Did Andy Fantuz bash Saskatchewan in his Hamilton introductory press conference?

Prized free-agent acquisition Andy Fantuz was officially introduced to the Hamilton media Tuesday, and while most of his remarks were rather boilerplate, there was one that stood out. From @CFL_News' transcription of the conference, Fantuz made some rather interesting comments about why he chose Hamilton over Saskatchewan. "It was a tough decision; it came down to the Riders and being able to come home and join a team that will be competitive immediately," he said. "It's not about the money, it's about winning championships. With [head coach George] Cortez and the team we have here, it's a great fit to start something special." That's certainly complimentary to his new team, but it can easily be seen as a slam on his old one, and some Riders' fans aren't particularly happy about that. Is Fantuz right that the Ticats are in better shape than than the Riders at the moment, and should he have expressed that opinion?

Based on last season's results, sure, the Tiger-Cats are currently in a stronger position than the Roughriders. Saskatchewan went a league-worst 5-13 in a year wracked with organizational turmoil, while Hamilton went 8-10 and made the playoffs. It's what they accomplished there that was even more impressive, though, beating Montreal on the road and advancing to the East Final. However, those results do carry several asterisks. For one thing, a 8-10 regular season mark is still far from dominant, and for another, Hamilton was absolutely manhandled in a 19-3 loss to Winnipeg in that East final. Their season obviously wasn't seen as a success overall by management, as head coach Marcel Bellefeuille was fired afterwards and quarterback Kevin Glenn was shipped off to Calgary for Henry Burris. Thus, based on last year, Hamilton did have a better season, but it's not quite as straightforward as basement versus East finalist.

Past results are also an imperfect predictor of the future, especially in a league like the CFL that frequently sees change in the standings from year to year. It's not always about how much or how little offseason turnover a team has, either; Winnipeg and Edmonton were the league's worst teams in 2010, but both succeeded in 2011 despite different strategies. The Blue Bombers largely kept their roster intact and went to the Grey Cup, while the Eskimos almost completely revamped their roster and went to the West Final. Thus, just because Hamilton was better than Saskatchewan last year doesn't mean the same will hold true in 2012. The Ticats' offseason looks slightly better to date, and as mentioned, they're starting from a better place, but they've also made some moves that may hurt them in the short term. Fantuz probably has a point that Hamilton looks stronger on paper right now, but in the frequently topsy-turvy CFL, that doesn't mean a whole lot. Sure, the Tiger-Cats will give him a chance to win a Grey Cup, but just about every team tends to look like they have a chance (even an outside one) to win a Grey Cup at the start of the season.

Regardless of whether Hamilton gives Fantuz a better shot at a championship this coming year or not (probable, but not to a huge extent), should he have said so? The view from this corner is unequivocally no. While some Riders fans were upset with Fantuz for leaving, many of them handled his decision very well, so there was no need to go poking them with an unnecessary comment like this one. Fantuz could easily have avoided this by being a bit more diplomatic, not making direct comparisons between the teams or praising his former organization's current situation as well as his new one. He's generally a smart, media-savvy guy (even if he takes trips to Africa at odd times), one who's been a big celebrity and marketing asset in Saskatchewan (and will likely be so in Hamilton, perhaps to a smaller extent given everything else going on in Southern Ontario, but with a team that can use whatever marketing edges it can find). Many expect better from him than this, and he'll have to watch what he says more carefully in the future if he doesn't want to offend Saskatchewan fans.