CALGARY -- NFL Lite lives.
There was a mind-boggling string of mixed messages from Mark Cohon at the CFL commissioner's Grey Cup press conference yesterday, but the one message a nation of football fans wanted to hear was the one he refused to deliver.
Fans of Canadian football have been highly vocal and passionate about a reduction in Canadian starters from seven being on the table in collective bargaining negotiations with the CFLPA.
If there was a time and place for Cohon to stand up and tell fans that the motherhood issue was off the table, this was it.
But Cohon was on defence, playing dodge ball.
Despite the issue dominating the question and answer portion and essentially turning everything else he had to say into sidebar status, Cohon refused to say there will be no reduction in the number of Canadian starters next year.
Deliberately defensive, he repeatedly pushed forward the idea he wouldn't comment on the issue as a sign of respect for the negotiation process where it is believed the issue is there to divide import and non-import players.
He began the session by saying "fans are shareholders in the league" and that the goal of the league is to remain "uniquely Canadian" and to do that "you have to walk the talk."
And it looked, near the end of his prepared speech, that he was going to go there and tell Canadian fans what they want to hear.
"I was at the game in Regina," he said in bringing up the issue himself.
"It was an amazing experience. Every point scored was by a Canadian," he said of touchdowns from Andy Fantuz, Chris Getzlaf and Rob Bagg in addition to all the kicking points in the Western Conference final in Regina.
He said he wanted to deliver the message to the fans.
"We understand the importance of Canadians in the league. We understand and it is important that our fans know we understand."
But when asked if he was telling us the reduction in the number of Canadians was off the table, he wouldn't go there.
"We're not discussing what's on the table."
One media member suggested he was being evasive, to which Cohon replied: "Any position I say has to do with our negotiations and I'm the spokesperson for the league. So I will tell you that we understand the importance of Canadians in this league."
Asked if that importance was in relationship to the number of Canadians overall or the number of actual starting Canadians, he did the dance again.
The commissioner mentioned he was heading to a similar event in which he would have his commissioner's press conference with the fans.
When asked what kind of reaction he expected from the fans, he said it was predictable.
"The same reaction from the fans sitting in the stands saying, 'Look at Getzlaf. Look at Fantuz.'
"We understand the importance of Canadians."
At one point the commissioner was asked about the possibility of drug testing in the league next year and said he couldn't talk about that because it wasn't part of the collective bargaining discussions.
Asked then if he could talk about anything coming off the table in collective bargaining, the commissioner was back to doing the dance.
"I'm not going to discuss what's on the table."
There is no way the fans of Canadian football are going to stand for any reduction in Canadian starting content.
And there was no good reason for the man who gave the CFL the slogan "It's Our League" not to stand up and say no to NFL Lite.
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA
