As a huge follower of the Canadian Football League for almost twenty years, I cannot remember the standings and teams being this close six weeks into the season. Currently, Saskatchewan, Edmonton and BC are the best in the West and Hamilton and Toronto are the beasts of the East. All five teams share identical records with three wins and two losses. Initially it looked like Saskatchewan was going to run away with first place in the west, opening with three straight wins, but the Green Riders since have been humbled after blowing late 17 and 18-point leads in losses to Calgary and Hamilton respectively.
The other clubs are still in the running. Calgary currently sits last in the west and Montreal third in the east, both with 2-3 records, still pose to be big threats. Finally Winnipeg currently occupies the league basement with a record of 1-4. Even though the Blue Bombers look like they are out of the running, they are not. They overcame a large deficit to beat the Eskimos last week at home and avenge a 42-10 beating in Edmonton two weeks prior. The Blue Bombers will now play their next four games at home, after opening with four on the road. This home cooking could help them get back in the swing of things (although I hope it doesn’t).
Although Calgary and Winnipeg have lost their starting quarterbacks indefinitely, and Montreal’s star quarterback, Anthony Calvillo, is hurt, I feel all three teams can still turn their seasons around and give their fans something to cheer about. The parity in the CFL is so close, that any team can beat an other on any given day. This is largely thanks in large part to the CFL Salary Management System. All teams have to spend the same (relatively speaking, of course) amount of money on players. The CFL got this idea from the NFL and it since has been copied by the NHL. It allows all teams in a sports league to compete on a more equal playing field. I feel baseball needs a similar type of system, but that is a topic for another day, and is probably something baseball will unfortunately not see in my lifetime. But one false move for any CFL team from here on in during this 2012 season, and it can quickly spell disaster.
…and that is the last word.
Follow me on Twitter – @LastWordFootball
