November 01, 2006

CFL Pick 'Em, Playoff Edition: Are you sad because you missed out on the regular season CFL Pick 'Em? Or are you still bitter over your almost-last-place performance this year? Come and redeem yourself and pick the winner of this weekend's semifinals! We're starting afresh, with points a-plenty to be had, and no silly kick return blocking rules to get in the way (for us, anyway, not for the CFL). Make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 04:30 PM - 30 comments

East Semifinal: Winnipeg @ Toronto (Sunday, November 5, 1:00 PM Eastern) Winnipeg comes into this game with two of the league's strongest weapons working on all cylinders: RB Charles Roberts and SB Milt Stegall. But they were dealt a cruel blow last week with the loss of starting QB Kevin Glenn to an ankle injury: his status for Sunday is still uncertain. Toronto, on paper, has the league's deepest rushing roster, and last year's Most Outstanding Player in Damon Allen. In action, though, they don't seem to know what to do with the one-two tandem of Ricky Williams and John Avery, and Allen has started to show his age. This team has shown that they're capable of brilliance, but not consistency. West Semifinal: Saskatchewan @ Calgary (Sunday, November 5, 4:00 PM Eastern) This is a tough pick. Calgary has been the best team in the league at times, with QB Henry Burris being nothing short of fantastic—at times. They've had a lot of trouble establishing a consistent game. They have the weapons, they have the home field, they have the potential, but they don't have the momentum. They've lost three of four coming into this playoff game, and they're coming off a last-week bye. Saskatchewan picked up the most talent from the Ottawa dispersal draft, but apart from stabilizing their QB situation with the solid Kerry Joseph, they don't seem to have clicked as well as they could have. They have won two of three, though, with their lone loss coming in the last week with most of their starters on the bench. Optional reading: CFL.ca East Preview CFL.ca West Preview TSN.ca: Shultz's Picks Bonus Question: Name the kicker who will score the most points this weekend. This includes field goals, PATs, and singles. For your reference, the Official 2006 CFL Kicking Stats. Picking rules: For each game, pick a winner and pick the spread. Pick one kicker from any team for the bonus question. Here's how the scoring works. Possible points: 7 (3 per game + 1 bonus) Good luck!

posted by DrJohnEvans at 04:30 PM on November 01, 2006

Toronto by 9 Calgary by 12 Bonus: Sandro DeAngelis

posted by DrJohnEvans at 01:29 PM on November 02, 2006

Toronto by 8 Sask. by 4 Kicker for Sask - can't recall name.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:30 PM on November 02, 2006

Winnipeg by 12 Calgary by 16 Bonus: DeAngelis

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 03:14 PM on November 02, 2006

Winnipeg - 10 Sask - 12 Congi

posted by skydivemom at 03:39 PM on November 02, 2006

Winnipeg by 10 Saskatchewan by 10 Um.. Westwood.

posted by apoch at 03:43 PM on November 02, 2006

Toronto by 13 Calgary by 7 The Toronto kicker, it looks like Prefontaine from the web link. Hey - you mean I could have been using that site as a guide all season? It would not have helped. I would have been none the wiser, but certainly better informed.

posted by owlhouse at 04:27 PM on November 02, 2006

Do you mean Luca Congi, Weedy?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 06:27 PM on November 02, 2006

Okay, sure. Congi.... Congi? Isn't that Bubbles' puppet from Trailer Park Boys?

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 07:55 AM on November 03, 2006

Winnipeg by 11 Calgary by 5 And let me spin the wheel of kickers..........................Troy Westwood

posted by MrFrisby at 07:55 AM on November 03, 2006

Winnipeg by 5 Calgary by 13 Kicker of the year! DEANGELIS 2 points, I loose by 2 fucking points in the regular season. I'd rather loose by 15 points than 2. Truly thought i had this one even with knowing nothing about Canadian football. Come-on DJE, spot me 3 back there just for the southern hospitality bit and all.

posted by Folkways at 04:04 PM on November 03, 2006

Toronto by 12; Calgary by 9; Congi. Friggin' Canadians.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 08:49 AM on November 04, 2006

Ooops, did I leave the /small door open?

posted by Folkways at 11:04 AM on November 04, 2006

Looks that way. Howzat?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 01:10 PM on November 04, 2006

