Luke Wilson goes off on the CFL..

[Jesse]

Stirring the pot?

Now he's suggesting only 1 Olineman should count towards ratio. 

I get the idea, make it harder to "hide" Nat starters on the oline, and develop more "skill" position players.  But I'd say that there is nothing wrong with hoggies, or their skill sets qualifying them as starters, or any advantage to using an Int Olineman over a Nat other than $SMS and availability. And "ratio breakers" still make better bucks than Olinemen in general.  Top Nats, regardless position, will get paid.

If you have to limit one position to a ratio contribution, you'd have to add in a mandatory Nat starter in other groups.  Which then becomes unwieldly, and again, drives up $SMS for Nats.

I do still think we need a mandatory Nat QB on roster, preferrably dressed as a 4th QB, non-counter unless you have a top 3 Nat QB.

 

I would much prefer a cap on NATs in a certain positional group like Wilson is suggesting rather than a mandatory minimum on a position where there isn't enough depth.

[TecnoGenius]

Now he's suggesting only 1 Olineman should count towards ratio. 

0. Don't demean my hoggies.  If you think they don't have "skill", you watch how well a team does that has garbage ones.

1. Any new rule that complicates things, especially the ratio, only makes the CFL worse.  KISS

2. Teams this year are using anywhere from 1 NAT to 4 NATs on OL.  There is no need to restrict anything.  Let teams allocate their DP & FA$ as they see fit.

3. There are not enough "skill" NATs to go around -- AND to have NAT backups for them!  They won't magically appear if there is more demand.  Ford, and Kramdi, and Sanchez are very rare creatures.  All you'd get is teams dressing 2-3 more NAT RECs that are worse than JFG.

4. You would devastate the market for low and mid-tier NAT hoggies, and the total OL unit quality would go down because there aren't even enough IMP hoggies to go around as it is!

[gobombersgo]

Stirring the pot?

Now he's suggesting only 1 Olineman should count towards ratio. 

I get the idea, make it harder to "hide" Nat starters on the oline, and develop more "skill" position players.  But I'd say that there is nothing wrong with hoggies, or their skill sets qualifying them as starters, or any advantage to using an Int Olineman over a Nat other than $SMS and availability. And "ratio breakers" still make better bucks than Olinemen in general.  Top Nats, regardless position, will get paid.

If you have to limit one position to a ratio contribution, you'd have to add in a mandatory Nat starter in other groups.  Which then becomes unwieldly, and again, drives up $SMS for Nats.

I do still think we need a mandatory Nat QB on roster, preferrably dressed as a 4th QB, non-counter unless you have a top 3 Nat QB.

 

There are too many roster rules as it is.

Just change it to 8 starting Nationals and get ride of Nationalized Americans, Designated Nationalized Americans and Designated Nationals.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I don't even need to find the quote to probably agree. Want better offensive line play? Let more players play from the football factory down south.

They can still wear the Canada flag on their jersey. Maybe one will become your favorite player. It will be okay.

[theaardvark]

I don't even need to find the quote to probably agree. Want better offensive line play? Let more players play from the football factory down south.

They can still wear the Canada flag on their jersey. Maybe one will become your favorite player. It will be okay.

BC started 4 Int Oline this year.  And how'd that work out?

"Hiding" ratio on the Oline has been done forever because it is the easiest position to have competitiveness between Nat and Int players.  The CFL 3down game is different, and Canadian hoggies grew up with the blocking schemes and yard off the ball. 

Yes, Int receivers have a field day with wider fields and waggle, and DB's have to adapt to that and the extra man on the field, but the off the snap reaction that happens on the Oline is ingrained in an Olineman, and adapting to it is not that simple.

Sure, the US has more than 10x the population and even higher number of Oline that don't quite make the NFL. But the Nat's that don't make the NFL have a distinct advantage of having the muscle memory of having grown up 3 down.

Nat hoggies get paid more, and are harder to replace, for sure.  But "hiding" ratio on the oline has a reason.  You have to have 7 Nat starters, and if you can put together almost half of that with 3 solid Nat hoggies that on average play 18 games a year, every year, well, they are worth the extra.

That's another reason for Nat hoggies, stability.  "Skill" players are less likely to play 18 games, every year.  And when one goes down, its harder to replace him.

Ratio is working, and the fact we have 2 Nat QB starters in the league now, and that we had an MOP/MOC combo in a GC and in a regular season says that the "skilled" spots are doing just fine, and don't need any help from limiting Oline ratio.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

BC started 4 Int Oline this year.  And how'd that work out?

"Hiding" ratio on the Oline has been done forever because it is the easiest position to have competitiveness between Nat and Int players.  The CFL 3down game is different, and Canadian hoggies grew up with the blocking schemes and yard off the ball. 

Yes, Int receivers have a field day with wider fields and waggle, and DB's have to adapt to that and the extra man on the field, but the off the snap reaction that happens on the Oline is ingrained in an Olineman, and adapting to it is not that simple.

Sure, the US has more than 10x the population and even higher number of Oline that don't quite make the NFL. But the Nat's that don't make the NFL have a distinct advantage of having the muscle memory of having grown up 3 down.

Nat hoggies get paid more, and are harder to replace, for sure.  But "hiding" ratio on the oline has a reason.  You have to have 7 Nat starters, and if you can put together almost half of that with 3 solid Nat hoggies that on average play 18 games a year, every year, well, they are worth the extra.

That's another reason for Nat hoggies, stability.  "Skill" players are less likely to play 18 games, every year.  And when one goes down, its harder to replace him.

