{"id":54605,"date":"2025-08-08T13:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/54605\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T13:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:41:10","slug":"good-for-luke-willson-the-hottest-name-in-the-cfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/54605\/","title":{"rendered":"Good for Luke Willson, the hottest name in the CFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

With no obvious column ideas and the Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/a> on a bye week, it\u2019s probably long past the perfect time to write about the hottest topic in the CFL:<\/p>\n

Luke Willson.<\/p>\n

Until now I strategically avoided discussions about Willson for two reasons \u2014 I thought the obsession with Willson, a TSN commentator and former NFL player, would pass; plus I didn\u2019t want to be called a \u201cnumpty.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Willson calls people who disagree with him on social media, particularly when he\u2019s talking about ways to improve the CFL. And he has lots of suggestions.<\/p>\n

Weeks have passed since Willson initially upset CFL followers by describing a Toronto Argonauts\/Roughriders game <\/a>as \u201chot garbage,\u201d yet fans and media are still talking about his posts. His opinions range anywhere from calling Hamilton fans the league\u2019s worst to justifiably belittling the horrific, never-ending construction in downtown Regina.<\/p>\n

I wrote a much more vicious column about the inconvenience and incompetency surrounding Regina\u2019s road construction<\/a>, which has closed TWO major east-west streets for TWO BLEEPING YEARS and killed businesses along Dewdney and 11th Avenue.<\/p>\n

My bosses didn\u2019t get a disparaging letter from the mayor, who reportedly sent a critical note to TSN, and Regina\u2019s city manager wasn\u2019t fired until after Willson\u2019s video went viral. I\u2019m obviously jealous because I don\u2019t have 150,000 social media followers laughing at Regina\u2019s embarrassing downtown.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m actually impressed. For a guy who never played a down in the CFL, Willson certainly has caused an uproar. Good for him. He\u2019s entitled to his opinions and he\u2019s definitely not cowered by the critics.<\/p>\n

For the record, I\u2019ve never spoken to Willson. I didn\u2019t want to interview him before writing this column because he might change my mind on these observations.<\/p>\n

Maybe he wouldn\u2019t agree to an interview. Regardless, I respect that Willson has recently done radio and newspaper interviews outside of TSN, the network who employs him to have opinions.<\/p>\n

He has a good grasp on what\u2019s happening. His motives seem purely intended to help the CFL. And he coaches a minor football team in Ontario. I cheered for the guy when he played pro football, a long-haired, hard-working Canadian tight end who won a Super Bowl in 2014 with the Seattle Seahawks. And I enjoy his NFL breakdowns with SportsCentre host Jay Onrait.<\/p>\n

Willson is totally correct stating that CFL offences and defences need updating; every team seems to operate the same, predictable run-pass-options and deep-drop zones. However, his suggestion to keep the clock running during the final minutes of a game, following more closely the NFL\u2019s timing rules, doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the beauty of opinions: In at least one person\u2019s mind, they\u2019re always correct. Everyone else is free to disagree.<\/p>\n

Because I believe video review is ruining all sports, I have suggested eliminating the God Centre, or Command Centre<\/a>, or Replay Centre, whatever the booth is called that slows down games and sometimes makes the right rulings. I also believe the CFL would be safer and more offence-oriented \u2014 creating more touchdowns than boring field goals \u2014 if the goalposts were moved to the back of the end zones.<\/p>\n

Some people agree, some don\u2019t. That\u2019s the business.<\/p>\n

Willson\u2019s high profile and eagerness to engage in arguments are attributes that have generated ongoing conversations within and outside of regular CFL circles. Nothing wrong with that. \u201cNumpty\u201d is cute, but otherwise the name-calling gets a little numbing, especially from the naysayers who criticize his haircut and moustache.<\/p>\n

Local podcaster Michael Ball<\/a>, the Roughriders\u2019 former play-by-play radio announcer, had heated online battles with Willson and was dubbed \u201cEmperor Numpty\u201d before apparently burying the hatchet.<\/p>\n

Willson apparently disliked criticisms aimed at him during CKRM\u2019s daily SportsCage show and hasn\u2019t been eager to discuss those viewpoints on-air. That\u2019s totally within the show\u2019s prerogative.<\/p>\n

He was a guest on CJME\u2019s Green Zone because he inadvertently met host Jamie Nye in an alley behind the radio station \u2014 not one of Regina\u2019s nicest places \u2014 while looking for the casino or a restaurant recommended by a social media follower.<\/p>\n

Willson is out and about. He has become recognizable with his intimate football knowledge and strong opinions, which he defends vigourously while creating interest in the CFL. He\u2019s doing exactly what he\u2019s supposed to be doing.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

The Regina Leader-Post has created an\u00a0Afternoon Headlines\u00a0newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day.\u00a0Click here<\/a> to subscribe. <\/p>\n

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com<\/a> and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here<\/a> to subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With no obvious column ideas and the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a bye week, it\u2019s probably long past the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,15655,36552,10599,4400,36553,82],"class_list":["post-54605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-hamilton-tiger-cats","tag-luke-willson","tag-regina","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-seattle-seahawk","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54605","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=54605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}