The Boatmenblog picks are excellent reading, as always.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:13 PM on November 04, 2006

Toronto by 13 Calgary by 14 Prefontaine

posted by grum@work at 10:35 PM on November 04, 2006

Howzat? Great DJE, and now about the phantom missing 3 points in the regular season pool.... I have one bottle of 1975 Glenlivet 28-Year Signatory Bottling 750ML from my Grandfathers vault left. (?) Scotch is made for drinking not collecting dust on the bottle.

posted by Folkways at 10:10 AM on November 05, 2006

Don't tempt me, Folkways. Anyone watching the East semi? Winnipeg just punted out-of-bounds to keep the ball away from Toronto's notorious punt returners—and it was caught and run down the sidelines by Pinball Clemons. Fan-freaking-tastic. You wouldn't see that in the NFL.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:33 PM on November 05, 2006

Annnnnnd Toronto is falling apart. Hardly a surprise, really.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 02:24 PM on November 05, 2006

Uh, what? Michael Bishop comes in for his first drive of the game, and throws a TD on his first play? What the hell is going on?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 02:36 PM on November 05, 2006

Michael Bishop's current line: 3/3, 111 yds, 2 TD. WTF?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 02:44 PM on November 05, 2006

Michael Bishop is the Anti-Romo of the CFL. Instead of coming in to throw an INT, he throws a TD and leads his team to victory! Too bad he didn't play for Winnipeg.

posted by apoch at 05:40 PM on November 05, 2006

Winnipeg just punted out-of-bounds to keep the ball away from Toronto's notorious punt returners—and it was caught and run down the sidelines by Pinball Clemons. Fan-freaking-tastic. You wouldn't see that in the NFL. Add that to the (big) list of "Reasons why Pinball Clemons is the best thing to happen to Toronto sports."

posted by grum@work at 11:33 AM on November 06, 2006

I'm going to be out of town from Wed-Sun this week, so I'm going to make my picks now and hope someone can enter them for me when the time comes: Toronto by 3 BC by 14 Super-secret tie-breaker: whatever Weedy picks.

posted by grum@work at 11:35 AM on November 06, 2006

Re: anti-Romo - Bishop's first TD into double coverage with the comedic "defenders sandwiching the receiver and cancelling each other out, receiver runs it in for TD" wasn't too far from going wrong. Effective nonetheless. And I forgot to make my picks this week. Yaargh.

posted by gspm at 12:10 PM on November 06, 2006

grum, I will try to put together the post for next week by tomorrow, so you can actually make your bonus pick.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:12 PM on November 06, 2006

gspm, in Bishop's defence, Bruce was open enough for the initial throw. He was cutting into the open pocket between two zone defenders, and it would've been a good first down pass regardless. That said, the two defenders did mess up the play a bit, both going for the ball instead of the tackle. So the TD was a bit of a gift, but I don't think the initial pass was all that ill-advised.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:55 PM on November 06, 2006

True dat. Zone coverage rather than double coverage I guess. Just caught it on my way out the door which prompted me to put the coat down and sit. With the CFL it seems like anything can happen at the end of the game and it did go right down to it. I was wondering if CFL defenses are able to stop anything in the last 90 seconds given the number of times I have watched big drives in the waning minutes. And then Toronto got the INT. That answered me.

posted by gspm at 03:06 PM on November 06, 2006

I was looking for video highlights online to find a clip of the play so that everybody else could see what we're talking about. I found this clip, which is missing that particular play, but does have the aforementioned Pinball play, so you should watch it anyway.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 04:10 PM on November 06, 2006

Day-yam, oh but the CFL delivered the goods on Saturday. Those were two stupifyingly entertaining wack job games. Seriously, Pinball might, in fact, be a leprechaun because someone on that sideline is granting wishes. (I know Pinball is small and everything, but really look. Yep. Possible Leprchaun. And really, it's a fantastic disguise.) How else to explain Michael Bishop? I wouldn't screw with that kind of mojo. Even on the road in Montreal. In a revenge game. Toronto by 6 And - B.C. by 8. Because they have unicorns in the ball bin. Swear to God. Super awesome grum-and-I-are-currently-tied-for-first-in-the-hockey-pool mega bonus - Prefontaine. Steve Prefontaine... Zombie place-kicker.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:25 PM on November 06, 2006

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.