October 16, 2008

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 17: Drama! Suspense! Our race for first is suddenly just as tight as the West division's. Make your picks inside!

Edmonton puts on their playoff hats and holds off B.C. in unfriendly territory. Montreal puts on their Montreal hats and does an old-fashion Tiger-Cats blowout dance. Calgary puts on its first-place hats and absolutely TROUNCES Saskatchewan. Whether these results are surprises depends on what you picked.

And oh yeah, Toronto blew it in Winnipeg. BUT my math last week was wrong: it turns out that Toronto can still get that second-place spot if (a) they win all their remaining games, and (b) Winnipeg loses all their remaining games. So yeah! It's in the bag!

TOR @ WPGEDM @ BCHAM @ MTLSSK @ CGY
ResultWinnipeg by 9Edmonton by 7Montreal by 31Calgary by 37
Margin of Error6 to 125 to 922 to 4026 to 48

Excitement and intrigue! tommytrump's underdog picks fall just short. He's still in first place, but not as convincingly as even last week. owlhouse scores four more points than tommy to move up to within a point, and JPR has a solid week to stay just behind. Suddenly the pick 'em championship seems to be up for grabs again!

SpoFiteTOR @ WPGSEDM @ BCSHAM @ MTLSSSK @ CGYSPointsTotal Points
tommytrump Montreal Calgary 253
owlhouseWinnipeg2Edmonton5Montreal Calgary 652
JPRWinnipeg6 Montreal Calgary 451
Ying Yang MafiaWinnipeg Edmonton6Montreal 449
SpitztengleWinnipeg6Edmonton Montreal Calgary 549
MrFrisby Montreal 148
apochWinnipeg8Edmonton Calgary 448
Reever Edmonton6Montreal Calgary 445
DrJohnEvansWinnipeg7 Montreal Calgary 445
The_Black_HandWinnipeg10 Montreal 343
BoKnowsWinnipeg7 Montreal Calgary 443
NoMichWinnipeg10 Montreal Calgary 442
Folkways Edmonton7Montreal Calgary 542
HATER 187 039
AnacondaWinnipeg Montreal Calgary 333
Monica Poland 031

With the Toronto loss last week, we're guaranteed a crossover in the playoffs this year: the fouth-place team in the West will take the place of the third-place East team in the East semi-final. No crossover team has ever won the semi-final game, but that streak is going to be hard pressed to continue this year. Why? See below.

WEEK 17

B.C. @ Edmonton (Friday, October 17)
Both these teams are part of a three-way tie for second place in the West, only two points behind first. That means that the winner of this game has an excellent chance to host the West final, with a first-round bye. It also means the loser of this game has an excellent chance to be the crossover team, which no bye, lots of travel, and no home game. This is practically a playoff game, right here.

Montreal @ Toronto (Saturday, October 18)
Well, if desperately trying to make the playoffs is your game, then going up against Montreal seems to fit the bill. Not for practicality's sake, but definitely for drama's.

Winnipeg @ Calgary (Saturday, October 18)
Winnipeg can also eliminate Toronto with a win, but it's going to be tough to come by this week. Calgary's playing on short rest, but they've got the best shot at coming in first, and they're not going to give up now.

Hamiton @ Saskatchewan (Sunday, October 19)
We all know things are bad in Saskatchewan. But bad enough that you would pick a visiting Tiger-Cats team over them? That's a surprisingly tough call.

Good luck!

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 05:14 PM - 23 comments

British Columbia by 5 Montreal by 13 Calgary by 16 Saskatchewan by 15

posted by tommybiden at 06:24 PM on October 16, 2008

Edmonton by 4 Montreal by 18 Calgary by 11 Saskatchewan by 9

big money Big Money NO WHAMMIES!

posted by Reever at 06:27 PM on October 16, 2008

British Columbia by 8 Montreal by 4 Calgary by 9 Saskatchewan by 18

I missed last week because I was in the wilds of Oceanside (okay just because there was a shopping center across the street it doesn't mean it wasn't roughing it. There was no wifi).

posted by Monica Poland at 07:19 PM on October 16, 2008

Edmonton by 8 Toronto by 7 Winnipeg by 8 Hamilton by 3

posted by apoch at 08:43 PM on October 16, 2008

So what happened with the election? Edmonton by 7. The news media here haven't bothered to report it. Montreal by 5. Well, not as much as other vital information about our Commonwealth cousins. Calgary by 11. Such as Pamela Anderson's latest plastic surgery. Sakatchewan by 15. I despair sometimes.

posted by owlhouse at 09:38 PM on October 16, 2008

Edmonton by 4 Montreal by 9 Calgary by 9 Saskatchewan by 11

posted by Anaconda at 09:40 PM on October 16, 2008

Edmonton by 6 Montreal by 14 Winnipeg by 5 Sasky by 3

posted by NoMich at 10:02 PM on October 16, 2008

Saskatchewan has continued to fail me.

