On A Positive Note
The NFL Network announced yesterday that they'll be showing a weekly Canadian Football League game in HD. Details:NFL Network will broadcast 14 regular-season CFL games, starting with the season opener Thursday, July 1 at 7 p.m. ET, featuring the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders in a rematch of last year's Grey Cup championship game.
...The 14-game CFL schedule on NFL Network in high definition features three games on Saturday nights in July following the Thursday night debut on Canada Day. Due to NFL Network's commitment to air every NFL preseason game in August, CFL action resumes on Friday nights in September, October and November.
If you've never watched the CFL, it's a very, very fun game. Basic rules differences:
--12 men on the field for each team instead of 11
--the field is 110x65 yards (not including end zones), and end zones are 20 yards deep.
--three downs (instead of four in American football) to advance the ball 10 yards
--except for lineman, any number of players can be in motion before the snap, and they don't have to be moving parallel to the line of scrimmage.
--no fair catch rule.
--kicks into the end zone (except for successful FG/PAT) must be run out by the receiving team. If they don't make it out of the end zone, 1 point is awarded to the kicking team.
There are more differences, but I think that's the gist of it. What the rules differences do is create a faster-moving, very exciting game of football, and it's quite entertaining to watch.
I've been hoping for years that we'd get a CFL game of the week in HD. Score.
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