Is the CFL a dying league!? HELL NO! LOOOOONG WAAAAY FROM IT!!...
Sorry Canadian ball haters the great league up north is here to stay! The league has already been through so much and the Canadian Football League comes back and thrives each time the 3 down professional football league faces adversity. So what is a pandemic... when CFL commissioner Randy Ambroise says he and the rest of the league owners are committing for players to play football in 2021 and lots of it!!!?
Sure lots of financial troubles are coming to the great northern league's way and as a result, the talk about a potential 10th team been born out in the east cost has taken a beating! Lo and behold... the CFL is here to stay however some of these troubles the CFL is facing and going to face in the future are pressing issues for football fans, 3 down professional staff in Canada as well as of course, and obviously the players! Hence why such troubles shall not be ignored! While tis true the league shall not die, a lot of the alarming problematic issues CFL is facing and will face and solutions for these concerns boils down to certain franchises dying. This is why this blog entry will focus heavily on a dying yet legendary franchise!...
Pandemic aside! Let's face it! The CFL is not going anywhere at all however if there is a dying franchise it would be Toronto! No one in the six cares about what the Argonuaghts are up to unless the Argo's are winning games, because not only is there endless entertainment in the big city with lots to do... They have pretty much every major North American team-oriented sport covered in terms of having a team that calls Toronto home! Therefore who cares what the Argos will do tomorrow, if you can go catch an afternoon Jays game and by night depending on who is in town you can go see the Leafs or Raps play!!!? Thus in order to make people care about your organization, you can't just purchase a team every four or so years and make a push for a Grey Cup, meanwhile win two games a season in between each title victory. Hence why the Argo's is in need to compete with the so-called "big guys" of other franchise teams and ball out! Year in, year out! They need to be a powerhouse perennial team in the CFL! Then and only then maybe people will buy season tickets and go for nine beers and eat a hamburger with their family while watching live 3 down football! That is when the boatmen become a Flutie franchise again. With Pinball as GM, I think we will start seeing this. This is why I am so excited to see my (Big AL) Argos be Grey Cup-bound if not this year then next, and on repeat for many years to come. On top of all the putting butts in the seats at BMO stadium... if T.O. can sell Argo tickets and football gear to their own city... Imagine how much more air will be pumped into the CFL as a whole!! It's easier said than done, but if you want better pro 3 down Canadian ball, Toronto needs a crazy fanbase like Saskatchewan, which would force other teams slacking in fanbase to become more competitive. As mentioned earlier Toronto has done a lot with Micheal "Pinball" Clemons as General Manager for the CFL franchise to start building a championship team. Pinball's main priority is to bring a Grey Cup home in the city of Toronto. An extremely popular and accurate source not only well respected in the 3 down football world but is heavily focused on Canadian Football source, in the form of a magazine/website... 3DownNation back when Micheal Clemons officially became GM for the Toronto Argonauts released an article which implies that team Argonuaghts president felt as if the franchise needed to build a proper championship team and Clemons was the right person for the job and task at hand, as Jim Popp had been fired from the General Manager role. (Dunk, Justin. 2019.) If the last reference just mentioned in the blog entry is accurate information provided by 3DownNation.Com then Mr. Clemons would most likely be filled with enthusiasm to win championships and bring home a national title of 3 Down Professional Football. I for one (BIG AL) not only think Pinball did and still does feel such feelings however I also would suggest Micheal Clemons is doing a fantastic job at showing such enthusiasm. Why do I (Big AL) say such a thing? Clemons is definitely striving to win a Grey Cup time and time again in Toronto and demonstrates this need for a CFL "big game victory" by the incredibly intelligent moves Pinball is making in the six.
To elaborate, here is a look at what Clemons has accomplished thus far to build a dream team...
