Dave’s Football Blog

A couple of weeks ago, those lovable scamps at Kissing Suzy Kolber lashed out at Canada for trying to lure the Buffalo Bills north of the border. The Bills, of course, struck a $78 million deal with the city of Toronto, which will allow the city to host eight Bills games at the SkyDom… uh, the Rogers Centre over the next five years.

Here’s the $78 million question, though — if Toronto falls in love with the Bills, will they abandon the Argonauts and send the Canadian Football League crashing down?

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon has already said publicly that an NFL team in Toronto would be the death knell for his 3-down, 110-yard football league. Said Cohon:

“I want to see Toronto as a prospering (CFL) franchise, which sets the bellwether for the rest of the league. I was not hired to be commissioner of a Western league.

“If you make the assumption that an NFL team would come into this market, it would cut into (the CFL’s) ad revenue, ticketing and would remove our ability to compete, as there’s a limited number of sponsorship and television money in the Canadian marketplace.”

Perhaps the real question is how important Toronto is to the CFL. If the Argos give way to the Bills, would the Hamilton Tiger-Cats fan base fall apart well? Would Montreal be too cut off from the rest of the league to allow the Alouettes to survive? Or is Cohon just being a Cassandra?

It makes sense for Toronto — a big city with a sports-crazy fan base that already has teams in the NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS — to try and lure the Bills away from Buffalo. Perhaps sports fans in Toronto think the CFL is a too much of a minor league compared to the NFL, and “Canadian-ness” might not be as important as having the best quality sports in that city.

So is this deal really the beginning of the end of the CFL? Could Canadian football survive the stampede of the Bills? Or will 3-down football up north become a relic of the 20th century?

Now on FanHouse: Video of Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones playing rugby union with Blackheath R.C. (Thanks for the tip, Simon!)

And in doing so, he compares the NFL Scouting Combine to a strip club. Sounds about right.

This weekend is the NFL Draft, the event that makes Premier League owners look at the NFL and think, “Wow, and Americans call our football communist?”

As the week approaches, we’re getting bombarded with scouting reports, pundit predictions and, most importantly, mock drafts. Everyone thinks they know where every player is going, so they put on the Mel Kiper Jr. wig and make their picks as if they a.) were in charge of the place and b.) had any clue what they were doing. Mel Kiper Jr. has turned us all into Mel Kiper Jr. wannabes this week — proof positive that manufacturing your job out of thin air makes you a big fat genius. (One day, we will all recognize the genius of John Ratzenberger.)

Of course, I’m not immune to the prediction game myself. I participated in not one, but two mock drafts this year — one at NFL FanHouse (natch!) and one at NBC Sports. If you’re not sick to death of this overhyped media orgy yet, go check ‘em out.

The footy press down under is all agog over Jonathan Brown’s new contract demands. The Brisbane Lion goal machine — who only uses that Vaseline to keep the sweat out of his eyes, honest — is reportedly asking for a 5-year, AU$6 million deal. This would make him the highest-paid player in the AFL.

Let me repeat that for you. AU$1.2 million a year would make Jonathan Brown the highest-paid Australian football player on the planet. Based on today’s exchange rates, $1.2 million in Australia is about $1.13 million in America. It’s also about £570,000 in England, or €712,000 in the rest of Europe.

Let’s compare this for a moment to what the Minnesota Vikings are paying Jared Allen, the Pro Bowl defensive end they just acquired from the Chiefs for three draft picks. According to reports, Allen will receive a 6-year, $74 million deal, with $31 million guaranteed. The price difference between the contracts of Jared Allen and Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney — who, IMHO, has been a better pass-rusher and will be again if he recovers from that lisfranc injury — could pay Jonathan Brown for almost two seasons.

Indeed, £570,000 wouldn’t cover Cristiano Ronaldo’s hooker budget for one season. According to futebolfinance.com (hat tip to EPL Talk for the link), the Manchester United goal machine will make in more in five weeks than Brown would make in a year. Indeed, the Red Devils have 12, count ‘em, twelve players who will make more this season than Brown would get for the life of that contract he wants. Chelsea tops that with 15 players. Five years of Jonathan Brown is worth one year of Carlo Cudicini.

Now, I’m sure the economics of Australian footy are very different than the economics of the NFL and the Premier League, both of which have far more lucrative domestic and international TV deals. Plus, the NFL and the EPL practically own football in their home nations, something the AFL doesn’t quite do yet. And let’s not lie — who among us wouldn’t be pretty happy with $1.2 million a year for 5 years?

Still, that’s quite the salary gap, isn’t it? It’s a wonder that more young AFL stars don’t consider taking their athletic abilities to other football codes. Perhaps the AFL is the last fully professional football league on the planet that’s more about the love of the game and the glory of a Saturday afternoon than the straight cash, homey. After all, if Jonathan Brown really wanted to get paid, he would have learned to be a striker or a wide receiver years ago.

One of Ocho Cinqo's biggest fans has decided he's had enough. It's always the fans that hurt the most. Won't someone think of the fans?

From NFL FanHouse: The Colbert Report is introduced by the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders during its Pennsylvania Primary special. Awesome.

Over at Shutdown Corner, our pal MJD gives a Bengals fan an A+ for creativity.

Fellow FanHouser JJ Cooper studies more about offensive line play in the NFL than any fan I've ever met. He examines Ross Tucker's take that left guard is the easiest line position to play.

Fellow FanHouser Michael David Smith lays into Peter King for "pitying" New York Giants owner John Mara, who just feels so guilty about making fans pay out the ass for Personal Seat Licenses. You'd think a guy like King wouldn't have to beg for access to