After the dust has settled on the CFL semi-final playoffs, we are left to question the relevance of the cross over.
This year the B.C. Lions earned the crossover berth. The reason is simple: they had a better record than the third place team in the East division.
Did they stumble during the last five games of the year, as opposed to the Toronto Argonauts, the third place team in the east? In fact, the Lions were blown out of the water in their last two contests, with a 37-3 loss to Edmonton and a 31-16 loss to the West division leading Stampeders. This before finding themselves slotted to face the Als in Montreal, and succumbing to an embarrassing 50-17 defeat.
Keep the Crossover?
The bottom line is that Toronto didn’t earn a playoff berth, despite being in close contests down the stretch, and having a surprising 4-2 record in their last six games. But the CFL season is an 18-game marathon, not just a sprint to the finish late in the year. To say Toronto deserved the playoff spot is to label the entire first 12 games of the CFL season a wash. That’s just not true; it’s important to jump out to a good record and not have to worry about a team sneaking in the backdoor of the playoffs, west or east.
And before you scoff at the idea that the crossover should not be in place, the rule is unique to the CFL and one that we should be happy to call our own. The crossover rule helps to ensure that the teams that deserve to be in the playoffs actually make the post-season.
Keep the Divisions?
The other point tossed around is the idea of making the CFL one division. Some will say change is good; traditionalists will say “the Grey Cup should always be west versus east”.
A single Canada-wide division makes sense in one way: with the second place Eskimos this year earning a 12-6 regular season record, why aren’t they rewarded with a bye week going into the playoffs? They certainly had a better record than the East division winning Ticats.
On the other hand, a single division would reduce the importance of rivalries. It could create new ones, but that would take decades. The Battle of Alberta, however, is very much alive right now: Calgary swept the Eskimos in the regular season, and if those results were flipped the Eskimos would have won the West and the bye week. Plain and simple, beat your division rivals to get the year-end reward of a bye to regroup for the Grey Cup run.
The Debate Continues…
Both the crossover and the singe division are up for debate. If the crossover rule were thrown out, I’d get on board the single division train. That being said, the crossover is still around and hopefully will be for many years. Every team that has won the crossover has deserved to be in the playoffs – and despite the result we saw on Sunday, how can we argue against that?
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