Why the Canadian Football League just does not appeal

Yesterday the Calgary Stampeders won the 96th Grey Cup from the Montreal Alouettes in Montreal in front of 66,308 screaming fans. It was the second largest Grey Cup crowd in the championship's historic existence.

I was having a nap.

The Stamps had something of a vendetta against the Als - - they had been slighted by the CFL when they received no awards, while the Als had been met with critical acclaim. Although the Stamps' QB Henry Burris had had a career season, the Als' Anthony Calvillo was given the nod for Most Valuable Player in the CFL's regular season. The Stamps played with a passion rarely seen in any sport.

Or so I'm told. I was watching Charlie Wilson's War.

As you can tell, the CFL just does not appeal to me. A shocking but true fact as I am their ideal target audience. After all, I'm a middle class male between the ages of 18 and 45. Everyone wants my attention. If I may be so bold: I am the perfect CFL demographic. I love sports. I love football. I love Canada. I'm an ardent fan of all things Torontonian, and would naturally become a hardline fan of the Argos.

But the CFL just doesn't stick with me.

I absolutely love Canadian football, at least on paper. I think the game and rules of the CFL are far superior to the American game with higher scores. The three downs emphasize efficiency and speed, while the bigger field lets individual players shine. Unfortunately, most of the best football players in the world play in the NFL or NCAA. The cream of the crop in the CFL are always in danger of being scooped up by an NFL team for more money.

What immediately ruins the CFL for me are the television broadcasts. The production values are so low, and in particular, the commentators are so bad, that it is almost impossible to watch. On TSN's SportsCentre, the CFL analysts were interviewing a jubilant Henry Burris who was holding the Grey Cup at the table. Former CFL Quarterback and current grillmaster Matt Dunigan asked him how he felt after winning the championship and the Grey Cup MVP trophy. Seriously. Do we expect anything other then happiness from Burris? Is he going to break down into tears and apologize for an interception earlier in the game? Come on. He's won the championship, the MVP, and has a huge grin plastered on his face. Ask a tougher question.

The CFL has to operate on the assumption that there is little familiarity with the game, its players, and even its teams. At the same time, they have to make sure they do not condescend to the fans. I appreciate it's a fine line to walk, but it's a reality of sports today that all fans will become familiar with their product on television. If your television product isn't informative, entertaining and polished, people will flip the channel to something that is. The CFL is admittedly up against some tough competition in the form of America's National Football League which is as slick as it comes, but Chris Schultz meathead-esque explanations of plays can surely be refined.

Book Review: Everything They Had by David Halberstam

I am trying very hard to fill out my collection of sports writing books. I want to be able to get a feel for all the different kinds of writers out there. Old, new, and different. To that end, I've read Stephen Brunt's Searching for Bobby Orr, John Feinstein's Living on the Black, Sam Sheridan's A Fighter's Heart and the classic Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger amongst many others.

They've all been very different, but enjoyable reads. Friday Night Lights stands out amongst the rest for the sheer intensity of the narrative, but they all had something to offer. A Fighter's Heart was surprisingly philosophical and sophisticated. Searching for Bobby Orr had a dark sense of mystery as Brunt tries, and in some ways, fails to illuminate Bobby Orr's life. Living on the Black is educational but light fare, despite the bulk and thickness of the book.

Everything They Had is, again, very different from these other books. It's not one continuous narrative, but a collection of articles and essays by Halberstam through out his life. The text smells of cigar smoke and Old Spice. Many of the stories amount to "things aren't the way they used to be, and I'm not sure I like it." But there's also a real sense of nostalgia, particularly articles like "The Good Old Days - for Baseball Owners" and "Maybe I Remember DiMaggio's Kick". Many of his most recent articles address Halberstam's post-9/11 reality, and how for him sports no longer hold the power they once did. His work has been dated by the passage of time. For example, as he writes in praise of Pedro Martinez, he talks about the astonishing longevity of Roger Clemens. Obviously, Clemens has been discredited thanks to the Mitchell Report. Similarly, he writes in praise of Steve Belichick and how he instilled such an impressive work ethic in his son Bill, the coach of the New England Patriots whose name has been tarnished by accusations that he video taped other teams' practices. However, this is not a criticism of Halberstam. Hindsight is 20/20, and Halberstam was writing in what were less cynical times.

Halberstam's writing doesn't focus on the games themselves. Indeed, I can't think of a single statistic he cites. Rarely does he provide even a specific date for an event. The minutiae of the games are covered with broad brush strokes. The real focus of his narratives, his tales, are the people. The athletes lives, who they are and what they've experienced are Halberstam's preoccupation. Stories about Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and especially Jackie Robinson abound. In all honesty, he covers the three of them so much, his stories begin to repeat themselves and run together in my memory.

It reads like a conversation with your grandfather.

