Grey Cup Week Media Watch

[jerrym]

why do toronto media always try and put down the cfl? getting tired of these kinds of articles.

You should read the comments section at the end of the article. Every one of the 24 comments attacks Blair for his screed.

[zontar]

Keep in mind that Blair also works for Rogers' FAN 590 sports radio station.

Yep, he has mid morning slot. Since rest of the day is devoted to hockey he talks bluejays and NFL. Phone-in topic last Tue was "What's your favourite NFL team ?" that's it., not joking.

Blair , like Brunt and McCown have turned into model employees since the Rogers revamping of TheFan. (if you know what I mean)

[ArgoRavi]

I thought that this was a pretty good quote from the latest Steve Simmons column:

"People like to point to the Argos win and complain "it's only an eight-team league" forgetting that most of the Maple Leafs' Stanley Cups came in an NHL that was a six-team league"

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/01...-past-mistakes

[zontar]

I thought that this was a pretty good quote from the latest Steve Simmons column:

"People like to point to the Argos win and complain "it's only an eight-team league" forgetting that most of the Maple Leafs' Stanley Cups came in an NHL that was a six-team league"

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/01...-past-mistakes

...or how rarely or never some NFL teams make it out their six team division.

Lots of negativity around NFL these days. A murder-suicide and violent culture in general, drug suspensions, the viagra thing.
Lots for Blair and McCown to talk about (no, I'm not holding my breath)

[c33]

I was watching a bit of the Marlies on Sportsnet Saturday night (has it come to this) and they had Jeff Johnson in the booth during the first period. He bantered with Bowen and Millen for a good couple of minutes while the game was in progress and the whole thing was generally positive.

[1argoholic]

Not only an NFL murder suicide but on the same day a Cleveland Browns employee killed himself. WTF is going on here?

[mac_davy]

Wow, what an SOB, to write this the day after one the most successful grey cups, take a real special self absorbed ass.
I look at this a good sign, you see JEFF BLAIR and the others have been living in the dream that soon they would be big time North American sports casters covering their big time NFL team, and being part of some privy-ed elite. But that dream is fading fast, five years ago, the CFL's viability was questionable, the the NFL was courting Ted Rogers, but with his passing and the failure of the Bills series, and the CFL re emerging, the NFL has move its interests else were, and like a little spoiled brat Jeff cant doing anything but spit. I love this line "The Argos will never be big-time enough for Toronto, especially young, hip, Toronto. But there ought to be a niche for them" really Jeff? Jays average viewers is 300k and raptors at just under 200k and the Argos with around 800k and 3.5 million for the grey cup exactly which team here is niche Jeff?
The Argo fans have nothing to fear here, they are rising along with the CFL, by the end of this decade i guarantee there will be a new facility for the Argos and a tenth team added, the CFL and the Argos have quickly become a very very important property to Bell media ( i wouldn't be surprised if Bell purchased them ), and Jeff Blair and the likes have lost and they know it.

[Giselle]

Wow, what an SOB, to write this the day after one the most successful grey cups, take a real special self absorbed ass.I look at this a good sign, you see JEFF BLAIR and the others have been living in the dream that soon they would be big time North American sports casters covering their big time NFL team, and being part of some privy-ed elite. But that dream is fading fast, five years ago, the CFL's viability was questionable, the the NFL was courting Ted Rogers, but with his passing and the failure of the Bills series, and the CFL re emerging, the NFL has move its interests else were, and like a little spoiled brat Jeff cant doing anything but spit. I love this line "The Argos will never be big-time enough for Toronto, especially young, hip, Toronto. But there ought to be a niche for them" really Jeff? Jays average viewers is 300k and raptors at just under 200k and the Argos with around 800k and 3.5 million for the grey cup exactly which team here is niche Jeff? The Argo fans have nothing to fear here, they are rising along with the CFL, by the end of this decade i guarantee there will be a new facility for the Argos and a tenth team added, the CFL and the Argos have quickly become a very very important property to Bell media ( i wouldn't be surprised if Bell purchased them ), and Jeff Blair and the likes have lost and they know it.

