We resisted the temptation last week, apropos this little bit of silliness, to launch into the debate about which brand of football is better. Actually, the temptation was pretty minimal, because this is one of the most boring subjects out there. And besides, there's only so much time we should waste on Paul Godfrey's pipe dreams.

After this weekend though, we can't resist attacking this whole thing (which seems, um, a little far from fruition) from a slightly different angle. See, it's not really about the game itself, much as we find fair catches inherently silly. It's about culture.

To understand the difference between the CFL and the NFL, go to a place in Toronto where CFL fans congregate. A pre-game tailgate, say. Or, as most of us did after Saturday's win (present company not included, for wedding-attending reasons), the post-game celebrations at Joe Badali's. Share beers with men, women and children...or at least men and women. Marvel at their obscure Argos paraphernalia. Trade stories of the cast of characters you met at the last Grey Cup. Chat with the players who stop by to say hello. Bring some form of protection in case Frank D'Angelo turns up trying to march you over to Forget About It. And go home feeling good about the world, at least until the hangover kicks in.

Now go to a place in Toronto where NFL fans congregate. The Sports Cafe at Yonge and St. Clair, for instance, as we did yesterday. Look around at the generic oversized gentlemen in generic jerseys of generic NFL stars who wouldn't stop to say hello if they ran over them with their cars. Watch as they turn different shades of red at every dropped pass - not because they care about any particular team, but because they have a big chunk of their earnings riding on the outcome. Listen as they speak in what they presumably think are Chicago accents, but actually make them sound like they're from Buffalo - a city that's sort of like Hamilton with no industry, ten-times the murder rate and 400-times the number of house fires. And try your darndest to spot a woman who's not paid to be there.

Still looking? Okay, you get our point. Now tell us: Do you really want to replace all those nice, Argos-loving people hanging around the Argodome -  not to mention the Argo Notes, because you know there's no NFL version of them - with those guys?