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I remember growing up watching the CFL games on ESPN in their early years and on CKWS 11 out of Kingston, Ontario(here in Syracuse, we used to get the channel on cable or on a TV without cable depending on the signal). When I first watched the CFL, the Montreal Alouettes(or maybe Concordes at the time) had Vince Ferragamo as the QB. I remember J.C. Watts as the QB for the Ottawa Rough Riders. Garry Organ was their kicker, Gary Grey was the punter and Tony Gabriel was a WR for them too. Can't forget Skip Walker too. Toronto had Condredge Holloway at QB and the Greer guy at WR too. Hank Elesic(sp?) was the punter. BC had Larry Crawford at CB. Edmonton had Warren Moon at QB and the Wilkinson guy would also play some QB for them too. Winnipeg had hard hitting Tony Bennett(I think that was his first name). They had a good offense too and wasn't Tom Clements the QB for them around that time or was it Blair Kiel? Hamilton had that good WR and return guy in Tolbert(again, can't remember his first name). Calgary had a kicker by the name of T.J. Hay. Saskatchewan had Hufnagel at QB and he would throw to Chris LeFrance and I think Hank Ellegard too. I'm talking around 1981 or so. That's as far as I go back with the CFL. Here's the CFL website:CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League
I remember growing up watching the CFL games on ESPN in their early years and on CKWS 11 out of Kingston, Ontario(here in Syracuse, we used to get the channel on cable or on a TV without cable depending on the signal). When I first watched the CFL, the Montreal Alouettes(or maybe Concordes at the time) had Vince Ferragamo as the QB. I remember J.C. Watts as the QB for the Ottawa Rough Riders. Garry Organ was their kicker, Gary Grey was the punter and Tony Gabriel was a WR for them too. Can't forget Skip Walker too. Toronto had Condredge Holloway at QB and the Greer guy at WR too. Hank Elesic(sp?) was the punter. BC had Larry Crawford at CB. Edmonton had Warren Moon at QB and the Wilkinson guy would also play some QB for them too. Winnipeg had hard hitting Tony Bennett(I think that was his first name). They had a good offense too and wasn't Tom Clements the QB for them around that time or was it Blair Kiel? Hamilton had that good WR and return guy in Tolbert(again, can't remember his first name). Calgary had a kicker by the name of T.J. Hay. Saskatchewan had Hufnagel at QB and he would throw to Chris LeFrance and I think Hank Ellegard too. I'm talking around 1981 or so. That's as far as I go back with the CFL. Here's the CFL website:CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League
Got few first names wrong there, ckh, but if you had to watch on CKWS that could the fault of the little station that never grew. LOL
Nice trip down memory lane, though.
Seeing as how this thread started out about the popularity of soccer and then morphed into North American football, I think the OP has his answer about the popularity of soccer as a mainstream spectator sport.
Sweet, around where is this motel? Is it far from Husky Stadium? The team usually just takes a bus down from Vancouver to Seattle the day of, or stays overnight at the gym of the team they play.
The motel is about four blocks from campus between 47th and 50th, near the NW corner. Great for small group trips. Covered parking (important in the high-property-crime U-District. I never took one of the organized boats, but I assume they're spendy. Many people just take their own boats and drop anchor.
I suspect we will get Heaps anyway. He really is looking for an excuse to stay at home, and it helps a lot that Sark was a QB. Gives him reason to think he knows what he's talking about. The Cougs are already denouncing the coaches as traitors, of course.
Those are pretty good turnouts for your area, considering that US football isn't really even a primary sport in most of Canada. Toledo we never played, not sure where it is, but since it was in Oregon, Go New West! Of the main collegiate offenses, which one do you feel comes closest to the Wing-T? I was thinking perhaps some variant of the Flexbone. What I really miss is option football. To me, a good triple option team is electrifying to watch. The service academies have done a lot of that.
I've heard of Lokombo. I wish we could get him. I think that we should consider BC a recruiting ground similar to eastern Washington, as the natural affinity there is with UW, and having Canadian players would broaden the fanbase's area. Plus, those from the Van metro area like yourself are familiar with the Seattle climate because the two are quite similar.
You don't have HS hockey? In Alaska they'd die without HS hockey. I played in a club in Seattle when I lived there. Loved playing against Canadian players, because they could take and dish out a hit and understood the code well. In Tri-Cities, where I live, the primary spectator sport is WHL hockey. Nachbaur is from Kitimat, and I think he focuses a lot on teaching them to be good men (and women, while we had Shannon Szabados...went to watch her play once).