But that, is a good thing. A great thing, even. Halberstam is one of the great American journalists of the twentieth (and twenty-first) centuries, and to see him at work is excellent. His style is very different from anything I've read and really creates a sense of timelessness not just to his favourite sports, but to all his sports. As dated as some of his references may seem, they also ring true. As his father loved Christy Mathewson, he loved Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson and contemporary New Yorkers love ARod and Derek Jeter (okay, maybe not). Because his tone is so conversational, you can forgive the repetitive nature of the book, and enjoy the true love and craftsmanship in every article.

The Case for Roy Halladay to win the Cy Young

On Friday, left-hander Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians won the American League Cy Young Award, the annual award handed out to each league's best pitcher. While I don't doubt his 22 wins and only 3 losses were impressive, I think the Cy Young Electors made a mistake. They should have given it to Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays.

In 2008 Halladay and Lee were actually quite similar statistically:

Cliff Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA, a 1.11 whip and had 170 strikeouts.
Roy Halladay went 20-11 with a 2.78 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP and had 206 strikeouts.

Where Lee had a better won-loss record and ERA, Halladay is a strikeout artist and put fewer men on base.

But the Cy Young isn't just about wins and losses - - after all, closers like Eric Gagne have won it - - and there is more to baseball then just statistics.

Halladay led the league in complete games, with nine. That kind of consistency is crucial for a long season because it gives your bullpen an unscheduled day off. It also gives the entire team a sense of confidence, that they can rely on him to carry them through the game. Cliff Lee, who struggled mightily the previous season (5-8 record, 6.29 ERA) always had a sense of doom about him, even as he had a career season. Halladay's ability to finish a game is actually quite an accomplishment. In fact, Halladay had more complete games then the entire pitching staffs of any other team in the American League East. He had more complete games then the combined staffs of the Yankees and Red Sox.

Halladay did not have run support from his team. He had four games where he lost by a run, and two no-decisions where the Jays lost by a run. One heartbreaking day in late April Halladay lost 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox after pitching 8.2 innings. The key play was when Gold Glove-winning centre-fielder Vernon Wells' made a fielding error in the ninth inning. With the slow David Ortiz on second, Kevin Youkilis hit a single to centre that Wells picked up and then dropped, giving the lumbering Ortiz enough time to round third and head for home. If you make half of these one-run games go Halladay's way, he has a 23-9 record and an even stronger case for the Cy Young.

I know Woulda-Shoulda-Coulda is a dangerous game to play, but Halladay put in a career season that was only marred by Lee's impressive turnaround from the 2007 season. Granted, some sports writers did acknowledge Halladay's contributions to the Blue Jays, and he finished in second in the Cy Young balloting. However, if you put a premium on consistency and ability to raise a team up, Roy Halladay is your man for the 2008 American League Cy Young Award.

Is there some sort of terrible commissioner contest going on?

Some days I really get the idea that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig are in some sort of perverse contest to see who can ruin their respective league's the fastest. What's that? You put hockey franchises in Phoenix and Atlanta? I'll end the All Star Game in a tie and introduce interleague play!

This week has been a classic example of this one downmanship.

It started with Bud Selig, or the office of the league commissioner deciding that the World Series games should all start at 8:30... sorry, 8:29 eastern standard time every night, even though both teams are in the eastern time zone. I am sure this was to make the World Series more accessible to the Midwest and West Coast fans. However, it means that young fans of the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies have to stay up until at least 11:30 at night to watch their home teams play. Any sensible parent would have to send their kids to bed around 10 on a school night. How does a sport, recovering from a major faith-shaking scandal, expect to grow young fans and get them interested in the sport if they can't even watch the championship series in its entirety?

Apparently, Gary Bettman saw this and felt he could do better. (Worse?) After a week of excited speculation that a Western conference hockey team, likely the Nashville Predators, would be bought by Research in Motion co-owner Jim Balsille and moved to Toronto, Gary Bettman announced that it was a baseless rumour that would never happen. Why? He didn't say. One can only assume that he is against the idea of an unsuccessful and unpopular team being moved to a proven hockey hotbed that could easily support a second franchise because he dislikes the idea of people enjoying the National Hockey League.

Not to be outdone, Bud Selig decided that Game 5 of the World Series should be played even though it was raining and there was no sign of abatement. The hometown Phillies were starting ace Cole Hamels, and, if they won, would win the World Series. However, the rain was so bad that halfway through the sixth inning the game was suspended as a 2-2 tie. Hamels was still on the mound at the end of the game, can't possibly be expected to start the day after throwing six innings worth of pitches in the pouring rain and freezing temperatures. Essentially, his start last night has been wasted and has given the Rays another shot at winning the game.

I shudder to think how Bettman will top this disaster...

The UFC Drinking Game

Watching Ultimate Fighting Championship cards is a popular pass time in my household. My girlfriend's brother-in-law fights professionally, and so we've all taken to watching fights. Obviously, UFC produces the best cards, but I'll also watch Bodog, and International Fight League. I even watched Elite XC one drunken night.

Since we're well groomed, experienced UFC viewers we have developed a UFC drinking game.

