The 2022 CFL Season is in the air like a thick mist. It’s slated to start at the tail end of May…the 23rd specifically, and fans are excited. Heck, us journalists are excited too. It seems like just yesterday we were covering the ins and outs of the 2021 Season, but in the end, the break did the teams a lot of good, or at least we can hope.
Ambrosie, the acting and 14th CFL Commissioner of the CFL has apparently gotten himself in a wee bit of hot water however…specifically some bad attention on social media, and all for apparently focusing on the wrong thing before the 2022 Season kickoff, his detractors say.
And what of those detractors?
Well, his name is Marc Trestman, and for football fans he’s of course extremely well-known. Some may call him a legend and for us in the know, the term certainly applies….
A former player, he played for the Minnesota Vikings and it was in 1981 that his coaching career would get started. He made his way through many teams and in many different football leagues.
He has held coaching positions with Miami, the aforementioned Vikings, the Buccaneers, the Cleveland Browns, the 49rs, the Cardinals, the Raiders and believe me this list only goes on from there.
As head coach, he coached the Montreal Alouettes and brought home the Grey Cup twice (2009-2010) and another time while coaching Toronto within the confines of the CFL in 2017…something that was obviously quite special and meaningful to him, despite his release from the team in 2018 after a string of unfortunate losses. He went on to the coaching position for the Vipers in the XFL in 2020, which was of course postponed because of Covid-19.
Regardless, he still cares for the CFL as this incident that sparked up on Social Media proves. He is currently a professor at the University of Miami Florida School of Law and is teaching a class on leadership…something he knows quite a bit about as his impressive resume shows.
The festivities in question perhaps began when Randy Ambrosie made this statement:
“Would you agree generally that that Wide Receiver that’s flanked out of the far right is playing more of a decoy role in the current way the offences operate, just because the length of the throw from left hash to right sideline?”
via Randy Ambrosie
Bralon Addison (WR), of the Ti-Cats would respond with an affirmation to that statement apparently.
Marc Trestman would also respond however, and with quite a good dose of vehemence leaking from his post on social media…specifically criticizing Ambrosie’s use of Addison’s affirmation. He said:
“Respectfully Mr. Ambrosie- rules, hashmarks, ratio is your distraction. Let’s focus on the “long hard road” to grow fan base. @GlenSuitor @rodpedersen @CFL_News …There is no CFL w/o a R-Ray “dime” corner to the wide side. Btw, using this player response is arguably ‘reckless’!…”
Mark Trestman on Twitter
Marc Trestman makes an extremely valid point. Ambrosie should be thinking more along the lines of attracting fans to the product, a more of an ‘All Eyes On Me’ approach (thanks Tupac), and he shouldn’t be breaking the current product down.
Dear readers, yes, football is a sport, a game that we love, but in the end any league and team and player is undoubtedly a product that sells merchandise, tickets and TV time, and perhaps the commissioner of the beloved CFL league should be more preoccupied with concentrating on bringing the ratings for games and attendance at games up rather than cutting it down in any way, even if some consider it to be a miniscule way.
The aforementioned statements were made at an appearance in Hamilton where Ambrosie was actually defending a rule change proposition that came up…specifically to cut down on the size of the hashmarks in CFL play. Of course as you know, dear readers, this isn’t the only rule change that the good old Comish is thinking of implementing or rather allowing to be implemented.
It seems as though Trestman had had enough. Always opinionated and to the point, Trestman did not hold back.
The only question now is what’s to come of this? What’s next for the CFL rulebook and is this the right direction for a league that needs all the positive attention it can get amidst a boom in football leagues right now.
Perhaps in the end, staying the course and attracting positive attention was the way to go. Let’s see where all this goes and as always, we’ll keep you posted, dear readers.
NEXT: Roughriders’ Fajardo & Wife Expecting—Changes Perspective For The QB After Restructured Deal W/ Team