Yeah, I see what you're saying about the CFL. It's simple math: in US football, 3.5 yards per play is success. In CFL, it would be 5 meters per play, which is longer than 5 yards. That would mean you are really striking for a first down on first down if at all possible. Canadian football and US football actually shared a lot of cross-pollination in their evolution--I had to write about that for a book recently. Yeah, Leach would like the Canadian game. Of course, one of the most successful CFL players in history was none other than our own Warren Moon. Five Grey Cups is a lot. I read that Caesar Rayford is on the Lions and doing well--good for him. He has arms like an ourangoutang. Did you hear that when he first came to UW, he made the error of coming out on a cold day wearing long sleeved undershirt? The whole D-line piled on him and ripped that junk off his body. UW D line does not wear long sleeves--it's tradition.
Got few first names wrong there, ckh, but if you had to watch on CKWS that could the fault of the little station that never grew. LOL
Nice trip down memory lane, though.
Seeing as how this thread started out about the popularity of soccer and then morphed into North American football, I think the OP has his answer about the popularity of soccer as a mainstream spectator sport.
I figured I had some names wrong, but it was a good time in the CFL during the 80's. Another name that came to mind is Henry Williams, a little return guy for Edmonton. I remember watching the Grey Cup game where he returned the ball something like 120 yards for a TD.
CKWS 11 actually is still on cable in the areas north of Syracuse. I got it when i went to college in Oswego and when I was in the Army at Fort Drum by Watertown. I used to watch Hockey Night in Canada and remember watching the 1988 Olympics on CKWS too. Heck, I remember when I was a little kid in the early 80's watching Harrigan and Yan Can Cook or whatever the name of that show was.
The motel is about four blocks from campus between 47th and 50th, near the NW corner. Great for small group trips. Covered parking (important in the high-property-crime U-District. I never took one of the organized boats, but I assume they're spendy. Many people just take their own boats and drop anchor.
I suspect we will get Heaps anyway. He really is looking for an excuse to stay at home, and it helps a lot that Sark was a QB. Gives him reason to think he knows what he's talking about. The Cougs are already denouncing the coaches as traitors, of course.
Those are pretty good turnouts for your area, considering that US football isn't really even a primary sport in most of Canada. Toledo we never played, not sure where it is, but since it was in Oregon, Go New West! Of the main collegiate offenses, which one do you feel comes closest to the Wing-T? I was thinking perhaps some variant of the Flexbone. What I really miss is option football. To me, a good triple option team is electrifying to watch. The service academies have done a lot of that.
I've heard of Lokombo. I wish we could get him. I think that we should consider BC a recruiting ground similar to eastern Washington, as the natural affinity there is with UW, and having Canadian players would broaden the fanbase's area. Plus, those from the Van metro area like yourself are familiar with the Seattle climate because the two are quite similar.
You don't have HS hockey? In Alaska they'd die without HS hockey. I played in a club in Seattle when I lived there. Loved playing against Canadian players, because they could take and dish out a hit and understood the code well. In Tri-Cities, where I live, the primary spectator sport is WHL hockey. Nachbaur is from Kitimat, and I think he focuses a lot on teaching them to be good men (and women, while we had Shannon Szabados...went to watch her play once).
Yeah, I see what you're saying about the CFL. It's simple math: in US football, 3.5 yards per play is success. In CFL, it would be 5 meters per play, which is longer than 5 yards. That would mean you are really striking for a first down on first down if at all possible. Canadian football and US football actually shared a lot of cross-pollination in their evolution--I had to write about that for a book recently. Yeah, Leach would like the Canadian game. Of course, one of the most successful CFL players in history was none other than our own Warren Moon. Five Grey Cups is a lot. I read that Caesar Rayford is on the Lions and doing well--good for him. He has arms like an ourangoutang. Did you hear that when he first came to UW, he made the error of coming out on a cold day wearing long sleeved undershirt? The whole D-line piled on him and ripped that junk off his body. UW D line does not wear long sleeves--it's tradition.
That's great then, if the hotel is in the U-District. Is the U-District far from downtown though? I was looking to get book a hotel in Lake Union last year (inbetween the two I think?).
I sure as hell hope we get Heaps, after a redshirt year with Locker being a senior, he'll start most likely. He could even be his backup, since Fouch was so terrible. I remember people saying he's a more accurate QB than Locker, which wasn't the case.