Your points are all well-made, but I have trouble understanding how people can spend so much time analyzing the predictable out-of-left-field rantings of a notorious Rogers shill...two weeks after his article was written, no less. Simmons deserves praise for his treatment of the Argos this year, but it only started since the Sun became the Argos' official paper. When the Star was the official paper, Simmons sang a different tune. Some people tend to under-estimate the importance of business in influencing journalism, but it seems pretty clear. Just look at the turn-around at Rogers. Rogers used to be a sponsor of the CFL (remember the Rogers Player Awards?), and Fan 590 owned the Argos radio rights. I can recall as recently as 2008 or 2009 the Fan's coverage of the Argos was a night and day difference compered to now. Bob McCown would actually cover the CFL on his national show. During Grey Cup week McCowan and Brunt would devote at least 60% of their show Prime Time Sports on a daily basis to covering everything related to the CFL, even when the game was in Calgary. Sportsnet still ignored the Argos and made feature pieces that made the CFL look old and tired, but at least the Fan radio station gave them some coverage, and there wasn't as much of a concerted effort to use their hired newspaper columnists to slag the CFL. Brunt was positive for a while during these days. Damien Cox still worked for the Star and was also positive about the CFL in the days before he was hired by Rogers.Then Rogers started to court the NFL. This was around the same time as the CFL got dropped as a sponsor, and the Argos got started to get buried at the Fan 590. Fan still had the rights to the Argos' live broadcasts, but it was a cheap deal for Rogers as the Argos basically had no other options except playing Fifth-Fiddle at the Fan for a while. In 2010 most of the Argos' games were only broadcast on Fan590.com, not even any presence on the radio, despite the business ties between Rogers and the Argos.When TSN Radio 1050 came into existence in 2011 and took the Argos' rights, that was the beginning of the all out anti-CFL blitz by Rogers on Sportsnet TV that ignores it except to make it look bush, Sportsnet Radio that does the same, and through all their shills involved in newspaper "journalism." McCown even admitted recently to Cohon in a rare interview that they can't talk about the CFL because they have "sucked up to the other guys." How much clearer could it possibly get?

[Invader]

Wow, what an SOB, to write this the day after one the most successful grey cups, take a real special self absorbed ass.
I look at this a good sign, you see JEFF BLAIR and the others have been living in the dream that soon they would be big time North American sports casters covering their big time NFL team, and being part of some privy-ed elite. But that dream is fading fast, five years ago, the CFL's viability was questionable, the the NFL was courting Ted Rogers, but with his passing and the failure of the Bills series, and the CFL re emerging, the NFL has move its interests else were, and like a little spoiled brat Jeff cant doing anything but spit.

I love this line "The Argos will never be big-time enough for Toronto, especially young, hip, Toronto. But there ought to be a niche for them" really Jeff? Jays average viewers is 300k and raptors at just under 200k and the Argos with around 800k and 3.5 million for the grey cup exactly which team here is niche Jeff?

The Argo fans have nothing to fear here, they are rising along with the CFL, by the end of this decade i guarantee there will be a new facility for the Argos and a tenth team added, the CFL and the Argos have quickly become a very very important property to Bell media ( i wouldn't be surprised if Bell purchased them ), and Jeff Blair and the likes have lost and they know it.

Excellent point m_d! Over half the 7.6 million people in the extended Toronto market watched all or part of the 2012 Grey Cup...a tremendous market share! People in Toronto and southern Ontario care about the Argos and the CFL. They don't need the bullies, corporate toadies and ignoramuses on the Fan 590 and their collaborators to tell them otherwise.

