What does that got to do with if cfm has much merit when it comes to performance, I started off saying I basically agree with but cfm has more merit then you seem to give it credit for.
CFM, velocity, port size are interrelated, if you know two of them you basically can figure out the third, you can't change one without at least effecting another. CFM obviously matters and for those that are not racing especially in a highly competitive race classes that has especially vague performance goals could do worse than shop by what a head flows.