No blowouts this week: four tightly contested games, although some were a little too tightly contested (see EDM @ HAM). Winnipeg scratches out its first win of the season, but Toronto comes up short in Regina and the Roughriders unexpectedly open the season 5-0.
| CGY @ WPG | EDM @ HAM | MTL @ BC | TOR @ SSK |
| Result | Winnipeg by 4 | Edmonton by 6 | B.C. by 2 | Saskatchewan by 6 |
| Margin of Error | 3 to 5 | 4 to 8 | 1 to 3 | 4 to 8 |
HATER and tommy catch up to apoch, so the big three are now a triumverate. But hardly a secure one: one point down the ladder, there's a four way tie. The field is as open as Wendy's on a Friday night.
| SpoFite | CGY @ WPG | S | EDM @ HAM | S | MTL @ BC | S | TOR @ SSK | S | Points | Total Points |
| apoch | Winnipeg | 3 | | | | | | | 2 | 17 |
| tommytrump | | | Edmonton | | B.C. | | | 6 | 3 | 17 |
| HATER 187 | Winnipeg | 3 | | 6 | | | | | 3 | 17 |
| BoKnows | | | | | B.C. | 3 | Saskatchewan | | 3 | 16 |
| MrFrisby | | | Edmonton | 4 | B.C. | | Saskatchewan | | 4 | 16 |
| owlhouse | Winnipeg | 5 | Edmonton | | B.C. | | | | 4 | 16 |
| JPR | | | Edmonton | 6 | | | Saskatchewan | 5 | 5 | 16 |
| NoMich | | | | | B.C. | | Saskatchewan | | 2 | 14 |
| Folkways | Winnipeg | | | | B.C. | | | | 2 | 14 |
| Ying Yang Mafia | Winnipeg | | Edmonton | | B.C. | | | | 3 | 14 |
| Reever | | | | | | | | | 0 | 13 |
| Spitztengle | | | Edmonton | | B.C. | | | | 2 | 12 |
| THX-1138 | | | Edmonton | | | | Saskatchewan | 7 | 3 | 12 |
| Anaconda | | | Edmonton | | | 2 | Saskatchewan | | 3 | 12 |
| DrJohnEvans | Winnipeg | | Edmonton | | B.C. | | Saskatchewan | | 4 | 12 |
| The_Black_Hand | | | | | B.C. | | Saskatchewan | | 2 | 11 |
| Monica Poland | Winnipeg | | | | | | | | 1 | 8 |
A return to divisional play is a welcome sight for everyone, except maybe Calgary. They'll miss Hamilton.
WEEK 6 Hamilton @ Montreal (Thursday, July 31) Montreal limps home after a brutal 0-3 western road trip, and Hamilton should be a welcome sight. They're due for a win, but that first win after a slide is always the toughest to get.
B.C. @ Edmonton (Thursday, July 31) Even at home, facing the Lions is a very, very tough way to start the post-Jason-Tucker era in Edmonton.
Winnipeg @ Toronto (Friday, August 1) Is Winnipeg thinking about avenging their Week One home opener loss? No. After your first win in five tries, you've stopped thinking about the first week.
Saskatchewan @ Calgary (Saturday, August 2) At this point, every Rider win makes a win the next week that much more unlikely. Or is it that every win is decided independently of the others, and thus should be no cause for surprise when it happens? Good luck!
Montreal by 7 BC by 3 Toronto by 10 Calgary by 7
Hamilton by 8 Eskimoos by 10 Argons by 4 Calgary by 7
Montreal by 11 British Columbia by 7 Toronto by 11 Saskatchewan by by5
Montreal by 6 Edmonton by 10 Toronto by 13 Saskatchewan by 15
Montreal by 4 BC by 13 Toronto by 1 Saskatchewan by 7
Montreal by 9 BC by 17 Toronto by 12 Calgary by 21
Montreal by 6 Edmonton by 3 Toronto by 4 Saskatchewan by 10
Maybe giving teams the benefit of the doubt was not the greatest strategy last week... Montreal by 9 BC by 11 Toronto by 6 Saskatchewan by 7
3 points. My mediocrity cannot be restrained. OK, not much time here, so my next method will be based on each team's home field stadium capacity. Greatest capacity is the selection. Hamilton by 9 Edmonton by 3 Toronto by 3 Calgary by 7
When I lived in Darwin I used to work with a Canadian fellow from Kitchener, Ontario. Montreal by 13. We went fishing a lot, and had about a dozen crab pots that we would set out amongst the mangroves. Edmonton by 5. Of course the legal limit was only three pots per person, and fisheries patrols were frequent. Winnipeg by 7. Whenever we were spotted, my friend would put on his best Canadian drawl and claim he'd only just arrived in the country and didn't know the regulations, while I had to pretend to be his deaf mute brother. Calgary by 17. It never worked.
MONTREAL by 12 British Columbia by 3 TORONTO by 1 CALGARY by 1
But, living on the farm, he knew nothing of the city. Montreal by 14 Built his house out of straw, what a pity. B.C. by 7 And then one day, jammin on some chords, Toronto by 9 along came the wolf, knocking on his door. Saskatchewan by 6
3 points. My mediocrity cannot be restrained. I'd be happy if someone restrained my mediocrity. Hamilton by 14 BC by 3 Winnipeg by 17 Calgary by 20
My mediocrity scoffs at your mediocrity. Monty by 12 B.C. by 9 Peggy by 6 Sassy by 3
Montreal by 8 British Columbia by 5 Winnipeg by 4 Calgary by 6
Montreal by 19 B.C. by 14 Toronto by 3 Calgary by 10
C'mon guys. I need my mediocrity. It defines me. Plus, in the US I'll bet that I can get someone to diagnose it as a handicap and I can qualify for one of those parking permits.
I don't know THX, after last year I didn't qualify.
How about if I limp a bit? (I feel that I have crossed a line. And yet, I still did it. Apologies all around.)
Yeah, well my mediocrity is more mediocre than your mediocrity! If Hamilton can't put together a win tonight, I just don't think they have the studs to win much at all again this year. They'll be in tough, but I think they just might eke one out ... TiCats by 2. That, or it's a blowout by the home team. EE at home. Gonna be a high scoring affair tonight I do believe. I mean if you give me an over/under of 80pts, I'm takin' over. Honestly, I think the EE have more studs on O and special teams this year ... D-line is questionable now, but they fared well against the run last week, no? Gotta give the edge to the Esks tonight ... EE by 1. Stegall returns to the Bombers, but Joseph and the Argos are PISSED about last week. Take Toronto convincingly by 12. I can't believe I'm gonna write this ... but now I'm thinkin' that 6-0 might not be that crazy??? The Stamps "could", by all means, establish themselves as western favorites with a win over the Riders, but somehow, I think those Gritty Green suckers are gonna pull one out of cowtown. Samsquanch by 5. Like the Hamilton game, if it goes the other way, it'll probably be a landslide though.
Reever and I are at the game. It's halftime and the favourites are up 18-3. Sorry, BoKnows.
Change of heart. Crandell apparently gets the nod for the Riders this week. Two QBs facing their former teams ... but the edge, in Calgary, has got to go to Burris. There's, of course, a chance that I will be kickin' myself for this flip-flop ... but I'm gonna now go with the Stampeders by 13.
I'm a goin down. Mayday! Mayday! ...---...
