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CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston leaves the stage after speaking at a press conference in Toronto on Sept. 22. Johnston has made some adjustments to the Canadian game that bring it more in line with the NFL, leading to accusations that the CFL is being Americanized. (The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Another change involves the rouge, a single point unique to the Canadian game. No longer will a single point be awarded for punting the ball through the end zone or by missing a field goal and having the ball sail into the stands. Teams will still get credit for a single point, however, if the punted ball or missed field goal winds up within the boundaries of the end zone, and the returning player is unable to get it back into the field of play.<\/p>\n
Some things will remain the same, Johnston said. While he didn\u2019t say the Canadian game\u2019s three-down system is in jeopardy, he didn\u2019t come out and say it was sacrosanct. The width of the field will remain 65 yards. And the CFL\u2019s \u2018waggle\u2019 rule, allowing a number of players to be in pre-snap motion, won\u2019t be changed. The Canadian game will continue to be 12-on-12, one more than in the U.S.<\/p>\n
The moves, said Johnston, will encourage teams to go for touchdowns and not settle for field goals, since the goalposts will be 15 yards deeper. However, teams will be starting closer to their opponent\u2019s end zone simply because the field will be 10 yards shorter. Moving the goalposts, he said, will stop passes from clanking off the uprights instead of falling into the arms of a receiver.<\/p>\n
While the moves received general acceptance from many quarters in Canada, not everyone agreed. Quarterback Nathan Rourke of the B.C. Lions was angry, saying they appeared to be \u2018Americanizing\u2019 the Canadian game. Rourke, who grew up in Canada and had a taste of U.S.-style football in college and the NFL, called the changes \u2018garbage\u2019 and was annoyed that players weren\u2019t consulted before the changes were finalized and announced.<\/p>\n
But Johnston says the changes will have positive results. \u201cThis is all about making our great game even more entertaining,\u201d Johnston said in a release. \u201cWe are trading field goals for touchdowns, while improving fan experience in stadiums and at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rourke didn\u2019t back down: \u201cYou can\u2019t make adjustments like this and tell me you like football. What we\u2019re moving towards is not Canadian football, the game I grew up loving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rourke\u2019s opinion doesn\u2019t really matter. What counts is how CFL fans accept the changes.<\/p>\n
OUT OF BOUNDS<\/p>\n
\u2022 From fark.com: \u201cThe NBA takes a brief pause from its DraftKings and FanDuel sponsorship to lament the fact that it had to fire three more players for betting on their own games.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: \u201cA Yankees fan tried to catch a foul tip with his cap, dropped both, but a fan beside him caught the ball and cap together. And I thought a hockey game was the only place you might see a hat trick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Another one from fark.com: \u201cAaron Judge becomes first Yankee since Babe Ruth to put up back-to-back 50-homer seasons. Ruth still has the lead on beers and hot dogs consumed in consecutive seasons, however.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ron Green Jr., of Global Golf Post, on the disgusting display by fans at the Ryder Cup on Long Island: \u201cCivility has lost out to coarseness. Belligerence is 4 up on benevolence\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, on Mark Shapiro\u2019s difficult early days as Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 president: \u201cHe asks every free agent on the market to the dance, but they\u2019re all busy washing their hair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Comedy guy Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: \u201cHave you seen catches by the Detroit Lions rookie Isaac TeSlaa? They\u2019re electric.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rolfsen again: \u201cPeople are asking if (Blue Jays\u2019 reliever) Jeff Hoffman has earned John Schneider\u2019s trust in October? Are you kidding? I wouldn\u2019t trust him taking my kids out trick or treating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Columnist Norman Chad, on his \u2018Gambling Mad\u2019 site on X: \u201cI am contractually obligated to make a prediction on the Jets-Dolphins Monday Night game. Okay. I predict that no one in my neighbourhood will watch this dog of a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Greg Cote of the Miami Herald on the recent Monday night game between two winless teams, the Jets and Dolphins: \u201cAmerica will be watching \u2026 perhaps in much the same way traffic can\u2019t help but slow to watch two cars that have just wrecked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Another one from Chad: \u201cThe Falcons lost 30-0 to the Panthers last week. Not scoring against the Panthers is like Ryan Gosling not scoring in a college bar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00bb Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It didn\u2019t take new Canadian Football League commissioner Stewart Johnston long to become a household name among football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-217286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}