:19
  that was the, I thought the most interesting interview of the, that I heard since yesterday was,
• 1:16:25
  with dunk on three down nation and the CEO of U sports and when he said we found out about this this morning that's when he told yesterday morning yeah not the head of it met three
• 1:16:40
  hours or two hours ahead of it not a day's a week's or months so they do they were completely caught off guard too and he said that it costs up to a million dollars or more
• 1:16:52
  to replace a field
• 1:16:53
  and it's going to take them years, and it's going to be some schools just replaced their field in the last year or two.
• 1:17:01
  They're not going to spend another million dollars to replace a field.
• 1:17:07
  And there's going to be some schools that will or be able to do it.
• 1:17:10
  And, you know, the big ones, maybe Western or Laval that have the money might be able to do it sooner, but a smaller school like Bishop's
• 1:17:20
  or Waterloo might not have the money or Windsor might not have the money to do this.
• 1:17:25
  And it could be five, seven, eight years down the road.
• 1:17:27
  So the conformity and the, across the board at U Sports is going to be a mess.
• 1:17:32
  And then trickle that down, as you said, to junior football and then into high school football.
• 1:17:38
  know, Farhan Lalji is saying, well, we've played, you know, we've played,
• 1:17:44
  American football in BC and high school for years anyways.
• 1:17:47
  in Ontario, they play, you know, four down football.
• 1:17:51
  It doesn't matter.
• 1:17:52
  It's still all played on a multipurpose 110 yard field
• 1:17:56
  Yeah, Mark Antoine de Qua posted that there are 32 U sport teams that would need to do updates.
• 1:18:03
  think we've covered it all and I'll maybe give everybody one last.
• 1:18:07
  30 seconds to for any last thoughts because this is my last thought on it.
• 1:18:13
  I've talked about all the other stuff.
• 1:18:15
  It just seems so haphazard and unplanned to me.
• 1:18:19
  It feels like somebody had an idea that this was what they wanted to do and they're stuffing a round peg into a square hole and trying to make it all work.
• 1:18:31
  And the part that...
• 1:18:32
  It bothers me a lot about losing the, you know, some of the traditions but it's the sheer arrogance of how it was done.
• 1:18:39
  No advanced reporting, no consulting, no letting the fans get any kind of chance for it.
• 1:18:44
  No concern for the fact that they're part of a hierarchy of Canadian football that starts with six year olds and goes up till these guys retire and go into their coaching No
• 1:18:53
  respect for any of that.
• 1:18:54
  This is what we decided we're going to do.
• 1:18:56
  the rest of you can figure it out.
• 1:18:59
  And then, it's an optics thing, but Stuart Johnson sitting there with that big smirk on his face telling us all, this is the best thing that's ever happened.
• 1:19:12
  Just don't worry your pretty little heads about any of these details.
• 1:19:15
  This is going to make the game so much better.
• 1:19:17
  And if you just give it a chance, it's going to be fine.
• 1:19:21
  And we're not idiots.
• 1:19:22
  So it's going to take me a while to...
• 1:19:26
  to recover.
• 1:19:26
  don't think this stops me being a CFL fan, but it's just at this point in time, the arrogance in this league just, I feel, I feel like they have no respect for anything for
• 1:19:37
  their fans, probably for their players for anything, but how do we make money off this?
• 1:19:43
  That's my closing remarks.
• 1:19:44
  Next.
• 1:19:45
  words.
• 1:19:45
  So Stuart Johnson told a story about how he was a quarterback in high school and he threw a pass and it hit the upright and how mad he was and that's why he wants the goalpost
• 1:19:53
  moved.
• 1:19:55
  When I was in high school, I dislocated and broke my finger playing touch football and I had to defer my grade eight piano, rural conservatory piano exam for a year.
• 1:20:05
  So when I am commissioner, I am going to make all the balls foam so that does not happen.
• 1:20:10
  Yeah.
• 1:20:12
  Anyway, to wrap up, follow the money and yeah, I'm just, I'm not mad anymore, I'm just disappointed.
• 1:20:19
  Yeah, I don't know.
• 1:20:21
  To be honest, I still don't know where I am on it.
• 1:20:24
  And yeah, I just think again, it's misguided as much as anything, because I don't think it's a solution that's going to accomplish what they want to accomplish, unless what they
• 1:20:35
  want to accomplish is eventually somehow a merger with somebody that makes sense.
• 1:20:42
  uh...
• 1:20:42
  for a couple of people to make a lot of money
• 1:20:45
  Alright, I think that brings us to the end here.
• 1:20:48
  Oh, almost three hours, sorry.
• 1:20:51
  I don't know about you, I'm fading fast.
• 1:20:53
  I'm going to have some fun editing tomorrow.
• 1:20:55
  tell us where folks can find you if they want to follow you at all and any last thoughts you may have.
• 1:21:01
  Good night and good luck as the saying goes.
• 1:21:03
  Okay.
• 1:21:04
  at gdbarton at bluesky.social.net, whatever it is.
• 1:21:08
  What I know for sure is that the Blue Jays have made the playoffs and the TI Cats are in first place.
• 1:21:13
  You can find me and Blue Sky at Sports and Plans.
• 1:21:16
  saying life is good.
• 1:21:18
  Yeah, I feel like I should be saying something now about to all the ships at sea or whatever.
• 1:21:25
  You can get me at oldman-sac at bluesky.social whatever, or at and you know how to do it.
• 1:21:35
  Forget that.
• 1:21:36
  I'm also on the CFL Reddit at u slash old man, shouting clouds.
• 1:21:43
  We're on X and.
• 1:21:45
  Blue Sky and Instagram all as at the CFL Outsiders and other than that there will be two shows out of this I'll have to figure out how I'm gonna make that happen so you may see
• 1:21:57
  the same ending twice too but reminding you please help us out with the subscriptions however you can trick somebody into doing it it's all the channels growing and we love it
• 1:22:09
  And the logarithm doesn't care who subscribes or where, So subscribe, please.
• 1:22:14
  Thank you for the fact that we are seeing more likes out there and I really do appreciate that.
• 1:22:19
  That again promotes us within it and thank you for leaving the comments.
• 1:22:23
  So I personally, I don't know how the other two folks here are doing, but I'm about to close my eyes and drift off after this.
• 1:22:30
  I feel like I've gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson.
• 1:22:33
  For MJ and GT, until next week, this is Old Man saying, get the hell off my lawn.