Probowl: Old School vs. New School?

After delaying and pushing the 2008 Probowl into the first week of April, the CFL finally scheduled this year's CFL Probowl for Sunday, April 6, at 5pm at Mr. Toado Field (Vittum Park). While many players have been looking forward towards having the top players from what we'll call the "Old School" (players from the Raiders, Titans and Eagles) play against the top players from the "New School" (players from the Ravens and Patriots), that may not be the case after all because of a conflict of schedule with players from the New School. It should be made clear that this conflict of schedule was not an attempt by the New School players not to play in the game because "they were supposedly scared of losing" because that was clearly not the case.

The New School players were very willing to play, and indeed are still very willing to play, but their soccer season that begins this weekend (and that will continue in the coming weeks), conflicts with the scheduled date and time of the CFL Probowl. So maybe one day this friendly and historic battle for momentary bragging rights will take place, but until then the show must go on. The CFL has fallen behind from certain standpoints, and really can't afford to delay things much longer as many players have expressed their sheer displeasure at the speed in which preparations for the Draft have been made.

So without further delay, the CFL will hold the '08 Probowl this Sunday with the Captains, more importantly, discussing and determining the specifics around the '08 Draft either before or after game. Based on the Tentative '08 Player List compiled below, the "Old Schoolers" can field 5 teams of five-players or 4 teams of six-players, with the latter probably being more realistic. But of course this depends on whether the "New Schoolers" want to have their own draft or just have one league-wide draft. The New School has alluded to possibly bringing in 4 teams and having their own conference, but that's still up in the air. All those details will definitely be resolved in the next week or two, but in the mean time preparations for the Draft must be made where they can, so this week the CFL will check with the players on the list below to confirm their status for the '08 season.

Tentative '08 Players List (Old Schoolers*):
Armando Vega
Daniel Alas
Daniel Garcia
David De Leon, Jr
David Sanchez
Edder Nava
Edgar Alas
Ernie Mac
Ernie's Cousin
Emmanuel Ramirez
Hector Aranda
Jamal
Jesus Menchaca
Jesus Valencia
Jonathan Alas
Juan
Marco
Meño Morales
Naser Musleh
Pancho Garcia
Rene Menchaca
Robert
Roque Favre
Roque Menchaca
Rudy
Sergio Ramirez

*While it may be easier to refer to the players from their corresponding teams as SDA Players or Vida Players (denoting the respective church players attend or are associated with), the CFL does not want those phrases to connote a church-vs-church mind set or an us-verses-them mentality as some Captains have noted last season. Yes, the fact of the matter is there are predominantly two groups of players that come from mostly two churches, but we hope using the terms "Old School" and "New School" will reduce division while helping to describe what group of players the CFL refers to in the two-component structure of the '08 Draft/Probowl at this time.

Draft Registration

Unlike previous CFL Drafts in years past when the event was held hastily and even practically spontaneously, the 2008 Draft will be much more controlled and structured in order to try to obtain a greater commitment from everyone involved for the dozen or so games during the season. While few captains expect every single player on their roster to make it to every single game since unpredictable and more important events do come up, every player wants a teammate who wants to play, who wants to compete, who wants to win, and not a teammate who misses a game just because they didn’t feel like playing.

So in preparation for the 2008 draft, those who want to play in the upcoming season can now begin registering, signing up, enrolling (whatever you want to call it) with any of the captains by informing them to place your name on the "CFL Players List" for 2008. Registration is open to anyone willing and capable of playing, and once the list is compiled and the registration deadline is set, the CFL will shortly afterward finalize captains, teams, and draftees. It’s important to note that in addition to registering, the CFL will now require the season fee to be paid before the draft and not during the season. This will eliminate the need of having the Chief Financial Officer chase down players who haven’t paid and threatening delinquent individuals with suspensions that he has no authority to even enforce. So unless the player fee is received by the CFL, that individual will not be eligible for the draft or upcoming season, though players with financial hardships could possibly have the fee waived by explaining their situation to the CFL Committee before the draft.

