From Canada: Thanks, CFLs
Your first year of football "Canadian style" must have certainly been a memorable experience for the city and the people of Baltimore.
As witnessed by your presence in our fall classic, the Grey Cup, your football team and management have done your city proud. Your presence has added renewed interest, dimension and vitality to the Canadian Football League.
I speak as an individual, but I am certain that my thoughts are reflected by many Canadians who are pleased to have the Baltimore [CFLs] as part of our heritage.
The Baltimore fans have shown that they rank among the league's best, and we are proud you are part of our quality, exciting, fast-paced and unpredictable football league.
=1 Thank you for an exciting and memorable year.
Ron St. Jean
Red Deer, Alberta
CFLs drop the ball
Not only did Tracy Ham fumble on the 1-yard line, but several other Baltimore CFL players really dropped the ball with their post-game comments after their 26-23 loss in the Grey Cup. How original! Blame the referees for the loss. How tasteless! How classless! What poor examples for youth!
Granted, it was a tough loss. All close games usually are. Who and what lost the game? Not two spotlighted plays, not Tracy Ham, not the referees -- but the team, as always.
Jerry Phipps
Cockeysville
Great time at Grey Cup
I would like to clear up a misconception that was given to Baltimore readers after the Grey Cup game in Vancouver last weekend. I joined nearly 200 CFLs fans to make the trip to the Cup. We arrived in Vancouver at about 3 a.m. and got to our hotel at about 4. We were awakened at 10 o'clock to the tune of the Baltimore Colts fight song. I went down to the lobby, where I encountered the marching band from Saskatchewan.
Later we visited the rallies held by Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and other groups representing their home cities. We were showered with gifts from each city, and the conversation was about friendliness, not bitterness about a "foreigner" trying to snatch their beloved Cup.
We attended the game, where we were outnumbered 57,000 to 200. When [the B.C. Lions] prevailed, we were congratulated by some nearby fans for a fine game by a worthy opponent. We later attended a party where there were fans from each city in the league. The highlights of the game were shown on the big-screen TV, and most in the crowd agreed that it was a questionable fumble and an obvious incomplete pass.
I hope the fans of Baltimore will show the class and hospitality we encountered as we hold the Cup in 1997.
Buck Ward
Towson
Eisenberg wrong
I am writing in response to the offensive, wretched column by John Eisenberg on Nov. 19. His negative journalistic style continues to astound and confound. We had a winning Canadian Football League team playing for the Grey Cup in its first year in the league. But Eisenberg and others like him naively wait for another city's losing NFL headache.
Don Matthews' [CFLs] have been a joy to watch all season long. Memorial Stadium has once again come alive with the sounds of winning pro football. We have a team to call our own. To this Eisenberg declares, "they're playing minor-league pro football." In my opinion, minor-league football explains the operation run by the NFL.
This is a league that has gotten bigger than the game itself. A league that abuses fans with outrageous ticket prices. Its main goal seems to be to hawk overpriced merchandise. How many kids can go to games with tickets priced three to four times higher than those of the CFL?
There are a few problem franchises, but nothing like Eisenberg's columns lead one to believe.
Robert Betz
Towson
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