Ferguson: 5 things I love about the Canadian game

Marshall Ferguson

CFL.ca

@TSN_Marsh

It’s hard to believe, but once again we have reached the Canada Day long weekend as Week 4 of the CFL season hits and as usual the storylines are deep and nuanced. The CFL is never short on drama and it certainly knows how to surprise even the most locked in fans and analysts.

A Bombers 0-3 start? The Alouettes continuing their championship flow despite many months of layoff? Hamilton starting slow with a healthy Bo Levi Mitchell?

The list goes on and on, and of course is tailored to your specific points of interest. While the disagreements on ‘biggest story’ of the young season are never ending, the one thing we can all agree on this long weekend over a burger, beer and fireworks is how great it is to have a Canadian Football League that brings us all together, gives us something to look forward to each work week and creates lasting memories for generations to share.

With that in mind, here are my five favourite elements of the CFL game. Happy Canada Day, everyone!

A 65-yard-wide field

Perhaps this affinity for the wide field comes from being a weak-armed quarterback who loved using every inch of the horizontal surface available as I always was vertically deficient. I’d like to think it comes from experiences standing on the much narrower NFL, NCAA and even American high school fields.

After a life spent growing up playing Canadian football it becomes the norm to take a few extra steps to the sideline or a little bit extra on that wide side flat route throw. To know the width of a CFL field is to love the opportunities it creates. If you’re anything like me, you’d take one step on a smaller playing field and immediately feel claustrophobic. It’s a reality that always makes me laugh when NFL broadcasters exclaim how great a ‘wide side’ throw was. Tighter window yes, but there’s nothing like using the full width of our fields.

Three downs

Debate amongst yourselves, but for me the basic fact is one less down means one less chance to waste an offensive play, which creates heightened tension on many more plays throughout the game. It also puts the responsibility to move the sticks squarely on the shoulders of quarterbacks, exactly where we like it.

My favourite part of a big game is when first down goes for a gain of two with an inside handoff. The quarterback is already looking down to their wrist coach with their favourite second-and-seven-plus plays sited inside, begging for the offensive play caller to give them the perfect play to access excellence against the defence they’re expecting to see in about 30 seconds.

Getting the right call, executing the play and moving the chains over and over again with high pressure and limited wasted time keeps the energy and entertainment high from coast to coast.

The return game

I was shocked going into my first CFL on TSN call last week that no returners had reached the end zone yet through eight games. Well, in game nine I called DeVonte Dedmon of the Ottawa REDBLACKS fixing that. It reminded me how thankful I am to see kickoffs, punts and even missed field goals regularly returned as special teamers make their stamp on the game and returners get the chance to grow into stars of our game.

The rouge

We all have that one story, the time we won a high school championship on a kick out the back of the end zone or saw the craziest kick in and out of the end zone sequence live with our best friends as we screamed with every boot across the goal line.

The scoring system of the CFL allows for great drama and a quirky level of fun that you’ll only find in the CFL. Could we get an iconic rouge moment fitting of the Canada Day long weekend? Stay tuned.

Play clock

Messed up on first down? Better get your head right because the 20-second play clock is unforgiving and requires an immediate solution. The sports psychology angle here is always intriguing to me, but this is really all about entertainment value and the number of snaps you get to see per game.

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