Here are the general rules:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship Drinking Game:

1. Take a drink every time someone falls.
2. Take a drink every time someone gets back up. (Yes, even if they're helped up by their corner at the end of a round or match)
3. Take a drink every time you see Joe Rogan's gigantic watch.
4. Take a drink every time a fighter is described as being "a complete fighter" or "well rounded".
5. Take a drink every time Joe Rogan talks about "focusing on" a particular skill "at camp".
6. Take a drink every time Joe Rogan mentions his own fighting career.
7. If you're feeling bold, take a drink every time Joe Rogan states the obvious.
8. Finish your drink every time Joe Rogan refers to "Mission Control".
9. Finish your drink if Mandy Moore appears on camera.
10. Finish your drink every time a former member of That 70's Show appears on camera.

As the night progresses, you can add on more rules, like taking a drink every time a fighter needs a translator. However, these are definitely a good guideline to add even more excitement to the next UFC PPV.

An ode to Jamie Moyer

Tonight is game three of the 2008 World Series, and the series is moving to Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia. My prediction of a five game championship for the Tampa Bay Rays is holding up so far, and both teams have played well, despite some fielding errors and the Phillies avid interest in leaving their players on base.

Frankly, the games have been pretty slow, but there is definitely one point of interest tonight: the ball is going to be put into forty-five year old Jamie Moyer's hand. He had a good season with 16 wins, and 123 strikeouts, but he'll be sorely tested against twenty-five year old phenom Matt Garza. Insert joke about dusting off his best pitches here.

To put it in perspective, B.J. Upton, the Rays slugging center fielder and presumptive World Series MVP should the Rays pull off their miracle season, was born in 1984. Two years later, a young James Moyer took the mound for his first career start with the Chicago Cubs. And people say John McCain is old.

Be clear: This is not to mourn Jamie Moyer's life, but to celebrate it. He is, actually, one of the most dependable starters in baseball, and has been for, well, over two decades. Although he's only average just over 10 wins a season, he had a reduced workload when he was younger and had two injury shortened seasons. He was also, of course, affected by the shortened 1994 strike season. He's had a twenty win season and a twenty-one win season. He's likely not bound for the Hall of Fame, but he will be remembered as a hard working, conscientious player. In John Feinstein's Living on the Black, he is often quoted and comes across as intelligent, likeable and very respectful of the stars of the book, Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina. In particular, his reverence for Glavine's style of play is enlightening. This is why Moyer (who Feinstein describes as "Glavine-lite") will be interesting to watch tonight.

Moyer, like Glavine, will not overwhelm batters with speed. In fact, his fastball will likely top-out at an agonizing 89 kph. Instead, he'll use his perfect location and change-ups to keep the Rays off balance. He's mastered the circle change-up (you can see it in the above photo) and will work away at each one of the Rays batters. He will be is methodical and surgical. He'll have done his homework on each and every player on the Rays, and he'll take his time to throw the tough pitches. Moyer is going to be happy to have a ten pitch at bat, as long as it results in a strikeout.

All that matters to Moyer is to get the Phillies a win.

The ultimate plodding pitcher, old enough to be many players father, might actually be the most exciting story to unfold in tonight's World Series match-up.

World Series Prediction: Rays Your Expectations

Last night the Tampa Bay Rays completed the rags-to-riches turn around that they'd been on the verge of for the past week - - going from worst to first in the American League in the span of a single season. Their game seven victory in the American League Championship Series finalized the World Series match-up: the Rays versus the Philadelphia Phillies, the National League champions.

A week ago, with both teams on the verge of winning their respective League's Championship Series, I would've picked the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series. They have a superb infield with Ryan Howard covering first, Jimmy Rollins in the gap between second and third, and Chase Utley, the best second baseman in Major League Baseball. They have the speedy Shane Victorino in the outfield and leading off their batting order, and consistent power hitter Pat Burrell also in the field. Coming off the bench they have known-Canadian Matt Stairs who can provide leadership and hitting when called upon. Their pitching is also impressive with Cole Hamels anchoring their rotation and the perfect Brad Lidge as their closer.

However, unlike the Phillies, the Rays lost their fifth and then their sixth league championship games to the Red Sox. Only in the seventh and deciding game were they able to bear down and gut out a 4-2 win over the reigning World Series Champions.

I think this is to Tampa Bay's advantage.

While the Phillies have been resting on their laurels, maybe getting a little stiff jointed from sitting at home and certainly losing any momentum they had, the Rays have still been battling. The Rays have the confidence boost of winning a hard fought series from the reigning champions, and haven't had enough time to breathe, let alone let any neuroses or doubt gnaw away at them.

Although the Phillies are definitely a strong team, they are in an odd place mentally. They can't claim to be underdogs, but they certainly aren't favourites. Although only a week has passed since their last game, it can seem like an eternity in the world of sports. Meanwhile, the Rays are riding a wave of good will and positive energy, one that goes far beyond any pun-based headlines. It's a positivity that comes from freshly won battles conquered by a team.

I am sure that it will be an entertaining World Series, but I also think it will be a short one with the surging Rays winning in five games.