First and foremost let's take a look at the obvious answer... the base of a football team, the most important position in football. Some would argue such position lies within a strong defender, others might even suggest a Center and or O Lineman. I (Big AL) and most people would probably conclude that while such positions just previously mentioned in this blog are some of the MOST IMPORTANT positions in the game, the quarterback role is the best place to start when re-building and or building a football franchise. Pinball tends to agree with that last statement. The first thing Micheal Clemons did as GM was release IMO the worst Argo QB of all time, if not at least a QB that played a HUGE factor as to why the last in the East division team which finished with just 4 wins in 2019. That QB would be James Franklin. Franklin only put up under 830 yards in passing during his 7 starts as quarterback. In comparison, a rookie QB Logan Kilgore for Edmonton at the time, who played one less game than Franklin put up more passing than James Franklin. On top of those god-awful passing yards, Franklin was only able to pass the ball less than 115 times yet only completed 75 of those attempts. Franklin also DOUBLED the number of interceptions thrown than James threw touchdown completions. On top of all these awful stats, people hold Franklin up to the rushing GOAT pedestal, yet Franklin at the end of the 2019 season rushed the ball 18 times and yet only gained slightly more than 80 yards on the ground. These kinds of numbers rank very low in professional football. The only positive thing for James Franklin in the year 2019 was that Franklin averaged about less than 5 yards a carry?? Still, inconsistency is what made Franklin slack. If these stats don't draw out the obvious or "paint the picture" for better words, the eyeball test was atrocious! All of us at Touchdown Talks Canada can easily agree we all have NO CLUE what former GM Jim Popp saw in this guy! So when Pinball released Franklin without hesitation, things started even just a tad bit to look up! We also feel the Mcleod Bethel Thompson hype was a little much for Toronto. Sure he looked good the odd game but passing good against bad teams doesn't make you elite in this league! So a hit and miss or a boom and bust QB most certainly is not the answer in Toronto either. Which is why NOT resining the dude that sounds like a lawyer company AKA MBT was another shine of light for us Argos fans. It wasn't until Clemons showed how serious he was at his job when he shook the CFL world by bringing in all star quarterback Matt Nichols to the team. Well sure Nichols gets a lot of flak from all sorts of fans alike, I (Big Al) one that was hyped when Clemons got Nichols got aboard with the boatmen that set sail at Lake Ontario, will admit Nichols may not produce the best of the best numbers and sure doesn't make his positives look flashy, however, the dude knows how to get the job done and as far as I am concerned that is all that matters. Sure as heck is a whole lot better than MBT and Franklin combined! No complaints on my end! All you have to do is surround Nichols with the right sorts of talent and BOOM! A home playoff game in the bag with potential for more! That is exactly what Clemons did!
How can you have a good passer if no one on your team can catch!? It's easier said than done but bringing back a near 300 thousand dollar receiver is the key to this kind of success. Derelle Walker is clearly one of the best Wide Outs in this league currently. HOLD UP! You just signed a potential franchise quarterback to a 500 thousand CDN deal NOT including incentives. If you are going to build a Grey cup dream team, which of course needs a lot more wholes to be filled and pieces to the puzzle adjusted... you can't go and sign Derelle Walker right away. "But but but... without Walker who the heck is Nichols going to pass too??" The solution is within the Hollywood hit movie "Moneyball." Find a player that produces the same quality for a cheaper quantity. This is why an under the radar player such as Darvaris Daniels is a key WR to bring in! This is why I thought signing Daniels was and letting go Walker was an extremely intelligent move brought forth by Clemons! Daniels is a well established talented veteran Wide Receiver in this league that can produce Walker like stats for way less money. Smart! This home playoff game is looking a little more likely here in Toronto.
Obviously however there is a lot more work to be done! Let's go further back than the quarterback and just two days later as all sorts of CFL analysts were discussing that the Argos need a running back naming off people that could fulfill that role and BOOM! Touchdown Talks Canada calls it first! Marcus Thigpen to the 6! Thigpen isn't a top 3 Running Back in this league however Thigpeng is a HUGE steal for T.O. because he is far from mid-pack meaning Thigpen is a close number 4 in this league pushing to be a number 3. Again, Genius on the Argos side of things.
This was all looking good... a little too good... and suddenly COVID 19 hits! No 2020 CFL Season. Players are due money. Nichols is refusing to reconstruct a contract with Clemons. Clemons has no choice but to release what could have been the Argonaught's new franchise all star QB! DUN DUN DUN!!!...
Clemons gets busy, however, figures things out and suddenly not only keeps important pieces intact but also calms us Argos fans down by sticking with Toronto veteran Noel back to the team, and then as soon as Nic Arbuclkle becomes available, Clemons snatches Arbuckle up immiedtaitly! Good on ya! Home playoff game saved.
"1000" other positive moves later to make the deals sweeter including going out and grabbing a ratio breaker from the Peg Canadian O Line Man Cody Speller, trading multiple deals with Calagary which includes giving up practically nothing in exchange to take home a top 3 if not 2 Wide Out in this league Reggie Bengelton to go on the other side of Davaris Daniels. However, just today as I am writing this (2021-04-02) the icing on the cake is no longer a home playoff game but looks like what Clemons has been aiming for all long but we have a Grey Cup! How so? Clemons goes out and gets the number 1 pass rusher for 6 years in a row with the most sacks year in and year out, Charleston Hughes!
With some reconstructing of the coaching staff and along with all the other moves made in Toronto I (Big AL) previously mentioned in this blog entry, ladies and gentlemen of the world I present to you without a doubt if not 2021 then 2022 Grey Cup Champions theeee... Toronto Argonauts and going forward as long as we Clemons drafts well... Us Argo fans will have a lot to look forward to over some time.
Soon enough Argos will be the new perennial all around ballers of the CFL, and more butts will be in the seats at BMO stadium, more merchandise will in turn sell, and other teams in the league will invest to stay more competitive and CFL fans will sleep easy at night knowing they still have an amazing league here up north with one less down!
I (Big AL) and all of us at Touchdown Talks Canada wish all of you a wonderful night and a great day! Let's go Argos!!! Thanks for reading!!
My sources:
3DownNation.Com. Dunk, Justin. October, 8th, 2019. February 4th. 2021. https://3downnation.com/2019/10/08/michael-pinball-clemons-named-argos-general-manager/