This might sound like a dumb question, but..... in a hockey mad city like Edmonton, what would you say is the percentage of how big the Esks are compared to the Oilers?
Like, at one point, Warren Moon and Wayne Gretzky were both in the same city and the most dominant players in their league. Did it feel like Moon was overshadowed or was he properly appreciated? The Esks won 5 straight Cups right as the Oilers were beginning their ascent to greatness.
In 2003, the Esks won a Grey Cup right around the same time as the Oiler Heritage Classic (at the same stadium they call home) and the end of the Smyth-Hemsky-Salo Oiler era.
In 2005, they won another Cup right at the beginning of the Pronger Cup Final year.
Do you think the Esks have had it easy or hard to compete for pub, attention, and respect given how big the Oilers are in this city?
Well, it's a tough question to answer.
On the one hand, Gretzky represented the greatest player in the World in a league that was also the best in the world.
but
A lot of people in that era had grown up with the Eskimos (the Oilers were still new to town) and were rabid fans of the club. People talked about the game all week and the best seats in the house at Commonwealth were highly coveted. It was like the Roman Coliseum come show time and our gladiators rarely disappointed the Edmonton mob.
We knew how good Moon was but after all, he was a HOF QB in a league that was not the best in the World although its interesting that in that time period many sports writers thought the Esks would clean up on half the teams in the NFL. I don't think that was true but the club was a real source of pride.
Moon would prove in his NFL career that he was indeed one of the 10 best QB's in the World even though Montana and Marino might ultimately have been better.
Moon was the hero of the Rose Bowl but was never considered an NFL QB prospect. QB in the NFL was a position reserved for white guys, as silly and prejudicial as that idea was ---but it was the ugly truth of the matter.
Meanwhile, in Canada guys like Moon, Holloway and later Dewalt broke through that color barrier and this is something that has always been understated about the achievements of our league. We were ahead of the times in that regard and accordingly many players from the U.S. adopted Canada as their permanent homes. It also helped that in those days there wasn't a big difference in the salary levels between the 2 leagues.
Alas, since Kimball and Campbell left town we have had (IMHO) 2 "real football guys" in Matthews and Jones even though neither one would win any personality awards. Sad to see some of these crowds and how pitifully small they are.
Well, there's a long winded answer that doesn't really answer your question. Obviously no football player in today's CFL football world can measure up against the dominance of MacDavid.