Three-time Grey Cup champion Randy Chevrier believes Eugene Lewis speaking out publicly against Ed Hervey's superstar commentary was a bad look for the CFL all-star receiver.
"The fact the player's feelings were so hurt that he has to go online to complain, tell everyone that he's a superstar -- that's the new kind of athlete," Chevrier told The SportsCage. "This is really a clash between the old and the new, I'm a little bit old and I'm a little bit new. It's a GM's job to diminish their players, even their star players, they want to get the best bang for the buck -- it happens in every sport."
The 48-year-old Chevrier has a similar definition to Hervey about what makes a superstar.
"To say that we have superstars... I'm a sports fan and I'm a realist, the CFL has stars, I played with stars. I played with Hall of Famers, great players like Charleston Hughes, Nik Lewis, Henry Burris, Rick Ray. These are great players," Chevrier said.
"When I think about superstars, when I think about superstar athletes, I think about generational athletes that everyone knows and it doesn't matter where the lines are drawn on a map."
The former defensive lineman and long snapper, Chevrier provided context from his view to Hervey's commentary regarding the CFL not having superstars.
"I think what Ed was trying to do is say: 'Hey, listen, you're replaceable.' Every athlete in this league is replaceable, which every GM feels," Chevrier said.
"If you want to look further, go look at Edmonton and what they did to Ricky Ray back in the day. Go look at Calgary, getting rid of Bo Levi Mitchell. Go look at anybody who's gotten rid of one of their best players and I think that's the message. Sometimes you've got to say it bluntly when you're a GM."
Chevrier won his first Grey Cup with the Elks in 2003 then captured two more with the Stampeders in 2008 and 2014. He blames the league for not being able to manufacture superstars.
"If I'm thinking about the CFL, before we start producing superstars, you have to have at least one guy in the league that has an endorsement deal that spans the nation," Chevrier said.
"We don't have that. We got the CFL Tackle Hunger, which is a league-wide program and the program's faces are the TSN commentators. Guys move around too much in this league, they make stars out of them, but not superstars."