BC by 5 Montreal by 20 Calgary by 6 Saskatchewan by 10

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:30 AM on October 17, 2008

Edmonton by 14 Montreal by 21 Calgary by 7 Saskatchewan by 10

posted by BoKnows at 03:43 AM on October 17, 2008

Edmonton by 5 Toronto by 11 Winnipeg by 9 Hamilton by 7

posted by Folkways at 10:27 AM on October 17, 2008

BC by 2 Montreal by 10 Calgary by 4 Hamilton by 4

posted by JPR at 12:53 PM on October 17, 2008

B.C. by 7 Montreal by 10 Calgary by 16 Saskatchewan by 1

posted by DrJohnEvans at 02:42 PM on October 17, 2008

ACK! Kickoff is at 7pm! I gotta run!

EE by 4 Toronto upsets by 7 Calgary almost botches this one, by 2. Durant at the helm where he belongs, Riders by 10.

posted by Spitztengle at 07:44 PM on October 17, 2008

Eddie by 7 Monty by 15 Peggy by 6 Sassy by 12

posted by The_Black_Hand at 08:07 PM on October 17, 2008

Destination unknown, as we pull in for some gas B.C. by 12 Freshly pasted poster reveals a smile from the past Montreal by 18 Elephants and acrobats, lions snakes monkey Calgary by 24 Pele speaks "righteous," Sister Zina says "funky" Saskatchewan by 7 How bizarre

posted by MrFrisby at 09:01 PM on October 17, 2008

Dee-yamn. Calgary seems to be peaking at the right time, eh?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 02:18 PM on October 19, 2008

Indeed they are, DrJ., but they do have Smilin' Henry Burris at the controls.

posted by tommybiden at 04:31 PM on October 19, 2008

Calgary seems to be peaking at the right time, eh?

Yeah, peaking just before an epic playoff collapse! GO ESKS GO!!! Even if you have to go east.

Sorry, I can't help myself ... the Edmonton-Calgary rivalry just runs too deep in my system. Stamps do have to be considered top contenders right now though ... but the beauty of the CFL is that (almost) anything can happen still!

posted by Spitztengle at 09:14 PM on October 19, 2008

Spitz, and all you other Canadians, I have a question. I was born in BC, near Ft. St. John. Which CFL team am I supposed to root for?

posted by apoch at 06:58 AM on October 20, 2008

Let me follow that up with some needed info, I moved to the US when I was five.

posted by apoch at 06:58 AM on October 20, 2008

Spitz, and all you other Canadians, I have a question. I was born in BC, near Ft. St. John. Which CFL team am I supposed to root for?

The one with (a) the pretty colours on their uniform, or (b) the one who would defeat the other in a battle, or, (c)the one closest to your home town, or (d)the one from your province, or (e)the one with players on it that you know from college ball.

So....your choices might be (a)B.C. Lions, (b)Winnepeg, (c)Edmonton, (d)B.C. Lions, and since I don't know who you know from college, B.C. has two votes so far, so, I'd say B.C.

I was an Ottawa Rough Rider fan growing up(favourite players...Russ Jackson, Soupy Campbell, Tom Clements, and in later years, Wonderful Monds III), and when the Eastern Riders got Glieberman'd, I switched my allegience to the Toronto Argonauts as I grew up just outside Toronto.

posted by tommybiden at 09:30 AM on October 20, 2008

I once donated some street names to Ft St John, but it looks like it never got through.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:36 PM on October 20, 2008

um, if ever in doubt, just cheer for Edmonton. You'd only have been disappointed two out of the last 30+ years.

Besides, as a northern city, Ft. St. John is closer to Edmonton more than just geographically.

I spent the summer living in Saskatchewan, and gosh was it fun to fly the EE colours right in Rider Nation. But honestly, having attended numerous Grey Cups, the one thing that stands out above all is that no matter which team you cheer for, you're a fan of the CFL first. Only in Canada I guess.

posted by Spitztengle at 09:22 PM on October 20, 2008

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