The Canadian Football League or the National Football league?
That's a question that comes up at your local sports bar.
In the midst of the CFL playoffs, my colleague opposite and I thought we'd tackle that debate.
I know this going to sound anti-Canadian but, in my opinion, there's no question the NFL is head and shoulder-pads above the CFL in terms of quality, entertainment and especially professionalism.
The CFL is a league whose owners have collectively fumbled and stumbled their way through the last couple of decades. This is an ownership group that has had five different commissioners since 2000. This is a professional organization that had allowed one of its franchises to draft a player who had died in a car accident five months previous. This is the league that allowed Lonie Glieberman, known for dating cheerleaders and holding sleazy game-day Mardi-Gras promotions, to run the Ottawa franchise - twice. This is the Canadian league that decided, in its infinite wisdom, to expand to the United States only to have four out of five new teams fail within their first two years of operation.
To be fair, the last few years, the league has done better: Ownership is stable, attendance is up and television viewership is solid.
But it still has a long way to go to becoming one of the elite leagues on the continent. Officiating is a joke and Canadian content rules mean we don't have the best athletes on the field. And remember this is a league that allows one owner - David Braley - to own two of the league's flagship franchises (the Toronto Argonauts and your BC Lions). That's one owner who owns 25% of the league's teams.
I do go to BC Lions games - I actually share in some season tickets. But I would rather have the National Football League. I'd rather have the time to drive to Seattle every other weekend for Seahawks games. I don't, so for live games, I'll begrudgingly put up with the CFL. On television, however, even during this weekend's CFL playoff games, I'll be watching the NFL.
And while I watch, I'll continue to daydream about the day that Vancouver gets its own National Football League franchise.
Yes, I know, it's only a dream.
