So it’s the bye week for my team the Toronto Argos – I’m going through withdrawal even though there were 2 very good teams playing football this week. The Bye week means that we’re halfway through the CFL season – It feels like it just started yesterday. I’m not ready for the regular season to be over in 8 short weeks! the CFL season is so short compared to the off-season. Pretty soon it will be November and November means PLAYOFFS. I dearly hope that my Argos turn things around and make it into the playoffs! There’s nothing better than playoff football. And while I root for the Argos, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good game no matter who is playing. This week was a prime example of why I love the CFL – Both games went down to the final two minutes, and both of my picks were right (but boy was I nervous!).
I was rooting for Winnipeg primarily because of the flak Tina LaPolice got for daring to express an opinion. I don’t believe that anything is different because she is the wife of the Head Coach of the Bombers. I think she has a right to cheer for the team and not take crap from certain loudmouthed players and fans on twitter. It even says in her twitter bio that her opinions are her own. I LOVE her twitter bio Football wife, mother of 2 gorgeous babes! Opinions are my own, not that of my husband! It’s not the 50’s..I say what I want! Still!! I think the whole situation got seriously blown out of proportion. When Dave Stala commented about wanting to take the swag out of swaggerville, she replied “We’ll see hacky sack boy!” – the Hacky sack boy comment refers to a touchdown celebration in which Stala plays hacky sack with the football (how this doesn’t run afoul of the non celebration rule still boggles my mind). That’s it. That was the comment that got everyone riled up. Seriously? Don’t you people have better things to do with your time? Tina is a strong woman who has strong beliefs – she was a Bomber’s cheerleader too so it’s natural for her to stick up for her team. I know I’m in the minority here, but I salute her and hope that she continues to show confidence in her team. They are one of the best stories of the 2011 CFL season to date – Yes Calvillo breaking the passing records is a great story but it was expected. I’m not sure that anyone expected the Bombers to be 7-1 at the midway point. Instead of making a twitter tempest in a teapot, let’s celebrate the great season the Bombers are having – and this despite the untimely death of their Assistant Head Coach Richard Harris earlier this season.
I will also add to the twitter follower who told me after I tweeted in support of @tinalapo … “Of course you’d defend her your (sic) a mouthy broad too”. Thanks. I will take that as a complement.
You are missing the point completely. She didn’t get flak for what she said, she got flak because it probably isn’t the smartest thing in the world to say anything seeing as she’s the wife of the opposing team’s head coach. You try to limit the bulletin board material as much as possible, especially in a game where things were already heating up considerably. Your comment about Stala’s celebration is simply attributable to you being an Argos fan. I’m sure you defended all of Arland Bruce’s antics when he wore an Argos uni. Your comment is biased, and that is obvious. You are a blogger and bloggers don’t know how to be objective. Have you read any other CFL blogs by fans? All of them are terrible and biased. I thought Bloskee whatever was bad, but you are even worse. I stopped reading him and now i am going to stop reading you. The next time Jeremaine Copeland scores a TD (if that ever happens again) and he does some silly choreographed celebration, I sure hope you wonder why he doesn’t get flagged. You won’t, but that just means you’re a hypocrite. And speaking of hypocrites, you wrote a few weeks back about how wrong Avon Cobourne was for writing something about cheerleaders on Twitter. Why is it OK for Tina LaPolice to have her opinion and express it, but not Avon Cobourne? Is it because Tina’s a woman and Avon is a man? Are you a sexist as well as being a loud mouth? Tina LaPolice can think and say whatever she wants. However, when you say those things publicly, be prepared to have to defend them. People can comment on what she said without you or anyone else judging them. If you don’t want someone to say something back to you, you shouldn’t say anything publicly. She can have her opinion all she wants, and anyone who disagrees with her is afforded that same right. So you’re mouthy and a hyprocrite. Good combination.
Actually, I agree that Arland Bruce III deserved the penalties for excessive celebration. The Michael Jackson tribute in particular wasn’t in the best taste and took the focus off the field. In general, I’m opposed to individual celebrations (with the possible exceptions of truly phenomenal plays like a kick return or an INT for a TD – within a time limit). I will also admit to being a big fan of the Calgary bobsled routine from a few years ago (though I understand that it also broke the rules and had to be ended). My point about the Stala celebration was more to highlight the unevenness with which the excessive celebration rule is applied. I would hope that ALL CFL fans would want to see rules applied evenly. If it’s a penalty when Saskatchewan does it, it’s a penalty when Toronto does it. It’s pretty simple.
There was a huge difference in the Cobourne situation and the LaPolice situation. Cobourne’s re-tweeted comment was a reference to cheerleaders being “on their knees”. I’ve seen this chant happen live and have witnessed the actions that go with it. There’s no ambiguity in the meaning – it’s a sexual reference. I find that distasteful and disrespectful to women in general, and cheerleaders in particular. The other difference was that Tina LaPolice voiced her OWN opinion and stood by it, while Cobourne tried to hide behind the fact that it was “only a retweet” and then deleted the comment in an attempt to deflect blame. If he wants to have that opinion, that’s his business but he needs to stand by it. If it had been his opinion and he had stuck by it, I still would have thought he was a sexist pig, but I would at least respect him for sticking to his guns. By deleting the tweet and trying to pretend it didn’t happen, he insulted people’s intelligence. All he needed to do was say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize before I hit the re-tweet button that it was disrespectful”.
I agree that taking on a player on the other team wasn’t the smartest thing Tina LaPolice ever did. I just don’t think the criticism fit what she actually said. Yes, limit the BB material by all means, but judging by some of the invectives that were thrown at her after she said it, a lot of people were making this a bigger deal than it needed to be. I understand that as the coach’s wife there’s a certain protocol, and that this may have been on the outer edge of that protocol. Okay – lesson learned. But people telling Coach LaPolice he needed to muzzle his wife is so 1950s it makes me want to gag. There’s a difference between her being quiet because it is what her husband would prefer, and him forcing her to be quiet – which implies a level of control that I don’t believe exists in a healthy marriage. That was the wording I objected to. It’s not always what you say, but how you say it that matters.