Jamie Nye’s picks over at CFL.CA were just as bad as mine last week, but he gets paid to prognosticate and I’m a rank, incompetent amateur, so… I’m not sure what my point is.
The preamble to Mr. Nye’s column touts CFL Pick ‘Em. That sounds a lot like gambling to me. I tried reading the rules but it’s got way too many defined terms. I hate defined terms.
Ottawa RedBlacks at Toronto Argonauts
This is a stupid Wednesday game. Apparently, the Argos are still being treated like second-class citizens in their own home, taking a back seat to the scheduling needs of the Toronto FC. I don’t understand any sports in which faking an injury is an accepted part of the game. I want to know that when a player is injured, he’s really injured; he’s not going to pop up and act like nothing happened if the referee ignores him long enough. I’m also suspicious of any sports that do not require helmets.
So, I suppose this is a home game for Toronto but a Wednesday home game always has more of a pre-season game feel, or a “friendly” (if I understand the helmetless fake injury sport parlance), so I don’t see Toronto getting any home field advantage here.
Until Ottawa loses, we should all go with Ottawa, despite the growing strength of this Toronto Argo team.
Ottawa RedBlacks over Toronto Argonauts
Edmonton Eskimos at Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Always bet against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
I think Drew Willy has yet to really show what he’s got, I like Weston Dressler and wish him the best, and Ryan Smith is a CFL Hall of Famer in the making, but this team just don’t got it. Edmonton is settling in, and again, while I don’t think that Edmonton is a spectacular team, they are better than the Bombers. Ugh.
Edmonton Eskimos over Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Montreal Allouettes
As far as I can tell, half of Montreal’s offense is injured or suspended, so this should balance off against Hamilton’s lack of a real starting quarterback. Hamilton Head Coach Kent Austin tips the balance in Hamilton’s favour.
By the way, is it me or do the Tiger-Cats and Allouettes seem like the most boring teams in the league right now? Even after the whole Duron Carter weirdness, Montreal doesn’t seem to have any spark, and Hamilton is about as white-bread bland as you can get.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Montreal Allouettes
British Columbia at Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders will be dropping the hammer this week, and the unlucky victims will be the over-achieving British Columbia Lions.
In past years, this would be one of the games that everyone expected the Roughriders to win, and then they would lose in spectacular fashion. Jamie Nye knows this. That’s why he is predicting a Roughrider win with a mere 25% confidence. Now, like all life-long members of Rider Nation, Mr. Nye is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by years of spirit-shattering boobery (1976, 2009, last week, etc.), so he is psychologically incapable of confidently predicting a Roughrider win for a game that looks like a guaranteed victory opportunity. Hence, I will cut him some slack for the low confidence of his prediction, but anyone else playing this CFL Pick ‘Em thing should be ramping up their confidence to near-100%. Here’s why.
I have yet to see a picture of Saskatchewan Head Coach Chris Jones this week in which he did not look like he was a seething ball of sputtering rage following two loses. Including the pre-season, the Riders have yet to win under his administration. He’s had enough. The Saskatchewan Roughriders will win if Jones has to personally strap on the pads and get every one of the damned 3rd down conversions himself. But he won’t. Stone Cold Killer Darian Durant will put on a show and this monstrous defense Jones has assembled will take care of the rest.
Saskatchewan Roughriders over British Columbia Lions