Collecting the fees before the draft will further demonstrate the player’s commitment to the upcoming season and more importantly allow the CFL to purchase game equipment like belts, flags, whistles and field paint as well as a championship trophy and outing, and depending on the funds available additional game balls, penalty flags, and disposable hand warmers for all players during the colder games. The exact amount of the fee has not yet been determined but it will at least be $10. A few players have suggested $12 or $15 in order to buy better flags and equipment but that is still being debated since some captains consider that excessive. A decision will hopefully be made in a week or two. Any further information regarding the draft will be posted as it is received.

First Changes Made To The '08-'09 Season

This off-season, the CFL competition committee agreed to a standard field size instead of the previous inconsistent and adjustable field parameters stated in the CFL Rules & Regulations manual. The previous field parameters consisted of a field 78-yards long and about 25-30 yards wide, but in order to promote more uniform playing conditions the competition committee approved a more practical and slightly shorter field 70-yards long and 28-yards wide, evenly split into ten 7-yard sections. These new approved field measurements in the CFL are more inline with the dimensions of the other two pro-football leagues in the U.S., the National Football League and Arena Football League. The CFL field now sports a length-to-width ratio of 10-to-4 (70 x 28 yards), more aligned with the NFL's length-to-width ratio of 10-to-4.4 (120 x 53 1/3 yards), and even closer to the AFL's length-to-width ratio of 10-to-4.29 (66 x 28 1/3 yards). One other issue that the league's competition committee was considering was moving up the spot from where kickoffs take place from the 2-PAT line (currently) to the 3-PAT line which has been proposed. This would increase the chances of a team recovering an onside squib kick/throw from the 3-PAT line (unless it is fair-catched on a high throw/kick, in which case the kicking team would have to allow the the returner the space and opportunity to make the fair catch) and would probably lead to a onside kick recovery percentage more similarly inline with the NFL's onside kick recovery percentage of about 20-25%. This "kickoff line" issue will be resolved in the coming weeks, but a poll has been posted in case any players wish to submit a vote or opinion which will be taken into consideration as the competition committee decides to accept or reject the new proposal.

Ravens Soar Over Raiders In CFL Superbowl VII

On a field where the CFL's never hosted a regulation game before, in conditions that were quite possibly the worst ever for a CFL Superbowl, the high-powered Raiders met the short-handed Ravens for the '07-'08 Championship. The bad ground conditions made for an extremely slippery game as large patches of the field looked more like reflective mirrors than grass, dirt or snow, but against the Raiders wishes, the game would not be post-poned another day. Both teams took the field as the Ravens and their captain, Edwin, playing against doctor's orders and risking further injury, eagerly looked forward to playing in the biggest game of their young careers. Fast-forward into the game and at more than halfway to the winning score of 72-points, the Raiders extended their lead 41-34 over the Ravens on Tank's touchdown. Things looked bleak for the Ravens but definitely not hopeless. If the game was up to 50-points, the Ravens might have been hitting the panic button after Tank's touchdown, but good teams find ways to be great when it matters most. Down by 7-points, the Ravens put together an incredible run and scored 20 straight unanswered points putting them ahead 54-41. Fast-forward further, and by the time the Raiders reached 54 points, the Ravens had 61. To make things worst for the Raiders, their captain, Frank, suffered a demoralizing injury to his leg that wasn’t as severe as Edwin’s injury in the Ravens playoff game, but was just a debilitating. With the Raiders down 54-61, Frank stepped out of the game and saw the Ravens score immediately thereafter making it 68-54. The Raiders took possession of the ball on the following drive and drove the ball past midfield, but on a pressured play, and in the blink of an eye, Bryan of the Ravens/Patriots made the play of the game and perhaps of the year and picked off a pass intended for Ernie and ran it back all the way to the endzone for the game-ending score putting an end to the ’07-’08 season and crowning the Ravens Champs. (Note: To view videos, click light blue link above and download for best viewing experience. More videos available on the CFL Films site.)