Ratio is working, and the fact we have 2 Nat QB starters in the league now, and that we had an MOP/MOC combo in a GC and in a regular season says that the "skilled" spots are doing just fine, and don't need any help from limiting Oline ratio.

Better than if they started 4 Canadian OL who don't exist?

[The Zipp]

Luke calling out the ticats fans for not travelling the 45 mins to toronto to watch their team.

he has a point. 

i actually like the fact he is making these "controversial" comments - gets the convo going. 

he is heading to Saskatchewan next week so he should have a better experience. 

[Jesse]

Luke calling out the ticats fans for not travelling the 45 mins to toronto to watch their team.

he has a point. 

i actually like the fact he is making these "controversial" comments - gets the convo going. 

he is heading to Saskatchewan next week so he should have a better experience. 

That's what he was hired for.

[DM83]

Luke go to a stylist and get a man's haircut.  The 80s were 45 years ago. And stop copying Muamba. Shut for a second, and let someone else talk. Do not race a guy in a cow suit.  I mean did some seven year old like watching a fat former player have a head start and beat some clown in a cow suit?

What happened to all the other panelists
TSN you should be. Begging to bring  back Matt!

[bluengold204]

That's what he was hired for.

Yup

Luke calling out the ticats fans for not travelling the 45 mins to toronto to watch their team.

he has a point. 

i actually like the fact he is making these "controversial" comments - gets the convo going. 

he is heading to Saskatchewan next week so he should have a better experience. 

I agree.  He's actually the best thing to happen to the CFL/TSN in a long time

[blue_gold_84]

He's actually the best thing to happen to the CFL/TSN in a long time

[BlueFire]

Who ?

[GOLDMEMBER]

Who ?

Lukey McPunchface

[The Zipp]

luke wilson ranks the cfl fanbases:


CFL FAN BASE RANKINGS
JUNE 7th, 2025 *present day, not historic

1) Winnipeg Blue Bombers- crowd sell outs! And it's not just the sell outs but it seems like the people genuinely are locked into the games and really give a ****. This is the dream. If the CFL can get 3/4 more teams to have the fan base and support that Winnipeg has.. 📈📈📈 it will be COOKING. Want to add there seems to be some great local media people! I'm excited to be out there in a couple weeks.

2) Saskatchewan Roughriders - I know they are most likely mad at me at the 2 spot, it's a tight race. Sask seems like the dream. The province as a whole is doing a tremendous job with the sport of football from a grassroots level, all the way up. The reasons they aren't #1 are because of the slight drop in attendance/sell outs. I'm not sure why that's happened... And also two fans, one is emperor numpty (don't name him, he is looking for clicks) and some guy named Steve who incessantly tweets and me, sometimes with selfies. With the Mace and O'day combo at the helm plus having the CFL's Jason Bourne (A.J. Ouellette). Look for some sell outs in the near future. Local media seems really solid. Couple loudmouth numpties but the rest seem awesome. Salute Sask 🫡

3) Montreal Alouettes
Montreal is humming. They consistently average over 20k fans a game and they are passionate. The stadium was rocking for the home opener. Online it seems as if the MTL fans want to league to continue to grow. They understand the task. Great look for Al's fans. Nice work!

4) BC Lions - controversial take here but the BC Lions have some really good fans overall and I think that more people in Van and surrounding areas follow the Lions than people realize. Even though I've had many battles with some fans online I must give them their flowers. It's a really tough situation for the product too, bush league facilities, and a stadium that seats 54,000 makes it's hard to really create that product, but the fans still support! 💪🏼

5) Calgary Stampeders - I haven't been to Calgary so I'm on the fence about this rating. I've been told the fans they are extremely fair weather. If the team is solid they should up, if not they don't care. I hope this rumor is false. No one likes front runner fans. The quantity of fans relatively speaking is getting them the rating over the next few teams

6) Ottawa Redblacks - a small but mighty group. The redblacks receive the 6 place nod for quality over quantity. The fans show up on game day and they care. It's just unfortunate there isn't more of them. The stadium is in a great area, fun atmosphere. Would love to see them in the top of this board. It's possible!!

7) Edmonton Elks - these fans have gone through a lot. From a name change, to brutal on field game outcomes. It's a bloodbath in Edmonton. What was once a crown jewel, is now the poster child on what numpties do for the league. I respect the fans that have stuck through it though!

Toronto Argonauts - the fans are older, they are fewer, but they are really locked in. Friday night when they were down, they are still there trying to rally their team. It's just unfortunate how few of them exist. A real head scratcher considering AI tells me 10/15k Canadians show up to Bills home games every week.

9) Hamilton Ticats - there seem to be a few awesome fans but overall what a fraudulent gong show. As an Ontario boy, growing up, I would always hear about the Ticats fans... what a myth...Even for home games, empty seats everywhere... "everyone is drinking on the concourse" what a bush league ordeal, that's something I would expect from the corporate hacks who watch the leafs play in regular season, not Hamilton Ti-cat fans. These fans aren't interested in their team just some block party. I hope they prove me wrong and sell out a game to actually WATCH it but as for now, no hope out of me. Also crazy amount of numpties. Very nasty people online. Where did the true Oskee Wee Wee people go? Please come back!

[blue_or_die]

Nevermind, Luke! We actually love you!!

Jk. After #1 and #2 most of that is an awfully ignorant take on the fanbases. Especially Hammy fans which I think are pretty great. Calgary ranked way too high and he essentially admits why in his description but does it anyway?