[Mulder]

Your points are all well-made, but I have trouble understanding how people can spend so much time analyzing the predictable out-of-left-field rantings of a notorious Rogers shill...two weeks after his article was written, no less. Simmons deserves praise for his treatment of the Argos this year, but it only started since the Sun became the Argos' official paper. When the Star was the official paper, Simmons sang a different tune. Some people tend to under-estimate the importance of business in influencing journalism, but it seems pretty clear. Just look at the turn-around at Rogers. Rogers used to be a sponsor of the CFL (remember the Rogers Player Awards?), and Fan 590 owned the Argos radio rights. I can recall as recently as 2008 or 2009 the Fan's coverage of the Argos was a night and day difference compered to now. Bob McCown would actually cover the CFL on his national show. During Grey Cup week McCowan and Brunt would devote at least 60% of their show Prime Time Sports on a daily basis to covering everything related to the CFL, even when the game was in Calgary. Sportsnet still ignored the Argos and made feature pieces that made the CFL look old and tired, but at least the Fan radio station gave them some coverage, and there wasn't as much of a concerted effort to use their hired newspaper columnists to slag the CFL. Brunt was positive for a while during these days. Damien Cox still worked for the Star and was also positive about the CFL in the days before he was hired by Rogers.Then Rogers started to court the NFL. This was around the same time as the CFL got dropped as a sponsor, and the Argos got started to get buried at the Fan 590. Fan still had the rights to the Argos' live broadcasts, but it was a cheap deal for Rogers as the Argos basically had no other options except playing Fifth-Fiddle at the Fan for a while. In 2010 most of the Argos' games were only broadcast on Fan590.com, not even any presence on the radio, despite the business ties between Rogers and the Argos.When TSN Radio 1050 came into existence in 2011 and took the Argos' rights, that was the beginning of the all out anti-CFL blitz by Rogers on Sportsnet TV that ignores it except to make it look bush, Sportsnet Radio that does the same, and through all their shills involved in newspaper "journalism." McCown even admitted recently to Cohon in a rare interview that they can't talk about the CFL because they have "sucked up to the other guys." How much clearer could it possibly get?

Bye Bye Chris, Aka CptAcher

Ban Avoidance is bad mmmk?

[294life]

Not only an NFL murder suicide but on the same day a Cleveland Browns employee killed himself. WTF is going on here?

never thought the Browns were that hopeless.

[AngeloV]

Bye Bye Chris, Aka CptAcher

Ban Avoidance is bad mmmk?

???

I know this in no way has anything to do with me, but can you please explain your post?

[1argoholic]

I'm with Angelo. What the .... are you talking about?

[Ballstothewall]

I'm with Angelo. What the .... are you talking about?

I'm with 1argoholice, who is with Angelo, who is asking, what are you talking about Mulder?

[Wobbler]

Bye Bye Chris, Aka CptAcher

Ban Avoidance is bad mmmk?

He must really love the site, though. The sex change operation required to become playful "Giselle" can't have been cheap.

[Mulder]

He must really love the site, though. The sex change operation required to become playful "Giselle" can't have been cheap.

Actually, I think it's covered by OHIP now.

But if your going to post under a fake account under a fake name using the opposite gender as an alias, at least keep up the act for more than 6 posts.

[Wobbler]

To anyone still wondering: it became apparent that "Giselle" was the recently-banned CptArcher using an IP proxy to register under a new ID.

[ArgoGabe22]

To anyone still wondering: it became apparent that "Giselle" was the recently-banned CptArcher using an IP proxy to register under a new ID.

Was very obvious once he signed up. He tried to act differently but couldn't resist using the words "Rogers shill" and calling the mods "overzealous". The exact same words he used under CptArcher. "She" claimed to not know much about football but boom now she's an expert on the media.

[AngeloV]

Thanks for the clarity guys. I hadn't read anything controversial from this poster, and was a bit lost there.

[Wobbler]

Thanks for the clarity guys. I hadn't read anything controversial from this poster, and was a bit lost there.

That's understandable - we've been forced to moderate more than usual in the last few days. But if you have any "sex questions you'd like to ask a 23 year old girl (who usually loves to play)", I assume that Mr. CptArcher is still willing to respond.

Sigh.