It's no Fluke that Flutie was picked number one!

The TSN Top Fifty was released on Friday in a well presented ceremony in the Grey Cup city, a testimony to some of the finest players to ever pull on the pads in the modern era of Canada’s long time passion.

From Jackson to Lancaster, Reed to Parker and many, many before and after, it was like a live action history book as the elder statesmen took one more bow and the younger guns tested out the waters of potential legend making.

And the voters’ pretty well got it right with their pick for number one, while he’s brash and self confident, traits that Canadians don’t seem to take to at times, Doug Flutie was still the best choice for number one. He redefined the game while he played it in Canada, rewrote a number of record books and had he played an entire career in the league one just wonders what he would have done with all the extra awards he would have carted across the border when he went home.

When Doug Flutie arrived on the CFL scene it was as if he’d been given a blue print of a league just right for his skills. A passing game that featured a huge acreage to play on, it seemed just the thing for the Heisman Trophy winner best known for the Hail Mary pass of Boston College.

With previous stops in the USFL and the NFL behind him, Flutie began his journey in the Canadian game in BC in 1990, part of the stable of colourful personalities of the Murray Pezim days. During his CFL career Flutie would have only one losing year, it would be that first one in BC, from then on it was no looking back for Flutie as he put the exclamation point of excitement in the CFL through the nineties.

His next stop would be in Calgary, a by product of the wild days of Larry Ryckman’s wallet and a run and gun offence that made Allen Pitts the object of much attention by CFL Defensive backs. The Flutie years in Calgary resulted in Grey Cup success as the Stamps brought home Lord Grey’s cup in 1992, named the Games MVP it was in that game that Flutie began to put his stamp on the league, leaving a permanent impression on it that lasts to this day.

Before long he would end up in Toronto, a city that was primed for his arrival and benefited greatly from his learning curve of the previous years, Flutie delivered two Grey Cups to the nation’s largest city, in 1996 and 1997.

His career in the CFL is a litany of achievement, numerous passing records, six outstanding player wards and three Grey Cup MVP awards. It all made for a statement of excellence and a template for many of today’s Quarterbacks to study from.

Any game with Doug Flutie at the controls would be a festival of football talent, ordinary players would shine, the greats would be highlighted even more, defenses rose to the occasion desperate to stop him, his team mates equal to the task would do whatever it would take to help him succeed. In short, he made a great game, that much greater when ever he took to the field.

Fluties career spanned three decades, in three different leagues. A legend in the States from his college days, he would go on to even more success in the NFL. But its his CFL days that seem to stick with him the most, he frequently points to his time in the CFL as the best times he has had in football, a sentiment that many CFL fans might say is reciprocated from their perspective.

A lot of times in these types of polls, the right person gets overlooked. Not this time, while it would no doubt be a hard choice to make going over the years, you can’t argue with the numbers, Flutie had them on the field, on the score board and as it turned out at the ballot box.

The committee did their due diligence and in the end they got it right! The list reads like the who's who of Canadian football, each name will bring back a memory of some great talent and some great moments in this three down game we call our own. It was a job well done!

View the Top Fifty list here.

The above post first appeared on my Twelve Men on the Field blog, for more items about Canadian Football check it out!