Hey Mike.

>First of all, there are 3 downs, which basically means every play is passing, since you only have two attempts at first down before they inevitablly kicked it away. No surprise at what the play will be.

Mike Pringle from Montreal has had a 2,000 yard rushing season, and this year had about 1,700. One of our running backs only played 10 games this year and had nearly 1,000 yards. That said, most CFL fans think the passing game is more exciting than the running game.

>afriad of being tackled I guess.

And what, pray tell, is the purpose of the fair catch rule? "Man, those guys running down the field toward me look pretty big. Maybe I'll just wave my hand so the referee will see me and not let those big bad guys hit me". <gd&r>

>One part I thought was cool was the ability for the defending team to get 1pt if they received a bad field goal from inside the end zone. I think thats how it worked, something like that.

Actually, it's the other way around -- if the team kicking a field goal misses but the ball goes through the end zone or the defense just grounds the ball in the end zone, the offense gets a point. That's kind of a goofy rule, I'll admit, since it essentially rewards a team for failure.

>as for game play... I don't think so :-)

Doug Flutie was on David Letterman after his first season back in the NFL, and he stated that while he was glad to be back in the NFL, he personally felt the CFL was a better game from a fan POV, since it tends to be faster paced (only 3 downs and 20 sec between plays means you have to move fast rather than grinding it out).

Now the XFL will be a league to watch (I don't think it'll be around long, but it might be fun while it lasts). Your gov as an announcer and apparently lax rules on the violence should make it a great sport for wrestling fans <g>

Doug