Yeah we have good turnouts. We're the only public HS in the city, and here it's more like 3-degrees of seperation. Everyone knows each other. It's a big city too with probably 30,000 people or so, so it isn't just a little town. We had an article in a local newspaper that it's BC's friday night lights. Toledo I believe is somewhere near Corvallis. Oregon St. also has a player from BC, and played at another school which is 2 blocks away from New West. His name was Keynan Parker, the fastest kid in Canada, and probably ran a legit 4.3. Of course, UW never took a look at him which was a shame. He's a bit raw, and his highlight video is a bit misleading because he couldn't really break tackles, but when you run a 4.3 it shouldn't matter. He has highlights on youtube from HS.
And yes the flexbone is alot like the Wing-T. Some Wing-T teams use some of the sweeps out of the flexbone, and the blocking scheme (shoulder blocking) is used in both. Paul Johnson, the coach now at Georgia Tech is worshiped amongst Wing-T coaches. And yes, I agree... I wish there was a little less spread, and a bit more triple option football.
Lokombo was good, but there aren't enough players here who have that talent. I think they should look up here definately, but I wouldn't call it a recruiting ground. Alot of people from BC who are Div.1 players get offers from the Coogs. A friend of mine named Trey Henderson was going to commit to them, but got a late offer from USC and commited right after. I don't think UW looked at him all that hard though, but he did go to some camps down there. But yes, the fan base would expand to north of the border.
Yeah, there aren't any schools here with HS hockey. Weird, but it's community based I guess. In vancouver there are tons of teams with tons of levels. WHL Hockey is actually pretty big here too, the Vancouver Giants get pretty big crowds. A person I went to school with is playing for them and is likely to be an NHL prospect. I never played hockey, so I can't really compare them with American players. But I'll take football over hockey any day.
Yeah CFL is great to watch since big plays happen alot, but the kicking game is so important, that it makes it boring. A CFL head coach named Kent Austin who won the Grey Cup last year, took the O-Co job at Ole Miss, beating Florida was probably the highlight of his coaching career.
Caesar Rayford has a good shot at starting next year actually. Cameron Wake is likely headed for the NFL after being the Defensive MVP in the league, so Rayford will be battling for a starting spot, if Wake decides to leave. I remember seeing him at the USC game on the field at pre-game, first thing that came to mind was... "Why is a WR wearing a Cowboy Collar?" haha. Gosh he's tall and lanky. He's beefed up a little bit here.
Funny you mentioned the tradition of no long-sleeve shirts. There's an article here about Rayford and Ala. Lions rookies reign in rain
That's great then, if the hotel is in the U-District. Is the U-District far from downtown though? I was looking to get book a hotel in Lake Union last year (inbetween the two I think?).
It's not far from the epicenter of the U-District (arguably 45th and the Ave). Downtown is a short bus ride away.
I think Fouch's lousy year had a lot to do with stuff beyond his control. It's always tough to play as a rFR, and more so when your QB coaching is non-existent. Add to that a line that wasn't built for pass blocking and you have a tough situation for any quarterback. I think Fouch should have been a 50-53% passer with better handling. Unfortunately, the whole offense was built around having a quarterback with tailback speed, and predictably, when that was no longer the case we were in trouble. Heaps has potential to eclipse Locker, unless Locker next year suddenly turns into a really accurate passer. I think WR ability plays in as well, because good route-running can make life a lot easier for a signal-caller.
I see what you mean about the scantness of local recruiting, but I also think there's an element of 'owning your region' we need to consider. The Van metro area's players might naturally be drawn to UW if they got a look, and the idea of letting the good ones go to WSU is saddening. Scout.com reports that Lokombo isn't committed yet, but they might be wrong.
If you ever get a chance to see films of the 1990-91 Colorado teams running the option, take it. Darian Hagan with ice water in his veins, generally delaying his pitch until some Neanderthal already had hold of him. I attended one very depressing beatdown when they came to UW and were up by some ungodly margin at the half.
I would have loved to play HS hockey. Unfortunately, my tiny town had to combine with two others just to have football. We didn't get regular water breaks and drank irrigation straight from the sprinklers during death march practices. Hatred and revenge being strong motivators, we had one of the best (and by far the dirtiest) teams in the lower Columbia.
Definitely hoping for the best for Rayford. I always loved it when he was in the game because things might happen. Do most really successful CFL players end up jumping to the NFL? I guess it's inevitable; I'm assuming CFL salaries don't compare to the boatloads of money thrown at NFL players.
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