Something to "Mitch" About

What do you know! They said Connor McDavid would bring the Cup back to Edmonton and in his first year it is coming back. Oh wait!  The Edmonton Eskimos are the 2015 Grey Cup champs as they beat the Ottawa REDBLACKS in what was an entertaining 103rd Grey Cup. More on the game in a bit, but first.....

This is not getting a favourable reaction, nor should it. I asked people their thoughts on this logo and some of the answers I got were

• Lame, boring, understated
• Dull, unimaginative
• Ugly

I had to make sure I was asking about the logo and not this blogger when the answers started coming in. I can't disagree. Who approved this and why? Was this created by a Grade 4 student in a school assignment? The thing that bothers me about this logo, besides the fact it is beyond bland, is the fact the Maple Leaf which has been distinct in all previous logos is basically gone. There is a half Maple Leaf at the bottom and in a league that presumably is Canadian (or National). Why are the ends of the football cut off? Some have asked why the logo needed changing seeing the other pro sports leagues haven't changed their logo and that is a very good question. The NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA haven't felt the need to change their logo for years. The NHL did a subtle tweak with theirs, but nothing as radical as what the CFL has done. Some have suggested it will grow on you. We'll see.

While the logo didn't go over with many, I think it is safe to say the new promotional video with the "What We're Made Of" campaign is a hit. This was very well done and very well produced. The CFL needs to run with this. Why was the old logo so prevalent on Grey Cup Sunday. The old logo was seen a lot more than the new one. Why?

That takes us to the first "State of the League" address by new commissioner Jeffrey Orridge and let's just say I hope the second one at Grey Cup 2016 provides us with a little more substance. The Edmonton Sun's Terry Jones summed it up the best in an article where he said it was ironic that Orridge went to a photo op holding a football after everything was said and done and fumbled the football because he fumbled and bumbled his way through the news conference without providing answers on questions the CFL needs answers to. He defended the bad TV ratings, he defended the officiating, he didn't offer any real solutions to anything. One person claimed on social media if he really knew anything about the league and if someone from the league had just written notes for him on the various subjects.  This was a bad year for the CFL for a variety of reasons and while some of those reasons have some validity to them, you don't want it to happen again. Tell your league and your fans what your vision is for this league and don't hope a video and a new logo will change everything. Orridge has a marketing background, but that background didn't appear to pay any dividends during his first real test. That state of the league address was on TV as well which was outstanding, but I was shocked to see it come on Sportsnet and not the official broadcaster TSN. By the way, TSN did a fantastic job again with their game-day telecast. I don't know where the Grey Cup lies when it comes to their pecking order of yearly shows, but once again they hit it out of the park with Chris Cuthbert and company doing a Grade A job.

Back to the logo for a second and the tweet of the week and perhaps the year may have come from the overly-sarcastic and very clever person who runs the @fakegainer account.  His tweet was he had encountered a Bombers fan who said the new CFL logo was too simple as to which he responded...dude your logo is an uppercase W.  LOL!! In the words of John Lynch---how Winnipegish!


Now to the game. It looked at the start like we might see a 48-45 shootout as both Henry Burris and Mike Reilly had no problems to start the game, but the defences eventually took over and made life difficult for the quarterbacks who had to earn every yard they got. I wasn't in favour of the PI rule when it came in and it had a big part in the outcome of the game, but it was a penalty. A penalty that should have been thrown by the official, but that opens up another can of worms. I couldn't believe Chris Jones actually wasn't going to throw the flag and if he hadn't, that might have been a decision that would  have haunted him forever.  In the end, Edmonton's defence which was lights out all season put the clamps down on Burris and his talented receiving group and it just seemed like a matter of time until Edmonton did what they had to to get the lead.

At the end of the day, the Eskimos did what I think many thought they would do around mid-October and that is bring the Grey Cup back to Northern Alberta. They were by far and away the best team in the CFL this year and it showed.  Now the story will shift back to the Riders and what their future holds. Is Chris Jones a part of it as some are suggesting? I really don't see that happening, but we can apparently stop the John Hufnagel talk as he has said he isn't changing addresses.

All in all, the product we saw on the field this weekend was a good showcase for Canadian football as the Vanier Cup didn't disappoint either with the UBC Thunderbirds winning on the last play to beat Montreal.

It was a good way for the game to leave us for a few months as it wasn't a very good year as we all know. A lot of work has to be done and after what I heard from Orridge this week, I wonder if he actually knows what he is up against.  It will be an interesting off-season where I don't think the league will be put on the backburner. That off-season starts today with training camp a long ways away.

That's all I got. Enjoy your week.